Readers Soapbox

Today’s open thread is brought you by Punch reader, “Shane”:

“I know love at first sight is a bit of a cliché, but when I first saw the eye-popping figure, gorgeous face and heavenly blonde locks of Blake Lively on an advertisement for Gossip Girl two years ago I knew that a random collection of atoms had served up my dream girl. Her performances as Serena Van Der Woodsen on Gossip Girl armed with an immaculate high-end wardrobe and a troubled damsel in distress back story that makes all wannabe knight’s swoon only adds to her appeal. I know I’m not alone in having a celebrity crush, and there is a long history of nutters taking it to another level who really put my crush into perspective.

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Today’s readers’ soapbox is brought to by Punch reader, “Georgie”:

“Parents need to start taking responsibility for their children. As a teacher I’ve seen so many parents who are boorish, arrogant, lazy and downright dangerous try to turn around and blame schools for their parenting failures. I’m sick of being threatened by parents (“It must be your fault my child is lying about coming to school”) and seeing parents who are violent, off their faces on drugs and who bully other parents (or worse - students).

These same parents doggedly protect their children (One boy posted photos of him egging the school on Facebook, but dearest Mommy threatened the school when they tried to discipline him) and don’t understand that if children don’t learn discipline in school, their next stop may be jail. Of course, these people always demand the school bend over backwards for them.

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Susan”:

Upon hearing the exportation of beef to Indonesia was suspended, my first thought was that the people of Australia are going to benefit with the oversupply of beef and we were going to see real saving in the supermarkets. Then I see in the news that they will be culling the beef that was meant for Indonesia. My question: Why cull the cattle when they could very easily send on the oversupply of beef onto the Australian consumer?

NB: Breaking news last night was that the Government will allow the resumption of live cattle exports on a case-by-case basis, if exporters can meet certain demands. It’s not clear whether this means producers will go ahead with culls.

Want to get on your soapbox? Email Lucy your ideas.

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader “Alyssa”:

Animals Australia, RSPCA, GetUp! And other lobbying groups have embarked on a virtual campaign to encourage the public to contact their elected representatives about banning live export. Part of the campaign website includes the facility to email a ‘sample letter’ asking your local MP or Senator to support the bill. One parliamentary office has reported receiving 7490 (as of 11:46am 22-6-11) emails since the Four Corners Report aired. As with all correspondence, staffers will read, file, reply and sort them. These repetitive emails currently take up approximately 10 hours of the working week at the expense of genuine constituent issues.

So now over to you, Do you think it is fair? Is it much more effective to tweet, youtube or facebook MP’s and Senators? And for those representatives who either don’t or have a minimal social media presence, is it better to present them with a petition? And just go a bit further, have emails made it easier to pass on irrelevant, time-wasting information?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 24/06/2011" »

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Richelle”:

“Is it right that we make judgements about people based on their choice of a mobile phone? On Jason Tin’s column yesterday, one Punch reader suggested that owning an iPhone somehow casts you in a particular social group - one that should not be allowed to procreate. What if you are an avid reader who is inspired by Fred Hollows, but you also like Angry Birds? How come you are immediately cast in the “should-not-procreate” pile? I just know so many people who get way too passionate about disliking people who use iPhones. I read… on a Kindle… Where does that put me?”

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Kirsty”:

I was wondering if anyone had any shared experiences or thoughts on people speaking languages other than English in the workplace.  I work in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment and it seems whenever people of the same culture encounter each other they speak in their native tongue, which is okay when it is during lunch but when we are supposed to be working I find it a little rude and even a little disrespectful. Am I bothered by something I shouldn’t be due to Australia now being multicultural?

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Iansand”:

“Why is it that, whenever a proposal for funding a program is made, someone with a special interest claims that the money would be better spent somewhere else?  A proposal is made for something that will improve life in the cities and some person from the bush claims that the money should be spent out there.  A charity raises money for the treatment of a particular affliction and boosters for some other disease claim that the first charity is diverting resources from their pet scourge.  If a sport is to get some funding the arty-farties claim that the money should be spent on promoting art that is incomprehensible and uninteresting to the vast majority of the populace.  It happens with child welfare – won’t somebody think of the other children.  It happens with health.  It happens with defence.  The education lobbyists do little else than complain that a different group has more funding.  It goes on and on and on.  They all know that their obsession is the obsession everyone else should share.

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Today’s open thread is brough to you by Punch reader, “Kat”:

My manager is a perfectly lovely, competent woman. With the most annoying voice in the world. Our entire working relationship has degenerated because as soon as she opens her mouth I feel angry towards her. It didn’t used to be so annoying, but now I can’t block it out - she can be on the phone at her desk (which is about 10 metres away) and it still wriggles into my ear and drives me completely nuts. I love my job. I have no legitimate complaint against her. But I just can’t take it anymore! What do I do?

