tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post5515492988651829334..comments2023-06-28T22:58:28.247+10:00Comments on Sixth In Line: An army of antsElisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-6219867004241715522012-07-10T20:49:31.144+10:002012-07-10T20:49:31.144+10:00I hope Jim cleared the confusion over eight legged...I hope Jim cleared the confusion over eight legged spiders satisfactorily for you here, Rhymeswithplague.<br /><br />It's sometimes easy to overlook the negative. We assume it's a positive. <br /><br />Thanks again, Rhymeswithplague.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-87134097153246612792012-07-10T20:47:00.682+10:002012-07-10T20:47:00.682+10:00It's a tough one this, Zuzana. As humans we h...It's a tough one this, Zuzana. As humans we have more control over animal lives than might sometimes be good for us and then to mix that control up with the lives of asylum seekers, those less fortunate than us, it becomes an even more serious thing. That is if we are to value human lives above those of the insects. <br /><br />You have to wonder sometimes. <br />Thanks again, Zuzana.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-32323958529044919082012-07-09T22:49:01.878+10:002012-07-09T22:49:01.878+10:00I feel the same about ants and spiders as you do.;...I feel the same about ants and spiders as you do.;) Actually the other day when I killed a few ants that are right now causing an infestation in our bathroom, I thought about the irony in this *murder*. I have actually terminated life, it was just not another human life... It is funny how we human seemingly decide when such an act is a crime and violence and when it is a mundane occurrence going perfectly unnoticed.<br />As for refugee control, you are completely right, the unknown will always bring the worst out in people, in their actions, speech and words.<br />xoxoZuzanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02137958790178864561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-86816017654301951252012-07-07T20:26:33.299+10:002012-07-07T20:26:33.299+10:00@rhymeswithplague: Thanks for that. I was aware. I...@rhymeswithplague: Thanks for that. I was aware. If you look again at the poem what it's saying is that my ex-wfe <i>still</i> stepped on spiders (even though they don't have six legs). She squished millipedes too. I just found it amusing, given her entomophobia that she would take especial offence to creepy crawlies with six legs imagining them somehow "dirtier" than all the others.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-74715338125556953012012-07-06T22:34:17.527+10:002012-07-06T22:34:17.527+10:00For your and Jim Murdoch's and Jim Murdoch'...For your and Jim Murdoch's and Jim Murdoch's bug-hating ex-wife's information, spiders have eight legs.rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48413145003410902072012-07-04T20:46:09.952+10:002012-07-04T20:46:09.952+10:00I'm not too sure what W.M.D.s are, Dave, but ...I'm not too sure what W.M.D.s are, Dave, but I suspect I should. Computer ants in disguise I get. Hopefully I've eliminated them. <br /><br />Thanks, Dave.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-16299874268754821342012-07-03T18:32:19.662+10:002012-07-03T18:32:19.662+10:00Our collective future on this planet does seem wor...Our collective future on this planet does seem worrying Rob-bear, unless of course as a collective we get more behind efforts to slow down the rot, for want of a better world.<br /><br />Most of the time I'm optimistic but not when I hear some narrow-minded folks speak harshly about the needs of others less fortunate than us, and realise there are an awful lot who think this way.<br /><br />Thanks, Rob-bear.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-2281213832513632322012-07-03T18:29:24.290+10:002012-07-03T18:29:24.290+10:00I'm not sure that we here in australia are doi...I'm not sure that we here in australia are doing any better than the folks in your country, Jeanette, as regards a concern for those in more need than ourselves. The desire for instant gratification abounds here, and the need to consider those more vulnerable than the rest of us tends to get sidelined as unimportant or irrelevant.<br /><br />Like you, as far as the animal kingdom is concerned, from the smallest to the biggest, I too can be inconsistent in my carnivorous habits and my desire to be free from the wriggling biting ones. And I too love my pets, especially when they're well behaved. <br /><br />Thanks, Jeanette.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-34334799242191084502012-07-03T18:23:59.180+10:002012-07-03T18:23:59.180+10:00I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether ficti...I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether fictional or non-fictional, but you're right: if we could choose our own endings, life might feel better, at least more under our control and certainly under more control than any of the asylum seekers have.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-77033919038625590722012-07-03T18:23:58.289+10:002012-07-03T18:23:58.289+10:00I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether ficti...I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether fictional or non-fictional, but you're right: if we could choose our own endings, life might feel better, at least more under our control and certainly under more control than any of the asylum seekers have.