Debate | Issue Three | 1984

Here’s What You Missed On the Dystopian Lore Of Twenty One Pilots

Okay, alright, listen. The general idea of this whole issue is to take 1984 - as a book, a year, and a cultural phenomenon - and pull apart each of its concepts. We can talk about conspiracy, dystopia, and surveillance - how the topics in George Orwell’s classic are still relevant today. There’s a variety of dystopian pieces of media that came to my mind - or at least, should have. YA classics, video games, and graphic novels may be popping into your head. There are so many options, with such interesting themes and commentary on our current world and what it could become. Unfortunately, all I could think about was Twenty One Pilots lore, and I hate myself so much for it.

If you’re someone who wasn’t incredibly embarrassing in the mid-late 2010s, you might be thinking “Twenty One Pilots? That's the band that did ‘Stressed Out’, and that one song for the Suicide Squad soundtrack, right?” You might have hated them, you might’ve loved them, you might not even be aware that they still exist - let alone have any “lore” surrounding their music.

But I’m aware.

I have been trapped in TOP brain rot for nearly a decade, having discovered them as an edge-lord 11-year-old and deciding to frame my entire personality around being in the “skeleton clique”. If you just shuddered at the reminder of TOP fans being called “the skeleton clique”, or you’re noticing my refusal to refer to the band as “21P'' or “21 Pilots” because the fan base randomly decided that was an offence greater than murder, then don’t worry - I understand you. We can get through this together.

TOP has been back on my mind recently as they’ve just released “Overcompensate”. This a continuation, and supposedly the conclusion, of their concept album series, which has grown from a fictional character dissection to a fully blown dystopian universe - filled with evil overlords, a claustrophobic city, and hordes of annoying teenagers obsessing over every morsel of lore singer Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun squeeze out. I’ve not been deep in the fanbase since their 2021 release, Scaled and Icy (not that good, sorry), but I’ve been dragged back in with the new single (pretty dang good, sorry). Because the new album is on it’s way, and my eleven-year-old self is bursting at the seams to info-dump, I’ll give you a brief rundown on what the fuck is going on here.

left, Josh joined, and the boys released their second album Regional at Best - which used to be my favourite album of all time, despite never actually releasing in an official capacity. They took some songs off that one, re-made them, added some more tracks, and released Vessel - their major label debut on Fueled by Ramen. People liked it, they got a pretty solid international fanbase, and then they put out Blurryface in 2015, and twelve-year-olds everywhere lost their shit.

This record saw the band dabble in more conceptual themes, basing the record around a fictional character called “Blurryface” - a personification of all of the frontman’s struggles with mental health and self-doubt. I was a dumb baby when I heard this album for the first time. I had never heard someone scream in music like Tyler Joseph did, and I’d never consumed an album with this much substance. Yes, it’s only a deep album to fourteen-year-olds - but I was ten when this album was released, give me a break.

In early 2018, the band started hiding cryptic messages in their merch store, leading to the dmaorg.info website where they drip fed the fan base morsels of information about a new universe that they had created. We learned about someone named Clancy - a prisoner and attempted escapee of the dystopian city of Dema, run by nine bishops who enforce a fictional religion called Vialism - the end goal of which is to destroy oneself to the point of suicide in order to get to the ultimate paradise. The bishops then use a “miraculous power” (without context as to where it came from and why - this whole story is a mess if you couldn't tell) that allows them to possess, or as they call it, “Seize”, dead bodies for a short period of time. All of these concepts have only been made clear in recent weeks - but back in the day, the fan base knew next to nothing. Everything led to their 2018 album Trench, a certified collection of bangers and their most conceptual album yet - this time for people in their mid-teen years, instead of early teens!

The early days of TOP had less lore and more edgy alt-pop. Tyler Joseph started the band in Ohio around 2009, with Chris Salih and Nick Thomas. They released their self-titled debut, a piano-driven mixture of Linkin Park, Ben Folds Five, and The Postal Service. They got a small local fan base, Chris and Nick

In the music video for the lead single ‘Jumpsuit', we saw Clancy (played by Tyler) attempt to flee Dema, entering the vast outside world beyond the city's walls - the Trench (roll credits). He was recaptured by Nico, the leader of the bishops, but caught a glimpse of the Banditos - a rebel group aiming to overthrow Dema. Led by the Torchbearer (played by Josh), they tried to distract Nico with a whole bunch of yellow flower petals (he’s scared of yellow for some reason??) and tried to help Tyler escape. That didn’t work

though, and he was brought back to Dema - but the Banditos helped Clancy properly escape in the music video for ‘Nico and The Niners’. They brought him into their group and taught him their ways, but he was recaptured - these guys have AWFUL security measures, I swear to god. This core story encapsulates the majority of Trench, with the rest of the album including extra pieces of lore drops amidst songs that are more separate from the main storyline.

