The “Protest” Against the Brisbane Drag Queen Duo

13/01/2019

What I thought would be a rather small, local story in the South East Queensland area, having first seen the associated video on a Facebook group for QUT, has turned into a national story with the Guardian, the ABC, and social media (mainly Twitter) taking hold of it. I’m surprised that I’m surprised about that, and I decided against writing a post about it last night, but with more information coming to light and some interactions I have seen take place, I feel it’s worth discussing a few points.

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What War on Christmas?

28/12/2019

As with a lot of major holidays and events (Australia Day, ANZAC Day, Easter, Christmas, etc.) there is an annual outrage that repeats itself without any resolution whatsoever, whether one exists or not. This month, depending on which part of the internet you dwell in, you probably saw a lot of shouting over the “war on Christmas” that is being waged relentlessly. The most obvious culprits for this festive finality is the ill-defined “left”, or the “inner city”, whatever that refers to. As someone who lives close (-ish) to Brisbane and falls into this so-called “left”, I suppose, I can only blankly say a single word: What?

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Religious Discrimination Bill Is Just Hypocrisy and Contradiction

14/12/2019

Having read the latest draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill, the Amendments made since the first draft, and rights groups/media reports on it, it is safe to say that the intent of this Bill is not to defend religious people against discrimination. Instead, it is a Bill designed to defend religious individuals and bodies in their own discrimination against others, using religion as a shield to do so. I will refer to Christianity/Catholicism in most examples, given they are the majority and are certainly the intended beneficiaries of this Bill.

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Capitalism Hasn’t Changed

09/11/2019

I’ve recently started reading The ABC of Anarchism (originally Now and After and What Is Communist Anarchism) by Alexander Berkman, and while a lot of the references made do show the age of the book, published in 1929, there are still many relevant observations and similarities to the modern age. The main one, with its many facets, is that capitalism hasn’t really changed much over the years, other than finding more efficient methods of concentrating even more wealth into fewer hands.

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The Babylon Bee: Satire Done Wrong

30/10/2019

Satire is a brilliant form of comedy that keeps the world bearable. It’s observational humour smacked with parody, mimicry, and no small amount of hyperbole and absurdity. It can often be quite clever and, at times, even confronting or insensitive, joking about topics in a raw and uncensored manner. The best satire relies on a keen understanding of the topic you are satirising, and this is where I think the Babylon Bee, a Christian satire website, fails miserably.

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Hypocrites and Proud: A Response to Andrew Bolt

21/10/2019

You know your article must be the dregs of the dregs when you write for the Opinion section of the Courier Mail, a Murdoch paper that currently has a poster on the wall right before the Captain Cook Bridge to the Brisbane CBD saying “The Courier Mail is against climate action” (or something to that effect). And so you know it’s going to be a fun read when the author of such a piece is Andrew Bolt and topic is climate activists.

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Why Anarchism?

A year ago, I started this website, almost gave up on it immediately, and was pretty sure I didn’t want anyone except a close friend or two to know about it. Now, it’s been a whole year, I’ve obviously kept going with it, and while I hate doing so out of fear of pushing my own writing, I have no real issues telling people about it if the topic is relevant. Recently I was asked a simple question: why anarchism? The answer seems just as simple: it makes sense.

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Israeli Election Offers Little Hope and Much Despair

23/09/2019

You ever just nearly set off an invasion because it looks like you’re going to lose a second election in 5 months and you have corruption charges looming? No? Just the current Prime Minister of Israel? Because that’s what he tried to do, and while a new invasion of Gaza was averted this week, the Israeli election has a lot at stake.

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Climate Unity

22/09/2019

I joined over 30,000 people in Brisbane and millions globally to call for action on the climate emergency that we are rapidly marching towards. Speeches I couldn’t quite hear over the huge crowds, signs, flags, and banners of all sorts, and a clear message to send. One world, one chance, one movement.

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Barnaby Joyce Vs Women’s Choice

25/08/2019

Barnaby Joyce has taken credit for stalling the abortion decriminalisation bill in the NSW upper house. He recently led a rally opposing decriminalisation, spruiking the same “moral high ground” talking points that we’ve seen appear both here and in the US. Only straight white males appear to be able to make choices.

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