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-43045202653871119392012-07-03T18:23:56.907+10:002012-07-03T18:23:56.907+10:00I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether ficti...I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether fictional or non-fictional, but you're right: if we could choose our own endings, life might feel better, at least more under our control and certainly under more control than any of the asylum seekers have.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-45875742400578896432012-07-03T18:23:48.966+10:002012-07-03T18:23:48.966+10:00I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether ficti...I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether fictional or non-fictional, but you're right: if we could choose our own endings, life might feel better, at least more under our control and certainly under more control than any of the asylum seekers have.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-8545190949656002172012-07-03T18:23:42.426+10:002012-07-03T18:23:42.426+10:00I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether ficti...I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether fictional or non-fictional, but you're right: if we could choose our own endings, life might feel better, at least more under our control and certainly under more control than any of the asylum seekers have.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39101069770808386262012-07-03T18:23:35.748+10:002012-07-03T18:23:35.748+10:00I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether ficti...I have trouble with endings, Rachel, whether fictional or non-fictional, but you're right: if we could choose our own endings, life might feel better, at least more under our control and certainly under more control than any of the asylum seekers have.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-52018007120323568422012-07-03T18:21:28.645+10:002012-07-03T18:21:28.645+10:00I checked out DH Lawrence's poem, Sarah and yo...I checked out DH Lawrence's poem, Sarah and you and Elegancemason are right. It's wonderful. Nothing like waiting in the queue for a snake. <br /><br />Thanks, Sarah.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-78436614589579113282012-07-03T18:20:38.525+10:002012-07-03T18:20:38.525+10:00Maybe they were computer bugs in disguise... still...Maybe they were computer bugs in disguise... still, thanks to your W.M.D.s no harm done! Great post.Dave Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430484174826768488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-34563077581572910962012-07-03T13:56:21.440+10:002012-07-03T13:56:21.440+10:00A very interesting post Elizabeth. Especially Jenn...A very interesting post Elizabeth. Especially Jennifer Wilson’s thoughts on desperation.<br /><br />In a world where compassion is such a rare commodity, I'm not surprised that Australia is having this kind of conversation. We're having something akin to that in Canada. More government imposition than conversation, actually. <br /><br />Which is why I despair for our future. Our collective future. The future that belongs to all of us.Rob-bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00171692478879522588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-10028746101658651482012-07-03T03:48:21.419+10:002012-07-03T03:48:21.419+10:00I stopped trying to have "dialogs" on al...I stopped trying to have "dialogs" on almost any serious subject in blogland. When the subject is the environment, the flamers are horrible and the conversation gets reduced to two or three vitriolic pro and con writers. Same with immigration here.<br /><br />So many people, I think, in this day and age, EXPECT quick fixes to problems that have developed over decades, often. DEMAND quick fixes. In the USA I feel a depressing combination of greed, a NEED for instant gratification, and selfishness--qualities that preclude welcoming immigrants, wanting to help the poor or the sick, or recognizing the concept of shared sacrifice.<br /><br />I hope Australians deal with issues better than we are of late.<br /><br />As for bugs? In my home, I see them as intruders into MY SPACE. Outdoors, I see myself as the intruder. I rarely think before I squash. Sometimes I leave spiders in the corners alone as long as they do not venture to the ceiling above my HEAD! They are welcome in the corners by the door and screens, and I see how they've spared me mosquito bites.<br /><br />I am inconsistent in all of this. And last night, perhaps for the first time in my life, I felt guilty eating meat. I pictured the animal. I've never done that. I am sensing a change, perhaps, from omnivore.<br /><br />Ah, Elisabeth, we are all studies in inconsistency--works in progress, all.JeannetteLShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13528285846408727632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-2357296092332668622012-07-02T11:03:17.729+10:002012-07-02T11:03:17.729+10:00I've been writing about just these questions a...I've been writing about just these questions and topics recently, Elisabeth, though not as succinctly or forthright as you. In fiction the issues are no easier to fathom however, although I do get to choose my own endings, which is more than asylum seekers get. <br /><br /><br />Thanks for a thoughtful post.Rachel Fentonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10046917627054462214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-22157593807116307062012-07-02T00:15:33.345+10:002012-07-02T00:15:33.345+10:00I just love elegance's comment. And the poem. ...I just love elegance's comment. And the poem. Says it all to me, having lived with DHL, desperates and tigersnakes all my life ...sarah toahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12412812914705725798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-90694608944208179002012-07-01T18:41:26.681+10:002012-07-01T18:41:26.681+10:00So you're another person like me, Greg, who be...So you're another person like me, Greg, who believes spiders have their place in the line of 'predatory duty'. Some call it survival of the fittest, but I reckon it's also about keeping a sustainable eco-system within the animal kingdom. <br /><br />Unfortunately, we humans tend to stuff it up from time to time.