I think the right to be heard is a fundamental right, and one that I would be willing to fight for. This is why I don’t like the media movement in to sensationalisation and “info-tainment”. I think this reduces the media’s role to investigate, to be part of the public sphere and their responsibility as the fourth estate to merely an entertainment media. I also have issues with the privatisation of public space which limits the ability for important societal communication. And also relates to my like of the internet as a way of having your view put out there.

Gay rights/ discrimination is also something important to me. It is amazing htat so recently being gay was a criminal offence, a sickness to be treated with electroshock therapy.

I think in a country wit h strong liberal ideology is so conservative in so many ways – all of which are social human rights type things. Why can’t they be more conservative with economic systems and business regulation and a bit more liberal with personal freedom. My blog is called Centophobia showing ho I feel (and for a bit of time now) about the disadvantages of human nature of being Centophobic (afraid of new ideas.) The fact that older generations have to die before new ideas can be embraced really frustrates me because we could have progressed so much further if people (the human race) could accept new things so much faster. Women’s perspectives, aboriginal and other indigenous cultures could have been embraced a lot earlier. I don’t want the world to have to wait until I die to move on to the more important things then discrimination against people for their race, skin colour, gender, sexuality etc.

tag: Government, Human Rights, Rights, Public space, Media, Fourth Estate, info-tainment

Caught the Tilt Train up there from Brisbane and sat next to an accountant, quite interesting… It was also the middle of the night, and the movie they put on was Scooby-Doo 2. I could feel my anxiety levels rising and was glad to finally leave the train after 4 hours of brainless PG torture and watching a graphical representation of the train moving up the Queensland coast at a breakneck speed of around 70 km per hour. Frustration…

Hervey Bay is not really a great place. It doesn’t have a lot of shopping nor a great beach, but fortunately we go out on a boat to Fraser Island and go fishing. I caught two fish (smiles; brimming with pride) the first fish I have ever caught (in my 20 years of life). We also say a whole group of dolphins and followed them around as they caught fish and swam in the bow wave.

I tend to get sick on boats but because you can get out on Fraser and fish from the shore there was no such issue. I will take my camera next time and get a few shots from the boat, I haven’t been game yet.

Anyway, it was one of the best holidays I have had, which is weird…

Originally uploaded by Centophobia.

tag: Coldplay, Brisbane, concert, live, entertainment

Just had my latest economics assignment returned. I received 10 out of 20 or a four. And my lovely tutor (he really is lovely, he is just a genious and anal) wrote all over the thing: I used first person in an essay (Oh my god!), changed the margins (sorry for trying to save the environment and money on the extravagant price of printing at uni), didn't format and name my graphs satisfactorily and I used a contraction (obviously there were other things wrong with the essay to receive a four but I knew about those). I just wish the university would figure out how it would like us to write reports and essays (and decide on ONE referencing system).

I have completed communication subjects in the CI faculty for which the lecturers have suggested that using first person in an essay is quite okay, as long as it is still professional sounding. And every second journal article I read has first person; it actually makes them a shit load easier to read. Which I happen to think is quite important! Anyway, it DID say in the guidelines that third person was to be used and that contractions aren't, BUT I didn't read those because I write about 20 essays every bloody semester.

Moral of the story: it pays to think about the faculty in which you are handing in an assignment, before writing it and taking into account how they think an essay or report should be formatted. I am frustrated but without a good reason and no one to be annoyed at except myself.

Anyway… until next time.

So here it is… Centophobia's guide to Centophobia.

Centophobia is the fear of new ideas. It is related to neophobia (also called cainotophobia) which is the fear of new things or experiences. Technically, neophobia is defined as: the persistent and abnormal fear of anything new and can also be present in a milder form as the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine.

While I can’t find a specific definition of centophobia on the web, I would define it as: the reluctance to consider new ideas, or the ideas of others, or to break from pre-established thoughts and ideologies.

Perspectives from Robert Anton Wilson and Thomas Kuhns: 

Neophobia is the reason why human culture and ideas do not advance as quickly as our technology. 

New ideas, however clear and well-proven, cannot be implemented until those we consider them ‘new’ die and are replaced by new generations who consider the ideas old and accepted.

A study, found that lab rats were cautious of a new item (a trap) which was placed in their cage but were less fearful of the object compared to wild rats. Lab rats were therefore proven to be less suspicious or fearful of new objects. This experiment suggests that neophobia may in fact be essential to life in the wild for many animals. Thus neophobic behaviour in humans may be an inherent trait but perhaps a trait no longer essential to survival in modern life.

