I love this idea of the Childcare center in Iceland. I have suggested similar ideas here in Aus, but no takers. When my youngest son was due to go on work experience, and he wasn't sure what he was interested in, we organized for him to go to the kindergarten he attended when he was little. We felt that encouraging him to see himself as able to 'care for others' was an important life skill to experience. He had a great time!
He's still finishing high school :) His work experience was last year in grade 10. I hoped it might influence him towards a health career (aka Richard Reeves boys can be steered towards HEAL careers), but alas....At least it will translate to his home and relationships, knowing that if he chooses to partner and have children that he is capable of sharing the caring responsibilities.
I love this! what a valuable way to show that care and empathy are real skills worth practicing. Imagine the ripple effects if more schools embraced this approach.
I wrangle with the can non violence bring change question ?
I am often reminded of what Solzhenitsyn said …”If only we had all been waiting in the hallways with our hammers and knifes instead of cowering behind our doors, hoping the knock was not for us…how different our life’s could have been”…
I think Non violence is promoted to keep us passive and believing it makes a difference …the reality of history is change only seems to have happened when the people fought back…even in Gandhi's time there was lots of violent resistance , Mandela resorted to it , so did the Palestinians after years of non violence ..that is why they are being crushed now 🇵🇸
This take resonates. I think we are all really struggling to accept these times are special and that in such special times a different approach is needed.
It is a hard truth to see the realities of these times and what is being demanded of us. It is a very complex subject , as the "State" is maintained by its monopoly on violence and willingness to use it against its own people.
We would need to be organised, be guerrilla, in our tactics...thats how the Vietnamese defeated the US...we are a long way from that , but its part of Collapse Awareness..how will you defend yourself ?
That is one of the reasons we left our 'homestead'. Preparing for violent times is a big ask, yet we are being shown in Gaza what our governments are capable of.
This is such a difficult and important reflection. History does suggest that nonviolence alone is rarely what forces change, and yet violence always comes with such devastating costs. Perhaps the real challenge is imagining strategies that resist oppression fiercely without replicating the same cycles of destruction.
You are right Cecilia , violence does have devastating costs and often causes more violence. It is also a sad reflection that in this time, we are still trying to solve problems with violence.
I am going to do more delving into other strategies, especially non compliance.
Yes, non-compliance is such a powerful form of resistance!!!! It disrupts without replicating harm, and history shows it can shift systems in ways violence never could. I find hope in those strategies because they’re rooted in dignity as well as strength.
This comment really speaks to me. Resisting oppression or non-compliance feels like a way to stand up and fight back without losing yourself or your integrity. Thank you Cecilia x
“Imagining strategies that resist oppression fiercely without replicating the same cycles of destruction” - agree! If we go deeper into history and look at ways of the ancients the indigenous we see the workings of love and the resistance to oppression.
The use of non-violent methods assumes our adversaries have a conscience, however, it's clear they do not. We are ignored, herded into 'acceptable' protest, and sidelined. Violence is the only method that has enacted change because it's the only language that bullies understand.
Your right Craigus our adversaries have no conscience or morality, we see this daily . That is why I think advocating non violence is part of our conditioning to be herded into acceptable protest…until we feel defeated and/or exhausted. They are bullies and that means weak, so finding ways to make them feel personally vulnerable would be my preferred methods…we can never fight them head on . These are such valid questions in the current conditions because if we leave it to late , all is lost ❤️🩹
This is wild, but right before I started reading this article in the lunchroom today I was literally imposed on with this brain scrambling/gas-lighting shit by a colleague.. As I was spearing my spinach onto my fork, I think I was being told, essentially (not very subliminally), to tow the line at work, which is increasingly fascism creep. I copped some major projections from this colleague and then started reading your article seconds later. Wild.
Dunno how to respond to these situations any more except be calm and listen and hold on to my humanity and authenticity.
I did notice their trap-setting tactic as they were talking to me and that they dismissed their responsibility by blaming others/me.
Thanks for sharing this Sarah as it helped me stand in my sanity today without being forced into a cortisol spike!!
The level of bullshit is ramping up here in Aus. My internet is down so I have been amusing myself by floating through the ABC, Skynews and The Today Show 😅🤦🏻♂️.
Freaking heck, it is like the neoconfascist / capitalcabal all met up just outside Auschwitz over the summer and traded notes.
The underlying theme is the lack of people in power willing to talk about the abuse of power and the avoidance of accountability.
Coupled with a deepening he said /she said, they said / they did shit show. Whether it is First Nations / Police and the Gov, Male / Female , Left / Right, Global warming / Fuck it hit the gas.
The anti immigration protests in Melbourne were disgusting. But no politician has stood up and said yep, we have made a mess of housing and our general economy.
And we have gaslit millions of hopeful people , and ourselves that we have been moving towards a cohesive , functional and sustainable multicultural society.
Where immigrants or young people can get ahead and build a sustainable future. That boat sailed for Nauru about 10 years ago.
