I grew up in and around paddocks full of livestock, the abattoirs where they were slaughtered and dressed to the butchers, super markets and catering companies where they would eventually end up on someones plate. A man covered in blood was a common fixture in my child hood, it was more normal than a teacher in a tweed jumper. I was fortunate to have this appreciation for the world, an understanding of a part of the real world which goes mostly unseen despite the countless bellies it fed. I could read Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle and not feel shock or disgust. Despite the exaggerations and...

Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul had a fight, as expected Joshua won. Andrew Tate made a comeback to the ring, he lost the decision. Both Paul and Tate are social media creatures. Tate, among other things, was a former prize fighter. Paul, after fame as a YouTuber took advantage of his youth, athleticism and passion for the sport to become a boxer. How he went about this was unpopular but popular. If he had never been Jake Paul, the YouTuber and entered boxing the ‘honest’ way. Chances are few would ever have bothered to watch him fight or even cared about his fights. He would be like thousands...

It has been thirty years since the website Antiwar.com was launched. A defiant reaction to the Clinton administrations interventions in the Balkans during the 1990s. Founded by the late Justin Raimondo and Eric Garris, the site went on to become a platform of information and reporting against US military interventions, and eventually as opposition to all wars. Though, often criticised for being “right wing”, the founders from the modern American tradition of libertarianism. Antiwar.com is principally anti-war, and has contributors and writers from all spectrum’s of politics. The main mission...

In the immediate aftermath of a tragic event it’s difficult to find clarity of facts and thoughts through a miasma of lies, unknowns and emotions. The impulse to collectivise, derive explanation from demographic classification is both primal and learned. Just as the impulse to find simple answers. A father and son, acted as individuals with deranged rationalisation and murdered innocent and unarmed people at Bondi, Sydney this weekend. At this time, fifteen people are dead. Despite the propaganda pushed by mostly American media and content creators, Australians still have access to legal...

The insincerity of social media and influencer culture is nothing new. Mr Beast set the supreme standard for success, study algorithms, what appeals to the mob glued to their screens, master thumbnails, edit a shiteating grin and you will be loved. Pewdiepie, Angry Video Game Nerd, Fouseytube, etc pioneered and invented the wheel so to speak when it came to viral and popular content. It was a different world for them, entertainment and genuine reviews were popular, even if at times they were infected with skits, characters and performance ‘reality.’ They became famous, influential and...

The 2010s will perhaps be remembered for the decline of critical thinking and the ascension of dependency. Only to be fast tracked into the 2020s. There was a time, in the before, even among partisan political voices, when we could juggle reason with ideology. A regard for some forms of critical thinking, or the placating of objections raised by libertarians and the opponents of said policies or desires. There was a conversation. An understanding of the dangers of too much power, or control. This was a time, when most institutions and governments pretended or did care about censorship,...