General Discussions

[Baggers]

Change of topic, I must be getting old but the mere sight and/or sound of the following people just grinds my gears. Top 5 in no particular order:
1. Kevin Sheedy
2. Grace Tame
3. Greta Thunberg
4. Donald Trump
5. Waleed Aly (or anyone from The Project)
Is it just me?

Interesting list, GTC old son. Well, no so old

Sheedy? Yep. He even irritates most thinking cheats.com.au supporters now.

Grace? Similar to Principal LODS, I factor in the horrendous traumas she suffered and respect her ability to turn it around with a commitment to a cause. But I do get how abrasive she can be.

Greta? Never bothered me. Just a teenager with a cause who was thrust into the limelight. Admire that she was committed to a cause, though understand how her manner could ruffle feathers... to say the least. However, I loved how a teenager could infuriate and undo A Bolt so easily... suspect he was jealous that a teenager was getting a 100 times more publicity and support than him.

Trump? Yep. A sad, pathetic yet dangerous narcissist... text book narcissist.

Waleed? Know too little about him to comment. Haven't read his articles or watched The Project... hardly ever watch free to air teev.

[Baggers]

Bit of a theme going on there, something to do with people who overshare?

As soon as you are outspoken, you'll polarize. Nature of beast, I guess. And... gulp... this little black duck has been accused of 'over sharing' on more than one occasion, but I guess it's more of a personal nature.

[DJC]

I'll give you four out of five.
With Grace Tame we have to understand that she has been very damaged by her experiences.
Unless we've had similar experiences we can't possibly understand the depth of feeling and the impact.

We see her being standoffish and dismissive with a Prime Minister, and some get a feeling of 'that's a bit rude.'
Some of us are stronger than others in coping.
But the impact of abuse is more often than not life long.
That will affect the actions, words and behaviour of even the strongest.
I suspect, rightly or wrongly, that Grace often gets the feeling that the supportive words of some folk are not 100% genuine and she finds it difficult to suffer them with a smiley face all the time.
There's an anger there that's hard to hide.
It's a bit off-putting to some folks who think she perhaps needs to harden up and move on but it's a struggle we can never really understand unless we've experienced it.

Grace has autism and that affects her presentation.  Given that, and the dreadful abuse she suffered, I’m happy to cut her some slack.

Greta Thunberg also has autism (Asperger’s) and that helps to explain her all-absorbing interest in halting environmental destruction.  I quite like Greta … who couldn’t like someone with Tintin as one of their given names?

I’d replace Grace and Greta with Peta Credlin and Alan Jones.  I can take or leave Waleed Aly and there are many other folk who get up my goat. Of that lot, Clive Palmer is probably the person who most churns my gut.

[Mav]

I’d throw in Elon Musk. What a wanker. When is this infatuation with Billionaires, particularly Tech Billionaires, going to fade? He and his ilk seem to attract the same obsequiousness as Royals, Lords and other nobility have enjoyed in England. He proved he was an entitled twat with his attempt to insert himself into the Thai Cave rescue and his stupidity is on display as the chief Twit.

[Baggers]

Grace has autism and that affects her presentation.  Given that, and the dreadful abuse she suffered, I’m happy to cut her some slack.

Greta Thunberg also has autism (Asperger’s) and that helps to explain her all-absorbing interest in halting environmental destruction.  I quite like Greta … who couldn’t like someone with Tintin as one of their given names?

I’d replace Grace and Greta with Peta Credlin and Alan Jones.  I can take or leave Waleed Aly and there are many other folk who get up my goat. Of that lot, Clive Palmer is probably the person who most churns my gut.

So very similar here, David. Well said on replacing Grace and Greta with Credlin and Jones...

[Baggers]

I’d throw in Elon Musk. What a wanker. When is this infatuation with Billionaires, particularly Tech Billionaires, going to fade? He and his ilk seem to attract the same obsequiousness as Royals, Lords and other nobility have enjoyed in England. He proved he was an entitled twat with his attempt to insert himself into the Thai Cave rescue and his stupidity is on display as the chief Twit.

I find Musk a very perplexing dude. I watched Lex Fridman's podcast with Musk which was illuminating and fascinating. Lex is one of the very best interviewers I've watched and he sure did get Musk to open up.

[LP]

Unless we've had similar experiences we can't possibly understand the depth of feeling and the impact.

Yes no doubt this is true, but is it an excuse for some of the abhorrent behaviour that some exhibit in the public arena?

What part of life damaged Sheedy, Bolt, Jones, Credlin, Panahi, etc., etc.?

It seems there is a difference between demanding to be treated with respect, and treating others with respect, and that double standard / contradiction might be at the root of much of the public disdain!

For that matter I see the same double standard in the behaviour of someone like Goodes, who exhibits a tendency to send a message that the end justifies any means necessary, which apparently labels me as racist. Of course if questioned he would deny that allegation, but the problem is his inclusive words and actions do not match the sporadic rhetoric.

You can't make peace with someone by getting frustrated and smashing a metaphorical rock on their head, just once terminates the relationship!

[Mav]

Baggers, given the topic is “the mere sight and/or sound of the following people just grinds my gears”, you already know I have no desire to listen to any podcast interview with him. That said, I’d be happy to read any insights you distilled from it.

[DJC]

Just going back to the subconscious mind, I think that we see far more than our conscious mind can process but our lizard brain takes it all in and spits out anything that could be important.

Many years ago, I was walking from one of the La Trobe carparks towards the library.  There was a bloke walking in the opposite direction about 200m away and a thought flashed through my brain, "I haven't seen Peter for a while."  As we got closer, I realised that it was Peter.  I don't know whether there was something about his gait or posture but there's no way that I could have recognised him at 200m.

I spend a lot of time in the bush and have had numerous encounters with snakes but they are rarely unexpected.  One close call was when I foolishly decided to walk through some scrub wearing thongs. I was in mid-step when I suddenly thought, "This is a good place for a snake."  I kept my foot raised and, sure enough, there was a smallish Tiger Snake coiled up right where I was about to plant my Japanese safety boot.  I retreated and found another route. 

I have had many similar experiences and I am sure that they are the subconscious mind using sensory skills we've forgotten we have.

[Baggers]

Baggers, given the topic is “the mere sight and/or sound of the following people just grinds my gears”, you already know I have no desire to listen to any podcast interview with him. That said, I’d be happy to read any insights you distilled from it.

I didn't automatically assume that you had no interest in listening to a podcast with Musk due to the thread title. Maybe you wanted to know more about what makes him tick? As I did. I find that listening to or watching interviews with people I don't particularly care for, to be at times enlightening.

From the two and a half hours of the Musk interview I gleaned a few interesting insights re his passion for family, what moved him to tears (he teared up during the interview), what motivates his IT passions and what he was intolerant of. I found some of what I watched contrary to his appalling attitude toward staff at Twitter, as recently reported. And letting Trump's account being re-activated was disappointing and indicative. By the end of the interview I found him complex, contradictory and on a personal level, I didn't much care for him - seemed completely devoid of compassion, self-absorbed and with a curious Saviour Complex on display.