Friday 25 November 2011

White Ribbon Day ... is not for men.

White Ribbon Day is for the awareness of violence against women. A great cause. I asked the question after seeing ads for the day: "what about men?".

This is from the website for White Ribbon Day: (Sorry about the spacing and shit, but cut directly)

What about violence against men?
While this campaign focuses on violence against
women, it is important to acknowledge that men
too are often the victims of violence. Many of the
victims of murder, manslaughter, and serious
physical assaults are male.
Men are much less likely than women to be
subject to violent incidents in the home and are
more likely to be assaulted in public places.
Violence against men is far more likely to be by
strangers and far less likely to involve partners or
ex-partners. Of all the violence men experience,
far less is represented by domestic violence (less
than 1 percent, versus one-third of violent
incidents against women).
6
Boys and men are most at risk of physical harm, injury and death
from other boys and men, but small numbers are
subject to violence by women.
This kit focuses on the prevention of violence
against women and takes for granted that all
forms of violence are unacceptable and supports
efforts to end it.

It seems that because the unstated numbers are apparently so insignificant the plight of these men who are just as much victims of domestic violence as any female might be don't get representation by the foundation. That statement is an excuse to not represent them. I'm sorry - actually, no I'm not - that's fucken bullshit.

Domestic violence doesn't hurt one person more than any other. All are hurt. Women get angry, drunk, drugged, psychotic, whatever, just as much as men and without having a Phd I'd suggest it's merely the human physiology and psychology that bumps the scales towards men being more physical than women. Also, domestic violence isn't necessarily physical. Most of the time scars can't be seen. It seems to me we're a LONG way off from heading in the right direction to fix the issue.

A bully is a bully. No one bully is worse than any other.

Saturday 5 November 2011

Dear, #OccupyBrisbane...

Unless you're living in a hole in the ground ... not shared by a protester ... you probably have heard of the "Occupy" movement going on at the moment. In reality, it's going to achieve fuck all, and is currently only annoying people. In the beginning of the Brisbane effort I was fairly apathetic towards the entire thing. I saw it on the news previously and had an idea it was about something to do with 1% of the population having the majority share of the wealth ... or something.

I figured if you're uncomfortable with not having money, then work, hard, and get some ... like they did. For two weeks Occupy Brisbane was fraught with infighting and lack of direction. Worse, there wasn't a lack of direction, there was NO direction at all. In the end even the organizers went: "Fuck this", and packed their bag/s and went home. Unsurprisingly various factions who have their own agenda against the police and government took control and screwed it into what became 4 grand worth of fines. I work in the city. I saw this every day, and I even saw the last moments when the council handed out the fines. It pissed me off having to work 60 hours+ a week only to see these idiots ranting about whatever, ruining my park, every day.

Then I saw a vid by Sean Bedlam. Batshit crazy fucker, but made sense. When asked why is he doing it - in Melbourne - and he replies: "Are you fucken retarded? You need ONE reason for this" ... and I got it. It gave me clarity. Here's his 'Why' vid.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to join the fuckers ... although being a staunch police supporter I would very much like to experience a forced eviction just to see if these people are full of shit or not .... from their lines. But I GET what he's saying.

Personally, I think the current Australian government is a joke. Gillard ebbs and flows with the polls and Abbott is fucken retarded. This perplexes me. I have no hope in the future of the government. Insurance companies are responsible for the deaths of 25 people who committed suicide after the January floods in the Lockyer Valley. Why aren't we angry about that? Fuel prices go up with MOMENTS of oil price rises but it takes weeks to go down when oil does. I saw a stat a while ago that said 25,000 American troops have suicided as a result of being in combat. 5000-ish have died as a result of combat. Australian troops are dealing with HORRENDOUS mental illness.

I could go on. Those are just a few of the things that get to me about life. This place is broken. People are second to money. This upsets me.

They have gone about it the wrong way and I HATE when they instigate fights with the police JUST for video footage. Once the police commit to moving you, you are going. They can't back out, and you know it. But I get the anger. It's just shame that anger and sadness isn't a unified voice for all. Maybe when you get a common goal and agenda you might see me standing next to them on the weekends.

...maybe I could cash some RDO's....