I was disturbed to hear the ABC 774 participants today tending to limit the discussion about the origins of violence to external sources. Blame the TV . Blame the computer games . Blame our genes , blame someone and it will all go away ? Sure! Put the subject in the too hard basket - we'll research it more said the health minister. http://daddydaycare.blogspot.com

I'm sure John Cleary is making a great contribution to keeping the road toll down by keeping Sunday nights as Cathy said "lively and stimulating" like tonight".Can't go to sleep at the wheel when his guests get going . Can't even go to bed ! I'm up typing when i should be there.

Monism is for for the myopic
Don't know how other listeners felt, but I thought David Tribe's lumbering logomachy provided the perfect example of the ageing lefties legacy -bland blank empty and repetitive rhetoric - a lot of conjecture, but it has gone nowhere practically in the last 40 years.

Thesis based arguments are an increasingly irrelevant parlour game when we stop being children and have them ourselves.

Answers from the left over the last 40yrs haven't workedPleasant discourse, education and indulgence is fine in its place . Whats woken us up is that all that fine 60's talk about education and pleasant rationalisation therapy doesn't stop the hellish tide of dissonance occurring in our own households, let alone the wider community . Solzetnitzens first words to the west about the huge political issue being children( not leftism) remind us to get on with lifes greatest challenges Something that works for family life is the proper target for mature intellectuals and their political concerns .

As you well put to David , mature listeners want not tired old 60's greek avoidance therapy on questions of evil - they want practical targets and answers.
Something that works
Getting rid of fundamentalism is, it as always, a form of quick fix for those who do not want to get closely involved .
Passion about whats right is central, not perpheral to sorting this issue for all Austrailans and if we are to take Bernard shaw seriously, all those who have the best of intentions ( incl politicians and media people)
are at risk from the so called " disease". Call it fanatiscm. we share it, not despair of it
The retreat of the non scientists to some half baked worship of systems that "create themselves by chance" is not effective either because the forced universality of one formaule that seems to say a "deterministic force for all things" means we don't have any choices anyway .No ABC, no dialogue,no tension. .
Thesis's are fine till they undermine their own arguments and then where do you go? -no answers.

Ultimately if we stand back ? Our place in this world should be one of humility We know more than He/She? Is it not arrogance that says HE can't, won't and doesn't . The evidence is someone did something.

As many listeners said - when all the talks over, people tend to believe someone must have made this stuff. The logic of the absent watchmaker is intellectually cute for a few moments, but goes nowhere and proves little - bit like too much talk often does.
As we say to the comfortable bookeeping accountants of our time - watch out for the externalities -they are out there somewhere!

What sweet relief with Dianne on ABC local radio today Jon feine

For a few brief moments we didn't have to hear the reactionary lefties droning on in a careless imprecise manner about how terrible western civilisation is and all the mistakes we have made-
they didn't say that? - they couldn't get away with that??
Monistic mindset issues?-
Give up the childish carping , get the facts and make up you minds abot monism before you are denied the good you have had ? - before the west becomes east and all the inertia envelops us and the best of what we seem NOW to take for granted is not accessible to our children .
.

Sunday nights . Great idea and great topic john, but lets get real - you only started.This old greek theatre stuff is a bit waring,- you end abruptly at 11 with no closure!
john, to his credit asked great questions - but 'how hum uniformity of worldview means the panel discussion lacks guts - the guest's and our polys all seem to now go to the same church mate ! Community and other value words that are not in DD 's (determinsistic darwinism )chant book ---are not primary values .

Did you go anywhere?
While Ross was thankfully aware of the problems, Michael is still unable to see even the problems ( "Life in rural areas doesn't have a future because... was a careless competition chant if ever I 'd heard one one......and that goes to the heart of quick fix elements in many political areas - "governance was all too hard till we found deterministic darwinism in the form of competition policy ")

For your next program on this great subject (that ideas produce the best solutions not economists and their religious high priest leaders who tell them in what columns the numbers should go )
---Why not get Ross to consider all the outragoeusly violent periods of history when this" individual survival of the toughest idea" was used by polys to allow leaders to go to places where most reflective civilisations never want to go again .

Maybe there is war on and people are being maimed -- some just don't know it because it would all just be too hard - not one way or three,,, but ten?