Right/Wrong vs Good/Evil

It seems that every few hundred years or so, western society undergoes a cycle of religion in government. That is, we go through periods where the government of the day is also, essentially, the church of the day. We find ourselves in this situation right now.

Despite the US constitution stating that the Church and the State must be two separate entities, and the Bush administration paying lip service to this claim, the general public are constantly told that the war on terror is about the US's God given duty to extinguish the evil forces in the world today.

There is a reason that the Founding Fathers of the USA wanted Church and State kept separate. They had enough objective vision to know that as soon as religion entered into any political debate, rational thought went out the window. You just can not win an argument against someone who is taking a position based purely on their own Faith. In these types of confrontations, everyone thinks that they are on the side of "Good". This belief is not negotiable. You can not expect someone to give up their belief structure, no matter how well presented your argument is.

This is a very complex issue to discuss, and there are many facets to this whole situation, but right now I want to suggest an important definition of the Good/Evil terms of reference.

Despite the Bush administration's claim to not be waging a religious war, the fact that they use the terms Good and Evil suggests that they are. To me, "Good" and "Evil" are two terms that can not be taken out of a religious context. They are very different from "Right" and "Wrong", but at the same time, they can be closely related.

To me, "Good" and "Evil" imply a definition of the moral standing of a being (natural and supernatural) in relation to a belief structure that is determined by a framework of standards of behaviour defined by a question of Faith.

"Right" and "Wrong" imply a definition of the moral standing of a being in relation to a belief structure that is determined by a framework of standards of behaviour defined by the society in which the being is located and/or from.

Now these definitions are my own, which may explain why they seem a bit long winded. But I felt that I needed to explain my thoughts properly. In a nutshell: I think that Good/Evil are defined by a religious faith, and Right/Wrong are defined by society.

As I said, two separate things, but also can be closely related. In a society where the morals are dictated by the dominating religion, the Good/Evil vs Right/Wrong question could be irrelevant. Unfortunately, I see that western society is headed in this direction. We are becoming a culture where religious beliefs are dictating Government policy, and the majority of the unthinking population will believe what they are told to believe.

We should be able to tell the difference between issues of Right/Wrong and Good/Evil, but the line is becoming increasingly blurred.

I am a telephone GOD!

One week into it am I have mastered the requirements of my new job.

I am ready for the next challenge, but somehow I think I am going to end up wasting away in my current role for a few years first.

Why do I have such a ticket on myself?

Everyday, everyone in our team is given a "profile" to complete. This profile has a schedule of phone calls to make out to the members of the public who have previously contacted us. Essentially, we do follow up calls before finishing off the business for which people have contacted us.

Anyway, we have a certain amount of time allocated for each call. If you are quick, you can complete a call sooner than you allotted time and move on to the next one a bit early. With luck and persistence, you can get through the calls for the day with time to spare.

Out of our team of four, I am the only one who consistently gets through their calls early. Do I get time off for this? Do I get rewarded in any way? Do I even get the option of doing something different to give me some variety in my work life? No, Nope, and no way! What is my reward? I get to help the rest of my team to finish off their call lists. Two of my team regularly fall behind in their call lists. I, like a schmuck, keep dialing away like I have been all day. I am so good at it, that I do more of it than anyone else in my team. The only person I have seen who is faster than me, is a lady who has been working there for years, and who skips over half of the information required. Not very good service, if you ask me.

I know that I am sounding conceited, but I have worked many years in the customer service industry. I talk well to people on the phone (and face to face), and can help them get through some sometimes confusing information. I get regular feedback that is positive. I have never had a complaint against me (that I know of). It sounds big headed, but I can honestly say that I am damned good at customer service. BUT...I am getting off topic.

This situation does not encourage good performance. My reward for good performance is more work. YAY!!!!!!

I guess I should not be surprised, this is the public service after all!

DPS

Is it bullying or just good policing?

The world is getting in worse and worse shape. It all comes down to one country, that contains just 5% of the world's population. And it isn't even all of this country. It comes down to a small selection of people who want to manipulate the rest of the world to suit their own wants. Who these people are, I don't know. But the effects of their workings are clearly evident in today's world.

Obviously, the country I speak of is the USA. And it is equally obvious that the things that the US have been doing, are not the workings of Bush. I get the very strong impression that he is merely a puppet in the hands of those working behind him.

