Archive for March, 2007
“We live in hideous times… they will go down in history as one of those nasty little backwaters when bad things happened to dumb people and things went wrong and nobody cared and nobody laughed and fear was the governing ethic.
People will not want to read about what happened to us “back then’’. It will […]
Churchill called it the Black Dog but to me depression is a snake in the grass. It may never trouble you. But tread on it and it is quick to bite, paralysing you with fear, dread and self loathing.
For a long while I told myself that I was being pathetic, weak and self-serving.
I told myself to snap […]
When I was a kid I was taught that dobbing was worse the crime.
If you dobbed at on a bully at school you were bashed and ostracized, if you dobbed your brother at home you copped the same punishment as he did as well as a clip over the ear and growled “nobody likes a dobber’’.
I know I am not alone in this childhood experience.
But Australians are being asked to dob more and more by all levels of government - and we are obliging.
The Howard Government’s national security hotline (DOB IN A TERRORIST, 1800 123 400) received 42,000 calls in its first two years, between December 2002 and December 2004. Clearly there are a lot more dobbers than terrorists.
In 2005-06, following the “support the system that supports you’’ campaign Centrelink received nearly 120,000 calls to its Dob in a dole bludger line, alleging overpayments. About 2 per cent were genuine.
This is by no means an exhaustive list but if you wanted to you could reach for the phone right now and dob in:
A hoon,
A drug dealer
A drug cheat (sport)
A water cheat
A “Dodgy seafood retailer’’ – yes really
A litterer
A rubbish dumper
A wife-beater
An illegal immigrant
A “scammer’’
A dodgy cab
A dodgy taxpayer
A burglar
A backyard mechanic
A cockfighter
A dogfighter, and
A software pirate, RRrrrrrrrrrr.
That’s a lot of dobbin’.
Coupled with the fact that almost everyone has a camera in their phone and is encouraged to use it (“every piece of information is useful…’’) I fear we are heading down the slippery slope toward an Orwellian nightmare.
Or maybe I’m just paranoid.
Please don’t dob.
Who hates football today more than they did yesterday?
8 Answers Published 1 year, 5 months ago in My life.Skyhooks, can you have a chat to savefooty, show ‘em the ropes? 11 posts in a row is too many. Damn sporty types
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Water is easily the most precious and possibly the weirdest stuff on the planet, yet we pay it very little attention and get it virtually for free.
Liquid gold from the bargain basement
1000litres = one cubic metre = 1000kg
1000litres of crude oil (6.3 barrels) costs about $363
1000litres of milk costs about $1000
1000litres of petrol costs between […]
Some people do violent, stupid things in the name of religion.
Some people do violent and stupid things in the name of democracy.
Some people do violent and stupid things in the name of patriotism.
Some people do violent and stupid things in the name of sport.
Some people do violent and stupid things in the name of peace.
People […]
It looked so easy on Better Homes and Gardens and the good-folk at Bunnings were full of encouraging “no-worries-mate’’ advice, but I recently discovered that building a sandpit is not for the faint-hearted.
It was ten days till my son’s fifth birthday. I had already spent $10 and 10-minutes buying a t-ball set but my wife […]
Who hates cricket more today than they did yesterday?
8 Answers Published 1 year, 5 months ago in My life.
I could be wrong skyhooks but if I’m right - you’ve only got yoursef to blame
I could be wrong […]
Leaky Boat Tours presents: The Woomera Getaway Package and other Pacific Solutions.
6 Comments Published 1 year, 5 months ago in My life.Desperate to escape the tyranny of a Middle Eastern dictator?
Or just tired of the Third World and craving a day in the sun?
Leaky Boat Tours promises the best Australia has to offer - with its Woomera Getaway Package and Pacific Solutions.
Experience the searing heat of the South Australian Desert in this 21st century prison-style resort […]
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