Continue reading "Open thread: Reader’s soapbox 15/04/2011" »

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch regular, “Joel B1”:

“Coming out as a stay-at-home Dad. Yes, that’s me, for the last 12 years I’ve done the nappies, washed the clothes and feed the little darlings and my wife. It all started when my spouse got the job of her dreams and I said “Why don’t I stay at home and look after the kid?”. So we did.

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Welcome to Friday at The Punch

Today’s open thread is over to you guys. What’s on your mind? Share it here.

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Pete”:

“Can anyone give me a valid reason (government revenue excluded) as to why we need a carbon tax in Australia? We all agree industry will just pass this on, so if their output is the same then how does that save the environment? We all want to help do our bit, but is this really helping, or will we just be paying more for the same things we have now?

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Jessie”.

I’m pregnant and I hate that people think that means they can invade my life. I’ve had old ladies in shops touch my stomach, mothers ask me about morning sickness and my sex drive, and other complete strangers offer me advice about being pregnant.

Generally I’m a really private person so it makes me really uncomfortable - I even hate talking to my doctor about some of the intimate details, let alone someone whose name I don’t even know! And my friends tell me that it’s even worse once you have a newborn, that if you go out people ask you about EXACTLY how the birth went, how you’re recovering, and then start judging you.

I’ve even been warned that people will ask to hold the baby, which is just weird.  Why can’t people just mind their own business?

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Brigid”:

“How people treat retail workers. I think it’s so funny when I’m working and I ask a customer how they are and they reply: “It’s OK, I’m just looking”. Sometimes I’m genuinely inquisitive about their day. But to be brushed aside when talking on a mobile phone or distracted by products really gets my goat. Retail workers get a bad rap from media such as A Current Affair and Today Tonight. But we could make a whole television program about “My Shit Customer”. People would be shocked to see how we are treated every day at the hands of a pissed-off customer who is arguing about policy.

I think I could write forever about this subject, and I have a few humorous examples I could include. The point of my article is that we need to treat retail workers better because, most of the time, the customer is not right.”

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Ben”:

“Be it someone who has just found out that their mother has died in a building collapse during an earthquake, someone’s wedding or my personal favourite, the news crew showing up at a funeral. Honestly, have some dignity! Show these people a little respect and give them their space. Just because some who is bawling their eyes out doesn’t say “hey don’t take that photo”, doesn’t mean they want to be front page news. Take a few tasteful shots from somewhere discrete with a long lens, and let your story be the news.

If I turned up there with a camera and start getting in people’s faces, I would expect to get knocked out and / or chased off and / or called a scumbag. Why should it be any different just because you’re employed to make “news”. Peoples private life and personal space is not news. Give us the details if it’s a news event, but someone’s private life is not newsworthy. It is cheap, lowest common denominator, voyeurism, and it’s equivalent to slowing down to get a good look at a fatal car accident”.

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Nigel”:

Most, if not all electricity providers give consumers an option these days to choose a “green” option - not that electricity is coloured or that the consumer can tell any difference when they flick on a switch to their massive plasma TV or air conditioner. Usually the “green” options costs more. I believe that Origin offers the option of 25%.  Not that I want to single them out, but who audits the amount that electricity providers offer and how does anyone know?

Has anyone ever been told that “I’m sorry, all our “green” electricity is used at the moment until we generate more or until another customer unsubscribes that option is not available”? What if say, half of the customers subscribe to this 25% ‘green’ option.  What happens to the rest of the electricity?  Are customers offered a higher percentage? Is the wool being pulled over our eyes?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 18/02/2011" »

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “MarK”:

“Why is everything always referenced to drinking as being quintessentially Australian? It was written on The Punch earlier in the flood disaster by a staff writer that all the volunteers deserved a beer or twenty. Don’t get me wrong good luck to those of you that can enjoy a drink in moderation I am truly envious but why do we encourage and think it is normal to get rewarded for anything we do with getting shitfaced?

Drowning your sorrows can lead to more than the sorrows being deceased.

I find it all so ironic. We push as a cultural norm the idea that alcohol is part of being Australian. Nothing screams Aussie male more than staggering the streets at 2am incoherent with a Winnie red in the left hand (lit at the butt end of course) dodgy kebab in the right with a quick chunder in the gutter as if to emphasise that multitasking is no bother for a true man. We have all boasted of similar exploits.

