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Keywords: Polarisation

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Uncertainty in a time of conviction

    • David Halliday
    • 15 July 2024

    Why do we often find ourselves locked into courses of action that seem destined for failure? Despite calls for Biden to step aside following his shaky debate performance, the President stands firm in his re-election bid. Is it time we valued the courage to change course as much as we value the courage of one’s convictions?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    When a friend writes a controversial post, how should you respond?

    • Barry Gittins
    • 10 July 2024

    How do you respond, when members of your own tribe share their distaste towards those who rub them up the wrong way? Do you ‘unfollow’? Do you engage? And if you vent against those who who offend with their own dearth of tolerance, are you guilty of doing the same?  

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    My father's poetry: The unpublished poems of Bruce Dawe

    • Jamie Dawe, Bruce Dawe
    • 28 June 2024

    These unpublished treasures of my father’s are sure to strike a chord amongst those readers whose hearts wander among the more hidden byways, as I have discovered within myself.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The fraught search for identity

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 13 June 2024

    The wonder of Khin Myint's Fragile Creature: A Memoir lies in his calm and magnanimous reflection on his experiences and in his attempt to understand those who treated him poorly. It also provides a lens for reflecting on the dynamic at work in public debates that touch identity.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Trump, convicted

    • David Halliday
    • 11 June 2024

    When Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, it represented a long-awaited triumph of the rule of law in the United States. But the verdict may not mean much in the long run, and has not affected Trump's popularity among voters. Watching Trump’s conviction from afar prompts us to consider how good we have it.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Punisher

    • Barry Gittins
    • 24 May 2024

    In the latest Quarterly Essay profile of Peter Dutton, author Lech Blaine may well describe his work as character delineation, rather than character assassination. But we seem to be at an impasse in Australian market of ideas, and scorn gives greater bang for the buck than dialogue.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Best of 2022: The allure of moral outrage

    • Lucas Keefer
    • 05 January 2023

    It’s no secret that highly politicised issues seem to elicit strong emotional reactions, particularly feelings of intense anger. But not only are these feelings common, individuals seem actively motivated to seek out stories of tragedy, scandal, and injustice on a seemingly unending quest to feel moral outrage.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    The empty echo chamber: A conversation with Dr Axel Bruns

    • David Halliday, Axel Bruns
    • 22 September 2022

    Despite our differing social and cultural beliefs, we can mostly agree that we live in highly polarised times. But what divides us? ARC Laureate Fellow Prof. Axel Bruns studies social polarisation, and in this discussion we explore the drivers of polarisation, examining the role that digital and social media and broader social and political contexts play in intensifying social conflicts, threatening economic prosperity, undermining public trust, and ultimately destabilising societies.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Fighting identities: Polarisation, nihilism, and the collapse of online discourse

    • Ben Rich
    • 17 February 2022
    11 Comments

    Today we see a resurgence of digital tribalism, a glorification of disingenuous engagement online and humiliating those of a different perspective. Everywhere we see simplistic and belligerent narratives of ‘us versus them’ over more nuanced explanations that might impart a greater sense of shared humanity and common purpose. So what happened?

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The allure of moral outrage

    • Lucas Keefer
    • 27 January 2022
    30 Comments

    It’s no secret that highly politicised issues seem to elicit strong emotional reactions, particularly feelings of intense anger. But not only are these feelings common, individuals seem actively motivated to seek out stories of tragedy, scandal, and injustice on a seemingly unending quest to feel moral outrage.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Is democracy going down the drain?

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 24 November 2021
    31 Comments

    There is much discussion about the future of democracy, freedom and other aspects of liberal institutions. Mainly in the United States, under the pressure of a polarised public life. But also to a lesser extent in Australia, in the face of the evasive and authoritarian behaviour of governments and the manifest priority of winning elections over addressing the existential threats of global warming and gross inequality. 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Biden's middle class in a divided America

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 19 November 2020
    9 Comments

    The priority given to the middle class was not new — Biden stressed it in speeches through the primaries and again as a candidate. And it is no doubt important. But when seen in the light of the passionate polarisation of the campaign, the closeness of the results, and the continuing mutual antipathy of the supporters of each party, rebuilding the middle class seems an unlikely source of healing.

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