There are many conspiracy theories around about who is really running the USA. These range from The illuminate, to the "Freemasons are running the country" line from the Simpsons. For me, I have absolutely no idea who it is, but I think it is fair to say that oil interests are involved. But maybe it is bigger than that.

The US is self delusional. I am not from the US, but I have spent time in the school system there. I can remember that one of the strongest elements of US History, was the ingrained belief that the US saw itself as the "global policeman". There was no mention of how the US came into this supposed position of power, nor under what authority it held this office. It was always just held as a axiom, and today we can see the US using tactics used by many local police forces.

One of the strongest weapons the Police use is intimidation. It is not always blatant. The simple fact that a policeman, or woman, wears a uniform and, often, a gun, makes them intimidating. Add to this the attitude of: "If you don't do what I say, you could go to jail" that is often implied in policepeople's interaction with the public. Lets face it, even fully law abiding citizens will often get nervous when dealing with the police, simply because of the intimidation involved.

Now, lets look at how the US operates. You would have to be blind to fail to notice that the US uses intimidation to get what it wants. Under the falsehood of delivering democracy to Iraq, the US has successfully destroyed a country that had no possibility of withstanding the US's "Shock and Awe" tactics.

(Side note: I read "Shock and Awe" as spin on what is really an attempt to terrorise a population. By terrorising the people of a country, the US is carrying out terrorism, of which (coincidentally) the US is the only country ever to be foud guilty of in international courts.)

I think that the only reason that the US went into Iraq is because they knew Iraq could not defend itself. Did anybody notice that the US left North Korea (as part of the Axis of evil) alone? The US knew that N.Korea could defend itself. I also realise that oil played a big part in it, but as far as the US is concerned, Iraq was ripe for the picking.

So, now with one destroyed country under it's belt in recent times (2 counting Afghanistan), the US feels it can intimidate it's way where ever it wants. There is no one to really stand up to them.

During the Cold War, tensions were high, but there were very few actual breakouts of war, or war like activity. Nearly everyone was either on the US's side, or the USSR's side. Neither side was willing to take the final step to full confrontation because everyone knew that if they did, then everyone would kill everyone else. With the demise of the USSR, there is no longer a significant power opposition to the USA.

(another side note: I was thrilled to see Russian president Putin take a jab at Bush in a recent press conference. Putin was sharing the stage with Bush, and Bush was making some comment regarding the Israel/Lebanon/Palestine situation, and how democracy needs to be brought into the region. Putin remarked that we did not want to see the sort of democracy that exists in Iraq. Bush did not look impressed.)

Those countries that are aligned to the USA, feel emboldened to do what they like. Particularly Israel. I won't go into that whole mess right now, but I bet you that Israel would not be as bold as it is being right now, if it did not have full USA backing. It is no secret that the US has basically funded Israel's entire military force.

With the USA behind them, they know that they will be given a lot of leeway. Other countries may speak out in protest, but I would be surprised if any further action was taken, with the intimidating shadow of the US as Israel's body guard lurking in the background.

Take a look at how the US operates in the world, and look at how your local police force operates. Then compare a schoolyard bully, or even workplace bully, and see how they compare to the USA's tactics. Make up your own mind. My discussion of this issue may not be totally coherent (I am trying to write this while dealing with the kids), but I think it makes some sense. This is purely my opinion, and I'm welcome to it!

Manning the phones is just SOOOOO much fun!

My final week of training is over, and we finished the week being let loose on to an unsuspecting public. We ran free without tethers! (except for the supervisor hovering in the background, ready to leap to our rescue, should we ever need it). The day went quite smoothly, especially considering some of the difficult situations we had come across during our "buddy" shifts.

Things like, distressed women who's husbands had just walked out on them, breaking down
and needing support. This is all part of what we do, but to be honest, I was glad I was not the one talking to her at the time. The CSR who was "buddying" me was dealing with the call, and thank God for that. I will take this moment to explain myself, before I get anyone upset.

I have a lot of customer service skills, and I think I am fairly compassionate. If someone is in distress, I like to think that I would be inclined, and able, to help out. To be able to do this, though, I need to be confident in my surroundings. I need to know what resources are available to me, and what avenues of action I can take without being told that I am going too far (lets face it, many organisations that are in a customer service industry don't really want their CSRs helping people). When you are new to an organisation, it can be very difficult for you to figure out where the boundaries lie. Now, as it turns out, my current employer has facilities and strategies in place to deal with this type of situation, and my "buddy" effectively showed me how it works. I am just glad that I was not on the call, simply because I did not know what was the right thing to do. I knew what the right thing was from a personal viewpoint, but not from the viewpoint of my new employer. Now, though, I do (and I will say that from a government department's point of view, the response it suprisingly good).

