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SPIN CYCLE 3: The citizens are revolting ‘Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to Volume 3 #37 May 26, 2011 an enterprise, idea or group… The important thing is that it is universal and continuous; and in its sum total it is regimentRunning out of oil and unable to change course from excesing the public mind every bit sive materialism to a sustainable pattern of existence, we place as much as an army regiments increasing pressure on the environment to provide the energy the bodies of its soldiers. So we crave. vast are the numbers of minds Nothing illustrates this better than the explosive growth of which can be regimented, that coal-seam gas mining (CSG) in Australia in the last 18 months. This a group at times offers an irreindustry sinks wells into coal seams where natural gas, primarsistible pressure before which ily methane, is trapped by high-pressure water. The extraction legislators, editors and teachprocess pumps the water to the surface to release the pressure ers are helpless.’ and allow the gas out. At the minehead the salty wastewater is – Propaganda by Edward separated from the gas, which is piped away. Bernays, first published 1928.
Oil, then gas, then what
The deeper wells pass through many geological strata and drain or contaminate interconnected freshwater aquifers that provide drinking water, stock water and irrigation. This is not an environmentalists’ scare campaign; the devastation caused by CSG in North America has been well documented. BHP Billiton, for example, is now mired in a class action for damage caused by its subsidiaries in Arkansas. The mining companies, encouraged by their banks and shareholders, are prepared to turn soil and water into wasteland, and governments have fast-tracked the process by removing controls and giving the miners a virtual free hand over the farmers whose land they covet. In NSW a derisorily inadequate 60-day moratorium on exploration licences has been forced on the government by public opinion, but in Queensland, where the government has justified its preferential treatment of the mining companies by arguing that they will ‘make good’ any damage they cause to the environment, there is the beginning of a fightback. The absurd ‘make good’ pretence is being challenged by 13 farming families on the Darling Downs. Supported by the National Farmers’ Federation, they have mounted an action against the Environment Department that gave Arrow Energy, the foreign-owned CSG giant, authority to drill beneath their irrigated farms. The oil will run out, and so eventually will the gas. Do we have to destroy everything that sustains us before we’re willing to seek genuine solutions?
Tweed Shire Echo Publisher David Lovejoy Editor Luis Feliu Advertising Manager Angela Cornell Accounts Manager Simon Haslam Production Manager Ziggi Browning ‘The job of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’ – Finley Peter Dunne 1867–1936 © 2011 Echo Publications Pty Ltd PO Box 545, Murwillumbah 2484 Phone 02 6672 2280 email: editor@tweedecho.com.au Printer: Horton Media Australia Ltd
Mad Millie showing the whey with home cheesemaking kits
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The Conjurer, attributed to Hieronymus Bosch (c1450–1516), shows how the citizens are often victims of trickery. Note espe‘I want to break free.’ – John cially the poor rube whose purse is being nicked as well.
Deacon for Queen, 1984. Michael McDonald
While a lot of social and political discourse still happens in the ‘real’ world – where people meet and shake hands and have conversations face to face – much of the battleground for hearts and minds has moved into the mysterious realm of cyberspace, parts of which are now known as ‘The Cloud’, not to be confused with the poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley (http://www.poemhunter. com/poem/the-cloud). Now, without having certain software or hardware, you can use online services and store your work ‘up there’. Heaven forbid the banks of servers and backup servers in some bland building in a distant country should all go down in a powerout. ABC TV’s program powered by young geeks, Hungry Beast (http://hungrybeast.abc. net.au), dealt well with ‘Upload’ last week, touching on The Cloud, the internet’s carbon footprint (which is huge), ‘hate following’ and web celebrities. We also learnt how
‘net neutrality’ is being eroded by companies, especially telcoms, and governments who can slow down or block your access to sites they don’t like. The Savetheinternet.com Coalition explains the issue and its campaign. It is highly relevant to Australians as they also seek information in the grip of US corporate giants such as AT&T and Verizon. As Hungry Beast’s piece on ‘hate following’ showed, a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is devoted to totally useless endeavours and the production of carbon dioxide. However, the so-called social media have proved a valuable resource for dissidents trying to get their message out despite government persecution – see Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen. And yet… In the same week ABC’s Media Watch (www.abc.net. au/mediawatch) looked at the perils associated with online citizen journalism. In a piece titled ‘Beware the “trusted” source’, Jonathan Holmes showed how the ABC itself was sucked in by a video, first uploaded to a social media
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site, purporting to be Syrian security forces beating Syrian protesters. It turned out the footage had been taken a couple of years earlier in Beirut. Both the ABC and SBS failed to check Reuters’ disclaimer and subsequent retraction of the video it had sent round: ‘Editors please note: Reuters is withdrawing this video as we have now established that it is file footage from Lebanon in 2008, not Syria as originally thought. Please accept our apologies.’ Oops. It’s always a good idea to read to the bottom of the page. Dupery and flummery abound, just as they have since the first hunter and gatherer made a fart noise with his hand and armpit. The old peaand-thimble game, depicted so well by Hieronymus Bosch in The Conjuror (http://bit. ly/6woDrZ), is being played out in cyberspace by experts and amateurs alike. ■ ■ ■ ■
Local government by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists Esri Australia reckon interactive online mapping technology and social
media sites like Twitter are the future of government-citizen interaction. For web specialists their media release was short on links. I’ve added a couple for your convenience. Referring to the Gov 2.0 Benchmark Study (www.esriaustralia.com.au/esri/8047. html), Esri Australia managing director Brett Bundock said the results showed councils strongly supported Gov 2.0 with websites and social media among the most common tools for effective communication with ratepayers, and mobile phone applications and social media rated first and third among areas crucial for increased productivity. More revealing in the same media release was the comment by Wingecarribee Shire Council GIS supervisor Michael Webb: ‘Location-based technologies allow information to be passed both ways with relative ease, removing a lot of time-consuming face-toface and telephone exchanges.’ Yes, those ratepayers can be pesky. Esri also looked at the Brisbane City Council’s FloodMap and the US smartphone mapping application CitySourced ( w w w. c it y s ou rc e d. c om ) , through which residents report civic issues such as graffiti directly to the government. Great opportunity for every anally retentive person to report every dog turd in a gutter, complete with photos, and to dob in their neighbours. The geekier among you might care to follow the ‘progress’ of Gov 2.0 at http:// agimo.govspace.gov.au/category/gov-2-0/. The rest of us will wait to see if open communication manifests on the ground in our local government area. ■ Mungo is on holiday.
Good news
for Northern Rivers families At Tweed District Dental we know how important it is to protect your face while playing sports. The summer and winter months bring an increase in outdoor activities and a greater chance of damaging your precious mouth and pearly whites. Dr Jackson and our team also know sports-related injuries are common among children. Only 30% of children wear mouth guards when playing sports such as football, cricket, basketball, hockey and soccer. So be safe and book now for your professional preventive mouth guard at the special price of $55 or if you are in a health fund you will be bulk billed for your mouth guard. Always lots to smile about. Tweed District Dental.
A word for the wise... Prevention!
BE WISE and get your preventive mouthguard. $55 or Private Health Fund bulk billing
Boaz Sinclair from Sam Byrnes and Seagulls the Tweed Heads
For more information on ‘Lots to smile about’, better faces, less braces, phone (07) 5513 0900 <echowebsection=Comment>
www.tweedecho.com.au