Thoughts By J

Ramblings of an Aussie book lover

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Elections, elections!

Daily Observations, Musings., Personal Experiences, Rants

What is it about this topic that just gets everyone so riled up? Whenever election time rolls around, it seems every bit of a candidate’s background gets thoroughly investigated and ‘revealed’ to the whole country. So, you couldn’t have done that a little sooner? Say, I don’t know, before they’ve secured the candidacy spot?!

Yes, I’m referring to America, but also to my own country – Australia. I know the political systems in both countries are vastly different, but there are many similarities as well. I’m not saying that I’m by any means an expert or avid follower of politics, but there are some areas that I want to bring up that really rub me in the wrong way. Especially when I do have the right to vote at the next election and will have to choose between two parties, with none that really stand out to me.

The one similarity that I can’t shake off in both candidates within America and Australia is that both opposition leaders do have a past of bullying. Yes, this information was revealed only recently, a few months prior to the election (it’s very sneaky to be honest), but I do stand by the idea that the public has the right to know about the past of anyone that is running for the power to make decisions for a whole country.

Let’s start with Mitt Romney shall we? If you do a google search of ‘Mitt Romney: Bully’, you will be bombarded with a variety of news articles that all say the same thing. He and his friends apparently pinned a boy down in high school, and cut off his long blond hair because Romney didn’t like it, and it felt ‘gay’ to him. His ‘friends’ from Cranbrook (the private high school where the incident occurred) have statements that the incident did occur.

From what I understand, Romney apologised for his ‘hijinks’ although he says that he doesn’t recall the incident. I’m not sure, but as a human being, I would say that a bullying incident like this would leave a pretty long-lasting impression on a person. I still remember when I was bullied in kindergarten! And I know that’s because I was a victim, but Romney wasn’t exactly a child. He’s old, sure, but surely if his friends from back then remember the incident, the actual instigator would remember it as well.

Now onto Tony Abbott. I don’t know about you, but I sure see some similarities here. Two weeks ago, the Australian media was all wild and frantic in reporting about Abbott’s good old days as a bully, which coincidentally, he also cannot recall. Wow, don’t you both just have some very good memories. I’m not worried about that memory retention or anything if you both win enough votes to become President or Prime Minister.

I’m not sure about you, but I definitely do not want a bully (although in the past) as a leader of my country. People may grow up, and yes, Romney’s incident was in high school (lessens the impact a little, but only just. Although you’re a ‘silly’ teenager, it still doesn’t give you a right), Abbott’s bullying incident occurred in university. After he lost  an election. I don’t exactly want to know what would happen if he lost the PM election next year, but I also don’t really want to win.

I know politically speaking, this post does not touch on any of the policies that the candidates raise – especially for all the issues regarding unemployment, our economy, a seat on the UN etc. But having studied psychology, management and public relations – I know quite well that to be a good leader, you first must be a good person. You must put the interests of others ABOVE yourself. In our neoliberal society, good leaders are coming to understand that people are a very important asset. And treating people with dignity and the rights they deserve will get you a long way.

So to Romney and Abbott, I really hope that you learn from your past mistakes. Sure, it may have happened a long time ago, but it’s better to confront and admit your guilt rather than hide behind the facade of memory loss. It fools no one. Why not play the empathy card, and legitimately apologise. Everyone knows people make mistakes, and no one will fault you for a mistake you made when you were in high school or university. But we will if your ‘apology’ is as believable as saying that a live elephant will fit into a car. I believe you can salvage your reputation much more if you just apologise sincerely for your past actions, and no-one will be able to say you weren’t regretful of them.

But right now, I don’t think I can vote for someone that doesn’t seem to care or be able to empathise with others. I want a leader that will do the country proud – someone that want to make the country better for its citizens. Not someone that assume they are better than others and will only care about one half of its citizens.

Get your priorities straight guys, you’re a leader, and every move counts. People will always be watching – even those who don’t follow politics closely.

(Disclaimer: Everything in this post is just my opinion. I am entitled to it. I respect that others also have their own opinions, and I will be happy to discuss them. But if you want to bash/troll, go make your own blog and do it there. I have no time for bullies.)

