Category

Australian Politics

Media should speak more forcefully to the decay in our democratic systems, instead of running interference for ossified and self-serving political cartels. Unsurprisingly, representative democracy will only be rescued by itself - which is to say, by voters overwhelming the vested interests who have proved so adept at gaming it. The emergence of quality independents in 2022 might just be how that rescue begins. (https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7567771/election-2022-a-chance-for-something-better/)

Mark Kenny

I think one of the key things that happens is that there is a belligerent demand for people to position themselves as victims. If you look at the cohort of people who are savagely antivaxxer, not the people who are scared, not the people who are simply misinformed; but if you look at the cohort who are savagely antivaxxer, they tend to be life’s losers. That’s who they are, and those people can either take on a personal narrative of ‘I’m a victim’ or ‘I’m an idiot’, and the ‘I’m a victim’ is a far happier outcome and a far easier thing to resolve. It’s difficult down at the shallow end, and that’s where they are, frankly. (The Drum [45:46], https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2107H229S00)

Toby Ralph

Several years ago, I naively said people on twitter should put a name and a face to their accounts, after which I was inundated by tweets and messages from women who were survivors of child abuse, domestic violence and other forms of attack. This government doesn't get it.

Marcus Kelson