The emotionally immature angle and the gaslighting all go in together. Whether it is from men or women or non binary.
What to do?
Check ourselves and do not go high (be a dick) or low (dickhead). Stay kind, curious and very very muscular in our self love, self care and boundaries
Even though it is tough, as it feels like everything and everyone’s dirty laundry, hurts, fears and pains are being laid on the table.
It is in pain where maturity arises, not in the quiet endless conversations of ideas. Or floating around in the bullshit driven hot air balloons.
Politicians and leaders need to take some bumps and bruises (aka talking about Palestine Sarah) or calling things out clearly where there is imbalance. And simply and clearly communicating how they are going to fix it.
People choose their leaders based on their ability to redistribute the wealth of a community. The tough guy promises to steal or force things into the hands of their lackies. The nice guy promises to give it all away. And ends up leading the world into ruin (communism).
We need strong / muscular / emotionally fit men and women who can take an occasional verbal jab. And knows how to knock someone out should it become necessary. So that hard work and truth is rewarded and bullshit is put out to pasture , to raise healthy food
totally agree re the leadership - whilever no one comes out and really stamps housing and cost of living as a problem caused by the mega rich, then those hurting will scapegoat the usual suspects...POC, migrants, women. Their omission is so dangerous.
Everyone is skirting around the racism exposed at the march in Melbourne. All they need to say is , we all fucked up. Liberal, Labour, Nationals. We all got fat off the housing market and the fat of the land, and now we need to pull our heads back in.
Fix the investment model and build beautiful new homes for the future
We need to shut down all of the exploitive loopholes regarding immigration which is essentially creating a slave class or privileged golden passports for the rich.
If they want to be tough round up the British, European, and South American students overstaying visas and properly encourage skilled immigrants who want a bright future.
Sooo much work to do 🤦🏻♂️ please can we just start
there is more than enough housing to meet the demand...it's about distribution.
Agree re proper migration...as fertility rates drop, it's the nation's only future. IN 20 years time everyone is going to be scrambling to find skilled migrants...rather than inviting them to Aust now and getting their kids into the system etc.
I get the feeling the future will look a little like the end of Triangle of Sadness. Glad that I can catch and cook fish rather than breathing Evian 😝😅
Patience though , this time is different , the bullshit is global. But so is the awareness amongst the last few generations. New leaders will emerge as the old ones are irrelevant. Just look at the Democratic Party in the US or the Liberal Party in Aus. Space is opening up for new voices.
No , crickets , same as with the majority of the US Democrats. The old guard are all deer in the spotlights.
The Liberals are dead in the water and have a caretaker leader. Which is dangerous as it allows a right wing party to get a foot up. Like in the UK, Sweden or the US
They don’t know what to do or what to say because to say what is afoot means that their position is exposed.
We need leaders who are willing to expose themselves and their positions.
And find out what new solutions such vulnerability creates.
I would love to see you on Q & A (if it still existed 🤦🏻♂️) Sarah or anyone else willing and call out Barnaby Joyce as a fat sad old man who has no viable solutions for the people he represents.
You are spot on Steve about the skirting around the big fat neon-lit obvious elephant in the room that is Melbourne.
A dear friend with Asian parentage - who has called Australia home for a long time - is actively making plans to move from the country BECAUSE of what is happening around them.
We have the ASRC (@asrc1 - Insta) urging folks to call their LIBERAL (for non-Aus friends these are the conservatives) Senators (this is where we are?!) to block the new Anti-Fairness Bill to deport non-citizens to a new $400m detention facility in Nauru.
First Nations activists (see @balaluke - Insta) rightly calling out allies who aren’t prepared to stand up and march against this rising tide of hate….
…I am stuck in the reality of how shit this is and how far we have been dragged from humanity. It’s not rosy. But without a focus on what there is to lose - the brilliance and the beauty and the complexity and all the what ifs waiting to be tested - the system will ‘win’.
Referencing a previous discussion - I’m up for Black Ops Aunty / Uncle duties. Fight with our full chests while also nurturing and hospicing what could be. But, this is a very tenuous nexus to inhabit, and the skill will be to stay connected and stay sane. They want us too broken to fight back, and that really isn’t an option.
Sucks that your friend wants to leave , if I was not a white man, I would be seriously considering leaving also. After seeing some of the anger of chubby old white guys and jacked young nazis on the TV screen. In fact I am considering moving back to Europe. Potentially a brighter future for me there. Feels like the boat has sailed for me here, as I missed the housing train 🤦🏻♂️ and gave up a career to look after my daughter.
Oh friend - if it helps I too missed the housing train, and this brings up a lot of ingrained shame (because a house = successful adulting / am held hostage to whims of landlords) juxtaposed with relief (I’m not tied to an asset with a made up cost that keeps me beholden to a place or job). But - even those extremes have eleventy gazillion caveats. Wherever you land, it’s clear that you lead with love and care. This is the beauty of this space - we are all figuring out everything at all times and not pretending otherwise.
