Thinking in threes #1 :immigration, solutions for the first world & teletweeting

While I was taking Sally, the family beagle, for our afternoon walk around the neighbourhood today, I decided to experiment with narrowing down all the information I come across each day into the three most interesting/noteworthy things I've come across that day. It's an exercise in focus, and day one is proving quite challenging, but here goes:

1. Why are Australians so afraid of immigrants?

This question actually has its origins in my dismay at the public discussions going on surrounding Asylum Seekers at the moment. Yesterday, I decided I would try and find out how Australia compares to the rest of the world, but then Dr James Arvanitakis wrote this blog post, doing the hard work for me. So now I know for certain that what we are dealing with in Australia is so, so minimal when compared to the rest of the world (big, sweeping generalisation, but not by much), I looked instead to what I worry are the underlying causes.

One of them is racism. The other is patriotism (and the sense of ownership over 'nation' that can accompany it). And the last one is fear. Fear of the other, fear of the unknown, fear of fear even.

And that scares me.

2. Design for the First World

This project is seeking solutions to first world problems by people in the developing world. After my year in Bangladesh, I can certainly vouch for how full of problems our society is from their point of view, and I think it will be fascinating to see what comes out of it. Watch this space.

3. The experience of teletweeting

Last night I was one of the many people both watching and tweeting about Q and A on the ABC. It's not the first time I've tweeted as part of my TV experience, having joined the Crikey Oscars blog and the twittering going on during the Rudd v Abbott health debate. I couldn't help but notice how much more fun it was to watch TV 'with the crowd', laughing at quips, nodding at sound judgment calls and questions, and generally feeling part of a nationwide discussion, live. Bugger the next day water cooler, I reckon, teletweeting is way more fun, and has even encouraged this TV skeptic to reconsider how satisfying a night in front of the box can be.