The irony and juxtapositioning is delicious. We recognise that alcohol causes problems but are happy to show guys in a flood getting a fix from a boat. We then decry, with shock and horror, that after getting pissed some Aussies aren’t “Aussies” at all but rascists rednecks.

This country will continue to have enormous issues with alcohol while we encourage its use to excess and tie it to our “national spirit”. There is something truly wrong with our culture that thinks that the cure to a bad day, the reward for hard work and the societal norm is to have a drink….preferably to excess.”

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Today’s open thread is brought you by Punch reader, “Kathryn”:

“Honesty is such a lonely word, Billy Joel said. We tolerate an enormous amount of untruthfulness in our lives. Friends, colleagues, staff, partners and most of all politicians, all lie to us.

I’m not talking about telling your wife she looks great – she does look great. I’m talking about telling her you had to work late when you actually knocked off at 4 and went and had a beer.  We have this pre-entrenched cultural expectation that people in certain situations will disapprove, and the culturally appropriate action is to lie. The more that we allow and engage in the culturally appropriate lie, the more it gets entrenched in our culture.

Recently I caught out a colleague in a massive web of lies. Y’know that Big Bang Theory episode where Sheldon decides the lie is imperfect and develops huge alternate story to make it a better lie? Something on that scale. None of it was necessary; I didn’t have a problem with the issue they were trying to keep from me. But they presumed I’d have a problem, so instinctively defaulted to lies.

My problem with that is that I’ve never seen any scenario where a lie is uncovered that doesn’t do significantly more damage than telling the truth would have done.

Whether it’s a partner or politician – the uncovered lie does lasting, significant damage. Relationship or career ending damage. And truth will out, so damage will increasingly be done. Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what we need”.

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “BobbyDan”:

I do wish that TV News Services would show a Map of Australia, before reporting news items related to floods, bushfires, cyclones etc.

This would save my aged neighbour from ringing me at 07:30am on a Sunday morning asking if her family will be able to fly out of Adelaide SA to Perth WA if the Rockhampton QLD airport is being closed because of flooding.

Not all Australians are well educated or have access to the internet so they can relate where they are in relation the News item.

Want to get on your soapbox? Email me your ideas.

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Jayda”:

“Dear Australia, I want the fun back! I want our nation to raise a giant middle finger in the face of ‘the rules’, don a sombrero and remember that we Australians, used to have a sense of humour!

Having just returned from an incredible six week Mexican holiday I’ll be the first to admit I’m suffering from the post-holiday blues. I miss the $1 beer and the happy discovery that said beer comes in a plethora of non-Carona options of exceptional quality. I miss the music that blares from every shop, restaurant and bar with scant regard for location or hour.

I miss the tequila that was poured directly into my mouth from bartenders who stood table top to administer the shots. I miss the way that the implementation of the smoking ban is interpreted simply as the need to put up “No Fumar” signs, but certainly not to enforce their meaning. I miss the crazy architecture and the rooftop bars and restaurants with dangerously crumbling balconies and scant regard for OH&S.

I miss the children who play, chat and run around until midnight despite having school the next day. I miss the fact that a zoo could have a touch pool full of friendly rays right next to an identical looking pool containing a shark - the only defining difference being the small sign on one encouraging children to pet the rays and the small sign on the other saying to keep your hands out of the water.

I miss the constant laughter, the friendliness of the people, the willingness to make friends and the love of togetherness.

My depression comes from the realisation that you can’t have experiences like this in a so-called “developed” nations like Australia. Why? Because ‘developed’ intrinsically means having ruled, legislated and surgically removed the fun out of practically everything.

Because we’ve become such a nanny-state nation of people who want no personal responsibility for anything anymore and who sue at the first sign of trouble. Who raise their arms in horror and cry “but what about the children”, complain about the loud music next door, need others to tell us when we’ve had too much to drink and look to our governments to make our world safe. Because we’ve become afraid.”

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Today’s open thread is brought you by Punch reader, “George Ploumidis”:

No family this side of the Flanders can profess to hosting a Christmas Day devoid of tension. The grumpy father figure running around making sure the turkey comes out just right while the kids fight over each other’s gifts; the elderly maternal figure ensuring the food is up to her standards (causing angst among the cooks), and the stereotypical senior male figure who sees fit to let the grog monster’s own version of WikiLeaks out of the bag and clear the room in record time.

I profess to have experienced variations on the themes of all the above and more. It has taken considerable time and effort to not react or ruminate/stress about the day that is supposed to be the family’s day of the year. Over a decade of mostly hosting Christmas for the family (and occasionally uninvited guests), it has been a case of getting driving hours under the belt to be able and say ‘whatever, let it go’, and actually follow through with it.

