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> Concern about the risk of fatality due to falling coconuts led local officials in Queensland, Australia, to remove coconut trees from beaches in 2002 This ki

by umvi 5y ago

> Concern about the risk of fatality due to falling coconuts led local officials in Queensland, Australia, to remove coconut trees from beaches in 2002 This kind of policy making is like the complete opposite of going for the low hanging fruit (figuratively and literally)...

kerneloftruth 5y ago
- ccakes 5y ago
  Came to the comments to post this after skimming the Wikipedia link. As a QLD resident living aboard, this sounds very (depressingly) on-brand..
- BLKNSLVR 5y ago
  Given the minimal case numbers Australia has experienced, I'm firmly on the side of the response being appropriate. And I'm firmly against most of the supposedly anti-terror laws Australia has rushed through in the last 20-odd years such metadata retention, backdoor enforcement upon request, and various mouthing-offs about encryption. Real versus imagined threats. My version of...
  - coolso 5y ago
    > Given the minimal case numbers Australia has experienced, I'm firmly on the side of the response being appropriate. China’s numbers have been pretty low too
    - BLKNSLVR 5y ago
      The US has been punching well above its weight: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ I wouldn't trust the numbers from places like India or China, however, and for different reasons. Having known someone with COVID, and having family members with medical backgrounds, my personal judgement is that it was justified. I understand people disagree, and my assumption is that those who reply flippantly are missing parts of the bigger picture - usually over the other side of the fault line separating individual freedoms and the sacrifices required for participation in a functioning society. I also won't say that everything has been done perfectly, far from it. The messaging has been uneven - masks / no masks as an oft-cited example. But, it's an essentially unprecedented situation, and politics ain't used to moving all that fast so, you know, move fast and break things like FB says, woo!
  - kerneloftruth 5y ago
    As it seems you approve of heavy-handed authoritarian means for handing a virus, why not for handling terrorism? I get the impression that to many Australians, "freedom" means freedom from risk, and loss of liberty is quite acceptable, making Franklin's famous quote so relevant (again): Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
    - BLKNSLVR 5y ago
      That's not how I see it at all, but maybe that's just because you're using heavily loaded language. Also, one situation was decidedly real, the other much less tangible. Ironically, the "authoritarianism" as you put it, is temporary for the real situation and seemingly permanent for the imagined. I'm totally aware how my position may look hypocritical, I'm trying to explain how it looks from the inside.
- stephen_g 5y ago
  Understand though that coconut palms are generally considered as not native to Australia and by some authorities here as “invasive weeds”. So it’s not as simple as that.

by umvi 5y ago

kerneloftruth 5y ago

ccakes 5y ago
Came to the comments to post this after skimming the Wikipedia link. As a QLD resident living aboard, this sounds very (depressingly) on-brand..
BLKNSLVR 5y ago
Given the minimal case numbers Australia has experienced, I'm firmly on the side of the response being appropriate. And I'm firmly against most of the supposedly anti-terror laws Australia has rushed through in the last 20-odd years such metadata retention, backdoor enforcement upon request, and various mouthing-offs about encryption. Real versus imagined threats. My version of...
- coolso 5y ago
  > Given the minimal case numbers Australia has experienced, I'm firmly on the side of the response being appropriate. China’s numbers have been pretty low too
  - BLKNSLVR 5y ago
    The US has been punching well above its weight: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ I wouldn't trust the numbers from places like India or China, however, and for different reasons. Having known someone with COVID, and having family members with medical backgrounds, my personal judgement is that it was justified. I understand people disagree, and my assumption is that those who reply flippantly are missing parts of the bigger picture - usually over the other side of the fault line separating individual freedoms and the sacrifices required for participation in a functioning society. I also won't say that everything has been done perfectly, far from it. The messaging has been uneven - masks / no masks as an oft-cited example. But, it's an essentially unprecedented situation, and politics ain't used to moving all that fast so, you know, move fast and break things like FB says, woo!
- kerneloftruth 5y ago
  As it seems you approve of heavy-handed authoritarian means for handing a virus, why not for handling terrorism? I get the impression that to many Australians, "freedom" means freedom from risk, and loss of liberty is quite acceptable, making Franklin's famous quote so relevant (again): Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
  - BLKNSLVR 5y ago
    That's not how I see it at all, but maybe that's just because you're using heavily loaded language. Also, one situation was decidedly real, the other much less tangible. Ironically, the "authoritarianism" as you put it, is temporary for the real situation and seemingly permanent for the imagined. I'm totally aware how my position may look hypocritical, I'm trying to explain how it looks from the inside.
stephen_g 5y ago
Understand though that coconut palms are generally considered as not native to Australia and by some authorities here as “invasive weeds”. So it’s not as simple as that.