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10 things that really annoy me.

Daily Observations, Lists, Personal Experiences, Rants

There were a few breaking news topics that I was going to blog about over the last two weeks, but when I thought about it, there was already a variety of articles covering both stories and I didn’t feel like I needed to restate the same thoughts and comments that many people around the world was already talking about/trending online. But just if you were interested, the two topics were:

1. Bus monitor being bullied.

2. Batman massacre at Aurora, Colorado. 

If you have no idea what happened in either of those topics, I suggest you google it, because they’re both interesting. I would love to hear your thoughts on either of those situations if you want to discuss it. I have strong viewpoints on both situations and I’m sure most people do too.

However, I did decide not to blog about them because as I mentioned before, they’re two situations that have received a lot of press. The second reason I didn’t blog was because I’ve been swamped with stuff to do for uni. No excuse, but sometimes I just don’t want to expend energy churning out words, when I’ve been doing that all day.

MOVING ON, I’m sure that if you’re reading this, you’re not here to read about my excuses for not blogging. So I present to you, the 10 things that really annoy me. Some are pretty recent, and some have annoyed me for a while now. This topic sprung into my mind while I was doing my readings for a course this morning and getting annoyed at my tutor/lecturer (same person) for some pretty silly things. But they’re not silly to me!

The list is in no particular order, and it sure doesn’t encompass everything that annoys me (wow, I’m such a whiny girl), but here goes:

Continue reading

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How I dealt with my unfair tutor.

Advice, Daily Observations, Personal Experiences, Rants

I’ve had to deal with a lot of insecurities this past week, mainly surrounding my own writing. For a media student to be told by their tutor continuously throughout the semester that their writing is only of a pass standard, but with no justifications, is a little upsetting. I’m not bragging, but I am at least credit average. Having transferred to B Media (PR & Advertising) just this year, I was able to take three  courses in semester one as a lot of my credit points were transferred from my completed courses in 2011. Having one less subject to worry about meant I had a lot more free time to invest into each of my assessments. Which I did. And you could tell by my marks that I do put a lot of effort into each of my assignments … well at least for two of my courses.

When I’m getting no lower than a mark of 80 (Distinction) in my ARTS1090 and MGMT2718 course assignments, but continuously getting a 55 (Pass) in MDIA1002, then the first thing I will think is that writing news articles has to be very different to writing essays … hence the low marks for MDIA1002. I did believe it was my inability to comprehend the methods of writing a perfect news article at first, so I sought help from my tutor through emails and during her consultation times. I took all her ‘advice’ into consideration and learnt from them. I don’t believe I made the same mistake twice. However, in our final assessment worth 40% of our grade, I was yet again given a final mark of 55 (raw mark 61 with 6 marks deducted for ‘presentation errors’). I must note here that I am a VERY thorough reader. I always catch mistakes when I’m reading books, so it was a given that I would catch mistakes in the comments my tutor left on my assignment. Now I’m not saying that I don’t ever make mistakes of my own because that would just be ridiculous. I’m only human, and sometimes I will overlook something, and I accept the fact that my tutor did rightfully deduct marks for some of these presentation errors. However, there were marks that she deducted wrongfully as well.

Having read over her comments thoroughly and made notes on many points I didn’t agree with, I decided it was only fair to send her an email seeking further clarification. I wanted some extra feedback for the reasons she had given me a mark so low, as her comments were just not justified properly at all. I have included the email I sent my tutor below (**names have been changed**). It took me three hours to write it, but I believe I backed up my arguments thoroughly and had researched my facts properly.

Continue reading

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Beats by Dr. Dre – Studio Headphones

Daily Observations, Rants

I’ve heard of these over-the-ear headphones before, heck it’s basically what the mascot has on in Nova 96.9’s logo. But honestly, they just look ridiculous. I was on the train home today when a school boy around perhaps sixteen came on and sat down in the seat in front of me with his friend. He had on big orange Dr. Dre studio headphones in a disgusting orange colour that clashed horrifically with his blue and grey uniform. And he had them on the whole time his friend was talking to him. Talk about rude.

