The Monday Mix (22/02/2021)
Hey friends,
We’re nearing the end of February and with it, the end of meteorological winter here in the Northern hemisphere. The nights are getting longer and temperatures are slowly rising.
For what has felt like a particularly grim winter, I’m looking forward to this summer. Long nights, beer gardens and walks in the sunshine are all things I’m eagerly looking forward to!
With that said, let’s get into this week’s email!
Before and after in Christchurch
In 2014, I spent a year living and working in Christchurch. Ten years ago today, the city suffered a devastating earthquake which almost levelled Christchurch and killed 185 people.
When I arrived in early February 2014, I was shocked by the state of the city. The city centre had been cordoned off in a ‘red zone’ following the quake and only recently been reopened.
I knew the city was going to be in a state of disrepair, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Even three years after the quake, the city was still in a terrible state. Buildings were in ruins, empty plots were everywhere and if you ventured into the suburbs, you found whole streets that had been abandoned. It was surreal. The only thing I can compare it to is a warzone, such was the devastation.
By the time I left, the city was recovering. But there was still a long way to go. Ten years later, Christchurch is on the mend. But the photos in the article above highlight how much still needs to be done, despite all that has.
Here are a few photos I took from the first few days in Christchurch to highlight how bad things were.
If you want to know more about Christchurch and New Zealand, you can check out my travel blog. I have plenty of articles about the country on the site. If you fancy a trip there once the pandemic is over, I highly recommend it. New Zealand is, in my opinion, the most beautiful place on the planet!
This is a fascinating article by the late anthropologist David Graeber on what he terms, ‘bullshit jobs.’ This essay was turned into a book of the same name, which I hope to get my teeth into at some point in the near future.
The premise of his article is a fascinating one. In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes stated that in the future we will work 15 hours a week. Yet, the opposite has happened. Instead of reducing the working week, we’ve increased it. Most of us now work a 40 hour week without even considering whether we should. A lot of these jobs are in administration, human resources and other sectors that have sprung up in recent times.
Graeber believes this shouldn’t have happened. These jobs are more akin to what you’d find in a soviet-style bureaucracy, than a capitalist system which is supposed to remove inefficiencies in the market.
Whatever your point of view, Graeber’s essay is interesting and makes you think about the way society is structured. The purpose of great writing as far as I’m concerned is to make you think and this article does just that.
The furore around cancel culture is one of the biggest trends of recent years. Many people are decrying that you can’t say anything anymore for fear of being cancelled. That to express your true opinions, especially if you’re a conservative, is to encourage the mob to come after you.
I’m sceptical about the extent to how much cancel culture is both real and a major problem. Free speech doesn't give you the right to shout FIRE in a crowded cinema when there’s no fire, for example. There have always been limits to what you can say and this will always be the case.
The above article is an interesting look at this phenomenon and looks at the case of Gina Carano, in particular. This line sums up what I feel is the essence of the outrage regarding cancel culture. It’s historically illiterate and contradictory.
“It’s absolutely fine if Disney doesn’t want the hassle of employing an actor who is out there on Insta comparing being a Republican to being a Jew in Nazi Germany. Carano managed to simultaneously minimize the horror of the Holocaust, which is egregiously disrespectful, and compare Democrats to Nazis, which makes her guilty of the dangerous partisan demonization she seemed to think she was condemning.”
I plan to write an article with my thoughts on cancel culture in the coming weeks, which I’ll share here.
Book I’m reading
Clear Bright Future by Paul Mason - In what he terms as a ‘radical defence of the human being,’ Mason looks at what the future holds for humanity in the age of machines and increasing attacks on our freedoms. I’ve been impressed with this book so far and it’s introduced me to plenty of new concepts I was unaware of previously.
Quote I’m pondering
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else — you are the one who gets burned." - Buddhaghosa
That’s all for this week. I’ll continue to send some of the essays I’ve been writing for the Ship30for30 here too in the next few days.
Until next time,
Tom