On abuse of power ... and accountability / prevention

There have been some news articles and analysis this week which illustrates the problem of abuse of power - or attempted abuse of power: 

“The Tyreek Hill Arrest Is A Travesty”   https://youtu.be/5tvztBs_VYc     

“DeSantis CAUGHT As Alarming Florida Police Voter Intimidation Scheme Surfaces”   https://youtu.be/bWtph09ogGY      

“Secret Republican scandal SURGES into spotlight”   https://youtube.com/shorts/X9KyWk60Y5g   This is about misogynistic sexual harassment      

On a violent abuse of power by an individual:   “No! Not this again!! This does NOT help anyone - ever!!!”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/09/no-not-this-again-this-does-not-help.html     

... and also attempts to avoid the consequences of abuse of power: 

“Shorten furious over robodebt department head’s attempt to position herself as ‘scapegoat’ | Centrelink debt recovery | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/14/robodebt-department-head-claims-she-was-unfairly-blamed-for-having-dreamed-up-unlawful-scheme      

“‘Zero repercussions’: victims of robodebt ‘embarrassed’ to have believed justice would be done | Centrelink debt recovery | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/16/zero-repercussions-victims-of-robodebt-embarrassed-to-have-believed-justice-would-be-done     

... but at least one case where the powerful were held to account: 

“By showing Musk’s X the red card, has Brazil scored a goal for all democracies? | John Naughton | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/15/by-showing-musks-unruly-x-the-red-card-brazil-has-scored-a-goal-for-all-democracies     

... and some thoughtful reflection on the use of power: 

“Australia’s decades of harmful policy will be repaid in intergenerational trauma, and inquiries can only do so much | Julianne Schultz | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/15/australias-decades-of-harmful-policy-will-be-repaid-in-intergenerational-trauma-and-inquiries-can-only-do-so-much     

I may add more to this post - and note that I have covered these topics previously, including with regard to news articles (see, for instance, here, here, and the articles here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

 

 

PS - additional links of relevance: 

This shows flawed use of power - specifically, fixed or pre-judgemental thinking:   “Amber Haigh murder trial: how a ‘red herring’ witness and poor policing hampered the hunt for answers”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/16/amber-haigh-trial-how-a-red-herring-witness-and-poor-policing-hampered-the-hunt-for-answers-ntwnfb      

This also shows (a persistence of) prejudiced thinking:   “Criticism of sacred site decision shows we have learned nothing from Juukan Gorge”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/16/criticism-of-sacred-site-decision-shows-we-have-learned-nothing-from-juukan-gorge      

This shows the sort of inflexible incompetence often attributed to white, stale, cismale managers (but others are also capable of this productivity-crippling, human-damaging, egocentricity) is still plaguing the business world:   “Amazon mandates five days a week in office starting next year | Amazon | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/16/amazon-in-person-office-policy      

“The cement company that paid millions to IS: was Lafarge complicit in crimes against humanity? | Islamic State | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/17/french-cement-company-lafarge-paid-millions-to-islamic-state-syria   Legal action is currently underway      

This suggests flawed us, or failure to use, power:   “Former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans says Australia won’t have sovereignty over AUKUS submarines”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/17/gareth-evans-australia-sovereignty-aukus-nuclear-submarines     

 

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 or 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. 

Note that, as with my main blog [see here], I am cutting back on aspects of my posts.

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/