Some news media reports of late can be viewed as having a them of communication.
I’ll begin with a common annoyance of mine: giving financial information without context.
Greece has announced an increase in spending on climate crisis measures - see https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230916-greece-counts-billions-of-euros-in-losses-from-flash-floods-as-it-aims-to-rebuild
That is good, and should be helpful (if properly directed), but it also constitutes an increase of only 0.27% of government spending (based on https://www.statista.com/statistics/275335/government-revenue-and-spending-in-greece/, as showing when I accessed it today [it will change over time]) and 0.14% of GDP (based on https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/gdp , as showing when I accessed it today [it will change over time]).
Also on that truth aspect, an excellent article on judging people/groups by actions, not what they claim to be - and claims tend to be more what they want to be, than what they are.
See https://readcultured.com/your-community-is-what-it-does-b377269387f4
Continuing with that theme:
and an excellent article which is actually about media bias:
https://theaimn.com/the-clear-bias-of-the-labor-government/
and the biggest area we see bias in of late, of course, is the “no” campaign against the Voice
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/09/16/michael-pascoe-elon-musk-voice-to-parliament/ which is about the poisoning of social media into a weapon of hate - including its use in genocides
But there are constructive communications, as well:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/15/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-referendum-uk-peoples-vote-lessons, on lessons from the failure of the campaign against Brexit
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2023/09/17/warren-mundine-break-no-camp/, on Warren Mundine’s differences with the rest of the “no” campaign against the Voice, and his motivation for his position - which includes (read the article for the others) that it would, in his opinion, speed up attaining Treaty. (I disagree - because of the complexity of the process, which is mentioned by Mr Mundine, and as shown by the process in Victoria - which I celebrate, and look forward to the Treaty processes in Qld and NSW. Incidentally, the need for a Treaty is something I have advocated for for decades. A Voice is a toe in the door at a national level, and will make everything that has to follow easier.)
Senator Thorpe’s opposition is based on the concept blak sovereignty - which I agree with, but I consider the Voice will a quicker way to acheive benefits for First Peoples.
To be clear, the “no” campaign is still a problem, in my opinion (IMO) - see, for instance, https://theconversation.com/no-the-voice-to-parliament-would-not-force-people-to-give-up-their-private-land-212784
On the other hand, the “yes” campaign has some excellent communication - again, IMO, such as https://theaimn.com/im-doing-it-for-jake/
On attempting to improve communication, this article explains the importance of communicating in a way your audience will respond positively to, which I agree with, but as someone who has been advocating for addressing the climate crisis from back when it was climate change, last century, the need to do this in this area gives me the irrits, as we say here in Australia:
Finally, there is the aspect of protecting communication - partly from human rights such as Article 19 of the ICCPR on freedom of expression, and Article 17 of the ICCPR, Article 16 of the CRC, Article 22 of the CRPD, and Article 12 (1) of the DRIP on privacy, but also consumer protection principles and laws, the political right to address imbalances of power, and simple human decency. And, on that, see:
https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2023/09/11/google-chrome-security-ads/ is an example of need for https://theconversation.com/like-plumbing-did-for-water-australias-consumer-data-right-could-make-your-personal-data-safer-and-easier-to-share-210969, which is something else I get the irrits over, as I have advocated for this for many years now and been stymied by business attempts to maintain and increase profits - see:
- https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-surveillance-capitalism-and-how-does-it-shape-our-economy-119158;
- https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/03/harvard-professor-says-surveillance-capitalism-is-undermining-democracy/;
- https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/04/shoshana-zuboff-surveillance-capitalism-assault-human-automomy-digital-privacy; and
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Surveillance_capitalism&oldid=1166575963.
all of which shows, IMO, that this is the right of individuals against big business.
I am planning on writing another email on this to my MPs, but intend to do so after the referendum.
Assumptions / basis
In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following:
- this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan
Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post.
If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.
Vote Yes for the Voice in Australia.
Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.
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