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Australia is becoming a surveillance state

ia.acs.org.au

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Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#141

Post by blacktriangle »

api wrote: post #106
wormseed wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia's covid policy of indefinitely banning citizens from leaving was the last straw for me. I won't be back.

I have mocked the anti-maskers and especially anti-vaxxers, but this crosses a line on the other end of the spectrum. I would only support an actual ban on mobility if it were to quarantine the virus in one place, like if the Chinese had locked down Wuhan before it managed to get out. That ship has sailed of course. It’s all over the damn place, so there is not much to be gained by travel bans.

The Chinese did lockdown Wuhan....internally. They prevented Chinese from moving in and out of Wuhan while letting the international flights continue.

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#142

Post by fidesomnes »

L_226 wrote: post #66

Since leaving Australia (and started living in Europe) I have come to the conclusion that Australia is not a "real" country - it is just a continent owned by corporate interests that happens to also have people living on it. Corporate interests own the media, politicians, food production, education etc. and no one cares, because Life Is Good. Why expect anything to change, or people to care about strong democratic in…

> Since leaving Australia (and started living in Europe) I have come to the conclusion that Australia is not a "real" country - it is just a continent owned by corporate interests that happens to also have people living on it.

The irony of this is hilarious!

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#143

Post by fidesomnes »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #78
lethologica wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are we Aussies missing out on then?

You don't because you are living in a period where everything is wonderul for Australia. You know what they say: everybody is a genius in a bull market. So you have sun, good food, plenty of money and little immigration. Life is good (if you are not living in the desert naked). Unfortunatly, there is nowhere in the world where things stay nice and easy. The run ended in europe after 1970, it ended in the US after 199…

>and little immigration.

You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#144

Post by user3939382 »

L_226 wrote: post #66

Since leaving Australia (and started living in Europe) I have come to the conclusion that Australia is not a "real" country - it is just a continent owned by corporate interests that happens to also have people living on it. Corporate interests own the media, politicians, food production, education etc. and no one cares, because Life Is Good. Why expect anything to change, or people to care about strong democratic in…

I’ve come to the conclusion that, while ideals about democracy and freedom sound nice, people are busy with their work and families and are not inclined to do or sacrifice much to secure those ideals unless there is a problem with their access to food, followed by other basic necessities. As long as the state provides those things, the public seems to be amenable to pretty much anything.

The pervasive corruption in every major institution of our society, which grows by the day, is a testament to this.

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#146

Post by partomniscient »

L_226 wrote: post #66

Since leaving Australia (and started living in Europe) I have come to the conclusion that Australia is not a "real" country - it is just a continent owned by corporate interests that happens to also have people living on it. Corporate interests own the media, politicians, food production, education etc. and no one cares, because Life Is Good. Why expect anything to change, or people to care about strong democratic in…

>Since leaving Australia (and started living in Europe) I have come to the conclusion that Australia is not a "real" country - it is just a continent owned by corporate interests that happens to also have people living on it.

I haven't thought of it exactly like that, but I appreciate (whilst shuddering) your take on things.

I basically see it in a similar way, that its a sinking stepping stone the UK was using to get further ahead, but lost its hold/interest because of US dominance (which the UK kind of gave birth to in a strange way due to its self-important superiority complex).

It still seems to me like they're trying to squeeze all the value out of it onto other continents (or tiny tax havens) and multinational corporations so that nothing of value is left [1]. Whilst doing it with just enough plausible deniability (e.g. the stolen generation) and fake sincerity to try to pass as genuine.

Unfortunately I still live here.

I'm not a beach person, it's not my SOMA. Instead of Brave New World or 1984, I think it'll end up more like V for Vendetta. Unfortunately they seemed to be astute enough to put our Federal parliament house in the middle of a roundabout in an arbitrary out of the way place called Canberra.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW_65A-nLoo

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#147

Post by oxymoran »

L_226 wrote: post #66

Since leaving Australia (and started living in Europe) I have come to the conclusion that Australia is not a "real" country - it is just a continent owned by corporate interests that happens to also have people living on it. Corporate interests own the media, politicians, food production, education etc. and no one cares, because Life Is Good. Why expect anything to change, or people to care about strong democratic in…

That sounds exactly like the US.

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#148

Post by rtkwe »

weimerica wrote: post #131
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guns in the hands of the Australians who want guns in their hands is an outcome that's about a thousand times worse than a "disarmed people". Also, anyone think that a US civilian militia has more than a snowball's chance in hell against any committed government-deployed force? Tell 'im 'e's dreamin'

> Guns in the hands of the Australians who want guns in their hands is an outcome that's about a thousand times worse than a "disarmed people". It is, until it isn't. > Also, anyone think that a US civilian militia has more than a snowball's chance in hell against any committed government-deployed force? See: Middle East

> See: Middle East

That's always tricky because the most successful examples of a guerilla army winning like that are all a foreign army coming into a local rebelling population. They mostly work by just wearing down the invaders until the cost and time requirements wear heavy enough that the foreign army decides to just go home, that same dynamic doesn't map as well when it's the state fighting for it's own survival to me.

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#149

Post by hestefisk »

logicchains wrote: post #88
charbonneau wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't expect you to understand, but in Europe, people actually care about their rights [1]. There are weekly protests with lots of impact [2]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28139889 [2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/10/protest-stop-c...

>I don't expect you to understand, but in Europe, people actually care about their rights [1] That's a bit condescending. In recent weeks there were tens of thousands of people marching on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne to protest covid lockdowns and defend their right to free assembly.

You mean the illegal protest where people turned up without masks, defying public health orders? I doubt that captures the majority of us concerned about mass surveillance.

Re: Australia is becoming a surveillance state

#150

Post by alvah »

trissylegs wrote: post #94
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't because you are living in a period where everything is wonderul for Australia. You know what they say: everybody is a genius in a bull market. So you have sun, good food, plenty of money and little immigration. Life is good (if you are not living in the desert naked). Unfortunatly, there is nowhere in the world where things stay nice and easy. The run ended in europe after 1970, it ended in the US after 199…

Australia's economy is pretty dependent on Coal, Aluminum and Gas. Two of these a hopefully going away soon but the Government is so In bed with mining and they throw more money at elections than every other sector put together that nothing will done about it until it collapses.

Do you understand what you're actually wishing for when you cheer on the destruction of a large percentage of the economy? What comes after will not be so comfortable.
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