This leads us to TOP’s most recent album, Scaled and Icy. It’s a lockdown album. The band wanted to take the Trench/Dema concept even further, but admitted that the pandemic hurt their creative flow, affecting their motivation to work on the lore and instead putting their energy towards a covid-influenced, self-described in-between record that had little to do with the world they were previously building. When it came time to promote the album, however, TOP decided to adapt the direction their lore was going into the content of Scaled and Icy.

The band presented the narrative that after Clancy was recaptured, he was made to entertain the citizens of Dema as punishment, spreading the propaganda of the bishops. This culminated in the music video for ‘Saturday’, which showed Clancy playing at a submarine expedition for the ruling class, which was disrupted as one of the other bishops, Keons, betrayed the rest and possessed a dead sea dragon named Trash to break open the submarine and allow Clancy to escape to the nearby island of Voldsøy. Finally, in the music video for ‘The Outside‘, we saw Clancy and the Torchbearer (who has been by his side this whole time, somehow always playing drums) discover a small community of kinda cute, kinda terrifying creatures called Neds who originally appeared in the non-canon music video for Trench’s “Chlorine’. Clancy discovers that the Ned’s antlers can be used to seize dead bodies in the way bishops can.

Are you still with me? Cause this shit has gotten WAY out of hand. The entirety of the Scaled and Icy era was weird - not only because the lore was a mess, but also because many of the tracks on SAI weren’t TOP’s best. It was around this time, in late 2021, that I stopped listening to Twenty One Pilots. I was disappointed with the album, I couldn't keep track of the lore anymore, and I was about to start at uni. If anyone in my classes knew I was still a Twenty One Pilots fan, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

This has now all changed. In early 2024, TOP edited the album covers of all their major label releases to be partially covered with red tape and started to mail out cryptic letters to fans, featuring maps of Dema,

This is where we are now. Their next album, aptly titled Clancy is set to release on the 17th of May - exactly nine years after Blurryface released. As much of a fucking mess this story is, I still kinda love it? Listening back to TOP’s discography for this piece has been so damn nostalgic, and delving back into the lore has been all I needed to hype myself up for the new release. While a dystopian setting is usually used as a metaphor for our society, TOP has used pre-existing tropes as a metaphor for our minds - slowly twisting the capabilities of what a dystopia can mean. While your brain might feel like a menacing, industrial city controlled by your negative emotions - you can still escape. As cringe as it is, I know damn well I’ll be seeing TOP live for the fourth time when they hopefully return to Aotearoa. Thank you all for humouring me - tune in next time for when I infodump ‘Five Nights At Freddy's’ lore in the Games issue. (they/them) | @liamhanse.n

out cryptic letters to fans, featuring maps of Dema, letters from Clancy, and more. This led to the release of a short video to all of their social media platforms, entitled ‘I Am Clancy’. This saw the band decide they couldn't be fucked being cryptic anymore, and simply explained every single piece of this confusing story in a four minute long YouTube video. Much of the lore I just explained literally wasn’t clarified until this video came out a month ago. A few days later, the music video for ‘Overcompensate’ was released - seeing Clancy continue to utilise his newfound power and crossing back from Voldsoy to Trench, Torchbearer by his side, to finally take Dema down.

Illustration By Neena Contreras (she/her)

Newshub Goneburger

It’s only March, and we’ve already received what will likely be the biggest news for journalism in Aotearoa this year. Warner Bros Discovery, who own Three’s Newshub, announced their proposal to close the newsroom in June.

This comes as legacy media organisations face the struggle of a dramatic loss of ad revenue, a struggle we’ve already seen cause multiple newsrooms to close down or come close to it. Vice Media shut down news operations in Aotearoa this year, and MediaWorks closed down their up-and-coming news-focused radio station TodayFM this time last year. At the time of writing this piece, TVNZ has just announced they are likely to cut 68 jobs. Career security has never been the appeal of journalism, but job losses and lack of opportunity have seemed to reach new heights for the industry.

Senior lecturer in Journalism at AUT, Gregory Treadwell, says “The financial base of the news-media industry has been eaten away by the migration of advertising to the internet over the past two to three decades. This means there are fewer and fewer journalists each year, and more and more media companies wonder if they can survive.”