If it helps I was on the housing train but lost it due to a separation. It seems impossible to get back on when caring for kids as Steve also mentioned.
The dark heart of Australia definitely turned up in Melbourne. And Labour and the Libs are terrified to call it out. As they know the numbers.
What I saw occur in Sweden was main stream parties too concerned with not appearing PC or woke.
While also happy utilising immigrant labour and capital to bolster a failing economy. Everyone could see what was occurring and could feel the instability.
Insufficient integration pathways along with an inherent cultural base of racism created a powder keg for a neo nazis party to get considerable power.
We need to readjust and take a breather. Get bipartisan support for a clear way forward. Find ways to set sustainable levels of housing supply, food, water & immigration, along with a solid plan for the future beyond 4 year terms.
Bucklies chance under current political climate and party cultures
So how to start a nationwide and a global movement (which re-enfranchises angry young men, disillusioned young women and calls up the old guard to step the fuck up?
I don’t see as normal intelligent humans we can let this bullshit go without comment. We have to go muscular, we have to call it out. We can’t sit by and let this happen!
Why is that Sarah? Is there some inherent quality of POC women that makes them uniquely capable of managing such experiments? Would a non POC woman or, heaven forbid, a man not be capable of walking this tightrope? If the experiment fails will you look to attribute responsibility to the fact it was run by a POC woman?
Geoff, I do think the lived experience of a young POC woman is probably the best ballast for Newsom's "ultra- muscular" energy. Further, as this is a political stunt, the "optics" of it matter, too.
Thanks for your reply Sarah. What you say may well be right, but similarly it may not be. The only way to know would be to understand the individual. To use an extreme example, LeBron James’ daughters are POC women, but I dare say their lived experiences wouldn’t qualify them for this role. Every single person has their own unique lived experience with some agglomeration of good, bad, prejudice, privilege etc. I’m not sure there is great value in generalizing in this way on variables like gender or race.
Of course! In this case, the woman is particularly talented. And so my comment pertains to the fact that she is also female, POC etc. Generalisations MUST exist. It's how humans comprehend the world, via patterns that make navigating the world easier. Flipside, absolutely that woman's lived (unique) lived experience is coded by the generalisations applied to her all her live. The responsibility we have is, at an individual level, to take the person as they are, being compassionate to the stereotypes and experiences they've been subjected to. Making generalisations doesn't prohibit this.
I agree with 99% of what you’ve said here. Perhaps the difference lies in where we place our emphasis. I read your initial comment as putting primacy on the fact she is a POC woman. To my mind, what matters is that she’s a clearly smart and talented person. That she is a woman, and a POC, are mere footnotes at best.
Of course generalizations must exist, but if the most consequential or interesting things about a person are those generalizations, not their individual qualities and achievements, then I fear that is a sad indictment on them (and indeed on us for failing to understand them beyond their group identity).
Resistance can take many forms. But there are always consequences.
The simply solution is to stop buying anything. (Surely food and medicines and a few essentials.)
Don't feed the beast!!! The people are the economy. We are the slaves.
If we all took a couple weeks to "stock" up on supplies then basically did a sit-down strike, (Just stay home. No work, no school, no purchases, no on-line entertainment, stop browsing. Just stay home. ) We would cripple the beast rather quickly. (COVID gave us the example)
The problem is we are all too soft and won't voluntarily inconvenience ourselves so instead we suffer and moan...
It's so true, and would be so effective if we could all pull it off. Were not ALL too soft.. but perhaps most.
I'm blown away constantly by how head in the sand, naive, unknowledgable people are by these matters. Conversations with colleagues at work who endlessly use chatgpt for the most ridiculous, pointless things, they could just ask a friend or do a standard search for. The lack of any awareness of the issues with Amazon, Temu, shein purchases - just delight in quick delivery and cheap prices, and so on.
I love Lindsay Gibson! I first came across her on Glennon Doyle’s podcast and her work is so validating. Everyone uses the word narc nowadays but this is more appropriate
In terms of the muscular, I was watching an interview Medhi Hassan did with John Stewart (I think) and he spoke about how if on a soccer field, the game changes and you can now use your hands, it would be wise for both teams to adapt and use their hands. To me the point resonated that where the 'rules' change, we need to adapt. I think you can still adapt and be moral, at least I hope you can. Really given me a lot to think about, thank you.
Great article, especially the questions put forward.
I think staying true to your individual beliefs, values and personality strengths is the answer. If you are naturally aggressive, “muscular” in relating to others, then use that. That’s not me. This behave would be fake from me, and I don’t believe that would help.
I hear you...so I guess, is it a matter of allowing muscular leaders and thinkers to surface at this time, to encourage or at least not resist them? I get nervous about this...hence my undecided position...because muscularity tends to lead to ...more muscularity and aggression etc.
