A brief musing on environmental myths. I’m writing this in response to a number of prevalent and recurring myths or assumptions that permeate discussions about the environment. Broadly, I’d describe them as: In slightly more detail: the myth of perfection presumes that the way the world is now—or was—say fifty, or a hundred, or five […]
Once upon a time the tabloids would fat-shame women in the public eye, but apparently the latest fad is muscle-shaming. The victim is still women, though, not the industries that they work in.
Climate change has turned the recovery of a thousand kilometres of sensitive shoreline into a probable permanent loss.
Not front-page news, according to the ABC.
The unfortunate juxtaposition of these two articles, not just on the same day, but literally next to each other on the front page, provides a perfect illustration of two things. Firstly, the ABC’s continuing gaslighting of the Australian public about our gas supplies and prices; and secondly that it’s not an accident. For the gaslighting […]
A display of blatantly partisan bias, in my opinion, served up as news and journalism.
How the Right’s relentless, selfish focus on “rights” is destroying our democracy from the inside.
The possible destruction of a millennia-old sacred site for foreign fossil-fuel profits is framed, instead, as necessary to address a “gas crisis”. Shameful.
A musing on the root-causes of Roe-v-Wade’s overturn—Senate malapportionment and bad faith—and proposed remedies. Not a discussion of Roe v. Wade.
Can you tell lies in a “balanced” article? Of course. Here’s an example.
On Thursday, the ABC published a story about the “east coast power crisis”, claiming to explain what was happening. In my opinion, what ABC readers received instead was some vintage ABC “balanced” gaslighting. This kind of article is characterised by: Selective use of the “reporter’s voice”—the voice of true, verified facts—as distinct from attributed quotes. […]
How “right” and “wrong” are equivalent for the ABC’s fact-checkers, who cherry-pick their results.
Every election, and oftentimes in between, there are calls from people who regard either the major parties or political discourse as too far Right or Left. These people will call for a party to represent the “Sensible Centre”, or lament what they perceive as polarisation in politics, which is failing to represent what they contend […]
A frequent criticism of government ministers is that they have absolutely no experience or qualifications in their portfolios. Can we take that criticism seriously? Let’s look at the high-level list of portfolios: AgricultureEnvironmentDefenceEducationEmploymentFinanceForeign affairs HealthCustomsIndustryScienceEnergyResources(Attorney-General) TransportCommunicationDevelopmentSocial ServicesTreasuryVeteran’s Affairs(Prime Minister) What are the chances that, of the MPs elected, the party or parties forming government will […]
A Facebook acquaintance recently posted the meme above, and I was surprised at both the variety and vehemence of the responses. Some agreed, and others absolutely disagreed. What interested me in particular was the remarkable illogic of those disagreeing, and it so irritated me I decided to write this rebuttal of their counter-claims and arguments. […]
Perhaps now, far too late, it’s finally obvious that Morrison never intended to use or follow the Doherty modelling in any meaningful fashion. At the very beginning of the pandemic he made his political and ideological preferences clear—go to the footy, let it rip—but such was the overwhelming pressure for a medical, scientifically sound path […]
infinite8horizon - peter d barnes 