I am currently residing in one state, where I am originally from. I study in another state. This would mean that, to travel back to my Uni, I would need a "vaccine passport". That is how insane this is...
But it's worse than that. It means they can "justify" checks on state borders, even when the "pandemic" is over. It means that state police, or perhaps the Army, now, can knock on your door, and demand to see your "vaccine papers"...
That's truly terrifying, and this is being pushed by both the theoretically conservative government, and their theoretically "centre left" opposition.
And this is also in a country where we cannot leave, so if you don't like it... I guess you just die? Seriously, can't leave, can't travel interstate, can't work... We either need a revolution, or a hell of a lot of people... Might run out of things to live for, after a while. :-(
Not the good little sheeple, though. They'll happily cheer this on, because their media overlords tell them to...
It's not even "for the sake of health and community", though...
It's because the media tells them to, and social media tells them to, and a) they are scared shitless, b) they want to signal their virtue, and shit on others who don't, c) it gives people who should not have it (health bureaucrats, for one) enormous, unchecked and unwarranted power, and d) normies in jobs where they can lazily work from home, and still get paid, while sitting on their arse and having shit delivered by people who actually have real jobs, love it, and never want it to go back to normal...
That's the problem. Also a complete lack of empathy, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing. Empathy seems to be dead, in Australian society now (except selective empathy). I saw that in the Aussie subreddits, and on other social media, even prior to this, but it seems to have permeated all areas of society now...
If you aren't a pro-vax, pro-authoritarian, useful idiot, society here will not only ostracise you, but it will try and destroy your life, now, it seems... Never in my wildest dreams did I think "outgroup demonization" would reach these levels... Never. Not here, at least. But here we are.
Also a complete lack of empathy, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing. Empathy seems to be dead, in Australian society now (except selective empathy)
You should read the book "Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion". It points out that empathy is a terrible system to base morality on since it is pretty much selective by default. If you look carefully amongst those promoting "empathy" it is always towards certain groups, not others, and, in my view, has become a massive political weapon to drive society in a certain ways. What we need instead is "rational compassion", where we have compassion for all people, and apply this as a rational form of morality.
Another way of thinking about this is we need to step away from a "feeling-based" form of morality, which we have now, and go back to a "thinking-based" form of morality, which was the mainstay of the past (this is the form of morality that religions such as Christianity and Buddhism are based on). I also suspect that the reason "feeling-based" morality now dominates is the feminisation of society - where feelings are considered more important than actually thinking.
You should read the book "Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion". It points out that empathy is a terrible system to base morality on since it is pretty much selective by default.
I need to add that to my list, thanks. One of my personal theories has been that the expansion of empathy has led to its diminishment. As Dawkins wrote, with instant communication and globalization our circle of empathy has gotten larger and larger. But humans aren't actually capable of being empathetic towards everyone. When we see too much news about crime, injustice, and suffering, we shut down and become numb to it. In fact what we do instead is lip service to empathy. Either "I feel your pain. Oh yes, we must understand the plight of the refugees. Yes it's terrible how the LGBTQs are treated. Ugh, why is everyone so anti-Muslim?", or we do the opposite and put the target in an "out-group" so we won't have to feel empathy for them. "Haha, that dumbass should have known better not to do (whatever) if he didn't want to be a victim. That fucker was a hateful bigot and deserves what he got."
We don't actually feel the emotion of all other humans, because that's not possible nor is it the evolutionary purpose of empathy, which is to facilitate our position as social animals within well-defined tribal groups. It's also a very basic neurological function that other mammals have too. (If a cat sees you petting another cat, the first one may start purring.)
In other words people are becoming sociopaths who act like they're empathetic - but only towards specific blessed targets of oppression that may change as the regime changes.
I want to clarify exactly what this means...
I am currently residing in one state, where I am originally from. I study in another state. This would mean that, to travel back to my Uni, I would need a "vaccine passport". That is how insane this is...
But it's worse than that. It means they can "justify" checks on state borders, even when the "pandemic" is over. It means that state police, or perhaps the Army, now, can knock on your door, and demand to see your "vaccine papers"...
That's truly terrifying, and this is being pushed by both the theoretically conservative government, and their theoretically "centre left" opposition.
And this is also in a country where we cannot leave, so if you don't like it... I guess you just die? Seriously, can't leave, can't travel interstate, can't work... We either need a revolution, or a hell of a lot of people... Might run out of things to live for, after a while. :-(
Not the good little sheeple, though. They'll happily cheer this on, because their media overlords tell them to...
Fuck me dead.
It's not even "for the sake of health and community", though...
It's because the media tells them to, and social media tells them to, and a) they are scared shitless, b) they want to signal their virtue, and shit on others who don't, c) it gives people who should not have it (health bureaucrats, for one) enormous, unchecked and unwarranted power, and d) normies in jobs where they can lazily work from home, and still get paid, while sitting on their arse and having shit delivered by people who actually have real jobs, love it, and never want it to go back to normal...
That's the problem. Also a complete lack of empathy, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing. Empathy seems to be dead, in Australian society now (except selective empathy). I saw that in the Aussie subreddits, and on other social media, even prior to this, but it seems to have permeated all areas of society now...
If you aren't a pro-vax, pro-authoritarian, useful idiot, society here will not only ostracise you, but it will try and destroy your life, now, it seems... Never in my wildest dreams did I think "outgroup demonization" would reach these levels... Never. Not here, at least. But here we are.
You should read the book "Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion". It points out that empathy is a terrible system to base morality on since it is pretty much selective by default. If you look carefully amongst those promoting "empathy" it is always towards certain groups, not others, and, in my view, has become a massive political weapon to drive society in a certain ways. What we need instead is "rational compassion", where we have compassion for all people, and apply this as a rational form of morality.
Another way of thinking about this is we need to step away from a "feeling-based" form of morality, which we have now, and go back to a "thinking-based" form of morality, which was the mainstay of the past (this is the form of morality that religions such as Christianity and Buddhism are based on). I also suspect that the reason "feeling-based" morality now dominates is the feminisation of society - where feelings are considered more important than actually thinking.
I need to add that to my list, thanks. One of my personal theories has been that the expansion of empathy has led to its diminishment. As Dawkins wrote, with instant communication and globalization our circle of empathy has gotten larger and larger. But humans aren't actually capable of being empathetic towards everyone. When we see too much news about crime, injustice, and suffering, we shut down and become numb to it. In fact what we do instead is lip service to empathy. Either "I feel your pain. Oh yes, we must understand the plight of the refugees. Yes it's terrible how the LGBTQs are treated. Ugh, why is everyone so anti-Muslim?", or we do the opposite and put the target in an "out-group" so we won't have to feel empathy for them. "Haha, that dumbass should have known better not to do (whatever) if he didn't want to be a victim. That fucker was a hateful bigot and deserves what he got."
We don't actually feel the emotion of all other humans, because that's not possible nor is it the evolutionary purpose of empathy, which is to facilitate our position as social animals within well-defined tribal groups. It's also a very basic neurological function that other mammals have too. (If a cat sees you petting another cat, the first one may start purring.)
In other words people are becoming sociopaths who act like they're empathetic - but only towards specific blessed targets of oppression that may change as the regime changes.