Category: Politics

Down The Rabbit Hole – Part 3

My “tin foil” friend George joins me for a further deep dive down the rabbit hole. His world view is frankly disturbing and includes elements which some will consider conspiracies….

But in this mind stretching discussion, the journey is as important as the destination.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/HRey3OqGVvA

Part 2: https://youtu.be/AyuUBhIPVRo

The Machinery Of Control – With Brian Martin

Brian Martin is a social scientist in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, at the University of Wollongong in NSW, Australia. He was appointed a Professor at the University in 2007, and in 2017 was appointed Emeritus Professor.

I discuss his latest book – Official Channels.

Official channels are things like grievance procedures, ombudsmen and courts. They are supposed to resolve problems and provide justice. However, trust in official channels can be misplaced: in many cases they may give only an illusion of a solution. In Official Channels, Brian Martin tells what he has learned about formal procedures set up to deal with problems associated with whistleblowing, sexual harassment, plagiarism, Wikipedia and other issues. He says it is unwise to put too much reliance on official channels and that more emphasis should be put on developing skills, changing cultures and exploring alternatives.

https://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/20oc/index.html

Official channels is available as a free download, by courtesy of the publisher. Irene Publishing is a non-profit operation, committed to providing works relevant to grassroots social change.

The Future Of Universities (And The Death Of Humanities?) – With Salvatore Babones

Salvatore Babones is an American sociologist, associate professor at the University of Sydney, and an expert in the areas of Chinese and American economy and society. His research is related to macro-level structure of the world economy, with a particular focus on China’s global economic integration.

https://salvatorebabones.com/

Today we discuss the question of the future of universities.