Authentic Engagement No 1

One of the principles I kind of agreed with myself when setting up veni vidi blogi was that I would try not to fall into temptation and lapse immediately into predisposed opinions. The PBS FTA issue falls into this category. It would be very easy to assume ab initio that (a) all big pharma is bad, or (b) all US multinationals are evil or (c) this sort of foreign investment is not good for the country. None of these are true either individually or collectively. That said, it's easy to have the gut reaction I referred to earlier when the facts - as perceived and informed by the usual filters - leads you to 'automatic' conclusions.

This isn't going to be a blog with opinions backed up lots of in-depth research on these sorts of issues, but I hope I can put across my personal perspective on such issues without being dogmatic on one hand, or just bloody anodyne on the other.

Learning to have genuine conversations with people, particularly those with whom we disagree or with whom we feel uncomfortable (or who simply make us want to hit something, usually them) is an ongoing evolution. I'm hoping this blog is part of my learning.