Keywords: Political Correctness
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 08 December 2014
16 Comments
Among this year's silly season news stories is the trivialising treatment of Greens Senator Larissa Waters' deadly serious call for parents to avoid buying Christmas toys that gender stereotype their children. 'Blue for boys, pink for girls' is a dogma that can do real harm to young people, and parents should focus instead on what makes their children genuinely happy. There is no room for judgment and coercion that seeks to make them someone they are not.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 12 May 2014
12 Comments
The jury is out on whether Chris Lilley's new ABC1 comedy Jonah from Tonga gives a free kick to racism and other forms of discriminatory behaviour. The prejudices in Lilley's Jonah are depictions of the wounds of Australian society, not the attempt of a far-right ideologue to promote a stratified nation based on race.
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AUSTRALIA
The Howard Government's radical-right tendencies emerged gradually. By contrast, the Abbott Government has already sent multiple signals that it is intent to radically remake the political fabric. While the restoration of knighthoods to the national honours system is merely a wacky emanation of the prime ministerial psyche, the proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act are corroding basic principles of constitutional democracy.
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AUSTRALIA
- Moira Byrne Garton
- 24 January 2013
19 Comments
I have heard colleagues refer to decisions as 'retarded', personalities as 'on the [autism] spectrum', and behaviour as 'OCD'. I hoped my silence would express my disapproval. Far from mere 'political correctness', seeking to eliminate such terms from discourse is a natural extension of a respectful and inclusive society.
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MARGARET DOOLEY AWARD
- Matthew Holloway
- 19 September 2012
31 Comments
Australia is seeing a divisive battle between those who oppose people being forced into sex work, and those who advocate for the right of people with disabilities to access sex workers. It is hard to see justice in a situation where one disadvantaged group needs to stay disadvantaged in order to service another disadvantaged group.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Binoy Kampmark
- 09 August 2012
3 Comments
Hughes was part of that movement of Australian artists and intellectuals — Germaine Greer and Clive James among them — who fled to Europe in the 1960s. Yet he was unable to escape the antipodean orbit he found arid and constricting. Australian reference points followed his pen with nagging persistence, a permanent shadowing.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Brian Doyle
- 11 April 2012
6 Comments
At this juncture in the life of the Mighty Currawongs the usual bigotry poured forth. One columnist raged and sputtered about invasions by 'evil, small statured people'. The ensuing burst of street protests against racism in every corner of Australian life would permanently alter the course of Australian history.
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MEDIA
- Max Atkinson
- 13 October 2011
6 Comments
In supporting her opposition to gay marriage, the best Janet Albrechtsen could say was that the opinion was her own, and was 'fundamental'. These remarks shed light on Albrechtsen's bizarre attack on the judges of the High Court over their decision on the Malaysia solution.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 06 April 2011
7 Comments
We need clever strategic and moral thinkers among our health professionals, who can engage with the demands of an aging population, with the gap in life-expectancy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, and with the increasingly politically correct debate about euthanasia.
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MEDIA
- Ellena Savage
- 01 April 2011
36 Comments
Some perceive the racial vilification case against Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt as a challenge to free speech. But this case is about more than silencing critiques of the construction of race, and indeed Bolt himself.
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AUSTRALIA
Julia Gillard has invited people to say what they feel on the issue of how Australia should manage its borders. It's worth recalling what happened when
an Australian Government last instructed its defence force
to vigorously repel asylum-seeker boats.
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AUSTRALIA
Christian prayer at public meetings cannot have the same
importance as an acknowledgement of country. Indigenous peoples have a genuine
spiritual association with the land. By recognising this, all
Australians can be united in a non-denominational spirituality.
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