Love this, Cassie and Sarah. Staying true to our beliefs, values and personality strengths - these feel like anchoring places - thank you. I am so keen for this conversation as it speaks to the issues with the 'lefts' constant lack of cut-through. Nervousness about the muscular approach - totally. How many examples are in our cultural stories of a muscular approach which was fuelled by purpose and wisdom, rather than aggression and ego? I'm scared that if we go muscular, we get danger - more danger whipped, and more excuses for the more powerful muscles to smash everyone else. What if we got kind of sneaky muscular...build these communities, face the scary together, get super clever, develop strategies, assess our limits...groups have been doing this stuff forever, but have been seen as a bit 'weird' or left of field...but maybe more people are ready to join the conversation now...if we can work out how to communicate without freaking people out! Ha! Blah blah blah!!!!
Sharon, elsewhere in this thread I brought in the word "fierce" ...we can do fierce love, fierce resistance...another word I use in my book is "radical" ...there are a bunch of words, I guess, that can denote deliberate firmness.
Moral high ground is best used when in power or the winning position. Whatever it takes, to use the old Graham Richardson is more prudent when trying to get to that situation.
That depends on their own moral and ethical beliefs and critically, the support network and political environment they exist within. No one is an actual island in political leadership even if they appear to be so. Their support base provides a measure of buttresing or discipline even in a dictatorship. Is it a case of switching back or simply adjusting a course of action that is already occurring and making it appear to be more virtuous ? Or indeed addressing a weakness or problem for the future that was not acted upon before but then becomes essential to provide a solution. Historically it has occurred on ascent to power in both modern and ancient times. Examples at a head of state level are harder to identify in this early part of the 21st Century.
I read your very poignant article earlier and decided to mull it over for a bit, coz much of what you said makes perfect sense.
Then I saw this article that talks about council responsibility to build seawalls to help prevent coastal erosion where (it appears to me) humungous dwellings have been built almost on the beach. Is it just me or is it difficult for others to feel sympathy for these property owners who have spent lotsa dollars (way more money than your average Aussie can afford) on a mansion by the beach?? Hey, if it’s your only home I totally get it but I suspect many of these owners have multiple dwellings.
Today is one of those days where I have to attempt to brace against the weight of my flailing peri hormones and hide away from it all because the pull towards the hole of despair is too strong if I stray too close to the tide. Occasionally ocean swimming and patting the dog just aren’t enough!
With you on this Nicola, feeling for you and all in the same boat. Thank goodness for dogs, the ocean, birds... All the ducklings right now are helping me - daily walks by the local lake to check in on them
Hi, I don’t know what the answer is, but I think staying true to myself and preserving the calm approach is the only way through. Standing your ground, and making it clear where you stand morally, the old lead by example thing. Great article
Kara Swisher has totally lost her mojo, happened a few years ago now. Pre-covid I had to stop listening to her podcast.
My coping skills at the moment are reading history, from actual historical researchers, not pop history. Learning from the past is helping me to navigate the future I guess. Knowing that humans do better eventually, once empires fall, is somewhat comforting. Although the fall is obviously awful to live through. It helps that I did a minor in history and archaeology at uni back in the day, so a few units of historiography have thankfully given me some tools to navigate through the muck to find the good books.
I've had to almost entirely switch off from the news. A part from a few online newsletters, I am almost exclusively reading books.
H, I'm a bit the same...I'm reading Hard Times by Dickens...to cut straight to it.
Re Kara...I like that she exists. Her ego is extraordinary...but I find myself wondering , if she were a man, would we more readily accept the strident self-belief? Her Scott G's dogged belief in capitalism is challenging. It's fascinating to see them struggle to find theories for why things are f*cked that totally skirt the issue of the system.
I love this idea of the Childcare center in Iceland. I have suggested similar ideas here in Aus, but no takers. When my youngest son was due to go on work experience, and he wasn't sure what he was interested in, we organized for him to go to the kindergarten he attended when he was little. We felt that encouraging him to see himself as able to 'care for others' was an important life skill to experience. He had a great time!
And what did he end up studying, working in?
He's still finishing high school :) His work experience was last year in grade 10. I hoped it might influence him towards a health career (aka Richard Reeves boys can be steered towards HEAL careers), but alas....At least it will translate to his home and relationships, knowing that if he chooses to partner and have children that he is capable of sharing the caring responsibilities.
Thanks for asking :)
Glad you enjoyed your break.
Care careers are the future...he might work this out in time! I hope he lands where he needs to. He's lucky to have a solid Dad.
I love this! what a valuable way to show that care and empathy are real skills worth practicing. Imagine the ripple effects if more schools embraced this approach.
I wrangle with the can non violence bring change question ?
I am often reminded of what Solzhenitsyn said …”If only we had all been waiting in the hallways with our hammers and knifes instead of cowering behind our doors, hoping the knock was not for us…how different our life’s could have been”…
I think Non violence is promoted to keep us passive and believing it makes a difference …the reality of history is change only seems to have happened when the people fought back…even in Gandhi's time there was lots of violent resistance , Mandela resorted to it , so did the Palestinians after years of non violence ..that is why they are being crushed now 🇵🇸
None of us want that, but can it be an avoided ?