All family grievances, senses of inequity and petty jealousies can turn asymptotic on the day, and it is really only families that communicate well that get through the build up, the game and the debrief. What is it though about society that lends itself to create such tensions? Did our parents (speaking as a Gen Xer) keep things under wraps that well that, as kids, we were none the wiser and had carefree hot Christmas Days? The cynic in me says yes, but I would be naive to think that the decades have not brought extra tension. Tension about gifts, where to go, who is to host, will the cousins and their on-again, off-again partner/friend coming along. Tension full stop. Forgetting the original religious sentiments and foundations behind Christmas, the day is simply a minefield for tension.

The only tool I can offer as a fallible 40 year old male (the more common of the species), is that it is easier to let the shit in all its guises go. Or, to quote the common cognitive behavioural therapy manual on anxiety, to step back and ask yourself what would be the worst outcome if A,B or C happened? If you are honest with yourself, usually the day can be filed under ‘whatever’.

In saying that, I have set myself the task of not just turkey, but a butterflied turkey with pancetta and pistacchio skin filling and mushroom risotto as a side. If that’s the largest stress that encounters me come Christmas Day then I’m ahead.

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “KebabPete”:

Being lucky enough to sit behind a desk each day, and for that matter, also behind the façade that I actually “work” everyday, I am lucky enough to be able to troll the news pages, decipher mind games in sport, and generally solve all the world’s problems. Yes, I know how lucky I am to have this leisure time, and shouldn’t complain, but it’s started me wondering…am I the only person in the world with any common sense?

I’d like to think not, but when you see some of the decisions made by people in power from government, business, sports, even entertainment, I can’t help but wonder how these numpty’s get to these positions. What’s more, have we got to a point in our evolutionary cycle where fiscal responsibility has to always outweigh common sense? I’m starting to think so.

I’m not talking about highly complex things here either. Should we sell the states electricity to foreign investors? Of course not, yet we did. Why is Mitchell Johnson playing this test having not played a single competitive game to re-find his form? Who knows, but he shouldn’t be. Why does the 3 lanes of the F3 (National Highway 1) stop at Wahroonga instead of continuing on to link up with the M2, M4, and Hulme Highway (underground even)? Who cares if it costs $50b, it would solve a lot of future transport problems and ensure that governments votes for years. Why did it take until 2010 to nationalise the school curriculum? Why is Warnie always on the bloody TV when I turn it on? Ok, so maybe I don’t have all the answers.

So, do we need a Minister for Common Sense, because my resume is ready to send. Or as so many of my friends tell me, am I just whingeing about nothing?

Want to get on your soapbox? Email me your ideas.

Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, “Leigh”:

I get very nervous when I visit friends with unrestrained dogs, especially when they insist their precious pooch is completely harmless.

“Go ahead” they beam, “let your little boy pat him, he’s really friendly. Wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

No thanks. Why are so many dog owners in denial about their dog’s inherently wild nature? It appears puppy love completely blinds people to the statistics.

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch reader, Shane Coghlan:

After surviving a robust ALP conference, Adelaide’s resident political playboy “King” Kevin Foley fronted the media last weekend crying out for sympathy after being assaulted outside a popular Adelaide club in the early hours of Sunday morning.

While not a rare occurrence and well know to most late-night city revellers, the incident left many wondering what their State’s 50 year old number is doing out at a time thought to be exclusively owned by the “troublesome and irresponsible generation Y?

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Today’s open thread is brought to you by Punch regular, “Macca”:

With the Victorian State Election looming tomorrow, it’s probably a good time to examine one of John Brumby’s more interesting policies. The Premier has announced a $208 million education program where school children from the city will spend up to two weeks in the country, and school children from the country will spend a similar amount of time in the city. This comes not long after Top Gear host James May claimed that Modern Men are “useless”. 

And I’ve got to say that I agree with Captain Slow on this one.

I am prepared to admit that I have almost zero practical skills; I have only once ever changed the tyre on my car, I cannot unblock a sink and, to May’s disgust, I have no interest in shelving.

Brumby’s program is one of the more inspired in recent domestic politics, however, it does not go far enough. Teaching city-slickers how to pitch a tent and lasso a Kangaroo are admirable pursuits, as are teaching country bumpkins the horror of bus lanes. But let’s teach real-life skills. Teenagers should be able to change the oil in a car before they drive one, remove a burnt-out light globe and cementing their neighbour’s driveway before completing year ten.

So, do we like John Brumby’s concept? Does it go far enough? What other skills would you like teenagers to learn? And should it be the responsibility of high-school teachers, or do we have a generation of lazy parents?

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