Screen vs Life

Dear Carolyn, As Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th US president tomorrow I am reminded of what I have lost in the build up to the 2016 election.  It is odd that we are no longer friends given that as an Australian I have no direct stake in the US politics. But you, as a recently naturalized citizen and ten-year resident of California, are directly affected. I knew when you sent me that message that you were trying to find out if I needed to be cut like a cancer from your life. You asked for photos of family, for updates on work, on life more generally, and what I thought about the upcoming US election. My response to this last question was deliberately vague. But in the end I didn’t keep secret my political leanings. As I daily witnessed a Facebook feed awash with pro-Hillary, pro-socialist propaganda, posted by you, posted by just about everyone one else I knew and worked with, it felt necessary to also start sharing the bits of news and information that I h...

The chastisement of CNN ’s senior Whitehouse correspondent Jim Acosta as a propagator of ‘fake news’ by Trump during his press conference on Wednesday has caught the attention of commentators across the political spectrum.  Many like Sargon of Akkad have adeptly illustrated how the mainstream media has earned the ire of Trump, as well as their viewers, insofar as contemporary mainstream journalists consistently and demonstrably lie by omission. The indignation with which said journalists have responded to the ‘fake news’ moniker being flipped on them only amplifies the degree to which they live in a delusional bubble wherein they believe their own spin.  Others, like The Young Turks , Salon and MSNBC in their interview with Michael Moore, regard Trump’s refusal to talk to CNN as portending the end of first amendment rights, and the diminished ability of the media to preserve the democratic rights of citizens by holding power to account.  Insofar as t...

Net neutrality is a particularly hot topic at the moment, and most proponents of net neutrality incorrectly reproduce the myth that this regulatory intervention will vouchsafe equal internet access for all. In this video internet philosopher Stefan Molyneux untangles the political web that has lead to broad support for net neutrality.  The key insight to take away from this is that any type of government regulation of economic activity functions to strengthen monopolies, because it is enacted on behalf of, and to benefit powerful lobby groups. Likewise, net neutrality represents an increase in governmental regulation of the internet, with significant implications for the quality of services available to consumers, for the privacy of internet users, and for businesses who are economically vulnerable when governments change the rules of trade via amendments to law and policy. An important video which has informed a shift in my own position on the topic.

Figures released by the Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association show that the market for digital film and television sales in Australia grew 22.4% last financial year to $143.67 million. It is estimated that digital sales now account for 15% of the market, up from a reported 10% in 2012. The rise in digital sales has been accompanied by a steady decline in the sale of DVD, Blu-Ray and other physical formats, which peaked in 2007-08 with 98.8 units sold. The number in 2012-13 was 63.6 million units. Amazingly however, in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper this morning, Karl Quinn asserts that these figures represent a glimmer of hope for the declining home entertainment industry, which is apparently besieged by piracy. As argued yesterday, clearly there is a very significant technological shift occurring and the Australian market is playing catch up with consumers. Piracy is one effect of this, the other is consumers purchasing content online. T...

It seems that in a liberal-democratic society, the imperative to regulate the masses can only be validly proposed if the safety of the children is deemed to be at risk. Throughout much of the 20 th century, it was the portrayal of violence and sex on celluloid. In the 1980s heavy metal music compelled the world’s youth to satanic worship and suicide.  Today, it is digital technologies that threaten to unmake society by corrupting minds and hearts of innocent youth. The ability of Australian adults to access video games, is for instance, restricted via a video game classification system to prevent violent rampages by impressionable children. In 2014, cyber-bullying has emerged as the primary threat to our children. In January this year, Australia’s federal government issued a discussion paper, Enhancing Online Safety for Children , inviting experts to reflect on proposed measures to improve the online safety of children, who need to be protected from “child pornography, ...