Matt Blaze

Most of my mentions for the last day have been from strangers telling me “You aren’t being shouty enough!!! Everyone should shouty about everything!! Stop trying to explain things and join the shouting!”

Sorry. If everything is required to be a crisis, we can’t tell where to focus.

Feb 3 at 10:39pmWeb
Show threadMatt BlazeFeb 3
Anyway, if you find information about elections irrelevant or frivolous, my posts aren’t going be for you. But please do vote if you can.
Show threadMozFeb 3

@mattblaze some of us are hobby psephologists :) And you produce useful papers on electronic voting.

Looking at awful voting systems is a worthwhile reminder to folk in places like Australia that while our voting system has many flaws it's definitely not as broken as some people try to pretend.

Show threadPeter LudemannFeb 4

@moz

As a thought experiment, could a norms-defying Prime Minister with a disciplined majority subvert the Australian elections? I'm pretty sure a Canadian PM could.

@mattblaze

Show threadMozFeb 4

@PeterLudemann @mattblaze Easier to control the people elected than the mechanism (AEC) I think.

"The Dismissal" is close, but that was the Queen and allegedly the CIA, not the Prime Minister.

Clive Palmer is another answer. He spent ~$AU100M to win IIRC four senate seats and they all defected rather than remain his minions (but stayed as senators).

Looking at "The Coalition" shenanigans right now, nothing stops someone persuading 80 MPs and 40 senators to join them in revolting.

Show threadMozFeb 4

@PeterLudemann @mattblaze but if you just mean "pass laws to implement fascism", they've already done that. The trick is applying them selectively. Anti-protest laws are hot here right now, but we have others.

Changing some of the laws around elections is easy if the PM has said disciplined majority, the constitution is fairly flexible. They could further limit the franchise very easily, for example.

But as with the Iraq war, lots of people would be very unhappy if they did. Oh, wait.

Show threadPhil 🇺🇦💙💛🇺🇸 ❤️🏳️‍🌈❤️🏳Feb 3
@mattblaze I'm just here for the photography ;)
Show threadPeter LudemannFeb 4
@phil_b_reed And I'm just here for the "rude" replies (as someone who's used the Internets for over 4 decades, I find @mattblaze 's "rudeness" to be pleasantly direct).
Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 3
@mattblaze MORE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS! MORE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS!
Show threadFreddyB Aviation PhotographyFeb 3
@ai6yr @mattblaze So let it be written...... SO let it be done
Show threadÁngela Stella MatutinaFeb 3

@ai6yr @mattblaze

Yes, but OUT! OF! FOCUS! black and white photos.

Let's stay on message here. Focused is privileged. Or something bad anyway.

Show threadFreddyB Aviation PhotographyFeb 3
@ai6yr @mattblaze
Show threadJ.R. OrciFeb 3
@mattblaze less pouty more shouty i always say
Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Feb 3

@mattblaze

Some people shout; other people talk quietly. Each has their purpose and their scope.

Show threadJustin MacleodFeb 3
@mattblaze I dunno about being required to be a crisis. There are just so many profound crises concurrently, it's all rather overwhelming.
Show threadMatt BlazeFeb 3
@JustinMac84 it IS overwhelming. I think injecting some information to help sort out what is and isn’t urgent or plausible is useful. YMMV.
Show threadRDillingFeb 3
@mattblaze @JustinMac84 I think a lot of us appreciate the info. And we don’t say it enough. But, thank you
Show threadnailbomb3Feb 3
I admire your patience and level headedness.
Show threadCyberFrogFeb 4
@mattblaze every individual having their own personal crisis matrix of Shit They Care About Specifically™ which must always be treated as a social emergency is exhausting tbh

I mostly just see this as another symptom of the atomization in society, I just think it's unfortunate that everyone has decided to care about collective society, as individuals, instead of as a community.