Pandemic Panic: How fear brings out prejudice

Kiran Gupta unpacks the global panic surrounding the COVID-19 Coronavirus and looks at the implications of mainstream and social media coverage on the virus and its impact. It is becoming increasingly inevitable that the COVID-19 Coronavirus is going to spread all over the world and at some pace. A significant number of people will die…

ByKiran Gupta5 March 2020

Opinion

Can We Appreciate the Works of Problematic Artists?

Harry (Haz) Salvesen muses over whether the artist is a law unto themselves or whether their legacy is inherently tied to their interactions with wider society. Allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment have rocked the music industry in the past few years. High profile celebrities including Ameer Vann, R Kelly and Michael Jackson…

ByHarry (Haz) Salvesen2 March 2020

Opinion

It’s NOT Time To Say Goodbye

Bumping along in the back of an open-roofed truck down a dusty road through the Zimbabwean bush, we were about to burst with excitement, but had to maintain absolute silence. We had spent the morning exploring the beautiful Matobo National Park with its unique geological formations and fascinating history with the Bushmen of sub-Saharan Africa.…

ByZoe Latham21 February 2020

Opinion

Procrastinati—

Everyone at Drew’s is talented in one way or another. Whether it’s athletically, academically, musically, socially… you get the gist, everyone here is pretty much brilliant at what they do. Being in such an inspiring environment got me wondering, what is my special talent? And after thinking long and hard, I concluded that I’m ok…

ByZoe Latham21 February 2020

Opinion

Blurring the Lines of Musical Ethics and Law

In 2013, “Blurred Lines” took the music world by storm. Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. leaped to the top of the charts with the catchy, “throwback” song and the intrigue of their provocative (and indeed, deeply misogynistic) video. But after basking in the success of a song that would last them a lifetime financially,…

ByKiran Gupta2 December 2019

Opinion

How to Win Friends and Simulate People

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” For those…

ByRhiannon Hames6 November 2019

Opinion

PEP and the Coercive Culture of Employability

"I hate PEP." If any phrase has embodied my (brief) time as a first year engineering student at USYD, it's this. Muttered over laptops at 3 am, chanted across megadesks in PNR building, or proclaimed with gusto beside beers at the Royal, it has become the clarion call of a cohort. They're talking about the…

ByJohn Bivell18 October 2019

Opinion

A Discussion on Cultural Relativism

‘Discussing cultural relativism with cultural relativists is like playing tennis with some guy who says, “your ace is just a social construct.” ’ - Mark Steyn In an increasingly politically sensitive world, often we find ourselves judging other people, cultures and walks of life but then instantly asking, are we justified in doing that?…

ByIngrid Jones11 October 2019

Opinion

Perennial Flux of the World Order

In realising the complicated nature of the world around us, it is often too easy to dismiss geo-political interactions as random; perhaps devoid of logic. However in actuality, State behaviour can be characterised by specific ideological traits. The most common of these ideologies, that has stood the test of time, is Realism. As defined by…

ByWill Andrews4 October 2019

Opinion

College – a new perspective

The practices and even placement of colleges on university land has polarised wider media for many decades. Most people will already have a fairly fixed view on the colleges at the University of Sydney. While it is not my place to even attempt to change that, I believe that there is a story that is…

ByKiran Gupta29 September 2019