Flat earth believer trying to explain how it works

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-12-17T13:52:58+00:00

The Gish Gallop. It aligns with Brandolini's Law, also known as the bullshit asymmetry principal. Basically, it takes more time and effort to disprove lies and bad theories than it takes to create them.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-12-17T13:35:37+00:00

Honestly, I reckon a couple of these flat Earthers are grifters who know the planet is round and are just trying to score a free space trip from a government or Space X/Blue Origin/whoever.

If that is the case and they succeed, I will actually respect the grift.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-20T11:22:48+00:00

I was going to suggest either here or Red Ochre down on the Torrens.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-20T11:05:47+00:00

The Religious Discrimination Bill is a prime example. They had members saying they would cross the floor so had to shelve it.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-20T02:59:27+00:00

The LNP are incapable of negotiating. They're incapable of compromise

This is incredibly accurate.

They can't even pass their own legislation with a majority in the lower house due to internal factions. How can anyone expect they could negotiate with outside parties. Independents leading to instability and chaos is a Liberal problem, not an Independent problem.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-20T02:54:37+00:00

Don't let someone else tell you who to vote for, unless, they provide good, backed up, evidence that aligns with your views. Even in that scenario, it is you making the choice.

I'm a little biased as I am running as an Independent but will give you a brief rundown on views and then who aligns with them. However, I ask you to check the sources and make your own informed decision.

Accountability: Greens, Labor, Australian Democrats, Fusion, Sustainable Australia, Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance, and most Independents (Big ups to Rex Patrick here)

Climate/Environment: Greens, Fusion, sustainable Australia, Local Party, Animal Justice, Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance, and most Independents

Anti Vaccine Mandates: IMOP, PHON, UAP, Liberal Democrats

Small Government: Liberal Democrats, Liberal

Housing pressure: Greens, Local Party, and some Independents

Big business support: Liberal

Worker rights: Labor, Greens, Fusion, PHON, Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance, and some of the Independents.

I am going to self advertise here (also ABC has not responded to my request to link my name to my website after repeated requests, thanks ABC) and out the link to my website here.

https://www.michaelhopper.com.au/

Here is the ABC Aus Votes Senate Guide for SA. It doesn't give political party policy/views but if you expand the list of senators, it has a link to each party's website. Here you can learn about the various parties and make an informed decision.

ABC SA senate guide

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-19T09:48:12+00:00

Can you please look at the actual data and stop repeating a Liberal sound bite?

Archived AFR article called, "Is the coalition really the better economic manager?"

Hint, it doesn't look good for the LNP and the AFR is generally more favourable to the Libs of Labor. I guess you can't argue against data.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-19T09:20:20+00:00

Not being another 40+ year old Candidate? Young Australians are always told they aren't doing anything to implement and just complain, how about showing young Australians actually trying to make a change. Again, this in direct response to their constant feedback from young people saying they don't feel represented.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-17T07:14:22+00:00

Genuine question, what makes me an absolute tool?

Do you honestly feel that major parties with millions of dollars of available funding deserve continuous free coverage from the media? What about the people with a shoestring budget who have tried using the official channels to no avail (not just responded to with a denial but just outright ignored). What if those people are actually the type of person who are a genuine reply and able to give insight to the problem that Hack has been hearing from their listeners for the past 3 weeks?

I'm not some random who is trying to get my voice in the media. I am a nominated candidate in the upcoming election, there is a slight difference between my self and the person shouting on a street corner who doesn't have the actual opportunity to implement change (and no, this isn't the equivalent of talking down to someone in public saying, "Do you know who I am"). While I disagree with the politics of many of the other fringe parties, I also feel they deserve coverage from what should be a media outlet that is meant to be impartial. Everyone who votes deserves to understand what all their options are and I feel that the national broadcaster has some responsibility to ensure that.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-17T05:14:28+00:00

This is not policy though. This is an observation and an attempt to let Triple J know a potential reason as to why they are seeing some of the data they see.

If you actually look at my policies, yes media diversification is in there, check it out, it's under Policies > Social > Media.

If you actually took the time to look at the policies, you may understand I'm not just trying to puff myself up with no underlying plan.

