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I'm not here to debate identity politics in another thread. I'm totally fucking over that in this place.
I hope you'll notice that I pointed out the gap between staff and administrators in my original post.
My point was that in an instagram age young people are confronted by the image that where being hot, rude, naked, obnoxious, or otherwise will get you further than being being smart and well read. As a result, if you are educator, you've already got some barriers to break down.
It's also worth noting that the fightback to many of those IP ideas has come from teaching and research staff in universities (e.g., Jordan Peterson), which goes to my original point that many of these changes make things harder for university staff (rather than administrators who have been right in the middle of driving some of these bad things, such as identity politics, in some places).
Finally, I'd add that Identity politics doesn't feature very strongly at all in my teaching context. People get diversity, are kind to others, call someone what they want to be called by (it's never happened to me btw) and it works well - the ridiculousness from, primarily US liberal arts Unis is almost entirely absent from my Japanese liberal arts university.
So, when I say that we are finding it hard, I'm not talking about kids protesting to me about safe spaces; I'm talking about kids who only want to surf the gram and send nudes, and don't care that they are dumb and couldn't give a fuck about the tens of thousands of dollars that their parents are paying for their education.
Identity politics is not the defining feature of every discussion, on every thread, everywhere.
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@gt12 awesome reply thanks mate. Yes, my take on further examination does place blame and distinction at administrators. Many of the teaching staff relate to being afraid to challenge the admin, with justification.
Your quick summary of the "less motivated" students definitely tallies with my experiences in Thailand.You've corrected my vague assertions, thanks. Good luck with what you're doing man, I don't know many more feelings of joy when you teach and succeed with willing students. It's a wonderful thing to do. 👍
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@gt12 said in Aussie Politics:
where being hot, rude, naked, obnoxious, or otherwise will get you further than being being smart and well read
I've met a helluva lot of people in corporate life who had less talent or intellect than many others, but got further by being a total crunt. A lot of good ones as well, but the people who get paid well just for being visible while contributing absolutely zero ... it boggles the mind.
Sure, there was hard work in there, and sacrifices, but ultimately our society long ago sailed on success being related to cruntility, and our political system is definitive proof of that.
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@antipodean said in Aussie Politics:
@Rembrandt said in Aussie Politics:
You can't stop progress!
https://m.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/parent-fury-as-primary-school-bans-cupcakes/3943752/
I don't recall celebrating my birthday at school.
In the same breath the people protesting little Tyffanie-Rae not getting cupcakes will say that people should stop being entitled.
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@Siam said in Aussie Politics:
@NTA said in Aussie Politics:
@Siam said in Aussie Politics:
Berkeley riots of Milo
Which is the most interesting / funny one from the pov that Milo is a fucking clown and stood for nothing but his own promotion.
I agree mate, but there's a principle at play. I like your former deputy pm, John Anderson. He talks about a shift from principles in politics to middle management ( expedient measures to placate) these days and I think he talks sense
Anderson is sorely missed not just by his party but politics more broadly. He was a sensible measured type with an old school approach where he knew which fights to take on but with a bit of class and respect.
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Rent-a-crowd retards are at it again. Something's happening in America, jump on the bandwagon:
'Over a thousand people gathered at Garmea Place in the city this morning to join the Black Lives Matter protest in Canberra.
The protest saw a large group of people walk over the Commonwealth Ave bridge causing delays for some commuters. Some motorists showed their support by sounding their horn.
The march saw people chanting about a number of issues as they moved up to the lawns of Parliament House.'
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@antipodean said in Aussie Politics:
Rent-a-crowd retards are at it again. Something's happening in America, jump on the bandwagon:
'Over a thousand people gathered at Garmea Place in the city this morning to join the Black Lives Matter protest in Canberra.
The protest saw a large group of people walk over the Commonwealth Ave bridge causing delays for some commuters. Some motorists showed their support by sounding their horn.
The march saw people chanting about a number of issues as they moved up to the lawns of Parliament House.'
