Cognitive Dissonance is a phrase introduced by psychologist Festinger in the late 1950s to describe the mental conflict or psychological discomfort a person feels when their beliefs and assumptions are contradicted by new information. Human nature is such that when dealing with mental discomfort, it chooses to do one or more of the following 3 […]
Are Australians struggling with cognitive dissonance over #asylumseekers? ASRC’s @jj_juliajacob comments
July 10, 2014
France, a country driven by différence: @burgewords #CreatingWaves
June 12, 2014
It’s safe to assume our Treasurer Joe Hockey would not have enjoyed a trip to France with Prime Minister Tony Abbott earlier this month. There’s just too many wind turbines across the French landscape. Hockey would have been offended every few kilometres. I should know, I spent hours admiring the French commitment to clean wind-generated […]
Visiting concentration camps in Utopia: @burgewords interviews @GGeorgiadisRN on ‘that’ comment the DIBP didn’t like
April 24, 2014
The Australian twittersphere freaked out when refugee advocate @VanessaPowell25 was threatened with legal action by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) earlier this month. Unless she removed a post on her Facebook, which documented one moment at a protest outside the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney’s Western Suburbs, the DIBP would “consider […]
Rights and justice for #refugees are not commodities: @novidados reports
April 15, 2014
When they come for the innocent without crossing over your body, cursed be your religion and your life. Anon The quote above came to my attention as I followed the protests at Villawood Detention Centre on social media over the past few weeks. It seems apt to think about protest in these terms, as […]
The killing of fair play: @Jansant comments on what the ALP has lost
April 12, 2014
I used to be proud of being born and raised in Balmain, the spiritual home of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The area has produced and attracted some of the greatest names in Australian history, people of politics like Sir Henry Parkes, Tom Uren, Neville Wran and Herbert Vere ‘H.V.’ Evatt (aka Doc Evatt), […]
Let’s excise western Sydney so the rest of us have a say: @sarah_capper column
August 23, 2013
By Sarah Capper 23 August 2013 During a candidates’ debate (a loose term) in the seat of Melbourne recently, an impassioned local resident rose during question time (again, loose term) and implored other local voters to send a message to Canberra – that voters in Australia’s “most progressive seat” should reject the major party policies […]
Why do we believe what we do about boat people: @GrattonWilson reflects
July 28, 2013
By Gratton Wilson I have been following the debate about asylum refugees attempting to come to Australia by boats organised by ‘people smugglers’ on Twitter and associated documents. I was particularly attracted to a comment about the embedded cultural attitude we appear to still have towards people who we judge to be different. This made me […]
Judi Moylan’s valedictory speech and her history of Australia’s boat people policy
June 19, 2013
The Hon Judi Moylan MP June 2013 How does one summarize 20 years in Parliament whilst doing justice to all those who have been so pivotal to that service? I have been deeply touched by the extraordinary generosity at every turn by a host of people too numerous to name individually. No member could have […]
Bishop v Indonesian Ambassador Kesoema. Who said what and who is lying?
June 4, 2013
What the Indonesian Ambassador said about Coalition’s turn-back-boats policy: Ambassador Nadjib Riphat Kesoema said Indonesia would welcome Tony Abbott or whoever leads Australia after the September election. But he said asylum seeker boats should be turned back to other countries, not to Indonesia. “Indonesia is a transit country and also the victim of this situation. […]
Abbott’s fear and loathing advertising for his ‘trust me’ election campaign
April 23, 2013
Is this the road Tony Abbott has chosen to travel to get voters to trust him? Blast from past: Lindsay leaflet scandal in 2007 And now… Bendigo and Eden Monaro pamphlet Western Sydney letter-box drop Luke Mansillo deconstruction Liberal Party misinformation targets low educated anti-migrant Labor Party identifiers in Western Sydney Western Australia billboard https://twitter.com/TonyAbbottMHR/status/326168786598248448 Please […]