The ad-dependent model of journalism is broken. While there are some hopes born from alternative money-making methods such as subscriptions, we evidently have a long way to go to make news profitable again. This should concern anyone interested in an open and democratic society.

Written By Caeden Tipler (they/them) @caedentipler NEWS EDITOR

The official response from Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee can be described as vaguely blasė. Lee’s reply to questions on the closure of Newshub was that there were alternative options, such as Sky, seemingly missed the significance of losing one out of two of New Zealand’s home-grown 6PM news outlets. Lee’s attitude did serve the purpose of abruptly cutting off any discussions of a Government bailout for Newshub.

Treadwell says students interested in a career in journalism should know that even if the conditions don’t seem appealing, newsrooms are still a worthwhile place to work because of their vital role in our democracy. We still need journalists to contribute to our broader democratic process, holding politicians to account and raising public awareness, in order for us to live in a thriving society.

“Things can and do change in the employment markets - not too long ago, newsrooms were short of reporters - and it seems at last government policymakers and politicians are starting to react to the impact on society of a lack of resources for quality journalism.”

A healthy democracy depends on a variety of profitable newsrooms with access to the public, holding our legislators to account. Although Newshub is only one of many news outlets, the difference is it is independently owned. Its key television competitor, TVNZ’s 1News, is commercially funded but state-owned. Radio New Zealand similarly receives large amounts of public funding and is a Crown entity. To lose Newshub is not to say we don’t have any independent newsrooms left in the Press Gallery, but it does bring us one large step closer to it. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters described the situation as an “absolute disaster” for those losing their jobs, and also “a disaster for this country’s democracy.”

Laws are now being considered that could make a difference. One example is a law that would force tech giants to negotiate with news organisations to pay them for the news that is carried on social media networks - currently, only Google has signed any agreements with media companies. The potential bill, known as the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, would force tech giants like Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Microsoft to the table.

Although things may seem bleak right now, they might not be this bleak forever. It may be too late for Newshub, but if we have leaders who really care about quality journalism and the survival of news media in Aotearoa, and a new generation of journalists coming through who value their craft, then all may not be lost after all.

The Disinformation on Palestine Project

The Disinformation on Palestine Project

Social media has been the place to go to understand what is happening in Palestine. Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) are where we can see Palestinian journalists such as Motaz Azaiza and Hind Khoudary report on the Gaza Strip live from the rubble. Instagram stories - not news alerts - have become the most efficient way to gain information on what is happening in Palestine. There is a noticeable stark absence of coverage of Palestine from our news media outlets.

Part of this is a noticeable lack of coverage on the pro-Palestine protests we’ve seen in Aotearoa. It would be hard to tell from our major news outlets that thousands have turned up in support of Palestine every weekend since October 7th in Tāmaki Makaurau. Information, photos, and videos on these protests are pretty much relegated to Instagram. The most popular coverage we have seen has not been on the voices of those calling for an end to the genocide, but on the criticism of the chants used (i.e. “from the river to the sea”). In fact, we’ve barely seen any news call it a “genocide”, despite the broad usage of this term online and affirmation from the International Court of Justice that Israel is legitimately committing genocide.

But when we rely on social media to tell the stories of genocide, we risk an increase in the spread of disinformation - something the Disinformation Project has paid special attention to. The Disinformation Project is an independent research group focused on disinformation (intentionally false information spread to deceive, as opposed to misinformation - which can spread through misunderstanding and mistakes) and its impacts in Aotearoa. They’re well known for their work publishing reports on topical issues such as disinformation around trans communities and the COVID-19 pandemic. In October last year, they shared a research report on the disinformation on Israel/Palestine we saw online after the October 7th Hamas attack.

There’s one part of the report that was highlighted by well-known Palestinian-New Zealander and activist Tameem (@TameeOliveFern.) Tameem tweeted one section that stated “portraying Palestinians as victims” is disinformation, despite the verified reports of the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. Tameem says this is one example of an issue he had with the report, amongst other issues such as their “lack of focus on Zionism as a settler-colonial idealogy and the role of disinformation in its propaganda” and the report's “silence on 76 years of Israeli oppression before October 7th.”

Tameem told Debate what he thinks should have been included in the report instead of this line. He emphasised there’s been no accountability for media with independent status aligning themselves with an official Government position on Palestine without question. Tameem says this is part of a broader “dehumanisation of Palestinians” and that the Disinformation Project report was especially disappointing because they could’ve played a role in “dismantling the Zionist propaganda but instead [they also] towed the colonial state, New Zealand, line.”

Nicole Skews-Poole, a spokesperson for the Disinformation Project has said they have amended their report and changed the wording of the highlighted section. Skews-Poole said the criticism came from “a poorly worded summary of Telegram groups co-opting the victimhood of Palestinians.”