<br /><br />Thanks, Greg.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-80663478827492706082012-07-01T18:38:36.395+10:002012-07-01T18:38:36.395+10:00I'm with you here, Elegancemaison: Australia i...I'm with you here, Elegancemaison: Australia is a big country and like you, I'm not sure I personally could turn away a person in need, and yet we as a nation seem to be doing that - or trying to do that - in droves when it comes to asylum seekers. <br /><br />They seek asylum but instead they find things like detention and an unwelcoming stance from our politicians by and large. <br /><br />I'd better get off this topic soon because it makes me hot under the collar. As Pat, Weaver, reckons, people become aggressive. Not that all aggression is bad. We need it when we are to fight for what we believe in, and in order to fight for the underdog - but of course in moderation.<br /><br />Thanks, Elegancemaison.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-87174533935930414012012-07-01T18:32:00.149+10:002012-07-01T18:32:00.149+10:00I think you may be right about this issue of talki...I think you may be right about this issue of talking about the politically sensitive topics in blogland, Pat. As you say some people can become aggressive. <br /><br />They are such emotionally laden issues. And yet there are many such emotionally laden issues touched upon in blogland . It's a risk to raise them, but I cant bear the silence and like you I keep thinking about the events of the second world war and the way certain things were kept under wraps even as many people knew about them, but did not want to know what they knew for fear of how it might have impacted upon them. <br /><br />I can understand this. Especially in wartime, we tend to become paranoid and fearful. Why ever not? It becomes a matter of life and death, as it is at the moment for most asylum seekers. <br /><br /> Thanks, Pat.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-61421687643479704252012-07-01T18:26:09.575+10:002012-07-01T18:26:09.575+10:00Yours is the second time I've read George Carl...Yours is the second time I've read George Carlin quoted recently, Kirk. I read it on Jennifer Wilson's blog, No place for sheep, a quote offered by one HudsonGodfrey, writing about so-called PTSD:<br /><br />'I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation. For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I’ll give you an example of that.<br /><br />There’s a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.<br /><br />In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves.<br /><br />That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue.<br /><br />Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, we’re up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.<br /><br />Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder.<br /><br />I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.'<br /><br />To me this connects with the way we think about and write about the issues of illegal immigrants who get confused with genuine refugees, who get confused with ordinary immigrants or anyone desperate enough to try to find a home. <br /><br />I reckon most of these matters are so complex, it's tempting to try to find a way of thinking about them in black and white terms - the good the bad and the ugly - but life is rarely if ever like that.<br /><br />Thanks, Kirk . <br /><br />_____________________________________________Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48307852985488333102012-07-01T18:14:59.357+10:002012-07-01T18:14:59.357+10:00We don't see many slaters around here, River. ...We don't see many slaters around here, River. Certainly not indoors. Somehow I don't mind slaters. They remind me of miniature dinosaurs. <br /><br />My youngest daughter hates cockroaches passionately, but they to do not bother me. My daughter tells me they carry disease. What bug doesn't. I tell her that spiders are good. They eat flies. But it doesn't help her aversion to spiders.<br /><br /> Anything that might jump on you unbeknownst in the night. Mosquitos to me are worst of all, not so much for their bite and disease-carrying capacity, as for the way they whistle in my ear late at night in summer. It's a pet aversion of mine.<br /><br />It's so much easier for me to write about bugs than to write about the things that seen more serious to me like asylum seekers. As for the infrastructure, my theory is it will grow as the numbers grow to manage it.<br /><br />It's rather like the idea that some people have: you have to have a house before you have a baby . To me it's okay to have the baby first. The house will follow. Though here I'm speaking about your average person in a place like Australia. <br /><br />Not those who are desperate and homeless, or indigenous in some instances. Even stateless.<br /><br />Thanks, River.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.com