Another side point about the "buddy" sessions is that just about every single person in my office has their own way of doing things. I would think that people who work for a government department that is regulated by a swag of legislation would be required to do things all pretty much the same way. BZZZZT! WRONG! So many corners are cut, and all of them are different corners cut by different people. I find it unbelievable. Maybe after I have been here for years, I will be of the same persuasion, but right now, I don't see how some of the CSRs can be sure that they are offering the best service to fit with the customer's needs, if they don't get all the information that they can (and are officially required to gather). So you get shown one way to do it one day, and another, very different way the next. If their intention is to make you decide on your own, completely different way of doing things, then they have succeeded. I have decided to follow my own instincts, and follow procedures as they are meant to be followed. I know it may sound boring and unimaginative, but I have worked in too many situations where things can get very pear-shapped, very quickly if you don't get all the correct information when you can.

Anyway, towards the end of our solo flight day, the Hippie (mentioned in previous post) looked over the cubicle partition at me and asked how I was going, to which I replied: "To be honest, I'm over it already." She replied back with: "I know what you mean." We both found that we pretty much felt we had mastered the phone calls, and we wanted to be out dealing with customers face to face. Well, I guess we can dream. I know that we have at least a couple of weeks on the phones, and we have been told that our department does not reward initiative. So I guess we won't be able to show off our great customer service skills for some time.

Oh well....welcome to the Public Service.

DPS

I want to ride my bicycle

I am a tragic.

After the thrill of the World Cup on SBS (damn you Italy), I find that I am still craving the thrill of watching sporting competition at the highest level.

Having been a regular viewer of late night SBS, I find myself watching, and actually enjoying, le Tour De France. My wife and I have found ourselves engrosed in the race. We have no idea of who is who, and who is winning what. We have enough knowledge to know that there is more than one "race" happening at the one time, but we do not know who we should be rooting for. How tragic is that?

What I have especially enjoyed is the downloadable route maps for each stage for Google Earth. (I love Google Earth - one of the best time wasters I have ever come across) I love flying over the 3d rendered view of the climb through the alps. SPECTACULAR!

It really gives you an appreciation of the monumental effort made by these riders. It also allows us to locate the spectacular scenery shown on the broadcast, and see exactly where it is. That way we can bookmark the locations for when we get there ourselves.

On a side note, some of the bloody spectators are idoits. The road gets so crowded, that people are sometimes standing in the way of the cyclists. I have seen a couple of f*ckwits running along beside the riders, and falling over, nearly collecting a bike or two with them. This photo is from last year's tour (2005), and belongs to www.cyclingnews.com, but it perfectly illustrates the point - stupid spectator causing trouble.



At this point, I would also like to assert that I have received no financial incentives from either Google, nor le Tour de France, although I would be open to any offers.

I'm not ready for this!

So, I have finished two weeks of passive information absorption. My brain is absolute mush. I have just spent two weeks having information squeezed into my brain, only to have 90% of it spill out and collect in a squishy little puddle on the floor.

The scary things for me are:

1) the training was initially meant to be 5 weeks - now condensed to 2.

2) the masses of information that I have been given over the last two weeks is just a teeny tiny fraction of the knowledge that I really need to do my job properly.

My issues are: how can 5 weeks of training be effectively compacted into 2? And, I feel extremely under equipped to do my job! (and I know that the rest of my new team feel the same way).

So, the end result is that I am about to be thrust out into the public in the service of "the government of the day" feeling totally unprepared. I know that I am going to be guided and buddied through the teething process for a couple of months, but somehow I am still feeling less ready for this new experience than for anything else I have ever started before in my life.

Oh, except for the very first time I walked into kindergarten.

DPS

I'll save you...(*BANG*)

This is wrong. Very, very wrong. My son received a present today. A playset of vehicles and little action men. This is one of the vehicles included:

Ok...all is well and good. It is a tank. Interesting colour choice, but nothing really wrong with that. Hang on, what's that stuck on the side of the turret?


That's right. It is a "Fire Rescue" tank!

I guess it really should have been obvious from the row of fire extinguishers on the back of the turret.

