From the time news media formats were invented – from cave paintings to social media – there has been dissatisfaction with what people see and read.
Activists have also often seen the media as the most significant part of the problem of politics. In January 1965 Malcom X – anticipating the impact of the Murdoch and other media – said: “If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man was a Jesuit maxim attributed to Ignatius Loyola. It is probably apocryphal, but it is an approach many have taken over the years to implant ideas in young minds.
The Australian War Memorial however is yet another organisation which appears to be testing its validity. Ironically, however, it often justifies its approach with language which Jesuit opponents would have dubbed ‘Jesuitical’.
It is now abundantly clear that the Albanese Government is gutless. But what’s worse is that – as recent events demonstrate – it’s also politically incompetent.
When the Commonwealth Bank announced new withdrawal charges of $3 on customers withdrawing cash from branches as opposed to ATMs any reasonably competent political party – particular one threatened with defeat – would recognise what a great opportunity this presented.
Every year or so Australia gets a bulky new book about an Australian war, military action, hero or some other military matter written by what is known as ‘storians.
They are seen as ideal presents for Dads and Uncles and you generally see them turning up in second hand bookshops and school fetes a year or so after they have been gifted. Most of them show little evidence of intense – or any – reading.
When Marx wrote “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce” he might as well have been talking about the recent spat between former Treasurer Peter Costello and the Albanese Government Treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
The Australian War Memorial oscillates between seeming to be ready to admit that Australia’s Frontier Wars ought to be commemorated in the AWM and then leaping back in fright at the thought of backlash from the RSL and others.
Among the hopeful signs is the Memorial Chair, Kim Beazley’s, intimations that something should be done. The latest annual November 11 Didgeridoo playing may be another tiny clue.
How long will Elon Musk last in the Trump orbit? Currently he seems to be ubiquitous but that presents a problem for Donald Trump and his massive ego.
Musk has been a major presence in the Trump campaign – financially, through social media and also through encouraging tech bro endorsements. He has been promised big roles in the new Administration including looking for ‘efficiencies’ – code for slashing programs which benefit ordinary Americans and institutions and government departments which restrain business.
WTF just happened? is a question being asked around the world after the US Presidential election.
In some places it is a cause for celebration and no doubt Vladimir Putin’s entourage is breaking open the vodka and getting ready for a second celebration when Trump stops the Ukraine war in one day – as he has promised – by giving Putin whatever he wants.
The new Queensland Premier, David Crisafulli, has made some moderately progressive comments about climate and nuclear energy but they are, when considered in the context of the latest Zurich-Mandala Climate Risk Index, insignificant compared to the scale of the problems the State faces.
For a start he has ruled out repealing the State’s ban on nuclear power although whether that would be maintained in the face of strong pressure from Peter Dutton is another question. He has also committed to the 2050 emissions target but has not made any commitments on how he would get there nor provided any interim targets.
Journalists around the world were once inspired by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to commit to significant investigative journalism.
The pair, with significant help from a Deep Throat source, brought down a US President, Richard Nixon, over the Watergate break in and cover up.
But now the once great newspaper they worked for, The Washington Post, which brought the President down is too timid to call for a vote against a fascist.