Why are people stalking the real life humans behind ‘Baby Reindeer’? Opinion + AnalysisSociety + Culture BY Joseph Earp 30 APR 2024 Baby Reindeer, the new Netflix miniseries based on a true story, opens with a simple act of kindness — Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd), a wannabe stand-up comedian, gives a customer a free cup of tea. “I felt sorry for her,” Donny tells us in voiceover, as Martha (Jessica Gunning) wanders into the pub where he works. It is an action he will soon regret.   The two begin conversing; as they do, Martha becomes increasingly obsessed with the comedian. Simple ..read more

Why Anzac Day’s soft power is so important to social cohesion Opinion + AnalysisPolitics + Human Rights BY Simon Longstaff 25 APR 2024 Any country wishing to advance or defend its strategic interests has recourse to two types of power: hard and soft. Richard Marles’ release of the government’s most recent Defence Strategic Review, coming as it does just before Anzac Day, provides an opportunity to examine how well Australia is positioned in relation to the oft-neglected “defensive” aspect of soft power. Any potential adversary knows that a low-risk way to wound a diverse, multicultural s ..read more

Is there such a thing as ethical investing? Opinion + AnalysisBusiness + Leadership BY The Ethics Centre 22 APR 2024 If you’re looking to start investing in the stock market (and you’ve stumbled across this article), chances are you might be investigating how you can do it ethically – without supporting companies that are actively causing harm to the world.   “Ethical investing” has no fixed definition in Australia, Life and Shares host Cris Parker points out in The Ethics Centre’s latest podcast. Susheela Peres Da Costa, Chair of the Responsible Investment Association of Australasi ..read more

On plagiarism, fairness and AI Opinion + AnalysisScience + Technology BY Stella Eve Pei-Fen Browne 19 APR 2024 Plagiarism is bad. This, of course, is by no means a groundbreaking or controversial statement, and seems far from a problem that is “being overlooked today”. It is generally accepted that the theft of intellectual property is immoral. However, it also seems near impossible for one to produce anything truly original. Any word that one speaks is a word that has already been spoken. Even if you are to construct a “new” word, it is merely a portmanteau of sounds that have already b ..read more

Trying to make sense of senseless acts of violence is a natural response – but not always the best one Opinion + AnalysisSociety + Culture BY Tim Dean 17 APR 2024 Shock reverberated throughout Australia at the news of a frenzied knife attack in Sydney at Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April — an attack that claimed the lives of six people and injured many more. Naturally, such an event triggers a surge of news reporting and social media posts. But the news and social media conversation quickly pivoted from reporting the facts of the event to seeking answers. How could such a ho ..read more

Big Thinker: Philippa Foot Big thinkerSociety + Culture BY The Ethics Centre 11 APR 2024 Philippa Foot (1920-2010) is one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics, reviving the dominant Aristotelian ethics in the 20th century. She introduced a genre of decision problems in philosophy as part of the analysis in debates around abortion and the doctrine of double effect. Philippa Foot was born in England in 1920. While receiving no formal education throughout her childhood, she obtained a place at Somerville College, one of the two women’s colleges at Oxford. After receiving a degree i ..read more

The super loophole being exploited by the gig economy Opinion + AnalysisBusiness + LeadershipHealth + Wellbeing BY Nina Hendy 9 APR 2024 Imagine what it must feel like not to receive compulsory superannuation – despite it being a mandated part of our employment landscape for more than three decades. For many Australian workers this is a reality. The Super Guarantee legislates that employers have to pay super contributions of 11 per cent of an employee’s ordinary time earnings, regardless of whether they’re a casual or full time employee. But the legislation that is meant to protect worki ..read more

Ethics Explainer: Shame ExplainerRelationshipsSociety + Culture BY The Ethics Centre 26 MAR 2024 Flushed cheeks, lowered gaze and an interminable voice in your head criticising your very being.  Imagine you’re invited to two different events by different friends. You decide to go to one over the other, but instead of telling your friend the truth, you pretend you’re sick. At first, you might be struck with a bit of guilt for lying to your friend. Then, afterwards, they see photos of you from the other event and confront you about it.   In situations like this, something other t ..read more

Taking the cynicism out of criticism: Why media needs real critique Opinion + AnalysisSociety + CulturePolitics + Human Rights BY Ruby Hamad 25 MAR 2024 Increasingly, it appears that constructive criticism and cynical attacks are being conflated. And perhaps it’s nowhere more apparent or more troubling than when it comes to criticism of the news media. In 1993, Edward Said stunned the world of cultural criticism with his revolutionary critique of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. The literary professor and avowed lover of the Western literary canon reviewed Austen in a way like never before ..read more

Access to ethical advice is crucial Opinion + AnalysisBusiness + LeadershipSociety + Culture BY Simon Longstaff Major General Paul Symon Dr Miah Hammond-Errey 19 MAR 2024 Better ethical approaches for individuals, businesses and organisations doesn’t just make moral sense. The financial benefits are massive, too. It might seem a little ironic to take ethics advice from an intelligence agency that consciously deploys deception, yet it shows why access to ethical advice is vitally important. Indeed, we argue that the example of an ethics counsellor within ASIS demonstrates why every organi ..read more