Truth, Myths and Meaning
J. R. R. Tolkein once said that myths, “At the very least… allow us to catch a fleeting, but all so powerful glimpse at the beauty that lies beyond the walls [of our material existence]. Myths show us a fleeting…
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…
Candy Crush: A Whale of a Time
My first game of Candy Crush reminded me of my first experience with a slot machine. Both offered the same enticements: escapism, a bit of fun, and crudely simple gameplay. Candy Crush is a puzzle-based game that requires players to…
Unrequited Love is Evil
I heard it once said that unrequited love is the universal language. Dipping its hand into every culture across the planet, it plagues men with the inability to ‘get what they want’ and ‘deserve’. We romanticise rejection in books, films…
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…
Thinking For Yourself (Admitting Ignorance)
In modern day life we are viewed as idiotic if we admit that we do not know exactly what we are talking about. In common parlance we are told to “take a stab at the answer”, “have a guess” or…
I Don’t Care If You’re a Terrorist on the Weekend as Long as You Make me Money
A friend recently attended a graduate career seminar and was told by an anonymous investment banker: “I don’t care if you’re a terrorist on the weekend, as long as you make me money”. This kind of sentiment was backed by…
The Architecture of Suffering
My newest prisoner, “Robinson”, is currently in solitary confinement after stabbing a guard with a plastic fork. His cell is just about as large as he is, and he’ll be there for a couple hours until he cools down. I…
Quidditch Soc as a Metaphor for Dumb, Anti-intellectual Photogenic “culture” at O-Week
If I could summarize the mantra of O-Week in 2014 I would say: only things worth sharing are worth doing. Basically, you should only do something that can easily be captured in a photograph. Said photograph can then be shared online, to prove how…