Poverty, crime

Money, systemic issues

The systemic issues of racism and structural inequalities are influences to the higher
incarceration rates amongst the Indigenous pop.

1. Systemic issue of racism towards Indigenous people (link back to incarceration)

a. Mistreatment from authorial figures (e.g. law, police) leading to inequality
2. Structural inequalities that exist  how does this lead to higher stats
a. E.g. Education, employment, healthcare

Humour, jokes

Humour is a form of expression that bring people together. However, with time, our sense
of humour has progressed and what is considered a joke in the past may be taken as offence
today. This is due to the suppression of social issues within society which was not addressed
historically, but now is having its appropriate representation.

Contention:
- Desensitisation of humour through social media
- Suppression of social issues in society

1. Humour through historical period and its progression – social media desensitising
people to experiences
a.
2. Underlying issues that are suppressed in society – how it is coming into light
a. E.g. “gay” had a negative connotation, playing sports “like a girl”

The mode and expression of humour has developed through time, with it presently
dominating on social media. Social media provides greater accessibility to news, stories and
entertainment and thus people are consuming it in great amounts. Due to this, we can often
become desensitised towards the things we see on social media and consequently
desensitised towards the type of humour we encounter. For example, humour about the
inevitability of the earth and climate change are often joked about on social media. People
often take the seriousness of these issues as jokes, without addressing the real-world
significance it has on our society. By constantly not taking these issues seriously and making
a joke about this issue can desensitise us to the problem. This can consequently down-play
the importance of how this issue can impact our future. The satirical film, Don’t Look Up,
addresses how we desensitise the issue of climate change, resulting in us not taking serious
action towards it. Therefore, the impact social media has towards humour can desensitise
us to serious issues and not take action to resolve them.

Democracy
Lack of power and representation in government
Although democracy is perceived as the ideal form of government in which the people have
the freedom of choice, this is often not the reality. The people sometimes feel a lack of
representation and trust from the government due to the lack of transparency in decision
making processes.

1. There is a lack of representation of the people from the government which leads to
the people feeling their freedom of choice is taken away
a. E.g. marginalised communities, immigrants are not often represented by the
govt (asylum seekers)
2. The lack of transparency from the government builds mistrust between the people
and the government, thus taking away the people’s choices and freedoms.
a. E.g. Gladys berejiklian