This take resonates. I think we are all really struggling to accept these times are special and that in such special times a different approach is needed.
It is a hard truth to see the realities of these times and what is being demanded of us. It is a very complex subject , as the "State" is maintained by its monopoly on violence and willingness to use it against its own people.
We would need to be organised, be guerrilla, in our tactics...thats how the Vietnamese defeated the US...we are a long way from that , but its part of Collapse Awareness..how will you defend yourself ?
That is one of the reasons we left our 'homestead'. Preparing for violent times is a big ask, yet we are being shown in Gaza what our governments are capable of.
This is such a difficult and important reflection. History does suggest that nonviolence alone is rarely what forces change, and yet violence always comes with such devastating costs. Perhaps the real challenge is imagining strategies that resist oppression fiercely without replicating the same cycles of destruction.
Indeed...in The Collapse Book we have the discussion around "fierce love" and "auntie energy"
Great Sarah , I need to go back and revisit those chapters…I am intrigued by the ‘auntie energy’ , how about Grandmother energy 😂 ?
totally!
Haha yes, “Grandmother energy” feels like the final boss level, ancient wisdom mixed with zero patience for nonsense 😂
You are right Cecilia , violence does have devastating costs and often causes more violence. It is also a sad reflection that in this time, we are still trying to solve problems with violence.
I am going to do more delving into other strategies, especially non compliance.
Yes, non-compliance is such a powerful form of resistance!!!! It disrupts without replicating harm, and history shows it can shift systems in ways violence never could. I find hope in those strategies because they’re rooted in dignity as well as strength.
Well said Cecilia , its so important that we keep our dignity and strength 💖
This comment really speaks to me. Resisting oppression or non-compliance feels like a way to stand up and fight back without losing yourself or your integrity. Thank you Cecilia x
Exactly that, Kristy! resistance without self-abandonment 💜
“Imagining strategies that resist oppression fiercely without replicating the same cycles of destruction” - agree! If we go deeper into history and look at ways of the ancients the indigenous we see the workings of love and the resistance to oppression.
The use of non-violent methods assumes our adversaries have a conscience, however, it's clear they do not. We are ignored, herded into 'acceptable' protest, and sidelined. Violence is the only method that has enacted change because it's the only language that bullies understand.
Your right Craigus our adversaries have no conscience or morality, we see this daily . That is why I think advocating non violence is part of our conditioning to be herded into acceptable protest…until we feel defeated and/or exhausted. They are bullies and that means weak, so finding ways to make them feel personally vulnerable would be my preferred methods…we can never fight them head on . These are such valid questions in the current conditions because if we leave it to late , all is lost ❤️🩹
He can't fight them head on, but guerilla tactics have been very successful, worldwide, for fighting oppression. Something to think about, for sure 💚
Hi all,
This is wild, but right before I started reading this article in the lunchroom today I was literally imposed on with this brain scrambling/gas-lighting shit by a colleague.. As I was spearing my spinach onto my fork, I think I was being told, essentially (not very subliminally), to tow the line at work, which is increasingly fascism creep. I copped some major projections from this colleague and then started reading your article seconds later. Wild.
Dunno how to respond to these situations any more except be calm and listen and hold on to my humanity and authenticity.
I did notice their trap-setting tactic as they were talking to me and that they dismissed their responsibility by blaming others/me.
Thanks for sharing this Sarah as it helped me stand in my sanity today without being forced into a cortisol spike!!
Perfect! Enjoy your spinach.
Watch the link I add to the post...the bit that comes after what I tagged....
The level of bullshit is ramping up here in Aus. My internet is down so I have been amusing myself by floating through the ABC, Skynews and The Today Show 😅🤦🏻♂️.
Freaking heck, it is like the neoconfascist / capitalcabal all met up just outside Auschwitz over the summer and traded notes.
The underlying theme is the lack of people in power willing to talk about the abuse of power and the avoidance of accountability.
Coupled with a deepening he said /she said, they said / they did shit show. Whether it is First Nations / Police and the Gov, Male / Female , Left / Right, Global warming / Fuck it hit the gas.
The anti immigration protests in Melbourne were disgusting. But no politician has stood up and said yep, we have made a mess of housing and our general economy.
And we have gaslit millions of hopeful people , and ourselves that we have been moving towards a cohesive , functional and sustainable multicultural society.
Where immigrants or young people can get ahead and build a sustainable future. That boat sailed for Nauru about 10 years ago.
The emotionally immature angle and the gaslighting all go in together. Whether it is from men or women or non binary.
What to do?
Check ourselves and do not go high (be a dick) or low (dickhead). Stay kind, curious and very very muscular in our self love, self care and boundaries
Even though it is tough, as it feels like everything and everyone’s dirty laundry, hurts, fears and pains are being laid on the table.