The Disinformation Project is continuing to focus on “the sharing of graphic violent content, which has grown” and the “emerging theme” of antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric we have seen online through the process of stereotyping and reducing entire religious groups.

The spread of disinformation seems to come down to a key issue; for better or for worse, people are learning about the issue from unchecked social media pages, or media that simply repeats Government lines. If the online space is leading to more extremism, it should be up to our mainstream media to step up their investigative coverage of Palestine. Especially when the accountability mechanisms, such as the Disinformation Project, inadvertently end up adding fuel to the fire.

This is something pro-Palestine activists, including speakers at the March 9th protest in Tāmaki Makaurau, are calling for. Speakers such as Rahaf Gouda described the news “as propaganda” and called for the media to better focus on what is happening in Gaza. At the protest there was a 1News microphone recording the speeches and a media drone in the sky. The media themselves prove they can be present - they just aren’t letting coverage reach front-page news.

Reports like that from the Disinformation Project show that if news outlets step up their coverage on Palestine, they will inevitably receive backlash: accusations of antisemitism, empty threats from politicians, and very real threats from advertisers. But the industry is already struggling despite the lack of reporting on Gaza. While there’s risk of adding fuel to the fire, the fundamental point of journalism is lost when you prioritise job security over the lives of others.

The famous quote on journalism from Jonathan Foster goes “If someone says it’s raining and another person says it’s dry, it is not your job to quote them both. It’s your job to look out the window and find out which is true.” As the cracks of polarisation only deepen, we now more than ever need our newsrooms looking out the window. Part of the solution against online disinformation could be to platform well-researched journalists like Motaz and Hind in mainstream media outlets. These reporters are reaching pro-Palestine supporters and believers in a free democracy regardless; mainstream newsrooms must now decide whether they will support their fellow journalists or prioritise the slivers of job safety they have left.

Written By Caeden Tipler (they/them) @caedentipler NEWS EDITOR

The 1984 Schnapps Election:

Put yourself in the shoes of the average Kiwi on the night of the 14th of June 1984. After a long shift at the hair spray/ spandex factory, you return home and resign yourself to the couch, hoping to enjoy just a few relaxing hours in front of the tube before bed. Instead, however, you are met with a ghastly sight. Prime Minister Sir Rob ‘Piggy’ Muldoon waddles out of a parliamentary conference room in a clearly drunken stupor, announcing to the media that he has called a snap election. New Zealand would be going to polls in a month's time, leaving Muldoon’s Nats and his opponent Labour leader David Lange little time to campaign for what would soon be known as “The 1984 Schnapps Election”.

Muldoon's parliamentary career prior to becoming National Party leader was already characterised by his aggression and reluctance to consider alternative views, this abrasive attitude earning him the nickname ‘Piggy Muldoon’ by his opponents. Whilst his political foes grew to revile the sunken-eyed swine, others saw him as a no-nonsense bloke, cutting through the bullshit like a heated spade. These people would refer to themselves as Robs Mob and their unwavering support would become essential to maintaining his grasp of power.

On the 9th of July 1974 Muldoon became the leader of the opposition, and to commemorate this monumental achievement, on the 25th of August he decided it would be a swell idea to assault innocent protestors on the intersection between K Road and Queen Street (bloody Jafas). The NZ Herald wrote the next day: "Police took him by the arms and appeared to be steering him towards his car when a flour bomb struck him on the back. Mr Muldoon veered around the back of his car and ran toward some of the protestors, flailing punches as he did so. Some punches appeared to land, and one youth fell to the ground." Of course, Muldoon left the brawl without reprimand. However several of those rowdy hooligans guilty of flour chucking and demonstrating their freedom of assembly were charged for obscene language and disorderly conduct.

Unfortunately, Muldoon would not occupy the role of opposition leader for long. His aggression and quick wit won the hearts of a large portion of the NZ public and in November of 1975, the Nats beat the single-term Labour government in a landslide. Curiously however, instead of delegating his previous role as finance minister to one of his many other MPs, Muldoon would graciously take it upon himself to control both extremely powerful positions in the NZ government. What a legend.

How could that possibly go wrong?

A lack of strong Labour competition was one of the largest contributing factors to National’s success in the Muldoon

era. Bill Rowling, the Labour leader at the time, was considered mild-mannered in comparison to National’s fiery spokesperson, making it easy for Labour leadership to be touted as weak by Muldoon during both his campaign and prime ministership. However, Colin Moyle, a well-respected and popular Labour MP, was rumoured to potentially be an effective replacement for Rowling, meaning he posed a threat to Muldoon's leadership. Allegedly, the Snout-Nosed tyrant of Tāmaki was concerned that he might soon be competing against a leader that could counter his debating brutality, so he pulled a stunt many would find… in pork taste.

