Sunday, August 15, 2010

What's in a name?

My partner voted yesterday as she is currently overseas and said she didn't bother filling out all the preferences as she wasn't sure who some of the parties were. When she mentioned the Australian Sex Party I thought she was kidding - but no, it actually exists! {http://www.sexparty.org.au/index.php} I had to google it of course and, to my disappointment, they actually stand for some things worth standing for like same sex marriages - a cause of which i have long been a supporter...But, c'mon  Fiona, how can anyone take a party with a name like that seriously? You're asking to be ridiculed and not doing your causes (and mine) any favours - a bit like the greenie dressed as a beaver and telling the tv news channel how they have to be taken seriously...

Living without integrity

What exactly does integrity mean? Those over at dictionary.com have three definitions:

in·teg·ri·ty [in-teg-ri-tee] – noun


1.adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2.the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.
3.a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.
In the case here we are referring to number 1. Not so recently, I came across an article about how Apple were investigating a case of alleged child labour in one of their factories. A few days before that a factory worker, fearing harsh consequences, jumped to his death on the news that the iphone prototype had been leaked. I read the comments relating to the article and was shocked at the total disregard so many of the apple consumers had for human life. As long as they had their product it seemed it was someone else's problem - none of them seemed to make the connection between demand and supply leading to exploitation. 
What does this say about us as a society when people place more importance on the latest gadget than on a human life?