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Keywords: Discourse

  • AUSTRALIA

    Declaring war on the r-word

    • Moira Byrne Garton
    • 24 January 2013
    19 Comments

    I have heard colleagues refer to decisions as 'retarded', personalities as 'on the [autism] spectrum', and behaviour as 'OCD'. I hoped my silence would express my disapproval. Far from mere 'political correctness', seeking to eliminate such terms from discourse is a natural extension of a respectful and inclusive society. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Beyond the Obama euphoria

    • Jim McDermott
    • 08 November 2012
    29 Comments

    In recent weeks the US Catholic bishops insisted letters be read at Mass pushing congregations to vote Republican. That approach has been repudiated twice now. At some point they would be wise to reconsider their approach. A voice in the wilderness has its place, but so does reasoned, respectful discourse.

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  • MEDIA

    Free speech beyond the pale

    • Justin Glyn
    • 08 October 2012
    23 Comments

    Free speech is fundamental to democracy because it protects public discourse and freedom of religion. But while the right to free speech must to be respected even if it causes offence, we need to question what purpose is served by Alan Jones' attack on Julia Gillard, and the French cartoons.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Separating art from war in Iran

    • William Gourlay
    • 26 April 2012
    3 Comments

    Sabre rattling, both by the Iranian leadership and by Western politicians and pundits, dominates the headlines and steers public discourse about Iran. A recent film, and a current art exhibition, remind us of the country's 'rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics'.

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  • RELIGION

    Reuniting church and state

    • Gary Bouma
    • 24 October 2011
    16 Comments

    The biblical injunction that Christians 'Give to God the things due to God and to Caesar the things due to Caesar' does not legitimise the separation of church and state. We live in a time when religious voices have returned with greater strength to the arenas of civil discourse.

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  • RELIGION

    Human rights and Christian lawyers

    • Frank Brennan
    • 18 July 2011
    5 Comments

    When I appeared on Q&A with Christopher Hitchens, a young man asked whether we can 'ever hope to live in a truly secular society' while the religious continue to 'affect political discourse and decision making' on euthanasia, same-sex unions and abortion. Hitchens was simpaticao. I was dumbstruck.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Legacy of a whingeing bogan

    • Irfan Yusuf
    • 17 February 2010
    14 Comments

    It's official: Pauline Hanson the whingeing bogan will soon become a whingeing Pom. She may not remain in Australia in body, but her spirit will stay with us for decades. Our politics, media and public discourse have been infected by Hansonite thinking.

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  • RELIGION

    Problems with Hitchens and Islam

    • Herman Roborgh
    • 09 October 2009
    3 Comments

    Modern atheists in the West and modernist Muslims in Islam are both abusing religion. Their discourse about God has been influenced by the popular demand for scientific empirical verification, and they have lost confidence in the ability of figurative language to open a way to truth.

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  • RELIGION

    Behind the Pope's condom 'gaffe'

    • Michael Czerny
    • 05 May 2009
    2 Comments

    Abstinence and fidelity win little public support in Western discourse, but are increasingly included, even favoured, in national AIDS strategies in Africa. Culture counts, and a condom is more than a piece of latex.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Models for a good life and an honest death

    • Clive O'Connell
    • 16 October 2006

    Historian Inga Clendinnen's reviews, childhood recollections, multi-coloured reminiscences of her working career, and informed discourse on simple events or complex ideas, are collected in a way that reveals a tempered tolerance seemingly inherited from her favourite essayist, Montaigne.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Discourse without dialogue in Australian politics

    • Tony Smith
    • 07 August 2006
    1 Comment

    Former Labor minister John Button anticipated the current low point in political discourse, with defenders and critics of government policy having lost the capacity to engage in dialogue, particularly in the field of public morality.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Debates and discourses

    • Juliette Hughes
    • 14 May 2006

    In our house, we’ll continue to tolerate each other’s programs up to the point of nausea or embarrassment. We’ll be able to watch the animal documentaries, Media Watch, and Roy and H. G.’s new Memphis Trousers Half Hour.

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