Tuesday, August 6, 2013

give‘m the boot?



The general response to Mr Rabbit’s boot camp suggestion has been as negative as the “man” who made it.

The current solution to subsidised unemployment - should the Clayton’s social support system SennaLink not manage to deter those in search of help – is the volunteer bullshit. This is complemented by government contracted advice from semi-literate fascists that we need help preparing CVs, and that anyone who really wants a job can find one.

No matter how good or bad Rabbit's idea might be, the current approach doesn’t build anyone up, it white ants them by denying their reality.


There are too many reality TV shows providing images and stories about spoilt brats [usually in the U.S.] who need a foot up the Khyber being sent to boot camps. They are based on the same model as all those tired post-war movies of GIs having their self-esteem shattered and their personality stripped away so they can then be moulded into willing cannon fodder.

If this is Rabbit's version of a boot camp [and one assumes so as his idea of popular policy is necessarily negative] heaven help the tired and poor.

Perhaps the greatest problem with suggestions like this one is that they are presented as half-baked ideas without an ounce of detail. 
Some youth might actually benefit from having their personality nourished and some self-esteem built up. 
This might actually be achieved if the “camp” provides an environment where they are neither attacked personally by dysfunctional,  incompetent parents/adult figures, nor given a whole heap of vacuous praise for totally insignificant pseudo-achievements.

Let’s get over our obsession with specialising people out of jobs, or replacing people with “more efficient” technology.
Replacing meter reader jobs with “smart meters”, for example, is only efficient if the definition of efficient is controlled by dickheads who don’t care about people - by dickheads who don't factor humans into their "bottom line".

Fair suck of the dingo’s donger, China, let’s tweet give the poor buggers something worthwhile to do, and the guidance and tools they need to do it. Call it what you will, but don't put the boot in.



11 comments:

  1. I could cry. Instead of spending zillions thwarting refugees on leaky boats, the container boats flooding across the ocean from China need to be stopped from supplying CHEAP produce that is no longer Made In Australia (by people with jobs).
    From overalls to toasters, everything we are able to buy is now made by people who work for less money than our unemployment benefit is. and there is absolutely no point in talking this through with any of the candidates for 7th Sept.
    Let us all just pretend we are a democracy.

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    Replies
    1. One tries so hard not to be cynical. One must try so hard because it IS hard.

      Delete
  2. This is the same...creature...who completely misunderstood Aboriginal people grieving a few years back and suggested they be made to get back to work.
    And now he claims the Indigenous portfolio will be his if he gets the top job.
    *shudder*

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    1. You made me go in search of his ideas about indigenous affairs. Seriously, all I had heard til then were sound bites from photo opportunities.
      His speeches - well, the few that I have read from time to time - seem [too] well written. It's hard to relate them to the incoherent ramblings we normally see/hear.

      To be honest, I've not been overly impressed with Labor on the issue of indigenous affairs. I must also, if I'm honest, admit I could not bring myself to trust Abbott with anything.

      Delete
  3. Although this is a serious matter I couldn't help giggling through your post. You write stuff that I think but couldn't write.

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    Replies
    1. TY diane, you're always generously agreeable!

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  4. Asian countries make sure there are jobs for the less educated people. Whatever one may think of the conditions for a group of road workers shovelling gravel all day, they are gainfully employed and haven't been replaced by one machine with one operator, even though it would be cheaper. This is deliberate government policy used to keep a balance in society.

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    1. Yes, I've heard about that approach to providing employment for people. A great idea - perhaps just not suited to the privatisation of public works and assets. Ahem.

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    2. Early morning walking through the 1960's Melbourne CBD there would always be what looked to my teenage eyes, like 'old guys', cleaning brass plates on banks, washing windows, and sweeping the streets.
      On 5th Ave in NYC 1976 and 1990, the same thing - every department store having the brass, the plant boxes and the footpath cleaned by an old guy in overalls.
      Ladies with mops and buckets were seen in bank foyers. Now it is a Spotless contract and done at midnight by ... well I don't know, but not the kind of people it used to be. sigh.

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    3. You've reminded me, Ann,of the days when everyone wore a uniform [e.g. train, tram employees, etc] and there was also a Corps of Commissionaires?? Retired servicemen in their own pseudo-military outfits found useful jobs like driving lifts, inter-office couriers etc.
      Now the handle "Minister for Employment" has a rather Orwellian ring to it.

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  5. The second holding chamber is to consider the shoes out of the box.

    For maximum contentment and cushioning shoe features Nike Shox technology.

    The second trick is to take the shoes out belonging to the box.
    It appeared to be believed that Nike was promoting very own shoes too
    powerfully. http://lgfs.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=32373

    ReplyDelete