It is in pain where maturity arises, not in the quiet endless conversations of ideas. Or floating around in the bullshit driven hot air balloons.
Politicians and leaders need to take some bumps and bruises (aka talking about Palestine Sarah) or calling things out clearly where there is imbalance. And simply and clearly communicating how they are going to fix it.
People choose their leaders based on their ability to redistribute the wealth of a community. The tough guy promises to steal or force things into the hands of their lackies. The nice guy promises to give it all away. And ends up leading the world into ruin (communism).
We need strong / muscular / emotionally fit men and women who can take an occasional verbal jab. And knows how to knock someone out should it become necessary. So that hard work and truth is rewarded and bullshit is put out to pasture , to raise healthy food
totally agree re the leadership - whilever no one comes out and really stamps housing and cost of living as a problem caused by the mega rich, then those hurting will scapegoat the usual suspects...POC, migrants, women. Their omission is so dangerous.
Everyone is skirting around the racism exposed at the march in Melbourne. All they need to say is , we all fucked up. Liberal, Labour, Nationals. We all got fat off the housing market and the fat of the land, and now we need to pull our heads back in.
Fix the investment model and build beautiful new homes for the future
We need to shut down all of the exploitive loopholes regarding immigration which is essentially creating a slave class or privileged golden passports for the rich.
If they want to be tough round up the British, European, and South American students overstaying visas and properly encourage skilled immigrants who want a bright future.
Sooo much work to do 🤦🏻♂️ please can we just start
there is more than enough housing to meet the demand...it's about distribution.
Agree re proper migration...as fertility rates drop, it's the nation's only future. IN 20 years time everyone is going to be scrambling to find skilled migrants...rather than inviting them to Aust now and getting their kids into the system etc.
I get the feeling the future will look a little like the end of Triangle of Sadness. Glad that I can catch and cook fish rather than breathing Evian 😝😅
Patience though , this time is different , the bullshit is global. But so is the awareness amongst the last few generations. New leaders will emerge as the old ones are irrelevant. Just look at the Democratic Party in the US or the Liberal Party in Aus. Space is opening up for new voices.
what's happening to the Libs in Au? Are fresh voices coming in?
No , crickets , same as with the majority of the US Democrats. The old guard are all deer in the spotlights.
The Liberals are dead in the water and have a caretaker leader. Which is dangerous as it allows a right wing party to get a foot up. Like in the UK, Sweden or the US
They don’t know what to do or what to say because to say what is afoot means that their position is exposed.
We need leaders who are willing to expose themselves and their positions.
And find out what new solutions such vulnerability creates.
I would love to see you on Q & A (if it still existed 🤦🏻♂️) Sarah or anyone else willing and call out Barnaby Joyce as a fat sad old man who has no viable solutions for the people he represents.
You are spot on Steve about the skirting around the big fat neon-lit obvious elephant in the room that is Melbourne.
A dear friend with Asian parentage - who has called Australia home for a long time - is actively making plans to move from the country BECAUSE of what is happening around them.
We have the PM stating “good people” attended the anti-immigration rallies (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-01/federal-politics-live-sept-1/105713526) - a chillingly familiar phrase from Jan 6.
We have the ASRC (@asrc1 - Insta) urging folks to call their LIBERAL (for non-Aus friends these are the conservatives) Senators (this is where we are?!) to block the new Anti-Fairness Bill to deport non-citizens to a new $400m detention facility in Nauru.
First Nations activists (see @balaluke - Insta) rightly calling out allies who aren’t prepared to stand up and march against this rising tide of hate….
…I am stuck in the reality of how shit this is and how far we have been dragged from humanity. It’s not rosy. But without a focus on what there is to lose - the brilliance and the beauty and the complexity and all the what ifs waiting to be tested - the system will ‘win’.
Referencing a previous discussion - I’m up for Black Ops Aunty / Uncle duties. Fight with our full chests while also nurturing and hospicing what could be. But, this is a very tenuous nexus to inhabit, and the skill will be to stay connected and stay sane. They want us too broken to fight back, and that really isn’t an option.
Sucks that your friend wants to leave , if I was not a white man, I would be seriously considering leaving also. After seeing some of the anger of chubby old white guys and jacked young nazis on the TV screen. In fact I am considering moving back to Europe. Potentially a brighter future for me there. Feels like the boat has sailed for me here, as I missed the housing train 🤦🏻♂️ and gave up a career to look after my daughter.
Oh friend - if it helps I too missed the housing train, and this brings up a lot of ingrained shame (because a house = successful adulting / am held hostage to whims of landlords) juxtaposed with relief (I’m not tied to an asset with a made up cost that keeps me beholden to a place or job). But - even those extremes have eleventy gazillion caveats. Wherever you land, it’s clear that you lead with love and care. This is the beauty of this space - we are all figuring out everything at all times and not pretending otherwise.
