over easter i went to the d.t.e. festival (down to earth). its a mission to get there as i dont have a car---- a 10 hour drive from here.. most of the people there are from melbourne, the other major capital of the australian continent. its only a 4 hours from there.
(one slight hitch.. i hitched a ride with a dude .. his engine blew out just as we got there.. i had to get the train home.. never mind.. it is a good rail service on offer though it only runs once a day. (i missed it the first and stayed in the deniliquin camping ground. but it was ok.)
confest (which was set in motion by the late dr. jim cairns) was/is an awesome event . many workshops.. drumming/dancing.. exchange of ideas. sweat tent. river to swim in. good weather.
jim cairns (1914 - 2003) came from a rough enough school. after a stint as a detective in the victorian police force (1933-1944) he got an economics degree and went into politics . they wouldn't accept him into the communist party.. he was actually a socialist. his spot was in the left faction of the australian labour party. he became deputy prime minister and treasurer in the whitlam government. (seat of yarra)
it is said that the main reason he didnt lead the party is because most of his efforts in the early 70s was towards protesting against the vietnam war. he organised resistence and gained a deal of credibility. he was an ideologue and a writer.
he was criticised for falling in love with his personal secretary--- some people are so critical they will even condemn a man for loving a (beautiful) woman. its extraordinary. others remember him with varying degrees of affection.
what makes me think of the psychopaths next door is this:-
oh.. the people next door are psychopaths. i'm not sure if i mentioned it. here in sydney the local government sold off the mental hospitals/asylums and placed the inmates in "the community'. the result is that the state gets a cash injection from the sale but the poor lunatics get some cheap accommodation in some cheap suburb.. like the one i live in. and the debt (mortgage on the house) or rent gets paid off in the future.. but it isnt the lunatics who get my sympathy.. so much as the community actually. so how would you like to live next to a psychopath who maybe is or maybe isnt on his/her medication..?? if they go off it maybe they will come through the door with an axe .. or maybe they wont.. you dont know. it could certainly happen. and even if it doesnt, it can ruin your peace. which is probably all the unfortunate is interested in anyway. who knows?
so.. my psychopath neighbors pied à terre is the result of neo-liberal policies.. 'placing the mentally ill into the community' is the lubricant expression.
the fact is that many psychopaths need asylums where they can be monitored..
so.. the last generation not only squandered the kids inheritance, they have put them into debt in so many, many ways.
it is the socialist policy that protects both the psychopath and the community. .. so 'placing the mentally ill in the community'... may sound better than a glib comment.. and maybe even appear to work in the short term.. but psyhopaths need asylums. the neo-liberals have sold the community out. the bastards.
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