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Things which don't go away
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Ace Combat: Joint Assault
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Give Peace a Chance
24 Hour News: A Lesson in the Unimportant- by Sean Maguire

Throughout history the pace at which we've received news has gotten exponentially quicker- a tecnhological dynamism which has almost always been for good.

Not anymore.

With the 24 hour news-cycle the unimportant, and the uninteresting are given equal airtime with truly monumental moments; leaving the viewer with the almost impossible task of differentiating the two.

Rudd picks his ear, Turnbull leaves politics, another earthquake, another genocide- little by little our critical faculties erode until death destruction and destitution are put on an equal footing of with another politician's indescretions.  

Today, as we reported, another example of the U.S. military's thuggery and murder came to light- hopefully resulting in a mass review of the sacrosanct rules of engagement and some serious self-reflection on the part of the U.S military generally.

The fact is that today's blood stained news will become tomorrow's blood stained fish and chip paper, with little change or regard for the state of apathy we're slipping into.

Kind of makes you wistful for the days when you'd only get news once every 6 months from a ship.

 

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WELCOME TO INDIA: Please leave your values at the doorstep
by Jack Freeman

As four months of travel in India is coming to an end I am finding
it continually confusing that many of the cultural atrocities that
come with this society of 1 billion strong are deemed "interesting"
and "profound".

Sitting in social circles from hostel to hostel, I have met forceful disagreement with my criticisms of the oppressive nature of India's cast system and their large Islamic community. The smug, "oh, you just don't get it" attitude you receive for owning such opinions is both condescending and misguided.

This is an enraging example of the pseudo, naive belief that this "exotic"society is unintelligible to (most of) us westerners. In this beautiful, richly diverse and all round fun country where, by the same token, you will be greeted by zero empathy of female lib, homosexual equality or my own personal faithlessness, I wish that travelers would not deny their education and morals on arrival. Is it not possible to balance both romance and a sense of rationality?