On November 4th 1976, Muldoon abused his parliamentary privilege to accuse Moyle of being “Picked up by the police for homosexual activities.” In a time when homosexuality was yet to be legalised in NZ, an allegation like this was incredibly damaging towards both Moyle’s career and reputation as a public figure. Within two months Moyle would be convinced to resign from his position as MP for Māngere. This would trigger a by-election that would ironically lead to the election of young upstart David Lange, the man who would eventually oust Muldoon from his seat on the throne. Fortunately, Moyle would return to politics soon after; however, the whole situation dubbed ‘The Moyle Affair’ would forever impact his career.

The 1981 Springbok tour is probably the issue in this article that you, the brilliant and compassionate readers of Debate are most familiar with. In the wake of the recent surge of Kiwi political activism, it has become a chapter of NZ protest history that can be looked back at with pride, a grassroots campaign showing resistance against a government willfully ignorant to apartheid truths. However, the springbok tour was also heavily exploited by Muldoon as a means of polarising the public and maintaining power.

Even in 1973 PM Norman Kirk was convinced by the police to postpone the upcoming tour after being warned that it would ‘Engender the greatest eruption of violence this country has ever known.’ But with almost a decade of wisdom later, the portly PM decided that allowing this tour to take place was in the best interests of the public. Not because he sincerely believed that our country would be united under the banner of rugby, but because he rightfully assumed that the outrage would divide our country in half, one seeing him as the defender of our proud sporting culture, and the other in dismay with the decision. He stoked the flames of societal division to secure support from the blue-collar workers and veterans in the provincial seats that would be integral to National’s success in the upcoming election. Of course, more factors led to National’s slim victory in the `81 election, but the Springbok tour fiasco clearly shows some of the worst of what the Power-Hungry-Hog had to offer our nation.

A Swine’s Downfall

Finally, I have reached the most satisfying period of Muldoon's prime ministerial career, the part where it ends. After National MP Marilyn Waring informed the PM that she would not vote in line with the official National party stance on the nuclear-free bill, Muldoon called a snap election, as he saw her choice as an act of defection. However, this was never Waring’s intention. It is more likely that the Belligerent Boar was making a last-ditch effort to maintain power, sabotaging Labour’s ability to craft a convincing campaign. To quote the creature himself during the election announcement, “It doesn't give my opponents much time to run up to an election, does it?”.

This strategy would not work out for Muldoon. As the years progressed, the demanding role of prime minister was beginning to take on Ol’ Piggy, his rapidly declining health fuelled by his commitment to grog meant that he was now far from the brilliant and quick-witted man of his early political career. As a tragic month-long campaign dragged on, it became obvious that after nearly a decade of driving Aotearoa into the ground, the Porky Pig was officially too drunk to have his hands on the wheel.

Written By William Lyall (he/him) | @willis.davies__ Contributing Writer

The best preserved moment from the boozy campaign (and my personal highlight) was the 1984 leaders debate. The debate begins with the host Ian Johnstone asking each leader to give a synopsis of what their party stands for. To start, Muldoon quotes former British MP, antisemite, anti-communist and notorious Nazi sympathiser Nancy Astor, “‘During my 25 years in the House of Commons the socialists offered nothing but the kingdom of god without praying and the goods of this earth without working.’” I see the Labour Party as the socialist party and the party of the trade unions, and I see the National Party as all the rest.”

Sir Robert is attempting to discredit Lange, to cast doubt upon the idea that a change of government could bring good for the country. But in his advanced age and without

Rob's Mob to support him, he fails to take control of the narrative. In comparison to Lange, Piggy is shown to be an artefact of a time long past, clambering to keep his withered trotters from slipping away from the clutch of power. But, in the face of the undeniably charismatic and visionary David Lange, you can almost watch in real-time as Piggy realises that his fate is sealed. Perhaps that's why he ended the debate in such a bizarre manner, seemingly giving in to the Labour leader's infectious charm, boldly declaring “I love you, Mr Lange”, a statement the majority of `84 Kiwis echoed.

