The Minefield

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The Minefield

In a world marked by wicked social problems, The Minefield helps you negotiate the ethical dilemmas, contradictory claims and unacknowledged complicities of modern life.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    How hate speech in healthcare tears at something sacred in our common life

    At a time when the Australian community seems to be so deeply divided along multiple faultlines, there was something somewhat heartening about being able to share a common outrage. That’s only word that captures the depth of public response that greeted a now infamous video in which two nurses at Bankstown Hospital seemed to express extreme anti-Israeli/antisemitic sentiments and allegedly boasted about killing Israeli patients in their care. While some have used the video to exacerbate tensions within Australian society, the broader response points to a recognition of the sacred obligation of heath workers to attend to the vulnerable bodies in their care. It is an obligation that was reaffirmed immediately and forcefully after the video came to light. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation led the way: “We know that health and peace are deeply connected — one cannot exist without the other. Through our commitment to care, compassion, and justice, we continue to uphold these values and stand against all forms of violence, hatred, and discrimination. Our strength lies in our unity, and we must always uphold the principles of respect, kindness, and understanding toward one another regardless of background, faith, or identity.” And then there is Mike Freelander, a paediatrician and the federal Labor member for the NSW seat of Macarthur: “We health professionals have an obligation to care, treat and protect our patients’ health and this is an obligation we take immensely seriously. This is a sacred responsibility that is universal, no matter which God we pray to or none.” And finally, Jamal Rifi, a Lebanese Australian doctor, who said: “No health practitioner should ever treat anyone differently based on their religion, culture or nationality. We treat them as human beings.” It is hard to remember a time when shared institutions (such as hospitals and the courts) and shared commitments (the obligation to care for patients, or the dignity of the accused) have been more important. Their moral significance lay in their indiscriminacy. When hate speech and other forms of discrimination occur in such institutions, it can damage the faith we have in the institutions themselves.

    53 min
  2. The School of Sport: Bob Murphy and the centrality of connection

    FEB 12

    The School of Sport: Bob Murphy and the centrality of connection

    In 2016, the Western Bulldogs made an improbable run to the AFL Grand Final. The seventh-place team would beat the minor premiers, the Sydney Swans, and end a six-decade drought. But their longest serving player, the erstwhile captain and heart-and-soul of the team, Bob Murphy, would not take the field. In the third round, a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament had ended the 17-year veteran’s season. After their triumph, Murphy watched his teammates walk up to the dais, one by one, to receive their premiership medal. He felt elation, and pride, at his team’s success. But there was an undeniable separation between him and them. As he wrote in his memoir, Leather Soul: “The Dogs sat atop the football mountain as famous victors and I was part of that, but the 22 players on the field had just become football immortals. There was a clear line between the 22 who played and the rest of us. That’s just how it is in our game.” The secret to the Bulldogs’ success was “team over individual” — and no one embodied that ethos more than Bob Murphy. He tried to console himself that it couldn’t be any different after their Grand Final victory. But then the Bulldogs’ coach, Luke Beveridge, said into the microphone, “I’d like to call Bob Murphy to the stand …” What did this experience teach Murphy about the emotional cords that bind teams together, about the importance of shared stories, about the centrality of connection?

    58 min

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4.6
out of 5
32 Ratings

About

In a world marked by wicked social problems, The Minefield helps you negotiate the ethical dilemmas, contradictory claims and unacknowledged complicities of modern life.

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