To-do lists: effective or a mode of concealing a broader issue?

As anti-capitalist philosophers like Slavoj Zizek would argue, there is always a temptation with American politics to follow a political figure because of the issues to which they subscribe to. Any political message is quite incidental when compared to the formal environment in which it is transmitted. It therefore does not matter what is expressed in a medium, since what really matters concerns the way in which the medium forms political imaginations or allows violence to flourish. Therefore, such political messaging is adherent very much to a neoliberal approach of “change from within” with is in direct tension with anti-capitalism as per AOC’s message. Thus, trivialising the serious issue that she intends to bring attention to through her messaging in the Met Gala context.

Every morning I would arrive at the train station at 7am, tea in hand, ready to hop on a 7:14am train, school-bound. I liked early mornings; I liked the quiet trains bereft of loud fellow students and the odd drunk. I looked forward to the quiet library, yet to be polluted by the academic elite. But most of all, I enjoyed the ten-minute walk from the station to school. A small temporal pocket of stillness in a chaotic day as a selective-entry high school student.

However, this morning was different. This morning was not still nor calm. My walk was interrupted by the familiar ping of a Facebook notification. I had just been tagged in a video. A video of a man hitting a punching bag in an effeminate manner. I was tagged by one of ‘the boys’. In the vernacular of these cis het boys, the man was punching “like a sissy”. The man was punching like me.

Cortisol levels increase, heart palpitations commence, and my attention enters a very familiar labyrinth. I start to focus on the effeminate inflexions of my speech, the noticeable sibilance of my s’, my gait. Is my walk masculine enough? Are my hand gestures too feminine? I enter a familiar thought prism centred around by femininity, and how according to those boys, it made me less of a man.

TW: This articles raises some discussions about current events in Afghanistan.

“Mr Mac, have you seen what’s going on in Afghanistan”?

“Could the Taliban come here? I don’t want to have to wear a burqa and not be able to go to school”

“Mr Mac, is what’s happening in the book, basically happening in real life too?”

“Did you guys see all the people running on to the planes?”

“Privilege” seems to be the buzzword of the 20’s. But is it just as simplistic as living and experiencing a very comfortable life? I think not.

“Not only is your name one of the strongest links to your identity, but it is also a consistent and everlasting connection with your language and culture. Unfortunately, many of us have had a turbulent relationship with what our parents chose to name us. Our unique names with obscure sounds are not often melodious to the Western ear.”

“Where such men love they have no desire and where they desire they cannot love” Sigmund Freud

“In 2016, Judge Aaron Persky gave Brock Turner the lenient sentence of six months in prison for the sexual assault of an unconsciousness woman, justifying the decision with Turner’s positive character references and lack of criminal record. This in addition to the merciful media coverage on the case sparked outrage, with many pleading that his actions were not diminished due to his favourable qualities.”

“ “We’re all in this together”, so goes the baseless mantra of 2020. But while celebrities deliver words of faux compassion from their Hollywood mansions, Melbourne’s public housing residents are denied the most basic of democratic rights and dignity. By now, many of those who were not previously cognisant of the fact have come to understand that in reality, such vacant sentiments of solidarity could not be further from the truth. “

“As early as the 18th century, the sex work industry and its role in the global capitalist market has been a topic of much debate among feminists. Now in the year 2020, sexual desire – typically a personal, intimate aspect of peoples’ lives – is becoming increasingly more public due to the sex industry. With pornography and prostitution gradually becoming more ‘acceptable’ and ‘mainstream’ in some western countries, it begs the question, should women be supporting the blatant objectification of women?”

“In conversations with my prescribing psychiatrist about the different medication I was trying, my parents’ questions were about potential side effects, not whether the new drug was covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme. “

“Mental health is something that impacts us at every stage of our life – and at some point, we will all have a particular struggle with it.”

“At the 87th Annual Academy Awards, Disney star Zendaya hit the Oscars with her hair styled in locs. Giuliana Rancic, covering the news on E!’s Fashion Police reported that Zendaya probably, “smells like patchouli oil… or weed.” Zendaya responded stating that not only was the comment “outrageously offensive,” but that the reason she wore her hair in locs on such a public platform to was to “remind people of colour that our hair is good enough.” “

“Consumption fuels capitalism. But we know overconsumption is pushing our planet to the brink. Finite resources cannot sustain infinite growth. Perhaps the relative simplicity of life under lockdown offers us a new way forward? “

“Over the years Australian politics in particular has been marred with political spills, intra and inter party badgering and political self- interest dominating public interest. As a result, public sentiment and trust towards our system of democratic political system has continued to decrease. “