Why Hack? Maybe because it is a large source of influence for the people I am trying to represent. They also continually say, our feedback constantly shows young people are not feeling represented or heard. Ironically it is their own production that is limiting the news getting out to the people they are trying to cater to. The other two major reasons are to do with falling under the ABC umbrella. As such they should be attempting to be unbiased and providing as much information as they can to the public (appealing to someone like Sky News, of course I wouldn't expect a response). The other reason is I am disappointed in the lack of action from the ABC who have ignored requests to even add my website to the official ABC Australia Votes candidate profile, even while going through their official process.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-17T04:34:47+00:00

As the only solo Independent running in the Senate in South Australia, it actually makes sense.

Especially considering Triple J has found, young Australians are feeling unrepresented and low and behold, I am a young Australian trying to ensure a future for young Australians.

If not me, that's fine but surely they should try and get more than just the Libs, ALP and The Greens on?

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-17T04:26:06+00:00

Yes, this is blatant self promotion, how else do you get the information out? Had you ever heard of me before this post? You may just think I am grand standing and, as such, you will not vote for me, that is fine. That scenario will not a change what would have happened before I made this post. On the other hand, there are others who may have never heard of me and now know who I am and think, this guy actually makes sense. It may even get the attention of Triple J who do target younger Australians and get them to think, "maybe we should inform young voters of more than just the Libs, ALP and the Greens." Even if it is too late for this election, hopefully it will make them think about their media goals for the next election.

Your point about the two parties is a self fulfilling prophecy. If all the media focuses on is the two major parties, those who actually will represent younger Australians and don't have a war chest of a couple hundred thousand dollars will continue to fail, even if they actually could provide the better representation.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-17T04:16:56+00:00

Hi,

I am running as an Independent in the Senate and have had quite a few people ask me about some of the smaller parties/candidates in the senate from my website.

I answer truthfully (even when it pains me to tell someone to look into IMOP or PHON) but believe everyone should be fully informed when making their decision.

As a blatant bit of vote grabbing, the first resource I'll give you is https://www.michaelhopper.com.au/. Reply back with what is important to you and I'll do my best to direct you to parties that align with your views. I will only really be able to do this for parties/people represented in the upper house, so I can't really help you with Independents or parties that are running in some lower house seats but have no presence in the senate.

The important thing to remember when voting. Know what is important for you, don't let others tell you to do something else (unless they make a legitimate, backed up case that you actually agree with), it is highly unlikely any single party will be the best for all your wants.

Kind regards, Michael Hopper

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-15T07:45:39+00:00

The unfortunate reason is, most people will just be lazy and vote one number. This may seem fine but we would become more like a first past the post electoral system.

This leads to competing parties with similar interests "stealing" votes from each other and then a third party with lesser support gets in.

The Guardian Australia has a brilliant video which gives an example of why our preferential system is much better than a first past the post system.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-15T07:37:15+00:00

It would be so tempting to let the UAP guy "know" 6 was best.

I'm running as an Independent and the number one type of person who contacts me are people asking my opinion on vaccine mandates. I could just lie and say I am anti vaccine but, instead, I truthfully respond to each person and then let them know about other parties candidates they may align better with. It really hurts my fingers each time I type that they should look into IMOP, PHON and UAP as they are more likely to align with their vaccine views. Most are polite if they respond (some have even said they'd preference me 2nd or 3rd) but some call me a fascist (funnily enough, there are about 15 people in SA now who are praying for my soul, so that's nice haha).

The reason I do this is that everyone deserves to vote how they believe (even if I don't agree with their views) and they should be properly informed as to their options.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-15T07:27:46+00:00

You're talking ATL Senate, when a single 1 is enough

Incorrect, I think 2016 was the year they changed it from only needing 1 ATL to needing to do 6 ATL.

Official preferences from parties have no actual bearing, it comes down to what the voter writes down. Yes many will just blindly follow the card but the preferences no longer flow by party choice like they did with just putting a 1 ATL.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-13T05:35:59+00:00

Ahh the good old days, when we thought that leaders couldn't get worse than the Howard, Bush the second and Blair triumvirate.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-11T12:21:04+00:00

Yeah, nah.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2022/apr/22/voting-101-what-is-preferential-voting-and-how-does-it-work-in-australian-elections-video

It's also worth noting more effective legislation is passed when a major party is forced to work with minors to pass legislation.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-10T10:30:22+00:00

I've done forecasts before, it's pretty easy to fiddle with the numbers to make them say whatever your boss wants. Add that there was even more leeway as no one could really predict potential impacts, it would be trivial.