Not only are the headphones humungous in size, you can’t even subtly hide the fact that you don’t care about keeping a steady conversation with your mate. With them on, you’re basically projecting to the world: “I have on ridiculously large headphones so STFU and leave me alone.” I know headphones are comparably better hearing and damage wise than earphones, but when you’re paying $499 to look like a douche, then I must politely decline and refuse to have anything to do with the hype over these silly accessories.

Ridiculously overpriced music accessory.

I may not like people wearing these out of the house, but I do agree with the positive effects it does bring to the user. Because the music is not projected directly into your eardrums, damage to your cochlear is much lower. Unless you’re blasting your music at full volume that is, in which case you’re an idiot and a germ to society. So please, please only wear these fancy ass headphones in the privacy of your own home. I know you want to show them off to your mates, but you have facebook for that. And honestly, you look stupid with them on.

That is all.

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Racism Against Asians.

Rants, Replies to Articles

The Guardian on Facebook.

(You should probably click on that link and read the article beforehand to understand where I’m going with this blog entry.) 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you would have heard all about Jeremy Lin and his spectacular basketball skills this past month. (Seriously, even my 49 year old mother knows about him, and let me tell you – she’s obsessed.) What I want to blog about today is not his miraculous winning streaks, but the racism directed at him by a select few within the American public. Seriously America, the whole world already thinks most of you are giant d-bags, why do you continuously reinforce that belief? I’m not going to claim everyone from America are like that (because that’s just stupid) but there are always a few that ruin it for the rest. I’ve made racist comments myself, but it wasn’t in a way intended to bash someone for being born a certain ethnicity. It was always lighthearted, and attempted to be funny. However, I’m not saying it was right for me to do so either, because that would just make me a hypocrite.

Is there something about Asians that make the White community believe we’re lower on the cultural pyramid than them? Is it our almond shaped eyes? Our luscious straight black hair? Or perhaps, the stereotypical belief that each of us were born with a genius calculator for a brain? Whatever the reason is, the one sure thing I can say is that Caucasians have always been (and probably will continue to be) at the top of that metaphorical cultural pyramid for many years to come. But when you take a look at the history books; Chinese is the oldest language on record, taking first place just ahead of Ancient Greek and Latin. It really says something, that my culture far precedes any other by a fair few hundred (thousands?) years. But on the other end of the spectrum, I must admit that the behaviour of many Asians in the 21st century is a pet peeve that annoys me. A LOT.

Having worked in the hospitality industry since the day I was legally allowed, I’ve met my fair share of annoying customers. But no-one, and seriously no-one, is as annoying as the Asian (Chinese) customers that come in with their “higher-than-thou” attitude, believing they should always be served first because they’re more important. I hope this blog entry is not progressing into a rant, but perhaps this stigma against the Asian community is also brought up by the select few that ruin it for the rest of us. Waving your hand in my face or poking me, will not result in food being placed in front of them any quicker. As a matter of fact, I will actually make sure they get their food last. Manners are something taught from childhood and fine-tuned through your teen years. Every time I head into work for the Twilight shift (I work on a showboat that caters to tourists during the afternoon), I cringe a little while my respect for my own ethnicity slowly diminishes as they continuously show disrespect to my co-workers and I. And the nose-picking in public. Really? REALLY?!  

I understand that this stigma against the Asian community is really brought on by a selection of people that reinforce the Asian stereotypes. However, they are not the only ones at fault. From a psychological point of view, children are nurtured into the beliefs and behaviour of their parents. I know this is literally impossible, but if every being within our planet could be more open-minded about other cultures, even if to make one new friend that is different to them – then the next generation may potentially result in lower racism. But I guess that’s just wishful thinking.

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Welcome to Thoughts By J, the book blog of two Aussie book lovers. Here you'll find rants, raves and everything in between as we honestly review the books we've read for you.

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The books and items reviewed on Thoughts By J are purchased by us unless explicitly specified. We occasionally receive books for review from Australian publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts By J does not receive monetary compensation for our reviews or posts.

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