bogarde73, on refugees (including women and children):

"They can rot in their own countries and I won't lose a minute's sleep." 

In reply to tickle:
Global compassion rules supreme over the instinct for survival.

What hope is there for your children with attitudes like that? None

bogarde73's views on child refugees:

"They can rot in their own countries and I won't lose a minute's sleep."

The Libs and Labs are way past their use-by date. I'd rather see the dusty dirt road outside my place sealed than see any more money spent on refugees. A decent internet connection would be nice too, one dark cloud in the sky blocking satellite, off goes the connection ... and for the TV

One thing I've really noticed since I decentralized from the big city, Australia has the worst roads in the world and getting worse. Many small towns and villages have no town water. Health services are basic and risky to the point where unnecessary deaths are just a statistic and swept under the carpet. Power outages amount to 30-45 per year, this is normal I've been told by Endeavour Energy

With all the wealth Australia is supposed to have, I'd like to know where it is, it's certainly not in government coffers for 21st century infrastructure or living

It's about time we called the Libs and Labs out for what they really are - Shonks, money wasters and deceivers

"It's never been a better time to be Australian", yeah right! only a LibLab politician could pull BS like that out of a box of tricks

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 13^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


As long as they are Middle Eastern muzzies - then I support that view

tickleandrose wrote on Jan 13^th, 2016 at 11:16am:
each person is their own universe.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 13^th, 2016 at 10:35am:


Sure, but this mentality is carefully cultivated. It's not Bogey's fault he doesn't know any refugees or hasn't been to any war zones or places of extreme suffering.

Our media celebrates consumption. To keep people reading and viewing, it has to provide a taste of luxury. Showing how the other three quarters live is not good for audience share. Showing Assad's torture cells or Karbul's tent cities or Pakistan's gang warfare doesn't get ratings.

This makes people think everyone in the world has the same lifestyles and choices open to them, when in reality many in the world are forced to flee certain death. It also makes people complacent. Our wealth comes with responsibilities, but these have been obscured. The media leads us to believe our responsibility is to pamper ourselves and consume. It's a self-fulfilling narrative. The more we consume, the emptier we feel, so we keep consuming to fill the void. We keep the focus on ourselves. We pretend everyone in the world has the same opportunities open to them as we do, and if they don't, it's their own fault. We blame them, and to keep our vanity intact, we pretend we're smarter, more efficient, morally superior. We pretend we are intrinsically superior, as if this is genetic. We pretend things have always been this way, as if we were a different species of human - as if we were gods. We allow ourselves to keep such delusions going, and we create clever excuses as to why we should only look after ourselves, or at the very most, people we deem to be just like us.

It's not Bogie's fault. As social media expands and the world becomes more integrated, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide the rest of the world's suffering. Our excuses must become more and more bizarre. Fortunately, events conspire to give us reasons: those responsible for the Paris attacks included a couple of refugees, so refugees must be dangerous. All our pampering and self indulgence comes with a suppressed fear of death, and this translates into a heightened focus on security. Any threat - a plot, a threat, an inferred thought - justifies the security, which keeps growing. Sure there have been no major terrorist attacks on Australian soil, but there are always suspicions, and when there aren't, we can point elsewhere. It's always better to be safe than sorry, right?

It can hardly be Bogey's fault that he's not aware of the real suffering most of the world endures. Nor is it Bogey's fault that he's not exposed to any genuine acts of selflessness and generosity. The media sells human transactions as predominantly financial, buying and selling. It ignores the kindness that bonds people, from parents to communities. The belief that we are responsible for ourselves leads us to forget that we were all nurtured from infancy at no cost to us. Sometime, we will be nurtured into death as well. We are responsible for very little of our circumstances, but we are led to believe that we are. Sometimes our transactions are responsible - everything we own is put together by someone, and usually someone much poorer than us. Once again, we put this down to a transaction and forget that billions of people spend their lives making the things we surround ourselves with. The media largely ignores this as well. People in Bangladesh are free to work for a dollar a day making the clothes on our backs. We're all free to choose, right?

Maybe, maybe not. If Bogey knew what it is like to flee a war, it is very unlikely he'd say he doesn't care. Compassion comes from understanding, it's not an act or a posture. The image of a dead refugee child being pulled out of the water by Turkish authorities effected many people. It influenced world leaders who have the ability to change things and make things happen. An image like that managed to pierce through everything we tell ourselves about how good we are and how bad the rest are. One image.

You can block these things out, and many do, but you can't block it out forever. When you see and experience other people's suffering, you want to help. Very few people are psychopaths. All of what we think and do is driven by the things we experience and the stories that surround us.

Bogey's lack of compassion for other people is not a cause, it's a symptom.