Part 56 To be or not to be, that is the question.

To be or not to be, that is the question. 

This could well be the catch phrase of the Australian government at the moment.

With a spin doctor as PM we get nothing but vague statements with no substance.

The whole world has seen Australia's (Morrison's) non policy that encourages coal and gas production at full speed with the hope of undeveloped "Green" hydrogen as the lynchpin for our salvation. The world has reacted accordingly with Australia rated at zero for climate policy.

Add to that the fact that instead of encouraging electric vehicles by increasing emission standards or giving incentives to buy electric vehicles, Morrison has pulled another spin. Lets give subsidies for 50,000 charging stations in homes.

This is a win win for Morrison. There are only 20,000 electric vehicles in Australia and most of those will already have worked out charging systems. With no incentive to buy electric cars , then this is a very safe policy with minimal cost. 

Great spin, zero result for climate change and car buyers but terrific PR.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (before it gets sold out under us) is the fact that car manufacturers won't bring electric cars here as they can't compete on cost and don't have a large market so it's easier to dump their older, polluting models as we have minimal emission standards. Hell even our fuel is polluting because we don't have decent standards for that either.  

So what can we do? 

We need to create an outcry!

Australia has been a leader in technology development and uptake for generations, until now.

This clip is old, but remember it when it comes time to vote.

States are working hand over fist to get to zero emissions despite the federal government and it's showing results.

So if we do nothing then we will get nothing. Now is the time to get involved, help to get Australia back where it belongs by getting everyone from every party involved and get us moving in the right direction.

As I always say, technology, once it's out there it won't go away. If we don't adapt it to our needs and use it to our advantage then it will adapt us and that most likely will not be a good thing.

Part 55 - Alternate facts, fake news, propaganda is thy name

 Propaganda is a latin term that means to disseminate or spread information.

In modern times this has been abused so much that it now has the meaning of pushing a specific view, these days referred to simply as fake news. However, fake news is quite often taken as fact by those that don't want to question or simply want to believe, which makes it very difficult to actually get reality as some media tend to push these stories as fact. With the mass of competing media today, may "Journalists" grab stories straight off the internet with no or minimal fact checking.

Political leaders in modern times have capitalised on that to to the extent of threatening their own countries political structure in attempts to retain power at all cost. 

But lets keep it simple and call it misinformation.

These days we hear fact free announcements about 5G causing everything from birth defects to Corona Virus, wind power generators causing cancer and vaccinations causing autism or being used to implant microchips for mind control.

Even Covid is touted as a man made disease to control population growth or a fake disease no worse that a cold.

The fact that some governments have been actively supporting these stories because it works to their advantage, means that they are now between a rock and a hard place trying to overcome what has been accepted as the new normal.

Even here in Australia we have federal member of parliament, Craig Kelly, still pushing anti vax propaganda and that hydroxychloriquine is a cure for Covid despite the lack of any evidence. He has now been hit  with a one week ban by Facebook for just that. As we all know, that's a very harsh punishment (sarcasm).

Hopefully, with the world starting to swing back from populism we may have a chance with the grownups back in the room. 

But then again, it could be a long battle as there are still a lot of people out there that still think the US election was rigged and a pedophile ring run by the Clintons still exists in a New York Pizza shop.

Hopefully, what will come out of this is a much better understanding and control of social media.

In Australia, you have a right to say a lot of things, but if you slander or libel anyone then you have to be able to prove it. It's not a given that you can say anything just because it's your opinion. We actually don't have an enshrined right of free speech, just common law acceptance, so you can't hide behind the law.

Here's how fake news works.

Interestingly, you can create a Wiki page with fake facts, post it everywhere on the internet, hope media picks it up then use it as a citation for the wiki page!

Isn't the internet great?

How can you recognise fake news?

Australia starts covid injections.