Clean hands, Cool head, Warm heart.

GP, Gardener, Radical progressive

  • 9 Posts
  • 13 Comments
Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: May 7th, 2024

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  • It is fine, unless you want a brand that doesn’t have a deal with Bunnings, or unless you want garden furniture that is remotely durable, or unless you want some advice from someone who has experience in hardware.

    Back when Bunnings was one of several large chains and small local hardwares were much more common it was easy, even Bunnings was made better by the competition. Monopolies are bad for consumers.



  • I think this is a bit of a misrepresentation of political correctness. I think the term political correctness is a bit outdated but I’ll use it here.

    Reclaiming derogatory language by minorities is obviously very empowering and has been done successfully. It’s also the case that words that are offensive in one context can be neutrally used, demented and retarded are often used in medical contexts without anyone becoming offended.

    Now one can come up with hypothetical situations where it can be difficult to negotiate whilst being politically correct, especially if the person speaking may not have the vocabulary. But in almost every real life instance of someone complaining about political correctness all that is being asked of them is to be considerate, kind, and inclusive. It can be taken too far but that is the exception, overwhelmingly people are understanding of slip ups or of people not knowing the correct terminology.

    Empathy and kindness are important for their own sake, whether it’s labelled as political correctness or not.


















  • The idea that capitalism and liberal representative (I refuse to use the word democratic) government are the only viable option are so ingrained. It makes it difficult to engage anyone in serious discussion of alternatives.

    What I do is point out injustice when you come across it and suggest a socialist solution. Don’t mention socialism, talk about unions, worker ownership, workplace democracy, social housing, structural injustice.

    If you get pushback I will say something like “I feel like our political system is so focused on capitalist solutions that often good sensible policies don’t get considered”

    With people you interact with frequently this approach will usually, over time, result in them no longer thinking you’re a crackpot and often soften them up for a more detailed discussion in which you can discuss revolutionary change.

    This is the best I have been able to do. Interested to see other responses.