The National Party lost the 1984 election by a quite large margin, but that doesn't mean that we can’t learn a lesson from the career of Sir Robert “Piggy” Muldoon. This icon of New Zealand politics serves as a cautionary tale to all of us Kiwis. In fact, it's not hard to see a few parallels in our current leadership. It wouldn’t be fair to say that Luxon is much like the Pig (apart from the one glaring similarity above his forehead), but I believe that there is a worrying similarity between our two deputy prime ministers. Winston Peters and David Seymour are, to me, two sides of the Muldoon coin. One is a borderline demagogue who maintains a political presence even in his twilight years based on his experience and devout following. The other a populist who presents himself as a man of the people hell-bent on representing the average Kiwi bloke, but enacting anti-union policies when in a position of power.

It is essential to keep this in mind as time goes by. We, as the next generation of voters, hold power over the future of our country. Regardless of your political leanings, it's essential to prevent yourself from being swept up into cults of personality, which can lead to political parties being treated like sports teams rather than a group of public servants who hold immense power over almost every aspect of society. Although Piggy Muldoon may have had an incredibly unique character, the ideas he represented are not unique to his time. So do yourself a favour, and don't eat from the trough.

Illustration By Younsoo (Chloe) Kim (she/her) @ysksince0522

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The consequences of social media censorship on women’s health.

Please note: although this article refers to women’s health and sexual wellbeing content, it is a shorthand expression that encompasses transgender or gender non-conforming people including those who are assigned female at birth, as they can also be affected by this issue.

Social media platforms have created opportunities for broadcasting information to large and diverse groups of people. This is particularly powerful for breaking down barriers and generating discussions about topics with pervasive amounts of shame and taboo attached to them, such as women’s health. Yet, these necessary discussions are being “stifled” by the censorship of women’s health and sexual wellbeing content on social media. Last year, period product company BodyForm launched Vaginas Uncensored, an initiative to highlight forty words or visual depictions of women’s health that are censored frequently on social media. Their list includes terms such as vulva, miscarriage, UTI, menopause, adenomyosis, breastfeeding, vaginismus, orgasm, and PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder).

Over the past six weeks, UK women’s health advocates Clio Wood and Anna O’Sullivan have been running the CensHERship campaign to better understand the scale of the problem.

“The gender health gap is a really huge problem and this censorship is a really big part of us not being able to reduce that gap,” says Wood.

Their survey of more than 50 organisations has discovered that nine in ten of the respondents who publish women’s health content have experienced some form of censorship in the past twelve months. Forty percent have experienced ten or more separate incidents in that same period.

Both individuals and organisations have had content flagged as inappropriate, removed from the platform, had monetised ads suspended, been shadowbanned or had their accounts deleted altogether.

Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa (formerly known as Family Planning) has confirmed that the problem is being experienced here in New Zealand. Communication coordinator Hilary Cook says that the suppression or removal of content flagged as “objectionable” creates a “frustrating” amount of work for the team. They often resort to using ambiguous language (such as Seggs instead of sex or Condorn instead of condom) as a form of “self-censorship” to enable their messages to reach their audience.

“We need to be able to say what we mean, and we can’t do that when harmful, puritanical ideas

about anatomy, sex, gender, and sexuality govern what’s allowed to be said on social media,” says Cook.

The organisation is frustrated that they have to avoid algorithm censorship by using euphemisms in their content, a move which contradicts their ethos about being more direct about sexual and reproductive health issues.

Content censorship is an issue that Yessenia Sandoval, founder of the charity Endo Warriors Aotearoa, is also acutely aware of. She has faced “countless” instances of harassment on social media due to the advocacy work that she does. Meanwhile, the charity’s Instagram posts which feature discussions or visual depictions related to menstruation, endometriosis, pelvic pain and other aspects of women’s health are regularly targeted through censorship.

“By suppressing content that portrays the reality of living with these conditions, social media platforms contribute to a culture of silence and invisibility, further marginalising those who suffer from them,” says Sandoval.

The CensHERship team is particularly concerned about the impact that this censorship is having on women’s health and people’s ability to access vital information that could lead to them seeking medical care. Throughout their campaign work, Wood and O’Sullivan have learnt of organisations who have faced content moderation for breast cancer screening or gynaecological cancer awareness.

“These are pieces of information that could be life-saving for people and it’s really being hindered,” says Wood.

This is especially critical for New Zealand because according to Talk Peach, one New Zealander dies every day from gynaecological cancer and survival rates have remained largely unchanged compared to that of other cancers.

Meanwhile, Sandoval fears that the suppression of information about less understood conditions like endometriosis, adenomyosis, vaginismus and pelvic pain on social media platforms contributes to diagnostic delays. She said that not only does this reinforce shame and stigma about what people are experiencing, the lack of accessible information about symptoms and potential causes could mean someone is less

likely to seek healthcare or treatment.

