Hey! Welcome to JJ’s Outlook, a blog where you’ll find all my content and political commentary online. While I write for this blog, I also write for several publications, including The Spectator Australia and The Good Sauce. I post links to my articles in those publications here as well. If you like what you read, feel free to give it a like, or leave a comment to let me know what you think. You can also subscribe via email to the blog if you’d like to get email notifications when new posts go live.

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Education is a fundamental necessity for the growth of human beings. It is what allows us to learn the basics, and then expand our knowledge beyond them so that we have the capacity to live our lives to the fullest. Education should be inherently unbiased. It should be a tenet of society which gives us the knowledge to be able to form our own worldviews. Tragically, this is no longer the case. Education, in particular university-based education, has become corrupted by Left Wing ideology, transforming it into something entirely different. Rather than encouraging freedom of thought, it now thrives off indoctrination.

The universities are by far the worst. I can attest to this personally. In my first year of study at Griffith University last year, one of my assessments was more harshly marked than the others. I wrote an article on the education system in NSW and interviewed a Liberal MP who sat on the NSW Parliamentary Education Committee. In my assessment feedback, I was told that this MP was not relevant, despite his being on the Education Committee. It was an absurd response. Yet it likely occurred for a several reasons. The first: I wrote an article which was critical of the education system. They probably didn’t like that. The second: I interviewed Gideon Rozner, Director of Policy at the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a Conservative think tank. Universities these days tend to have contempt for Conservatives. However, in retrospect, it was probably my challenging of the University that upset them the most. Allow me to explain.

Earlier in the semester, I had read one of the lectures in my course study guide, which just so happened to discuss climate change. I cannot say I was surprised by this, given it is a typical talking point of the Left. However, when I saw them making the claim that 99.9% of scientists agree that anthropogenic climate change is real, and implying that it was unethical and irresponsible journalism for coverage to be given to climate skepticism, I knew something had to be said. The claims were so outrageous, but even so, I knew that young students would probably be susceptible to becoming indoctrinated with the falsehoods they were perpetuating. So, I wrote a four-page letter refuting their points using academic sources and making the point that they should be providing a more balanced view on the matter. I sent it to the tutor, who passed it onto the course convenor, and, despite requesting to be updated on the matter, I never was. I can, however, almost guarantee the jab I took cost me a few marks, but I have to say, it was worth it.

This is just one example of the bias in the university system. There are plenty of others. Even in creative writing subjects I have done, there have been references to Marxism and climate activism. It is not at all surprising. Indeed, I have come to expect it. For me, it has no major impact on me other than the fact that I may lose a few marks here and there if I dare to challenge these ideologues. But for others, it can shape their entire worldview. Students who are inundated with Leftist ideology in such a way as is done at universities, where they are practically taught to hate the other side, fall victim to political indoctrination. It is beyond reprehensible. But this is how the Left recruit.

There is a simple reason for this: the Left indoctrinate because they know if they give people accurate information about both sides of the political spectrum and then give them the chance to make up their own minds, people will choose to go Conservative. Why? Because Conservative is the logical side. It is the side of reason, the side of sensibility. Conservatives base their ideas in fact and logic. The Left base theirs in fantasy and pure ideology (although there is nothing even remotely pure about it). The means of indoctrination that has come to dominate in the modern world is identity politics.

Identity politics is all about grouping people based on their physical and personal characteristics. Be it race, gender, religion, political views, sexuality, the list goes on. Each group has their own attributions, with some being seen as possessing more “privilege” and others being more oppressed. For example, straight white males, typically Christian Conservative ones, are seen as the most privileged and the worst oppressors, while people of colour and those in the LGBTQ+ community are viewed as less privileged and more oppressed. Or at least, this is what the Left would have you believe. Identity politics is a concept that seeks to divide. Many would likely be familiar with the old adage “Divide and Conquer”. The whole premise is that by dividing the people, you can more easily take power. Why? Because rather than fighting against you, they will be fighting against each other. It is no surprise the Left have employed this strategy. It is, after all, the only way they can even have a shot at attaining power. Conservatives are far more likeable, and far more reasonable, thus making them far more electable than Left Wing politicians.