Thanks Kristy 🙏🏼😊
If it helps I was on the housing train but lost it due to a separation. It seems impossible to get back on when caring for kids as Steve also mentioned.
The dark heart of Australia definitely turned up in Melbourne. And Labour and the Libs are terrified to call it out. As they know the numbers.
What I saw occur in Sweden was main stream parties too concerned with not appearing PC or woke.
While also happy utilising immigrant labour and capital to bolster a failing economy. Everyone could see what was occurring and could feel the instability.
Insufficient integration pathways along with an inherent cultural base of racism created a powder keg for a neo nazis party to get considerable power.
We need to readjust and take a breather. Get bipartisan support for a clear way forward. Find ways to set sustainable levels of housing supply, food, water & immigration, along with a solid plan for the future beyond 4 year terms.
Bucklies chance under current political climate and party cultures
So how to start a nationwide and a global movement (which re-enfranchises angry young men, disillusioned young women and calls up the old guard to step the fuck up?
I don’t see as normal intelligent humans we can let this bullshit go without comment. We have to go muscular, we have to call it out. We can’t sit by and let this happen!
I'm welcoming the experiment for now...I'm glad Newsom has a young female POC leading the project. Might keep it on the right rails.
Why is that Sarah? Is there some inherent quality of POC women that makes them uniquely capable of managing such experiments? Would a non POC woman or, heaven forbid, a man not be capable of walking this tightrope? If the experiment fails will you look to attribute responsibility to the fact it was run by a POC woman?
Geoff, I do think the lived experience of a young POC woman is probably the best ballast for Newsom's "ultra- muscular" energy. Further, as this is a political stunt, the "optics" of it matter, too.
Thanks for your reply Sarah. What you say may well be right, but similarly it may not be. The only way to know would be to understand the individual. To use an extreme example, LeBron James’ daughters are POC women, but I dare say their lived experiences wouldn’t qualify them for this role. Every single person has their own unique lived experience with some agglomeration of good, bad, prejudice, privilege etc. I’m not sure there is great value in generalizing in this way on variables like gender or race.
Of course! In this case, the woman is particularly talented. And so my comment pertains to the fact that she is also female, POC etc. Generalisations MUST exist. It's how humans comprehend the world, via patterns that make navigating the world easier. Flipside, absolutely that woman's lived (unique) lived experience is coded by the generalisations applied to her all her live. The responsibility we have is, at an individual level, to take the person as they are, being compassionate to the stereotypes and experiences they've been subjected to. Making generalisations doesn't prohibit this.
I agree with 99% of what you’ve said here. Perhaps the difference lies in where we place our emphasis. I read your initial comment as putting primacy on the fact she is a POC woman. To my mind, what matters is that she’s a clearly smart and talented person. That she is a woman, and a POC, are mere footnotes at best.
Of course generalizations must exist, but if the most consequential or interesting things about a person are those generalizations, not their individual qualities and achievements, then I fear that is a sad indictment on them (and indeed on us for failing to understand them beyond their group identity).
Resistance can take many forms. But there are always consequences.
The simply solution is to stop buying anything. (Surely food and medicines and a few essentials.)
Don't feed the beast!!! The people are the economy. We are the slaves.
If we all took a couple weeks to "stock" up on supplies then basically did a sit-down strike, (Just stay home. No work, no school, no purchases, no on-line entertainment, stop browsing. Just stay home. ) We would cripple the beast rather quickly. (COVID gave us the example)
The problem is we are all too soft and won't voluntarily inconvenience ourselves so instead we suffer and moan...
I agree - don't shop. Just don't.
It's the human condition to not change until the pain of staying is more than the pain of change.
It's so true, and would be so effective if we could all pull it off. Were not ALL too soft.. but perhaps most.
I'm blown away constantly by how head in the sand, naive, unknowledgable people are by these matters. Conversations with colleagues at work who endlessly use chatgpt for the most ridiculous, pointless things, they could just ask a friend or do a standard search for. The lack of any awareness of the issues with Amazon, Temu, shein purchases - just delight in quick delivery and cheap prices, and so on.
I love Lindsay Gibson! I first came across her on Glennon Doyle’s podcast and her work is so validating. Everyone uses the word narc nowadays but this is more appropriate
Love this Sarah, thank you!
In terms of the muscular, I was watching an interview Medhi Hassan did with John Stewart (I think) and he spoke about how if on a soccer field, the game changes and you can now use your hands, it would be wise for both teams to adapt and use their hands. To me the point resonated that where the 'rules' change, we need to adapt. I think you can still adapt and be moral, at least I hope you can. Really given me a lot to think about, thank you.
That's a really great analogy. Thanks for sharing
“If I can shoot rabbits I can shoot fascists”.
George Orwell.
Great article, especially the questions put forward.
I think staying true to your individual beliefs, values and personality strengths is the answer. If you are naturally aggressive, “muscular” in relating to others, then use that. That’s not me. This behave would be fake from me, and I don’t believe that would help.