Pelvic physiotherapist Liz Childs says that social media plays a big role in sharing knowledge and promoting discussions. But she emphasised the significance of women’s health and sexual wellbeing content remaining available to people without interference from social media censorship.

“It’s really important that people are made aware of what the problems are. These sorts of issues are underreported and under-diagnosed.

“People miss out on getting treatment and they end up just putting up with pelvic floor dysfunction when they don’t need to. They don’t know that help is available and often their health professionals haven’t known [what care or treatment to offer],” says Childs.

Ideally, the CensHERship team would like to collaborate with the various social media companies. They want to gain a better understanding of what is allowed on the platform, the data that is used to train the content moderation algorithms and their review processes. Wood and O’Sullivan have an ambitious plan for the following year: as they network, develop strategies and toolkits, host a CensHERship summit, and continue to advocate for the social media giants to come on board.

“We really need to galvanise the community to learn from each other, share resources, cultivate further interest in the issue, and create more extensive coverage. Ultimately, we want to bring everyone’s voices together so that they are more impactful and can create some change,” says Wood.

Meta was approached for comment in relation to this story, but they did not respond in time for publication.

Written By Melissa Irving (she/her) @the_vintage_journalist Contributing Writer

OUTCOMES ..

If U got mostly 1’s…

You are the very real: Moon Landing!

To be honest, you’re a bit basic and outdated. Fake too (and I’m not talking about the landing). You follow trends and like to show the side of yourself you think people want to see. Despite that, you are a drama kid at heart and well… it doesn’t make you any better. Sigh. It sounds like a huge deal, but you need to find who you are. Let yourself be organically you, or start to figure out what that really is, and I’m sure you’ll have a great semester. Do some yoga, learn some affirmations or join some religion. Whatever sticks

If U got mostly 2’s…

You are the [REDACTED] yet [REDACTED]: JFK assassination!

You like to keep it cool and collected. Preferring vintage and more ‘classic’ styles, you can come off as a bit old-fashioned at times, however, that doesn’t stop people from enjoying your unique charms. Having surveyed the plaza area at O-week from multiple angles, I’m sure a feeling of ease is washing over you as you prepare to start the academic year. You’ve got your eyes set on a target of A’s, and with the level of organisation you undertake, I’m certain you’ll get there! However, this is the perfect time to try new things, so if you feel an itch at the back of your head and wonder whether the sacrifice is worth it, I’d say do a new thing. Balance your life. Take the shot.

If U got mostly 3’s…

You are the loveable killer-koala: Drop Bear!

Is it the ADHD, or an insatiable lust for cannibalism talking? While your schedule is a bit all over the place at the moment, no one can deny that your wild and active spirit is a fire to be envied! Having applied to every club at O-week, you’re sure to be very occupied this semester. With an Indomie noodles tote bag in hand, you scramble across campus at a frenzied pace getting your steps in. To top it off, the weather is hot and sweat-inducing, just how you like it! I would try and provide some wise words but you’re actually insane and I fear for my life. So, feed into the urges! Climb a tree! Feast on humans! (Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for anybody feasting on humans.)

If U got mostly 4’s…

You are, the peculiar and odd: Flat Earth!

While you’re a bit of a weirdo, people still seem to like you. But FYI, spending O-week indoors is showing. For the sake of all that is flat and glorious, please feel the sun, touch grass (or maybe go up a hill?), and go cold turkey on the online stuff. You know, the AUT library does free study workshops, so you can learn to get your research from places outside of Reddit?

If U got mostly 5’s…

You are the cool and illustrious: Illuminati!

Hello! Do I need to remind you the holidays are over and uni has started? A risk taker and party monster to the core, I’d like to hope for the sake of university security you and your posse didn’t grace the plaza during O-week. Trust me, it’s for the best. Finding you having 3 pm drinks at Vesbar is a regular occurrence, and yet somehow, you make it look not totally depressing? I would probably also recommend the library services if you haven’t already soaked your course schedule in Vodka Cruiser. You know what, maybe it’s time to put your charisma to use and start a university club. Get some blood rituals goin’.

Before I begin, I have one question: Will you rebel against the Man?

After the prior government gets swept up in a sex scandal, the citizens of England-adjacent country Territory One elect a new party that promises to shake things up. The partnership of the fresh group in parliament, the Advance party, consists of a lawyer and a drunkard TV personality who loves to speak his mind. While their message of radical changes (like revoking the passports of the rich until they pay their fair share of taxes) to bring about social equality sounds good in passing, not everyone is happy. Soon after the election, the left-wing fearing World Council imposes sanctions on the Territory, setting an example for other upstart nations and tumbling the Advance party toward an authoritarian grasp on the country. While this is happening on the surface, an underground movement of rebellion by the name of Disrupt is making their voices heard and have tapes they want you to play during the ad breaks on the National Nightly News. Now, what’s your role in all of this calamity?

