Politically Correct

Fri 6 Sep 2019

Jeff Sparrow + Omar Sakr + Russell Blackford

Queensland Terrace, State Library of Queensland

Panel

6101

#Performances

#About the event

Duration: 60 minutes

It’s been used for years as a term of abuse. What does it really mean to be ‘politically correct’? Some say it is time to reclaim its original meaning and wear its use as a badge of honour. This panel explores the way language is used to manipulate political debate.

#Artists

Jeff Sparrow

Jeff Sparrow is a writer, broadcaster and editor. His books include Trigger Warnings: Political Correctness and the Rise of the Right, and No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson.

Omar Sakr

Omar Sakr is a bisexual Arab-Australian poet. His debut collection, These Wild Houses (2017), was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award and the Kenneth Slessor Prize. His poetry has been published in English, Arabic, and Spanish, in numerous journals and anthologies. He placed runner-up in the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, and has also been shortlisted for the ACU Poetry Prize, the Story Wine Prize, and the Fair Australia Poetry Prize. Omar has performed his work nationally and internationally.

Russell Blackford

Russell Blackford is a Conjoint Senior Lecturer in Philosophy within the School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle. He is the author of numerous books, including Freedom of Religion and the Secular State (2012), Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies (2014), The Mystery of Moral Authority (2016), Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics (2017), and, most recently, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism (2019). With Udo Schüklenk, he is co-author of 50 Great Myths About Atheism (2013). Russell is a regular columnist with the US magazine Free Inquiry. In 2014, he was inducted as a Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.

#Moderator

Ginger Gorman

Ginger Gorman is a fearless and multi award-winning social justice journalist. She has an innate ability to connect and communicate with some of the most interesting and marginalised people in our community. Ginger works hard to translate those untold stories into powerful journalism and is author of the best-selling book Troll Hunting.