When it comes to education, university courses nowadays contain identity politics in one form or another. The worst of the lot is gender studies. Gender studies is likely one of the most useless degrees in existence. Basic biology tells us there are only two genders: male and female. The same people who tell you to believe the science when it comes to climate change would have you believe that there are anywhere up to 71 genders. This is not scientifically true. It is a thing of pure fantasy. Anyone who takes gender studies is just doing themselves an injustice, because it will not be useful for them. It is far more useful to do a degree that is going to help you get to where you want in life. That is why I chose Communications, specifically in journalism and creative writing. This degree will help me to get a foot in the door in the world of journalism, but also leaves a whole range of other options open if I need them (eg. Public Relations, Publishing, etc.). It is of use to me. Gender studies is of use to no one. It should not receive any form of government funding. If it does, the government are practically funding the indoctrination of students. That being said, they already are.

If anything, the government should be withdrawing funding from the universities until they ensure there is free speech on campus, and that students are not being subject to the personal biases of university professors. They should take a leaf out of Trump’s book so that universities start to care about free speech. Universities love money, and they will do practically anything to ensure they have the most they can. It would be a brilliant move on the government’s behalf to force their hand when it comes to the matter of free speech.

It is a sad plight of the world that institutions of education in the modern day have chosen business over education. Universities in particular have, as Canadian Professor Jordan Peterson puts it, “lost their purchase on education.” Peterson is tragically correct. Universities around the world have journeyed down the path of socialism, selling their souls to the devil. In fact, even Peterson himself has said “don’t send your kids to University”. This is from a university professor who taught at Harvard, and who still teaches at the University of Toronto. It is shocking, and just goes to the extent of the tragedy that is the death of education in the university system.

The plight of education is, however, not limited to universities. Indeed, Leftist ideology has infected the education system in general. For example, teaching students that gender is a social construct. Recently, One Nation’s NSW leader Mark Latham introduced a Bill to the NSW Parliament to outlaw the teaching of gender diversity in schools. In introducing it, Mr. Latham said, “If they can convince young people that things such as family and gender are socially constructed and that there is some kind of conspiracy to deny them their true identity, then no part of our culture is safe. The Parliament should legislate to defend the family unit and the biological science of gender. Parents, not schools, are the teachers of the values of their children.” Mr. Latham is correct. Gender is not a social construct. This is the post-modernist agenda at work. They are attempting to brainwash children into believing their gender is fluid in a bid to destroy one of the pillars of Western Civilization, the family. These attempts to push their ideology onto kids is reprehensible. These sorts of ideas have no place in the education system.

A more potent example of Left-Wing ideology flooding the education system are the ‘climate strikes’. These ‘strikes’ encourage students to skip school and use time that could be better spent on their education to protest for “climate action”. Here is the logic they do not want to believe and that they just will not teach students these days: the climate has been changing since the Earth’s beginning. It is nothing new. Left-wing ideologues will have you believe otherwise, but they are only spruiking this narrative for personal and political gain. Schools are not doing students any favours indoctrinating them with the new age religion that is climate change. But they have perpetuated this for years and it is likely to continue.

I can recall several lessons in Year 8 English that consisted of my class being shown An Inconvenient Truth. For those who are not familiar, this was a documentary film in which former US Vice President Al Gore presented what would now be classified as climate alarmism. I remember watching this, seeing the diagrams and simulations being shown, hearing Gore say that it was only a matter of years until sea levels would have risen high enough to swallow up small island nations and large areas around the borders of the United States. I am almost ashamed to say that I fell for that. Looking back on it now seven years later, I can see how illogical that type of thinking was. None of it came to fruition. It was, as is typical of these Left-Wing ideologues, pure fantasy.