I can imagine the scenario:

"Captain! There are people stuck on the 4th floor. The flames are climbing quickly, I don't know if we will be able to get to them in time."

"Right, men. Bring in the tank, we are going to have to shoot them down. It's the only way we can save them!"

This is a strange world we live in.

DSP

Bullying, anyone?

Blueberry Fool's comments had me thinking.

It is strange when you find out where people are at in their adult lives, and what their attitudes are to others. I have often found that people I thought were cool, or had their shit together in high school are now in dead end jobs, or have no idea where they are going in life.

Those kids who were bullies will often end up in the lower economic bracket.

(of course, I know that these are very broad generalisations, and I am not going to go into the whole social scientific reasoning behind them.)

You also often find that those who were in the outer (socially) or bullied, have developed the drive to get on with their lives.

Unfortunately, I am now finding that many of my high school acquaintances thought that I was "nice" and had my shit together. Hmmm...what does that mean for me?

Am I going to end up going nowhere? Have I found my own dead end job? I can honestly say that I have not ever really suffered the humiliation of being bullied at High School. I was never the centre of attention for any tough students who made life miserable for some of the other school kids.

I find myself at a stage in my life where I am nowhere near as successful as I think I should be. Should I be further ahead that I currently am? Should I blame my lack of success on the fact that I was never bullied? I never had the resentment belted into me. I never had that resentment to grab hold of in adult life, and turn it into a drive to win. Should I sue the school system for lack of character building experiences? Or should I just accept responsibility for myself and get on with life?

Somehow, I think the latter is the correct response. As with many other things in life, we have to look out for ourselves, but it doesn't hurt to help others along the way.

DPS

School Holiday fun

My kids are currently enjoying school holidays. They are attending a vacation club type thing. My wife was emailing a friend about it...I will let her own words explain it:


We've been a little suckered this week - we booked the kids into a pirate themed vacation care activity thingy for this week and when they came home today we realised that it's actually a religious group passing off their beliefs under the pirate guise. Yes, a bit scary, they even went on a tour of the church.

Try this for size - my son brought home this sheet today - the title on the page reads 'Pirate page' followed by "Paul was in prison in Rome. He wrote to his friends in a city called Philippi who also loved Jesus. Can you spot eight differences between these two pictures of Paul writing to his friends?" Followed by two pictures of 'Paul' writing. Then it gets even better "This is what Paul wrote: Every time I think of you, I thank my God (Phillippians 1:3). Draw a picture of your friends in the picture frame below. Say thank you to God for your friends"

Did you spot any pirates? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how any of this relates to pirates - other than the title... unless Jesus was a pirate - there were the dead sea scrolls after all. Perhaps the next Disney movie will be Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Sea Scrolls



'nuff said

DPS

Pictures for profile

Its addictive?

O.K.

Just a quick one.

I have spent the week learning about my new team. It is an interesting team. The vast majority of the group is 40+ women. This is not what makes it interesting. The member of the team that does make it interesting is the 30 something ex hippie woman. I say ex, but although she tries to hide it behind a veneer of office worker facade, her hippie tendencies still shine through.

We were discussing possible substances that people can get addicted to, and/or abuse. This list started with alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, and when Marijuana was mentioned, the hippie'’s reaction was a surprised "Really?"”

Now come on! Lets just announce to the entire office that you are a pot head!

She will be one to watch for interesting developments in the future. Lets see what happens.

DPS

In The Beginning

Well...So it begins. My foray into the dark and troubled world of the Public Service.
Does it matter? Probably not.
Am I important enough to matter? Definitely not.
Will anybody care? Who knows.

I have only been here for less than 1 week, and already my role in the government machine has caused some heated debate between my better half and myself.

Yes, I think the government sucks. Yes, I know my training is probably an attempt to brainwash me to toe the government line. Yes, I am promoting a change in my belief structure, but I need to be able to feel confident in my job to carry it out in an effective manner, and...well...to do my job properly, which is what I am being paid to do.

Am I saying good bye to my personal beliefs, simply for a steady salary? Which is more important, holding true to my beliefs, or earning a decent enough income to pay the bills? Are the two mutually exclusive? Will I be able to uphold policy decisions that I may totally disagree with?

This prospect makes me feel very "dark", and these are the questions that will be explored in this blog, and other tangents that I feel necessary to explore at the time.

Lets tarry on into the wonderful world of the Dark Public Servant.