Fellow travellers, recently I wrote of the institutionalized hatred of crocodiles (and women) displayed in the right-wing smearing of Julia Gillard. Quite frankly I think some serious attitudinal reconstruction is in order. So from now on I will use the term "crocodile tears" to describe only completely genuine lachrymosity.

After all, these poor, misunderstood creatures continue to suffer greatly. Some were so traumatized by Cyclone Yasi that "they hid under water and stopped eating". And we ...
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When our nation's sassy, feisty and very real leader Julia Gillard broke down in tears over the human toll of the (human-caused) Brisbane floods, of course those hate-peddlers on the right just couldn't handle it. They had been pushing this line that she was robotic and unemotional for so long, after all. So they had to ask: "Was her crying genuine?"

Well of course it was! I was so deeply moved by her response that even though she was holding an Australian flag, I actually didn't want to burn ...
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Fellow travellers, as international socialists we can all agree that patriotism is an ugly emotion. And it brings out other malignant sentiments, for example the flagrant, insensitive and deeply racist waving of Australian flags (still, revoltingly, including the Union Jack) by drunken revelers at various Australia Day events and gatherings.

Not surprisingly this brutal nationalism often dredges up the vile prejudice of speciesism as well. Take this regular Australia Day horse racing event tha...
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Fellow travellers, as we all know, language creates reality. And words can hurt and oppress, too. Even the most seemingly innocuous turns of phrase can be the cause of the most intense distress.

The word "moonbat", for example is becoming more and more offensive. It is getting to the point when it really is intolerable. Soon, I may even join with some of my fellow progressive bloggers to initiate a global class action against those on the more reactionary fringes of the blogosphere. We will ei...
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Fellow travellers, as you well know I care deeply about the welfare of animals - or as I call them, non-human people. That's why I have been both saddened and ultimately heartened by this story about a tropical fish swallowed whole by an appalling Brit called Chris Caswell. Not only was the poor gilled being treated barbarically by the hoon, but the journalist who reported the story couldn't even decide on its classification.

I mean, the article linked above refers to it as alternatively a gup...
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Fellow travellers, as any of us who has worked in Australia's thriving arts sector knows only too well, Australian films are without doubt the best in the world! But sadly, local audiences are usually too stupid to appreciate them. Consequently they often fail to attract substantial crowds and lose money.

Of course, I don't consider box office failure a problem in itself, since I am against the profit motive in principle. However, it is undeniably unfortunate that every time an Aussie movie l...
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Fellow travellers I am sure that you are as shocked and offended as I am that the appalling Mel Gibson has another movie out at all, let alone so soon. But that's not the most worrying thing about The Beaver. The film's storyline is perhaps even more disturbing than its star.

You see, it focuses on a depressed man who gets his mojo back by putting a beaver puppet on his hand and letting it speak for him. Now, while some people may find this a charming plot device, I am not amused.

I do find it...
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Fellow travellers, here is a story that should give those of us who truly abhor speciesism a little more hope for a better world: A man in Toowoomba called Joseph Guiso has "married" his animal companion Honey, a labrador.

The ceremony was conducted more or less as a joke. But remember that "many a true word was spoke in jest". Also, not so long ago people were openly laughing at things that eventually came to pass - women getting the vote, and gays in the military, for example.

And the fact th...
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Championing the rights of animals (or as I Iike to think of them, non-human people) can be a frustrating and thankless task. I mean, it can be disappointing, to say the least, when after performing three hours of political street theatre raising awareness about our threatened indigenous bird-life, a pigeon decides to defecate on your head!

Then there is the pervasive speciesism that so many Homo sapiens are guilty of. It's bad enough that it's a societal norm. But sometimes this appalling atti...
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Fellow travellers, as we all know, birds are often mocked for their alleged stupidity. Take that appalling insult "bird brain", for example.  

(Notice also that women are often called birds, implying that they too are bird-brained. Yet more evidence that speciesism and sexism are almost invariably intertwined!)

But where does this offensive stereotype of cognitively challenged birds actually come from? The sick minds of appalling peenie wavers, that's where! There is no evidence for it. It's j...
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Fellow travellers, we often hear from the reactionary right that academia has been overtaken by the left. Nothing could be further from the truth. Universities across the globe are still completely dominated by eeevil white peenie-wavers who are hell bent - or should that be straight? - on oppressing women, minorities and Gaia.

Take this latest so-called "experiment": Psychologists in California have looked into how young children cope with fears both real and imagined. They were read stories...
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Fellow travelers, it's almost appropriate that the horse who won this year's Melbourne Cup was called Shocking, because I found the whole exercize shocking in the extreme. In fact it wasn't just shocking. It was appalling!

Firstly, it was extremely elitist, as races invariably are. Finding the fastest horse was highly discriminatory, since horses have a lot more to offer than just speed. And I'm sure they don't judge themselves merely by that criterion. Were their values considered? Of course ...
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