Freire and....frightened!

I am not very optimistic about the pending Workplace Relations Reforms about to hit Aussie workplaces, and what it will mean for Australian higher education institutions. Our PM has the upperhand in the Senate and that makes me ...s c a r e d !!!

The methodology I see here is that of divide-and-conquer. Pit individuals against each other and their attention is diverted from bigger more meaningful things, to smaller detail, the kind that keeps you from engaging in more 'real' things I suppose. Individualisation and economic rationalisation go hand-in-hand. Both remove self from the context in which we live. It disconnects us from the heart of our communities and from each other. In this, we become desensitised to the plight of others, focusing inward on our own situations - like wearing blinkers.

If I'm OK, then things are OK. I just don't buy it at all! Our voices are continually silenced by big brother. We are talked down to, rather than engaged in meaningful conversation, that might mean we could actually change things and own the change, being responsibile for its outcomes, and ultimately our progress forward as human beings.

The thing is this is happening everywhere and at every level of society...no one is exempt! At home, in schools, at work, in our communities. Of course, it's not all bad, there are those who continue to subvert the common paradigm and good on them! We need to maintain a critical mass of those types in order to not crash and burn in a rationalistic flame! What to do? Remain aware I guess! Yoda says it best:

The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see the future is.

OK...it's Sunday morning, so I'll lighten up a tad...maybe images speak louder than words?


...Artist Unknown