I'm sure they did.
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@booboo said in Aussie Politics:
What is Branch Stacking?
And why is it bad?
You have people that don't actually exist voting for your candidate.
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@antipodean said in Aussie Politics:
@booboo said in Aussie Politics:
What is Branch Stacking?
And why is it bad?
You have people that don't actually exist voting for your candidate.
Basically what you do when you don't want to risk anyone but your preferred brand of nepotism
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@booboo said in Aussie Politics:
What is Branch Stacking?
And why is it bad?
So most party pre-selections are done by a vote of the local branches. Those branches consist of 'rank and file' party members - generally old ducks and young fools who want to be involved in the party in some way.
Branch stacking is when one candidate 'stacks' the branch by introducing dozens of new members that have no real party affiliation, and their sole purpose is to vote for that candidate in the coming pre-selection.
So instead of a pre-selection considering the merits of the candidates, it comes down to who can bring the most people in the door to vote for them. Key targets for stackers - family members, student groups, churches, ethnic groups.
What it means broadly is the best local candidate is often overlooked in favour of local stackers. This impacts the supply chain of future leaders, as you want the backbench to be a breeding ground of talented people rather than a cesspool of local hacks.
How do you fix it? Tighter rules around membership, perhaps. More central oversight in candidates maybe. But there is no easy answer as both of those things can have unintended consequences.
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@barbarian said in Aussie Politics:
What it means broadly is the best local candidate is often overlooked in favour of local stackers. This impacts the supply chain of future leaders, as you want the backbench to be a breeding ground of talented people rather than a cesspool of local hacks.
How do you fix it? Tighter rules around membership, perhaps. More central oversight in candidates maybe. But there is no easy answer as both of those things can have unintended consequences.
The line pretty clearly is if the member is aware they hold membership and pay the fee themselves - then it's fair game.
It's not exactly clear why rigorous membership checks haven't been put in place if there is a genuine effort to stamp this out - particularly around preselection - when the two major parties have ~50,000 members each in 150 federal divisions. It's pretty obvious cash membership payment should be out with unique bank account or credit card required.
If anything the Liberal system with the higher membership fees and state executive having a hand in things is weighted too much to the 'best candidate' - I would argue some returns in the blue-ribbon seats where Howard ministers retired have been pretty safe and underwhelming, particularly out of NSW.
The Labor system obviously is clearly worse with each faction 'owning' various seats and the gender targets - but they probably still get as much of their top talent in the door despite the hackery.
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@rotated @barbarian moving away from allowing cash payments for membership might help...
Recruitment activities of both major political parties and minor parties have raised eyebrows for eons. Branch stacking isn’t generally aired in mainstream media other than when someone “from within” has their nose out of joint and wants to stitch another candidate/party member up. Forget Labor vs Liberal, the internal stuff is the most brutal. I’ve seen some nasty ones in my time.
On the Victorian Labor stacking (remember that?), the biggest issue is the covert nature of the footage that showed conversations etc and the fact a Federal MPs office was being used as a veritable TV studio to try and nail Somyurek. The recruitment activities and strategies are by the by really. Some of the reaction and subsequent sharing of text exchanges between Somyurek and Byrne added a bit of drama also.
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@Frank said in Aussie Politics:
Can anyone who know something about OZ politics comment on this?
Is this a real strategy change in the Oz govt towards China or just the commentator's opinion.?Why? Are you a communist spy?
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@NTA said in Aussie Politics:
The Bolt Report.
Basically take anything that guy says, drop it in shit remover, and see if anything survives.
why? why do you bother even switching it on? You have a bad heart, why deliberately make yourself angry?
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Politics:
@NTA said in Aussie Politics:
The Bolt Report.
Basically take anything that guy says, drop it in shit remover, and see if anything survives.
why? why do you bother even switching it on? You have a bad heart, why deliberately make yourself angry?
I don't - the headline and the Sky banner is enough to dismiss it as anything remotely related to "journalism".
Aussie Politics