FROM this week’s news ON: society generally, and broader issues [Note: Content Warning - may be links to distressing reports on this topic. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

Frrom this week’s news on society generally, and broader issues (note: I may continue to add links for a few days, possibly up to a week, after these are published):

• “Australia’s 2.5 million smokers not jobless and dumb: research”   https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2024/02/19/smokers-research   “... and quit-smoking material needs to better reflect this, researchers say”   

• “Alan Kohler: Do we have the smarts to handle AI? History isn’t encouraging”   https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2024/02/19/kohler-ai-risks-rewards   “How AI deepfakes threaten the 2024 elections”   https://journalistsresource.org/home/how-ai-deepfakes-threaten-the-2024-elections/   “We don’t yet know the full impact of artificial intelligence-generated deepfake videos on misinforming the electorate. And it may be the narrative around them -- rather than the deepfakes themselves -- that most undermines election integrity”      “AI Behaviour, Human Destiny and the Rise of the Killer Robots”   https://www.juancole.com/2024/02/behavior-destiny-killer.html   “As the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have shown, the earliest drone equivalents of “killer robots” have made it onto the battlefield and proved to be devastating weapons. But at least they remain largely under human control. Imagine, for a moment, a world of war in which those aerial drones (or their ground and sea equivalents) controlled us ...”      “What is Sora? A new generative AI tool could transform video production and amplify disinformation risks”   https://theconversation.com/what-is-sora-a-new-generative-ai-tool-could-transform-video-production-and-amplify-disinformation-risks-223850      This next report is on concerns being raised about attempts to deal with a very real, massively harmful problem   “Apple warns Australian proposal to force tech companies to scan cloud services could lead to mass surveillance”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/22/apple-warns-australian-proposal-to-force-tech-companies-to-scan-cloud-services-could-lead-to-mass-surveillance   “Scanning for known child abuse material would compromise the privacy and safety of every user, tech giant says”      For this next article, while there is, indeed, a need for users to be wary, there is ALSO a need for governments to accept reality and ensure that the information they make available to apps - and if they aren't, they are incompetent - is also accurate   “German tourists blame Google Maps mishap for week lost in Queensland | SBS News”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/german-tourists-blame-google-maps-mishap-for-week-lost-in-queensland/1ndpm4lzu  
  

• as a prelude to this article, throughout much of human history most languages have only been spoken by a few thousand people. This led to humans being multilingual being the norm for most of our existence - and that is well exemplified by places such as the Balkans, and Indigenous language speakers in Australia. That this article is about an act of decency that seems so exceptional is an indication of how far we have declined as a species   “This 25-year-old is learning his seventh language. It's proving critical in his job | SBS News”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/this-25-year-old-is-learning-his-seventh-language-its-proving-critical-in-his-job/3kbf5upi2   
  

• “Care Packages for the Man Who Shot Him”   https://piperhendricks.medium.com/care-packages-for-the-man-who-shot-him-c2f72f19d829   “... part of me would like to believe I am the way I am because of some inherent goodness   ... But when I think harder, I admit that’s pretty preposterous and recognize just how lucky I’ve been   ...   Cheryl’s son   ...   stayed in touch with the man who shot him throughout the time he was in prison and showed him month after month that someone cared.   ...   And where is the man who shot Cheryl’s son now?   Out of prison. No further violations. And mentoring students in his community to help them avoid turning to violence”      but, on the other hand,   “Two charged with murder in Super Bowl parade shooting”   https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2024/02/21/two-charged-murder-super-bowl-shooting   ““A verbal altercation occurred and gunfire broke out with no regard for thousands of other individuals in the area.””   I have known people like that: they are disturbed, incompetent as human beings,   possibly sociopaths, and must be restrained to prevent other people being harmed. Discernment is needed over when to forgive, and when to put safety first  
  

• “How our love of pets grew from a clash of world views”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00541-7   “Indigenous Americans’ relationships with and knowledge of animals have influenced how Europeans have thought about animals since 1492”   Animistic and reverential attitudes also existed in Europe prior to neochristianity  
  

• “What ‘psychological warfare’ tactics do scammers use, and how can you protect yourself?”   https://theconversation.com/what-psychological-warfare-tactics-do-scammers-use-and-how-can-you-protect-yourself-223959      this is abusive, perverted, and risks the mental health and wellbeing of innocent passers-by   https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/feb/23/perth-festival-invisible-opera-scarborough-beach      “How productivity gurus are making you less productive”   https://joanwestenberg.medium.com/how-productivity-gurus-are-making-you-less-productive-ce271b7cecb6   Well said  
  

My links for activism post may aid any activism you may decide to do on any/all of these. If you do, don’t get too fixated on specific instances of problems - important though they may well be: take a moment to also consider the broader issues these incidents and groups of incidents may suggest/reveal.

 

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.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/