Despite feeling like an utter fool for believing this conjecture at the time, I share this anecdote now in the hope that it may make other students, other young people, who have been relentlessly subjected to a system of indoctrination to think again, and to question their beliefs. The story I have told you is a perfect exemplar for the high level of susceptibility of young people, how malleable their minds are. I fell for it, so can you. These people rely heavily on students not thinking for themselves. Independent thought is extremely dangerous to their cause.

In our education systems, students are taught to hate. They are taught to hate anyone who opposes the Left-Wing ideology with which they are indoctrinated. They are taught to hate Conservatives. They are taught to hate capitalism. They are taught to hate free speech. They are taught to hate our democratic nations. US President Donald Trump put it brilliantly when he said during his speech at Mount Rushmore that there have been “decades of Left-Wing indoctrination in schools that teaches students to hate our nation.” This is true not only of the United States, but countries around the world, including Australia. It is unacceptable and must be stamped out of the system if we ever want to return to genuine education.

Now this is not to say that all schools are like this. There are likely some that do not stand for the ideological virus that post-modernists wish to spread throughout the entire education system. Nevertheless, most of the system is infected, with the only cure being a complete overhaul. If we ever want to ensure students are not taken advantage of for political purposes, we must do one of two things: we can either teach them about the views of both sides of the political spectrum in an unbiased fashion, or we leave politics out of education completely. Young people should not be manipulated simply because they are easily led. I am sure that if you showed a young person a video that said their future was in jeopardy because of carbon emissions, they would probably believe you right then and there for two reasons: 1. They are extremely susceptible and would likely have no prior knowledge of this nor conduct research on it, and 2. It gives them the sense that their future is threatened, taking away their hope. Therein lies the cruelty.

It is one thing to indoctrinate someone, but to take away their hope so they will follow you blindly into the abyss is another. It is heartless, it is beyond cruel. Children should not be used as political pawns. They are not minds for you to hijack to further your own agenda. They are innocent human beings who should be afforded the opportunity to have a real education, not a completely political one. They should be taught to love our nations. When it comes to politics, they should be well-informed and be given every opportunity to form their own views.

Education was never supposed to become indoctrination. When I decided to get into journalism, it was for two reasons. The first: we need more good and honest journalists in the world, considering the media has, similarly to the education system, been overrun by Left-Wing ideologues. The second was this: I saw what had been occurring in education, and I wanted to help change it. I wanted to ensure that students would not be taken advantage of by ideologues, but rather be given the chance to think for themselves. I know the system is not going to change easily. But with Professors like Jordan Peterson, with politicians like Mark Latham, and with fellow Conservatives who want to see the skewed system be restored to one that gets back to the basics of education, I know it is possible. This is important not only for current generations, but for future generations too. We must prevent more students from being indoctrinated.

We must put education back into the education system.

Published in The Spectator Australia. Read it here…

As some of you would know, I’m a big music lover, & a huge fan of the band OneRepublic. So much so that last year, I went to the NRL Grand Final just to see them play live (I’m not an NRL fan). I have followed this band for years, likely around a decade. I listen to their music pretty much every day. They’ve release four albums since their conception, the last one released over three & a half years ago. So you could imagine my excitement when I heard they would be dropping their 5^th album, Human, on May 8.

In the lead up, there was the release of a number of singles. First, “Rescue Me”, then “Somebody To Love”, “Wanted”, “Didn’t I”, & most recently, “Better Days”. All the fans including myself were gearing up for the album release, anticipating new music to get us through this period of isolation thanks to the coronavirus. The band’s lead singer, Ryan Tedder, & a producer he was working with, Tyler Spry, even gave us some snippets of new songs on the album, including my personal favourite “West Coast”. It stuck with me so much so that I’ve been listening to the snippet almost every day in the lead up to the release of the full song upon the album’s release.

But, due to the coronavirus, the album has now been delayed once again, with no apparent release date. Having already been delayed once from November 2019 to May 2020, it’s not great. I understand that this is likely a money/business thing, whereby there’ll be limited promotion of it in terms of touring & promoting the album on talk shows. However I really do question why there would be an issue with releasing it as scheduled, rather than waiting it out for possibly many months, potentially longer, for the pandemic to die down.

