is something I am always cautious about.
This week has shown me I am right to be wary.
My youngest sibling, the Black Cat, has been giving cause for concern again. The Senior Cat should not be worrying about her the way he has for the past few days. She should be well and truly financially independent and employed or otherwise fully occupied at her age. She is neither.
Middle Cat, who is closest to her in age and other ways, has told her - yet again - that the Senior Cat is frail. Black Cat has not seen him for a long time. He was fairly fit the last time she did see him. Black Cat talks to him by phone each week. He still sounds (and is) alert. He's tried explaining he is less physically able. Middle Cat has tried to explain. Our brother has visited the Black Cat when on holiday in the state she lives in and he has tried to explain. She says impatiently that "of course" she knows what he is like. On the one occasion I tried to tell her all was not well she simply put the phone down and refused to listen at all. (The Senior Cat was in hospital at the time.)
I think the reality would shock her. She is simply not listening at all.
It has made me think of news services yet again. There were reports on the news last night of the maiden speech made by a new Senator. In this morning's paper there were more reports. His speech was widely condemned. Certainly there were things in it with which I would strongly disagree. I wonder though whether those reporting it actually heard the entire speech - and whether they actually listened to what he said or whether they were simply reporting what they thought he said. I wonder whether the politicians who so roundly condemned him actually listened to him, whether they read the Hansard transcript or whether they relied on the excited buzz of being able to "get" someone who has arrived in parliament through a quirk of the voting system rather than the popular vote.
I am all too well aware of what happens when people don't listen, when they rely on what they have been told to think rather than knowing the actual facts.
It is sometimes good to be in possession of at least basic facts.
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2 comments:
I disagree with calls to create rules about what can be said under parliamentary privilege and parliament in general. Notwithstanding the provokes of 'hatespeech' - but we have laws about inciting violence whether it is verbal, written or systemic - I do not want to get to a point where self-censorship by politicians prevents the voting public from getting to know the values, biases, personal priorities and prejudices of elected members. Through freedom of speech we, as voters, now know who we definitely 'do' or 'don't' want to vote for next time.
Sorry my phone autotext created a typo above. 'Provokes' should read 'problems'
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