On Beginnings – September 2022

A monthly review curated by the Mass Media and Culture team An ode to beginnings, as so many come and go, we forget to appreciate those seedlings of opportunity we reap at harvest. Though the seasons pass, the ripeness of opportunity never decays. For everyday blossoms a vast array of possibilities, where our daily tasks… Continue reading On Beginnings – September 2022

On Despair

 ‘No. I didn’t cry … I just kept thinking that when human beings get that way, they’re no good for anything.’ Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human pg. 176 Human suffering romanticised; a genre of drama which entertains the misery of the unfortunate, that of the tragedy. Consistent in the human condition is the notion of… Continue reading On Despair

A Clockwork Orange: 60 Years Later

“Advice: don’t read/ A Clockwork Orange – it’s a foul farrago/ Of made-up words that bite and bash and bleed./ I’ve written better books… So have other men, indeed./ Read Hamlet, Shelley, Keats, Doctor Zhivago.” – Anthony Burgess Regardless of Burgess’ attitude towards his most controversial book, A Clockwork Orange (1961), he inadvertently forced people… Continue reading A Clockwork Orange: 60 Years Later

Bringing Humanity Back to Technology

TRISTAN HARRIS AND THE CENTER FOR HUMANE TECHNOLOGY  Tristan Harris was a former design ethicist for Google and is the co-founder and president of the Center for Humane Technology. He has also been called “the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience”. Upon reflection on his previous position, he speaks about how he noticed… Continue reading Bringing Humanity Back to Technology

The Repackaging of Sexism: Gender and spirituality on social media

The rise of “new age” spirituality The occult exists between science and art: covering a range from alchemy to astrology. Whether it is a daily horoscope or blaming everything on mercury’s retrograde; astrology is what is most associated with new age spirituality. With the current state of our world, many have turned to these new,… Continue reading The Repackaging of Sexism: Gender and spirituality on social media

In Defense of Political Correctness

graphic by @francifausti A MEDIA TRIAL Some of you may remember that a few months ago a popular Italian comedian, Michela Giraud, tweeted about Demi Lovato coming out as non-binary by saying: “She now wants to be referred to as ‘them’, like Wizard Otelma (a popular Italian television character)” – a quite unnecessary statement that,… Continue reading In Defense of Political Correctness