Other musicians have released their music as planned. For example, R&B singer The Weeknd released a new album a little over two weeks ago. Pop singer Dua Lipa also released a new album two weeks ago. OneRepublic have built up a fan base of millions worldwide over the years, & so there’s no reason the album wouldn’t be successful if released as planned on May 8. Many have already pre-ordered the album, & there is no doubt it would get an astronomical number of plays on Spotify. They could promote it as they have their new songs through Instagram Live concerts, & through other social media. Everyone has been looking forward to this album’s release so that we had new music to listen to while we’re all stuck in isolation.

In fact, if anything, we need music now more than ever. It’s something that unites us, something that can bring us all together at a time when everyone is separated from each other. It’s something we can share with each other, something we can listen to together, something to connect hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. It’s something that can get us through even the toughest of times, times like the ones we’re traversing now.

Just a few weeks ago, when Ryan Tedder was in quarantine with Tyler & fellow band member Brent, he was asked on one of his livestreams why they chose the name OneRepublic for the band. In answering, he said they wanted to have a name that people from all countries, of all nationalities, speaking all different languages, would be able to know & understand & unite under. Because the name ‘OneRepublic’ is very similar in multiple languages. Now is the time to bring people together. OneRepublic’s music can do that.

I really hope they might reconsider this, or at least release “West Coast” as a single in place of the album’s release next month. It’s a true hit.

Here’s hoping.

Well, here we are, the final edition of Survivor Strategiser for this year. All Stars has been one hell of a season. We’ve seen some of the greatest moves of all time & some truly amazing moments. On Monday night, we witnessed the epic finale, with David, Moana & Sharn battling it out to take out the title of Sole Survivor & the half million-dollar prize that goes with it.

The episode began with the Final 3 setting out from camp for one final challenge, each of their stories being shown to us as they progressed. After arriving at the challenge, each of the three were treated to visits from their families, an emotional part of the journey for all of them. It was after their reunions that the challenge began, with their families cheering on from the benches. As is typically the case with Survivor, the final challenge is always the toughest. With everything riding on success in gaining that final individual immunity, everyone has their eyes on the prize & no-one wants to bow out early. The challenge consisted of two pegs on which the contestants would have to stand, with one hand placed on an idol in front of them, & the other holding on to a rope attached to a rock behind them. If your hand came off the idol, or you let go of the rope, or you took a foot off the pegs, you were out of the challenge.

After some time, Moana was the first out, leaving Dave & Sharn to battle it out for final immunity. Both were doing their best to endure the pain, with a number of adjustments along the way. Dave, being the cunning individual that he is, began conversing with Sharn, promising her he would take her to Final 2, & confirming with her that she would do the same. Around two hours in, the rain came in, causing trouble for the remaining castaways, & it was not too long after this that Sharn dropped out, leaving Dave to take back the all important immunity necklace for a third & final time, guaranteeing him a spot in the Final 2, & giving him the all-important decision of who would go with him to that Final Tribal Council.

At the penultimate tribal council, both Sharn & Moana made their final pitches to Dave, who possessed the single vote that would decide who gets to make their pitch to the Jury & who becomes the last member of it. Both pitched that Dave had made them a promise to take them to Final 2. Moana made a slightly stronger pitch in that she would likely be his toughest opponent, & so it would make more sense to take her to put on a show of strength to the Jury. In the end, it was Sharn who would progress, with Moana voted out, becoming the final member of the Jury.

Day 50, & after a reward feast for making it to the end, & a day to construct their pitches & arguments as to why they should be Sole Survivor, David & Sharn headed to the Final Tribal Council. This being Sharn’s second time at the end, she claimed to have learned from her last experience & was ready to take on the Jury all over again. Once the Jury had been brought in, it was time for the show to begin. Sharn was up first, pitching that she was the only player in Survivor history to reach 100 days in the game, & the only player in Australian Survivor history to make it to the end twice. Her pitch consisted of this, & her making moves from the shadows, playing both sides, being a part of both alliances at any one time, & being the swing vote at tribals. The central theme to her whole argument as to why she should win was her so-termed ‘aggressively covert’ game. It wasn’t a particularly strong pitch compared to what Dave served up.