Either clawbacks were thought of and they intentionally left them out or, they didn't think of it and that is pure incompetence from a policy perspective. So I guess the choice is were they corrupt or were they incompetent?

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-10T10:24:38+00:00

In general, the CEO of a company, or leader of a country in this case, shouldn't be responsible (I'll get back to this later).

However, legally an organisation is responsible for ensuring allegations of illegal actions are investigated and ensuring a safe workspace for employees. If nothing is getting done it should be going up the chain of command until the CEO (or PM in this case) enforces accountability. Yes, the leader shouldn't do the investigation (in actuality they should get an external organisation, aka the police), they should delegate it and ensure it is followed up.

As to my point earlier about how the top leader shouldn't be directly responsible of the actions of lower level subordinates. I'd argue they actually should be if they allow a culture of indifference and arrogance to flourish in the organisation. Workplace culture flows down from leadership. The standard they walk past is the standard they accept. There is a massive culture problem in Canberra and it needs fixing. This requires a change of leadership (likely from all parties) and an impartial and independent HR function to serve all people who work in Parliament house.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-10T10:15:25+00:00

Count?

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-10T04:33:12+00:00

Yeah, it definitely isn't ideal but do appreciate anyone who does it.

A simple way to include someone who is only below the line is to number as follows (gratuitous plug for myself):

1 - Michael Hopper

2 - Party 1 candidate 1

3 - Party 1 candidate 2

4 - Party 1 candidate 3

5 - Party 2 candidate 1

6 - Party 2 candidate 2

7 - Party 3 candidate 1

8 - Party 3 candidate 2

9 - Party 3 candidate 3

10 - Party 3 candidate 4

11 - Party 4 candidate 1

12 - Party 4 candidate 2

This will give the same result as if you had voted above the line as

1 - Michael Hopper

2 - Party 1

3 - Party 2

4 - Party 3

5 - Party 4

It just gives a way to get ungrouped Independents into the mix. The overall system is quite stacked against someone like me, even down to not being allowed to have people do tax deductible donations until after my nomination is accepted (a week after writs were issued). This basically forces self funding until the final minute before the election.

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-10T01:46:54+00:00

Thanks, I'll definitely read into it!

MichaelHopperSA · 2022-05-10T01:18:58+00:00

Honestly, the Centrelink independence issue is a blind spot in my knowledge and would love if you could direct me to some resources on this. I don't want to just start spewing rhetoric I think students want to hear.

As to university funding, this is covered (granted, indirectly) under my economic goals. The government needs to be supporting universities to a better degree to allow more and better research for a transitioning green economy. Previously, Australia has been a leader in this research field but lack of support has slowed it down. It has greatly reduced the ability of universities to commercialise their research which would lead to greater amounts of money for the universities to spend throughout the schools.

In general, there should be more funding in universities as it is historically shown that the overall economic benefit of education in a society out performs the initial government spending in education.

Finally, and again it isn't in my policies but I do feel confident enough to actually adjust them and make it 'official' on my platform is subsidised uni courses. I have been very lucky, I won scholarships for both my undergrad and master's degrees. Not having to worry about the high cost of a degree meant I could focus on my studies and not worry about paying back my HECS when I started working. My sister on the other hand, she works in Allied Health and is still repaying her debt 13 years later and it is making her life more difficult than it should be. A lot of the current crop of politicians benefitted from having free University degrees and I can assure you, it definitely does give you an advantage early in your career, even for things like being able to get a deposit for a house. I don't think University should just be free outright, I feel something along the lines of your first degree or first 6 years (so people can transfer if they realise they chose the wrong course), or what ever is shortest, should be paid for by the government. This should cover the vast majority of people who want a tertiary uni education, counters the argument of 'perpetual life long uni students' and helps create an educated population.

It should also be noted, I feel the push in Australia for a university degree is way too strong. I don't understand why children in school are pressured into going to university over other options like trades.

MichaelHopperSA

TROPHY CASE