I hear you...so I guess, is it a matter of allowing muscular leaders and thinkers to surface at this time, to encourage or at least not resist them? I get nervous about this...hence my undecided position...because muscularity tends to lead to ...more muscularity and aggression etc.
Love this, Cassie and Sarah. Staying true to our beliefs, values and personality strengths - these feel like anchoring places - thank you. I am so keen for this conversation as it speaks to the issues with the 'lefts' constant lack of cut-through. Nervousness about the muscular approach - totally. How many examples are in our cultural stories of a muscular approach which was fuelled by purpose and wisdom, rather than aggression and ego? I'm scared that if we go muscular, we get danger - more danger whipped, and more excuses for the more powerful muscles to smash everyone else. What if we got kind of sneaky muscular...build these communities, face the scary together, get super clever, develop strategies, assess our limits...groups have been doing this stuff forever, but have been seen as a bit 'weird' or left of field...but maybe more people are ready to join the conversation now...if we can work out how to communicate without freaking people out! Ha! Blah blah blah!!!!
Sharon, elsewhere in this thread I brought in the word "fierce" ...we can do fierce love, fierce resistance...another word I use in my book is "radical" ...there are a bunch of words, I guess, that can denote deliberate firmness.
Love 'fierce'!!
I totally understand and agree.
I guess the “not resist” is the key.
And can these individuals be muscular but not aggressive ???????
Moral high ground is best used when in power or the winning position. Whatever it takes, to use the old Graham Richardson is more prudent when trying to get to that situation.
That's a great framing...but do leaders make the switch back to "decent"? Is there the buttressing to ensure this?
That depends on their own moral and ethical beliefs and critically, the support network and political environment they exist within. No one is an actual island in political leadership even if they appear to be so. Their support base provides a measure of buttresing or discipline even in a dictatorship. Is it a case of switching back or simply adjusting a course of action that is already occurring and making it appear to be more virtuous ? Or indeed addressing a weakness or problem for the future that was not acted upon before but then becomes essential to provide a solution. Historically it has occurred on ascent to power in both modern and ancient times. Examples at a head of state level are harder to identify in this early part of the 21st Century.
I read your very poignant article earlier and decided to mull it over for a bit, coz much of what you said makes perfect sense.
Then I saw this article that talks about council responsibility to build seawalls to help prevent coastal erosion where (it appears to me) humungous dwellings have been built almost on the beach. Is it just me or is it difficult for others to feel sympathy for these property owners who have spent lotsa dollars (way more money than your average Aussie can afford) on a mansion by the beach?? Hey, if it’s your only home I totally get it but I suspect many of these owners have multiple dwellings.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-02/central-coast-residents-proceed-with-seawall/105595660
Sheesh, the level of disparity in the housing market is doing my head in 🫠
The distinct reaction I get when I see this kind of thing is...poetic irony. I think it is appropriate to feel this way.
Today is one of those days where I have to attempt to brace against the weight of my flailing peri hormones and hide away from it all because the pull towards the hole of despair is too strong if I stray too close to the tide. Occasionally ocean swimming and patting the dog just aren’t enough!
Oh Nicola. I'm sorry. TBH, I'm in a similar way. I'm trying to be "radically" with it and to observe the experience... x
I feel you and more poor dogs are being cuddled constantly…
With you on this Nicola, feeling for you and all in the same boat. Thank goodness for dogs, the ocean, birds... All the ducklings right now are helping me - daily walks by the local lake to check in on them
The idea to mimic Drumpf's social media style came from Camille Zapata, Digital Director in Governor Newsom’s office.
Totally. I love the she is being recognised for this.
A clever woman will always annoy MAGA.
yes. and, sadly, run the risk of being disappeared, scapegoated, gaslit, etc.
Hi, I don’t know what the answer is, but I think staying true to myself and preserving the calm approach is the only way through. Standing your ground, and making it clear where you stand morally, the old lead by example thing. Great article
Watch the video if this interests...her explainers are great.
Kara Swisher has totally lost her mojo, happened a few years ago now. Pre-covid I had to stop listening to her podcast.
My coping skills at the moment are reading history, from actual historical researchers, not pop history. Learning from the past is helping me to navigate the future I guess. Knowing that humans do better eventually, once empires fall, is somewhat comforting. Although the fall is obviously awful to live through. It helps that I did a minor in history and archaeology at uni back in the day, so a few units of historiography have thankfully given me some tools to navigate through the muck to find the good books.
I've had to almost entirely switch off from the news. A part from a few online newsletters, I am almost exclusively reading books.
H, I'm a bit the same...I'm reading Hard Times by Dickens...to cut straight to it.
Re Kara...I like that she exists. Her ego is extraordinary...but I find myself wondering , if she were a man, would we more readily accept the strident self-belief? Her Scott G's dogged belief in capitalism is challenging. It's fascinating to see them struggle to find theories for why things are f*cked that totally skirt the issue of the system.