Category: Discrimination
Why Does Society Divide Itself Into Smaller Categories of People Over Time? (In-Group and Out-Group Formation)
We are born without prejudice. Ask a baby if he hates any particular person and he will stare at you, blink occasionally and eventually (as is the norm for someone his age) burst into tears –not because of a profound distaste for the idea of hatred- but because of a need for food, security or ...
How to Combat Schadenfreude, or Enjoying The Pain of Others
Due to evolution, when our enemy is hurt, we celebrate. When our enemy is killed, we chant in the streets. When many of our enemies are killed we declare: "mission accomplished" on an aircraft carrier. Survival of our 'tribe' mandates joy at the death of our enemies just as it mandates sadness at the death ...
A Place to Call Home: International Student Housing in Sydney
In a recent Senate Committee, Liberal Senator Sean Edwards repeatedly referred to the majority occupancy of international students of affordable student housing as a “rorting” of the system. He said that the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), set up by the Rudd government, had a significant “loophole” that allowed, for instance, Monash University to house ...
Book Excerpt: On Empathy
It is a simple matter to rank the empathy we feel for those around us. Consider the following: How aggrieved would you be if a family member was murdered? How about a friend? An acquaintance? A stranger? A stranger overseas? A stranger 100 years ago in history? Our empathy diminishes the further we get from ...
Racial Discrimination Act – Legalising Hate Speech
The Government has released a draft Bill on changes to the Act - see the link at the bottom of this post. The government has indicated it intends to make racist hate speech, racist publications and racial slurs legal in Australia. This goes against the very grain of Australian society, as a place where people ...
Thinking For Yourself (Generalisations)
The only true generalization is the generalization that every generalization is incorrect. When we generalize we take leaps in logic and rationality based upon very little evidence. The worst kind of generalization, therefore, is a generalization based upon a single instance; where we have encountered something to be one way once, and then proceed to ...
