Keywords: Dangerous Ideas
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Gillian Bouras
- 04 November 2021
12 Comments
Writers inevitably learn bitter lessons, including one about readers who will be wounded, hurt, or at least deeply offended by their work. There is usually more than one group of these, for people become upset for reasons that are many and varied. Such is the case in the reaction to Jeanine Cummins’ fourth book, American Dirt. Cummins has been variously accused of stereotyping, racism, narcissism, and of lacking in empathy.
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AUSTRALIA
- Tim Hutton
- 21 October 2021
6 Comments
The pandemic has been a clear demonstration that science is a method, not an endpoint. It is an ongoing process of hypothesising, testing, and interpreting the results of those tests through public policy. Though the hypothesis may be accepted or rejected, these interpretations are unlikely to be absolutely definitive statements or recommendations and are usually made with varying degrees of certainty.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Binoy Kampmark
- 22 July 2021
13 Comments
The late Donald Rumsfeld, twice US Secretary of Defense, a Fortune 500 CEO, and congressman for three terms, did not let evidence and the firmness of facts trouble him. If he had a cause to pursue he would. Morality was merely an impediment to service.
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ECONOMICS
- David James
- 17 November 2020
5 Comments
There is a common error about economics that, if not corrected, has far reaching consequences. It is the widely held belief that economic growth and consumption are the same. They are not.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Dejan Jotanovic
- 23 June 2020
21 Comments
Public mask wearing — including ‘a piece of cloth, a scarf, bandana, t-shirt, or paper towel’ — was hot on the global public health agenda. One major demographic, however, had trouble fashioning this expert advice: men.
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AUSTRALIA
- Binoy Kampmark
- 31 March 2020
4 Comments
In Australia, every politician from Canberra to the Northern Territory is insisting on isolation measures and avoiding close contact, keeping to distances of 1.5 to 2 metres. When it comes to the very practice of democracy and political representation, the social distancing imperative has been approached with confusing inconsistency.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Binoy Kampmark
- 28 October 2019
13 Comments
Here, al-Baghdadi seemed to reprise a previous villainous role: that played by Osama bin Laden, the recognisable face of Al-Qaeda. It was similar in another respect: slaying the symbolic head might provide some form of catharsis, but it would hardly redress the logistic realities on the ground.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Brian Matthews
- 29 August 2019
6 Comments
There are thousands of Australians old enough to remember: hot summers starting before Christmas and tailing off into autumn in the weeks after their return to school; the buddings and flowerings and wiltings in suburban gardens and country main streets; the first chill in the air as they unwrapped their Easter eggs ...
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AUSTRALIA
- Brenna Dempsey
- 10 March 2019
7 Comments
Last week, a man decided to show his expertise on menstruation and educate menstruators on how to cut down on the costs of having a period. He concluded by suggesting we ought to 'cut down on [our] starbucks venti frapps and stop whining'. The scariest thing about this is that this lack of understanding is not uncommon.
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AUSTRALIA
- Na'ama Carlin
- 06 February 2019
21 Comments
In the wake of the St Kilda riots, while I sit petrified, third generation to Holocaust survivors, I can't stop thinking about my grandfather, who lived and came to Australia. In 2018 there was a rise in antisemitic incidents across Australia compared with 2017, which also saw a rise on previous years.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 15 November 2018
10 Comments
What might be effective is to strengthen support within their own and the wider community in order to help vulnerable people understand themselves and the feelings that might drive them to paranoid ideas and violent action if left unattended. If that is moral squeamishness, it at least offers some hope of effectiveness.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 03 April 2018
2 Comments
'What would it mean for any of us to be wishing Steve Smith and David Warner a happy and blessed Easter?' Easter Homily by Fr Frank Brennan SJ at the churches of Adamaniby and Nimmitabel, Easter 2018.
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