Once Sharn had completed her pitch, it was David’s turn to shine. Dave went through all the moves he made & spoke directly to specific members of the Jury. He revealed himself to be the mole. He spoke about how he obtained two hidden immunity idols & possessed them simultaneously, mentioning how he put Phoebe off the scent of the idol she was looking for in order to obtain it for himself. He brought up how he flushed Brooke’s idol, aligned himself with the two major alliances in the game, had a hand in the eliminations of each of the members of the Jury, his blindsides of Locky, Phoebe & Daisy, & his correct plays of his own idols, going on to add that he never needed an idol to protect himself. Dave revealed his entire game & all the ways he had thought & schemed in order to get to where he was, at the very end. It was one hell of a pitch.

It was then over to the Jury to pose questions. There were a few questions for each of the Final 2, but there were two key moments which blew the Final Tribal up. The first came courtesy of AK. AK’s question was for Sharn, & went back to the tribal that almost went to rocks. AK spoke to how he never wanted to have any regrets in playing this game, however he regretted the decision he made to trust Sharn at that tribal instead of going to rocks. And so, he pulled out a bag containing four rocks; three black, one white. He told Sharn she could either back her game & potentially get his vote, or she could go to rocks & if she pulled the white rock, she would have his vote. After some consideration, Sharn decided to back her own game, not taking a chance on a guaranteed vote.

The second pivotal question came, lo & behold, from Tarzan. Tarzan had not talked much strategy this season, being more of the loyal gentleman type, but it seemed that he was saving it for this moment. Tarzan’s question was directed to Sharn: why did she tell him to vote Moana on the revote at that same tribal council AK had just brought up? Sharn’s answer: it was a strategic move to test his loyalty. Moana, however was not satisfied with that response, knowing that Tarzan had more than proven his loyalty by then. She went on to tell Sharn that she had done nothing on one of the biggest moves she was claiming she made. And with that, the tribal was shaken up.

But it was Dave’s final conversation with the Jury that really hit home. Dave, being the smart, clear thinking player that he is, addressed each member of the Jury personally, thanking them for the game, & appealing to their styles of play & thinking. He went to Brooke’s strength, Shonee’s social game, AK’s numbers game, Tarzan’s loyalty, & so on & so forth, & to the overall friendship he had with each member of the Jury. It was this that really showed Dave to be one of the greatest Survivor players of all time.

 

And so, the Jury voted, this time for a winner. Once the votes were counted & collected by JLP, he continued tradition, thanking everyone, & taking the votes with him to read back in Sydney. As fate would have it, he would end up reading them via satellite from LA thanks to coronavirus. After Osher Gunsberg did the introductions in Sydney & with most of the players, & David & Sharn & their families in attendance (Sharn via satellite as well), it was over to JLP to read the votes. A couple votes for David, then a vote for Sharn. Another two for Dave, making it four to one. And with a fifth, David was crowned the winner of All Stars, taking his rightful place as Sole Survivor. The final vote count, 8-1 for David, a clear & convincing winner.

Analysis

In my analysis of the final episode of All Stars, I want to begin by looking at Dave’s decision in the penultimate tribal. For a few weeks now, I’ve been saying Dave would take Sharn to the Final 2. Even though he knew Sharn wasn’t trustworthy, & wanted to blindside him, he also knew her goal was to get to the end, & so she wasn’t considering the impact her playing of both sides would have. By extension, he’d figured Sharn couldn’t manage the Jury. Thereby, adversely to how he’d taken out revenge on all others who had betrayed him, he wanted to keep Sharn in the game because he knew she was his ticket to win. Dave was always three steps ahead.

