The full-strength ‘Power of One’ personified
Dear reader, recently, (in case you hadn’t noticed) we’ve been talking about the ‘Power of One’ quite a bit. Now, if you hadn’t noticed also, politics these days all seems to be about the “Power’ exerted by singular individuals. They say all sorts of outrageous things and the press LOVE EM!
We’re entering an entirely new era of individualism. An individualism in which the value of the public social conscience is bit by bit, further impoverished. And we’re not just talking about the Bryce Courtenay novel here.
We at pcbycp have an editorial policy in which we don’t like to mention the purveyors of such purpose built public impoverishment of scandal, prejudice and ignorance. We must rise above the hatred and ill informed bigotry they espouse. Or, we become no better than Andrew Bxxlt, and Alan Joxxes. Such are the lofty standards of our editorial department. But we wonder are we swimming against the tide?
Our own little “Power of One”
A lightweight “Power of One”
Recently, you must have noticed there is been quite a lot of the “Power of One” directed against science. For example, we have the hyper intelligent, Malcolm Roberts repudiating the entire scientific process. You could explain the entire notion of evolution and climate science to him until you’d be blue in the face. And he’d still counter with: ‘I need to see the facts”. Then there’s George Christiansen. He’d rather an entire mega ecosystem is destroyed for a few jobs. To top it off we’ve got a P.M, who has promised so much, yet capitulates with the ‘Poor Refugee Punishment Act’. And of course Corey Bernardii, Eric Abetz,George Brandis and Kevin Andrews who’d like to take the entire nation back to a sort of first century christian fundamentalism, although none of us ever go to church these days. Their “ Power of One” individual prejudice has corrupted the entire body politic. And the electorate, supine, brow beaten, complacent, just goes along with it.
Finally, we’re at ground zero, the objective, principles and standing of National Science reduced to nought. Replaced by a quasi hyperbolic pseudo Christian fundamentalism. The denouement of science, (along with education,the environment, manufacturing, health care, and equity) is so profound that it’s principal cheerleader Sir Rupert the magnificent, has pronounced “mission accomplished”. With a Trump presidency. It’ll be clinically dead.
Helen DeMasi phd ‘Power of One” with “clever glasses”, not included in “Power of One Mr Potato-head” Doll.
Well, we at pcbycp can understand this switch to feudalist-laissez faire fundamentalism as a victory of the neo cons and vested interests. The big end lobbyists who’ve hijacked democracy for their own self serving ends. Just another index of the devolution of representative democracy post Thatcher. But what we can’t understand is how good science has also been destroyed by those within.
‘Power of One’ stands in front of what’s left of Science Unit at ABC. “Mission Accomplished” (Sir Rupert Lord of Dark and Evil)
The recent decision to cut the ABC Science program ‘Catalyst’ is a bloody tragedy. Probably to be replaced by an “independent producer” which will give us the sort of packaged reportage that’ ll be blander than bland. In the tradition of the CSIRO, it seems that the debacle has been self inflicted. Just in the same way that Larry Marshall got the gig to be CEO of the CSIRO. He exaggerated his role in developing ground breaking research in the US, (where no one had heard of him), and then set about deconstructing the national science body. It told us much about the absence of rigor and gullibility of the Board. Similarly, the willful stupidity of one individual led to the deconstruction of Catalyst. One lone fuckwit, Dr Helen DeMasi, PHD did it. She alone was capable of turning science reportage into a Sixty Minutes derived journalistic sludge. Because of her confected pseudo exposes, on Statins and then the ridiculously named, ‘Wi-fried’, we aint gonna have a Catalyst no more. We wonder which ill informed fuckwit gave this knob head the license to peddle such crap. Mr Squiggle could have done a better job, and it all to points to the devaluation of thought within the national broadcaster, the supine acquiescence of management, a loss of direction and capitulation to cheap thinking as espoused by the likes of Andrew, Bxxlt and Alan Joxxs.
Demasi’s denouement another instance of the ‘Power of One’. Remove the one, and we’ve got a complete nought. Or absolute Zero!! Or as the Yanks would say. Go figure and Do the Math!!