#humanweakness

Frida and beyond | Brett Sayles – Pexels You’re a human.That is limited I’m an artist.That breaks limits So I smile.When I look at you,I look in youI look past youI look at your past Smile. And touch you. You’re only human.Possessive of limits I’m an artist.Seeing beyond possibilities And I hold you.Squeeze you between my body and heart Make your artleak. Squeeze your art,onto the…

The Sydney lockout laws were introduced by the NSW Government in February 2014 with the objective of reducing drug/alcohol fuelled violence. The legislation requires 1:30 am lockouts and 3am last drinks at bars, pubs and clubs in the Sydney CBD.

The legislation follows the events of two one hit punch attacks that resulted in death in quick succession in Kings Cross. The first happening in July 2012 to Thomas Kelly and the next happening in January 2014 to Daniel Christie, metres away from the same spot.

As a result, the premier Barry O'Farrell, who was now under the pressure of a state calling for harsher punishment on coward punch attacks would introduce the lockout laws to the CBD entertainment precinct.

A report from BOSCAR in April 2015 showed a 26% reduction in assaults in the lockout area and a 32% reduction in assaults. However a March 2017 report showed that there was a 12% to 17% increase in assaults in areas adjacent to the precinct and nearby areas. Furthermore the laws have severely decreased the nightlife economy of the entertainment district.

Ultimately I think the lockout laws were an emotional, knee-jerk reaction to a series of unfortunate events. It was a quick response to the increasingly critical nature of the public and media and done out of fear of being seen as an incompetent government.

How could it have been handled better?

Don't succumb to the pressure.

So I just went onto reddit.com/r/worldnews, searched for corruption and filtered for the last week and found this:

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3015278/former-french-president-nicolas-sarkozy-set-go-trial-corruption

In times of calamity, the first point of interest for most humans is their family, loved ones and themselves. It isn’t a form of selfish act, just natural human instinct. 

Soon after the terrible disaster (intentional or natural), people naturally get on social media and all forms of communication platforms to circulate news and updates on the ongoing situation and spreading messages of safety. Amongst these messages, we also find ‘fake news’ - news on impending attacks that aren't true, or other unpleasant happenings that would shake any person already in shock off the initial calamity. These fake news posts could be created through miscommunication between news sources, or certain people with an ulterior motive to create panic and chaos on top of an already chaotic present state. 

So the next problem the country/community has to face is dealing with fake news spreading around the general public and creating an additional layer of panic, and this becomes a real problem : often leading to social media bans until things settle off.

 Whats interesting here that I’d like to point out - is the human weakness of self interest contributing towards such news successfully circulating around: people believe and circulate such messages in a blink of the eye if it concerns the safety of their loved ones or themselves, without stopping to first check if it can be accredited - while such a mindset is plausible in a mind-shaken community, it severely threatens the situation and makes it worse as a whole. 

It’s always important to not always be guided by emotions in a state of panic. It can be realistically hard to not put your own self and ones of interest in focus in such times, but one must always learn to be rational in such situations and act smarter.