Big questions, from marriage to death

MEDIA Trivial Pursuits, first question: Will the possibility of gay marriage bring thousands of Australian people across the ditch to get hitched?

Answer: This is an important matter if you are gay but not really if you are not.

It is about love and commitment no matter the sexual preference. Mind you, Family First will vibrate with righteous indignation till their halos fall off.

Second question: Should airlines weigh passengers together with their luggage to balance the load in their planes?

Answer: As a very small person (5 ft. 5 inches, or 165cm to be exact) I have a very large bias on this issue. I think big people should have to stand on the scales at the airport and be weighed together with their luggage. This would mean I could take all of my guitars on to the plane while they would be limited to a toothbrush that has been cut in half to make it lighter. Of course there is an easier way to manage the matter of safe plane carrying capacity - make the door smaller. If you can't fit through it then you don't get on to the flight.

Airlines already have measuring devices for your hand luggage and charge for overweight luggage.

On a number of occasions when travelling on domestic flights I have been asked by the pilot to shift seats in order to balance the trim of the plane. I always react with bewilderment as it is apparent that I am one of the smallest people on the plane. Perhaps it is too embarrassing for staff to ask bigger people and they know us little persons will be more amused than offended.

Third question: Is the housing bubble about to go bang?

Answer: Of course. Logic dictates that what goes up must come down at some point.

Until a government, any government, has enough true grit to introduce capital gains tax on second properties the cost of housing will climb the Everest of ridiculousness until it reaches the peak of greed then will collapse in an avalanche of slushy cold debt.

Fourth Question: Did Maggie Thatcher deserve a state funeral?

Answer: No. I lived in Britain for a time when she was Prime Minister and she divided the nation like no other has in recent times. Her disparaging dismissal of society as a non-entity damaged a whole generation of people.

Fifth Question: Unlike the questions above, this is not a trivial question - does the media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing prove that American lives and deaths are more newsworthy than those that occur in other countries?

Answer: Yes. Those of us who follow the news will know that hundreds die in bomb blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan all the time. All such violent deaths are sad and tragic but it seems, judging by the media coverage, that those of Americans are counted differently. The US war on terror and all the consequential undermining of human rights; torture by waterboarding and the continued existence of the Guantanamo prison has done them more damage in the eyes of the wider world than good. The Oklahoma bombing that killed dozens of pre-schoolers and the more recent Newtown massacre of children in a school were carried out by white US citizens - not foreign persons of swarthy complexion. As a nation that struggles to contain all the death and mayhem wrought by guns it is not surprising that violence colours with blood so much of what the stars and stripes should stand for.

Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker. Feedback email: tgs@inspire.net.nz