Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 10:05:38 +0200
From: "auskadi-AT-tvcabo.co.mz" <auskadi-AT-tvcabo.co.mz>
Subject: Re: AUT: Jaywalking (Was voting ... A Reply to Noam Chomsky)


Bom Dia Thiago

jaywalking is not a word in australian - jaywalking no es uma palavara 
em australiano --- will someone look in their macquarie dictionary and 
tell me I am wrong!! I have been away for 5 years or more and maybe 
empire has caught up with the macquarie, or the US/Aust free trade 
agreement. Jaywalking is a gringo word.
but back to not corssing the road at the correct place - when I went to 
a conference of commies in the US they were shocked at my habitual 
crossings of the road wherever I wanted. Even if there are no laws 
against it (which I don't know but the j word is from there) I  felt 
very controlled in the US.

Martin

Oppermann wrote:

>In fact, there is legislation against jaywalking, the word has common
>currency, and it is practically never enforced. I've lived here for fifteen
>years and remember hearing about someone getting fined sometime in '96.
>Someone got a jaywalking ticket at an anti-war protest, and if I heard this
>correctly, it was at the instigation of a rally marshal.
>
>My political programme, which incidentally, does not exist, does not contain
>a demand for compulsory voting. I simply think that the form of power
>exerted by noncompulsory voting systems is even more insidious than the
>fines you get for not voting in Australia or Brazil. And I agree with this -
>in a compulsory voting system, you have an option to express a proscribed
>and in fact illegal view, it is possible to reject the system by not voting,
>whereas in a noncompulsory system, your absence at the polls has already
>been absorbed by the state, your apathy/rebellion is just another choice,
>and staying at home is really only another box to tick.
>
>In my opinion, noncompulsory voting is a form of violence no less than
>torturing people into being good citizens; but it goes well beyond that,
>since it is a form of violence that you will have an extremely hard time
>resisting. It would be possible to resist a power that dragged one kicking
>and screaming to the polls, but not one that feeds off whatever choice or
>action you (do not) chose to take.
>
>Thiago
>
>On 6/4/2004 2:29 PM, "auskadi-AT-tvcabo.co.mz" <auskadi-AT-tvcabo.co.mz> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Lautre
>>Now, Now
>>In Australia there is no such word as "jaywalking". I have been to the
>>US a few times. There I found people very constrained by rules when they
>>cross the street. The only place in Australia that may be a bit
>>constrained in this respect was Brisbane - a left over fromt he days of
>>Joh Bjelke Petersens peculiar form of dee north politics.
>>But really about voting ... I havent been following the conversation
>>much but I actually like the idea of compulsary voting inAustralia. You
>>can always vote informal, or you can if you dont you can become a
>>matyr/hero to the cause in the courts ... in the US you just slide off
>>into oblivion never to be heard of again.
>>Martin
>>
>>    
>>
>>>In Australia, I hear they have a bylaw against
>>>jaywalking.  My cousin there tells me that last month
>>>she was at an interesection and even though there were
>>>no cars, she had to two minutes for the light to
>>>change because a beat-cop was nearby and she didn't
>>>want to risk getting a fifty dollar ticket.  And now
>>>you tell me they have mandatory voting there too!
>>>Fascism it is. 
>>>
>>>Josh
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>In Australia, I am told, not to vote is a criminal
>>>>act 
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>______________________________________________________________________
>>>Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
>>>
>>>
>>>    --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>>>
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>
>
>
>     --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>
>
>  
>


-- 
http://www.auskadi.tk/
"the riddle which man must solve, he can only solve in being, in 
being what he is and not something else...."



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