Thursday 18th of April 2024

from an angry old white man (gus) to another...

vilification...

The Liberal senator Eric Abetz says it’s “passing strange” that the Australian Human Rights Commission does not seem to care about “racist terminology” such as “angry white man” but it does care if another colour is used to describe someone.

Speaking on Sky News on Monday, Abetz said it was up to the Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm to pursue a discrimination complaint for an opinion piece describing him as an “angry white man”.

But Leyonhjelm’s case does highlight the deficiencies of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, Abetz said.

“One cannot help but think that the term ‘white’ can only refer to skin colour and therefore [you] are making reference to a skin colour [and] one assumes it must have been on the basis of race that the comment was made,” Abetz told Sky News.

“But look, at the end of the day, Senator Leyonhjelm will make his own determination and judgments about pursuing this.

read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/15/eric-abetz-says-the-phrase-angry-white-man-is-racial-vilification

Gus is an angry white man... but the terms of discrimination is not so much about the colour but about the vilification of those who are defenceless and are hurt by people in power (politics, media, church — just for you, Ernest...) discriminating against who they are... 

Presently the fight for the US presidency is about two angry white persons wrestling each other. But the female is getting preferential treatment in the media because she is a "female" (though loony-tune, sneaky and full of crap), while the male is a loony-tune character full of crap and a loose cannon. 

We're in deep shit... and this has nothing to do with being "white" or angry... or a man. But it has to do with compassionately loving this planet without a skerrick of a plan to go and destroy something.  But often, the angry white man and sneaky woman goes on destroying the aspirations of those who have been downtrodden for too long — especially luring them into a net of illusion that it's their fault for being downtrodden or that their salvation resides in giving their life fighting for thy country against a concocted enemy.

 

fat yoga...

At first glance, this could be just another yoga class: long, ribbed mats? Check. Bare feet? Plenty. Several patterned pairs of brand-name exercise tights? Of course. Motivational quotes on the walls? Namaste.

But what sets this class apart from one at a mainstream yoga studio is that almost all of the women in the room identify as fat, and have come to be guided through an hour-long series of poses which have been modified to suit their bigger frames.

They also appreciate its teacher's lessons in self-compassion.

"I am enough, I have enough, I do enough," coos Sarah Harry, the instructor and founder of Fat Yoga.

A body image and eating disorders specialist, Ms Harry, 43, first began teaching 'body positive' yoga three years ago, but this year rebranded the classes 'Fat Yoga' in the hope of appealing to more people.

"I tried [the name] 'body positive yoga' and I tried 'curvy yoga' ... but they didn't resonate as much as Fat Yoga," Ms Harry explains. "I think Fat Yoga is really easy to understand and also resonates strongly with the fat positive community" who embrace the word 'fat' as part of protesting "the discrimination that people in larger bodies face".

 

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-14/come-as-you-are-fat-yoga/7720192

peace marathon...

Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, better known as Sri Chinmoy (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964. Chinmoy established his first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had thousands of students in 60 countries. A prolific author, artist, poet, and musician, he also held public events such as concerts and meditations on the theme of inner peacehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Chinmoy

 

chinmoy

This statue of Sri Chinmoy by Kaivalya Torpy, in a park in Perth, Western Australia, is a universal symbol of humanity's hope that one day the dream of world peace shall inundate the entire world.

"O dreamers of peace, come.

Let us walk together.

"O lovers of peace, come.

Let us run together.

"O servers of peace, come.

Let us grow together."

Sri Chinmoy

 

 

Picture by Gus.

balance ...

I don’t think that Mark Kenny’s claim that Senator David Leyonhjelm & Senator-elect Malcolm Roberts & their ilk behave with “angry white male certitude” was designed to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate them because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin, but rather to simply acknowledge the reality that they enjoy privileged status in a world full of self-righteous, dumb, crazy, cowardly, ignorant, ugly, creepy, stupid, angry, bigoted, old, self-opinionated, overpaid, knuckle-dragging, white male, fear-mongering opinion makers, rather than their pretended status as poor, put-upon, offended victims of public persecution.

If Leyonhjelm & Roberts represent the best that Australia’s democracy can buy to warm the leather benches of the Senate, then I think the rest of us have every reason to be offended, insulted, humiliated & intimidated.