politics

As you might have guessed by now, politics is one of those things which I just can't seem to resist, whether it's my studies at La Trobe, analysing Australian or international political activity, diving into a political thriller or just playing a good political freeform. Roleplaying aside, there's one particular politics related group of which I'm a member, which deserves special mention, and it is one which is concerned with political science than political activity, that being the La Trobe Politics Society. Though for the most part I am somewhat wary about any way in which I may get actively involved in politics on any level, I do support a number of issues, especially those concerned with freedom. Not surprisingly this support becomes even more vehement when the freedom in question is mine.

Freedom of thought and expression has always been one of my favourite causes and though my view of the world has evolved somewhat, bringing me towards the "political realist" camp, I would still very much like to see a society like that discussed in my essay Liberty and Authority, no matter how unlikely that may be. Consequently one of my favourite documents for quoting purposes in this regard is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I've found Articles 18 and 19 especially useful many times. Article 12 is also something of which I'm very supportive and can be just as useful as those Articles concerning freedom of expression.

As a consequence I also support and encourage the use of public encryption software like PGP by any and all individuals. The guarantee of privacy of communication, which PGP encryption grants to e-mail, is an essential aspect of one's political, intellectual and personal freedom. My own public keys are available on this site; a standard DH/DSS key for those using current versions of PGP and PGPi and an RSA key for those using earlier versions such as version 2.6.2 and version 2.3a (which was the first version I used, by the way, back in 1995).

I suppose any time three or more people get together there's a chance for political activity to take place and the more people one adds to the mix the more likely it is, add to that the tendency for just about any given group of humans to conspire against any other group and the result is that no one can truly escape politics no matter whom they are. The difference lies only in whether or not one is aware of it and how it affects the way one operates within the arena through which one moves. So despite my wariness of organized political groups (which is equalled only by my wariness of organized religious groups), to say I abstain from political activity just because they exist would be foolish, false and boring.

Despite my tendency to avoid fanatical political activity, as a student (and, some say, a professional shit-stirrer) I just can't resist to comment upon, break down, analyse and rebut political activities and statements. Consequently one will find many such commentaries on this site, these will usually be found in the writing section entitled "Essays, Columns & Rants." Those most likely to be targetted are the stupid and the extremists, the latter I just love baiting, whether they're religious or political (not that there's really that much difference).

Going to La Trobe does provide, amongst other things, a view of a truly astonishing amount of political incompetence, especially the 1998 Student Representative Council, which seems to be little more than a power-hungry, Hellenic-reactionary group trying to strike back against the large far-left groups on campus. Of course the socialists aren't really any better, though some of them may have had a little more practice. For the most part those involved in student politics tend to get very dull very quickly, they've been fighting the same old tired crusades for too many years now and their major audience (the rest of the campus) couldn't care less. The scary thing is that it is often very difficult to tell which has the greater political acumen, student politics or Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. The deciding factor, most would agree, is whether or not one is including David Oldfield in the equation. My articles on this little topic can be found in the aforementioned section of my essays.

The one exception of recent times of student apathy towards student politics is on the issue of student fees, especially up front student fees. For this issue I merely point those interested in the direction of Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document helped repeal the anti-homosexuality laws in Tasmania so, with enough time and effort, they ought to help in this case too.

I find myself very much in agreement with Warren Ellis that politics is the spectator sport of the 90's, it even provides a certain amount of "interactive entertainment" - especially for writers. I suppose everyone's got to have a pass time of some kind...is there anything really wrong with being a politics junkie? (There's no need to answer that, really.)

Now you can either go back, go to the site contents or e-mail me (get my PGPi public keys here).