Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

Time	Event
1:10p	Two Things: Firstly, this may possibly be the most amusing Media Watch story that I have seen. Secondly, today I opened up the paper (The Australian) and came across a full page advertisement about how "we are losing the equivalent of more than all the Australians killed in World War II" due to Australians not having enough kids. See also: http://www.play2upnow.com.au/anzac.htm It is an interesting thing. Yes, you could indeed say that "We are far too preoccupied with material possessions. This, more than anything else seems to be the reason why our birth rate is in decline. It’s a very sad reason indeed.." However, to say that such selfishness is a bad thing requires a belief/morality that puts emphasis upon the good of the nation over the good of the individual. I am, if you have heard me rant, rather anti-nationalistic: I see very little point in worshiping a flag or nation. This does not mean that I do not have a belief in certain standards of freedom, and of political and civil rights. Thus I prefer to view the heroicisms of the ANZACs as defending my right to those freedoms, and defending the lives of their friends and family back home. But, anyway, back to the point. As a person who has a great dislike of modern consumerist materialism, I can see the stupidity of having "your McMansion or your home cinema or flash holiday" as opposed to having a nice family. The problem is that different people enjoy different things, and it is considered a basic function of "civilised society" that people should have the right to be different. Sartre, I think, would call this a form of bad faith, not being willing to admit that we all think that our individual way is best. But, in the end, all this can be ignored as you chuckle to yourself about the great irony of this ad being placed opposite the page with articles discussing how the Catholic Church is considering allowing AIDS sufferers to use contraception. Or perhaps it is only I that finds this ironic. (3 Comments | Comment on this)
10:01p	I feel rather empty, if that is a possible thing. Or perhaps it is not emptiness. No it isn't, come to think of it. I am stressed, over-worrying, anxious, nervous, whatever. Assignments to do, and I planned to utilise the day off to take a big chunk out of them. Laziness overcame that idea. Rationality holds that I have more than enough time to complete the assignments before they are due, but panic seizes my mind, locks it, freezes it. Thus it is a sort of emptiness I feel, every possible action or thought pails in comparison to the stress. It is the emptiness of blinding light, not that of complete darkness. Nothing seems worthwhile, it all seems so useless, even sleep. There remains only the desire to escape all this, go back to being a child, crawl into my mother's lap and sleep protected from the harsh outside world. My mind knows only two options with this: either ignore everything and become apathetic to it all, or dwell on the panic. Eventually, with enough apathy, the panic will weaken and then I may act or I may be lazy once more. I wish I had a little more willpower so that I would actually do my work before I am forced to by the bayonets of stress. Anyway, my day, as silly as it was. The only things of note were that I watched Before Sunset (which was literally a 70 minute conversation between two people), and went to the Unisfa screening of Equilibrium. The later, I thought, provoked questions as to what exactly is a feeling. Are not faith and duty feelings? Without feelings/emotions I would think that one would encounter a nominalistic paralysis of action. A state of conformism requires one to feel that it is good and right to conform, or else to fear the consequences of being different. That is my opinion in any case. Current Music: Satie - Gnossiennes (1 Comment | Comment on this)

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