Sharn had clearly only ever really thought about getting to the end again, so that she could redeem herself & win the All Stars season. The problem for Sharn was a simple one, Jury Management. When it comes to Survivor, sure you can employ the strategy of playing the middle ground & switching sides, not tying yourself down to one alliance. But there’s a major problem with playing that way. You can never afford to be detected. Sharn was detected back on the Phoebe vote, where she switched her vote at the second round. Dave picked up on it straight away, questioning her about it back at camp. From that point forward, she was detected multiple times, to the point where she basically put it all out there in front of everyone when she begged the Vakama 3 not to go to rocks. The key point is this: you can only play both sides for so long until it blows up in your face. Usually, you’ll end up becoming a mutual target of both sides, & thus an easy vote. In Sharn’s case, she was lucky she wasn’t voted out. However, the fate in store for her could likely be considered much worse. Dave kept her in the game to take her to Final 2, & put her in the unenviable position of placing 2nd again.

Ultimately, the Jury vote was always going to go in David’s favour. He had made major moves, moves which were well-respected by those sitting on the Jury. Those on the Jury, when voted out by Dave’s hand, respected the move. This was what it was all about. This was an All Stars season, so big moves were a must in your resume. Dave was the biggest player in the game, with major moves to his name, & so was bound to win provided he got to the end. In fact, so long as his opponent at Final 2 wasn’t part of the Vakama 5, Dave was guaranteed to win. And it was highly unlikely that a combination of Dave & a Vakama 5 member would be sitting next to each other at Final Tribal, given they each knew the other had a good chance of taking votes from them. So, it was always either going to be Dave or Brooke. There was no scenario in which both of them would sit next to each other at the end. Sharn’s choice to vote Shonee out over Dave did not go down well with the Jury at all. It wasn’t a respected move, likely for two reasons. First, it was a straight up betrayal of her promise to the Vakama 3 at the previous tribal. Second, when she had the chance to blindside Dave with an idol in his pocket, she backed down. That alone would have sealed her fate.

Falling out of favour with the Jury due to that choice, Sharn had already lost. In fact, after Shonee’s elimination, Dave already had enough Jury votes to win the entire game. Going to the Final 9-person Jury however, it was clear where people’s votes were going before the Final Tribal even took place. Zach & Tarzan, being David’s right-hand men, were always going to have his back at the end. AK, Shonee & Brooke had made up their minds from the night Sharn chose to betray them & eliminate Shonee over Dave. By extension, Locky, Harry & Jacqui were always likely to side with the Vakama 3 & David on this vote. Personally, I always thought Moana might be a wild card in the final vote, & that she might vote for Sharn. As it so happened, I was proven right again, with the one vote that Sharn received being Moana’s.

Unfortunately for Sharn, she is now the first player in Australian Survivor history to place 2nd twice, an unenviable position. But she is also the first to last 100 days, which is no mean feat. So all credit to her for using her skills to get to the end twice.

What I really loved about this Season is that a big player in the game, arguably the biggest player, won. Typically, the biggest players are eliminated along the way, being major targets in the game. However, Dave managed to get by, winning individual immunity when he absolutely needed to, & working his magic to just get into people’s heads & use their ways of thinking to his advantage. David managed to make some of the biggest moves this season without becoming the target himself. He engineered alliances & votes that no one saw coming. He became the first player in Australian Survivor history & the seventh player in Survivor history to possess two hidden immunity idols simultaneously. He used players as shields, his alliance members always being targeted before him. And it worked, with only 5 votes counting against him the entire season. His clever manipulation, opportunistic strength, & multiple level forward thinking was a true testament to the ultimate Survivor player that David is. David played this game better than many ever have & ever will. He was the Golden god, & the Idol King. He lived up to the motto of the game: Outwit, Outplay, & Outlast. And in doing so, Dave earned a new title to add to his collection, the ultimate title that any Survivor player plays to earn: Sole Survivor.

Congratulations to David on a stellar season, a game well & truly played, & a well-deserved title.

And so, that’s a wrap on Survivor Strategiser for this year. We were supposed to get another season of Australian Survivor in the second half of this year, however, with the outbreak of the coronavirus, that season has been postponed for now. So stay safe, stay healthy, & here’s to All Stars & its Sole Survivor, David Genat.