Phobia in General:

All phobias are unreasonable sorts of fear that can cause avoidance and panic. Phobias can be treated with cognitive behavioural therapy using exposure and fear reduction techniques. In many cases, anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication proves helpful, especially during the early stages of therapy.

The reason I called this blog centophobia was to try to overcome centophobia in myself and others; to embrace and discuss new ideas, so that the rest of the world don’t have to wait until we die to move on. This is not a medical site on centophobia or neophobia, simply an avenue to discuss new and interesting ideas.

(Please, don’t ask me why I didn’t call it neophilia: the love of new things. Maybe I was feeling negative the day I created the blog, rather than choosing to see the positive side. I apologise for this.)

Related Terms:

Related to centophobia is technophobia; the fear of new technology.

Neophilia is defined as a love of novelty and new things. A neophile is an individual who is unusually accepting of new things and excited by novelty. Neophilia is particularly prevalent in internet culture and other leading-edge subcultures.

To some extent I already had knowledge about PR news and the extent to which news coverage and footage is supplied to news organisations from PR departments and agencies. However I reckon that this broadcast of PR news really points out some negative aspects of the current media situation, including:

The pressure news organisations are under as commercial businesses to increase ratings/circulations and the decreased emphasis on the presentation of accurate and independent news.

That 24/7 news channels (and the increased air time given to news) puts pressure on news organisations and journalists to fill-in their allotted timeslot (isn’t it worrying that every night there is exactly 30 minutes of news and they finish by saying “that’s how it is this Thursday” or “you’re now up-to-date” when surely some nights there are differing amounts of newsworthy information to broadcast.)

I also am concerned that the public are unconcerned about the validity, independence and range of opinions they are being presented with when they watch news, and tend to unquestionably trust news broadcasters and personalities.

 From Compfused

It is frustrating because it takes away from my participation and extra concentration on subjects that I actually enjoy and would persue as a career option, such as virtual culture, media technologies and advertising strategy.

Anyway I was talking to a student I am doing group work with who is so enthusiastic about university and about her future career. She told me that she really just stopped one day and realised that she wasn't enjoying what she was doing and decided to stop. She went overseas and travelled around and was exposed to a number of different things but looked inside to really discover what would inspire her everyday. Then she did it.

I – always making excuses – replied 'Yeah, I just need some money to go exploring' and she said, well start saving and in a couple of months do it. I have always thought of money as something to save. I have money in the bank just waiting for what; I don't know.

So the plan is; spend it. Force myself to get a job when I become poor (I'm not working at the moment because I don't really know why I would) and probably be a lot happier now rather than waiting to be happier in the future.

It sounds ridiculous but for the first few songs I felt cleansed and purified and vulnerable.

Then they played some of their new stuff and their old stuff. And I felt dazed and confused and amazed.

Evermore are captivating. Running; I've listened to it over and over.

No more FileZilla installations and transfers and no more downloading from my CIF 'website'. No more having twenty copies of everything in different location.

And even better, our CIF 'website' thing is going to become once again available to non-university students and staff.

Thankyou God, Thankyou QUT.

With Isabel Lucas from Home and Away. Her reaction is stunning.

Post your secret anonymously and tell the world.

Alan Shore: No matter my opinion about the war, I think there is something we can both agree on, and that is that this war is complicated. And I think complicated things, need to be talked about.

When people have strong opinions about the issues that really matter, they should be able to talk about those opinions openly. Complicated issues should be debated and discussed.

Obviously the government has had a bit to do with this shutdown of dialogue, with its use of phrases like "You're either with us or against us". Which basically says that anyone who says anything even remotely antiwar is (like a terrorist) against us. This leads to more emotionally stirring ways of saying much the same thing: you are "unpatriotic", "unAmerican / unAustralian" and "that's not the American / Australian way", and that you are "unthankful for the thousands of soldiers who died for their country, so that you could enjoy freedom". And it is very hard to talk about issues, when people are using these tactics.

I think this technique is used in other arguments as well. What common labels do you know of that are used to shutdown alternative ideological view points?

Hippie when talking about the environment.
Communist when talking about the problems with capitalism.

What do you think is the fundamental role of the Government? Why do we elect them?

Please comment! 

I subscribe to their email list thing, and therefore found out before they started advertising. I got into "A Reserve, Row B". I'm not sure just how good that is but you'd think it is pretty good, right?.

Anyway, they are playing their new album which I don't think has been released. Anyone know when it gets released. Anyway should be really good.

Technorati Tags: Evermore, Band, Live, Music, Brisbane