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The Forum > Article Comments > Right v left or right v wrong? > Comments

Right v left or right v wrong? : Comments

By Charlie Forsyth, published 29/11/2006

The real things we worry about are the mortgage or rent payments, the cost and availability of health care, child-care, education ...

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I suppose it is understandable that no-one in the media or politics is prepared to state how fragile the lifestyle that Charlie extols is. With the result of the american mid-term election indicating that nothing will be done to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and the consequent prospect that the next Middle East war (or the one after) could well go nuclear (with rather sad results for the oilfields), the truth is that the next generation is very likely to have to live far worse that we did. This, coupled with the ever mounting level of personal debt that continues to dominate people's lives, is going to end up with sad outcomes for many people. Even if war can be averted (and I am sure we would all join in hoping that it can), the end of the age of cheap oil will end the 150 year long trend of rising living standards. Unfortunately history teaches that declines rarely happen smoothly, but are usually punctuated by violence, wars, and business collapse. Is it any wonder that today's generation is disconnected?
Posted by plerdsus, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 9:23:30 PM
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The final phrases “my concern is not which one to choose but what difference the choice will make. People wonder why our generation seems so disengaged from politics”

I have always valued "choice".

Not the "choice I make" but the "right to make a choice".

I have always viewed the real battle in politics is not about the number of child care centers but being forced to accept, without right of dissent, what some remote and faceless bureaucrat tells me I am allowed, in terms of child care.

For “child care” you are free to substitute any of the other “issues” which Charlie has presumed matter (health, schools, jobs etc).

The battle was fought and has been won. This forum is an example of why, what I observe and support, is morally right as well as being politically, of the right.

If the left had “won”, we would not be allowed to express dissent. The cadres and commissars of the “central committee of all things socialist” would have political censors working feverishly around the clock to ensure no dissent ever appeared. The Stasi would follow-up to organize “re-education” for dissenters.

Without the tensions of real and pressing world conflict or real challenges to deal with, “Charlie’s generation” lack the "testing" of their values.

Instead they know only how rosie everything looks. They have not experienced high unemployment and were only a by-stander to recession and skyrocketing interest rates.
The cold war was something which had something to do with the Berlin Wall and was all too remote and too long ago too matter.

That was the battle. This article is just a whine. It attempts to trivialize the efforts which prior generations put into getting the world to where it is today.

Oh and whilst Charlie focuses on “his generation” he would do well to remember, his generation is not the only one which votes and it ain’t the only one which matters.

As SHONGA rightly asserts “in decades gone people fought long and hard to put people like you on easy street.”
Posted by Col Rouge, Thursday, 30 November 2006 7:19:29 AM
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Blimey, this is the second post where I'm finding myself agreeing with Sir Col (OBE) and Shonga. It must be the weather.
Posted by Rainier, Thursday, 30 November 2006 8:22:48 AM
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Col: "The battle was fought and has been won. This forum is an example of why, what I observe and support, is morally right as well as being politically, of the right.

If the left had “won”, we would not be allowed to express dissent. The cadres and commissars of the “central committee of all things socialist” would have political censors working feverishly around the clock to ensure no dissent ever appeared. The Stasi would follow-up to organize “re-education” for dissenters."

Gotta disagree Col. Both sides are as keen to suppress dissent and neither really has moral superiority in this regard.
Witness Howard's attitude toward the ABC, and he is now turning his sights toward the education system as his next big battle.

The extreme acts you refer to have occurred throughout history in socialist regimes, but to chalk that up to the left side of politics is going far too far I'm afraid.
Posted by TurnRightThenLeft, Thursday, 30 November 2006 8:45:46 AM
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Charlie I want you to go see a play it's called "waiting for Gotto".

Remember Charlie only you can save the world.
Posted by Kenny, Thursday, 30 November 2006 9:05:57 AM
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Feeling disempowered politically does not mean someone undervalues the right to choose. Nor does calling for new debate and language beyond the constructs of the 20th century mean that those struggles didn't matter, or are not important. I'd call it trying to look forward, and in particular move beyond the language of conflict and name-calling that I see is alive and well.

Col Rouge:
"Without the tensions of real and pressing world conflict or real challenges to deal with, “Charlie’s generation” lack the "testing" of their values."

So what's the war on terror - a walk in the park? You mention the Cold War - how many Australians died in that? How real or pressing was the threat in Bali, or London, where many young people died?!
As for high interest rates - we now spend more of our money on servicing mortgages than was ever spent in the '80s and '90s. Ever heard of skyrocketing house prices?

How exactly does the article trivialise past achievements? What I think he's observing is that politicians and the particular debate about the 'culture wars' don't resonate with most Australians, and across all generations. Obviously readers of this forum are excepted.

I won't even bother with the dribbling fantasy about communist rule in Australia (did you miss that he was talking about the 'culture wars' of the last five years, not the Cold War of the last 50?). Except to point out that by your argument, if the right had won we'd all be saluting Hitler. Did it ever occur to you that, just as right-wing governments aren't all fascist, neither are all left-wing governments communist dictatorships?
Posted by funkylamb, Thursday, 30 November 2006 9:45:25 AM
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