Well, though the pay is average, you call the shots as a Vision Mixer at the state-owned broadcaster! Unfortunately, it’s up to you to decide how you want history to play out. Switch between four cameras, censor profanity or words that you think will make Big Brother upset, and correct any issues at the transmission tower before they knock you off the air (or not!). If that wasn’t challenging enough, while social unrest and war take place, you have a family to protect at the same time.

Without spoiling too much, that’s Not For Broadcast in a nutshell from developer NotGames. A “TV propaganda simulator”, as they coin it. It has the charm of British satire within a videogame and boasts four endings with fourteen unique epilogues! It incorporates a mix of novel text prompts and full motion video (i.e., live-action) to front its mechanics and decision trees. For anyone old enough to know this or for young nerdy sleuths who stake out YouTube videos on retro games, FMV gaming has often suffered bad visual quality due to difficulties regarding hardware, video compression and the lack of storage within older game media like CDs and cartridges. However, given that we now live in the internet age, we have finally achieved smooth high-quality video with purposely terrible greenscreen! Despite this being such a small footnote that I’m sarcastically writing a fair amount about, trust me, it’s worth me stating that this is incredibly welcoming. What a feat!

Despite the grand hallways of text you have to read as the narrative goes on in between key shifts at your high-stakes low-reward job, there is some comedic relief between the dread-filled feelings that

every single choice you make will reflect you, your family and the country’s future. While on the 9-5 grind, you’ll be rewarded with some of the weirdest shit ever put to air the more you advance within the game. Take the ad breaks for example. Choose between a new book from a left-wing version of conspiracy netcaster Alex Jones (named Alan James), a new exercise workout tape decked with 1980s Spandex, or a magazine series celebrating the existence of screws, bolts, and washer nuts. How invigorating! During some broadcasts, news presenters will chuck it over to coverage of a live sports event or an impromptu amateur musical number that you have to call the shots for. Just be sure not to cut to the fully nude rich people protesting during one segment, not just because it’ll affect your score, but also because it has been censored in post-production (lame).

Visuals and subject appeal aside, Not For Broadcast is brilliant despite the living dystopian nightmare that is a government acting in such a way that would give Stalin a raging hard-on, despite being dead. Like the other independent games coming out nowadays, Not For Broadcast is a fresh alternative to the same ol’ boring and repetitive massive multiplayer online or first person shooter strategy rage fest that mainstream devs continue to pump out. And there’s no microtransactions bullshit – Hallelujah! It’s also amazing that the production of this game, which began in 2018, soldiered on through covid, with a special broadcast from the cast’s own homes during times of isolation within Great Britain. The only thing I have to question the developers on, especially with the DLC that has come out since the initial release, is where to from here. Could the Steam Workshop floodgates be opened where other content creators may be able to construct custom broadcasts? That’d be a whole lot of work, yes. But one should know that there are so many geniuses behind computer screens, including some who once modelled their local community swimming pool in Garry’s Mod. Just think about the kids who have Blackmagic Cameras lying around.

For this and the fact that I work in the same dying industry that this game is based on - I’m giving this 4.5 stars out of 5. Be on the lookout for the new DLC, which comes out later this year.

Not For Broadcast is available for PC via Steam for $35.99, on your favourite consoles as well as Meta Quest.

Written By Corey Fuimaono (he/they) @coreyfuimaono | Contributing Writer

"I'm sorry, I'm not doing this." She wasn't willing to cut her hair for the role of Peachy. We talk over Zoom. Shah’s background is surprisingly bare. The wall is plain—a lifeless shade of grey. There's no hint of her personality, which is effervescent.

The nineteen-year-old has the clarity of mind you wouldn't expect from a young actor who has barely graced our screens before. She's remarkably open when talking about how she got the role of Peachy in The Mountain. The film is acclaimed actor Rachel House's (Ngāti Mutunga, Te Atiawa, Kāi Tahu) directorial debut - a heartfelt, crowd-pleasing drama in which three rangatahi embark on an epic journey to find peace and solace under the watchful eye of Taranaki Maunga.

Shah was a theatre kid at New Plymouth Girls' High School. She's of Pakistani descent and lived in Scotland, Iran and Egypt, before moving to Aotearoa when she was eight years old. The actor participated each year in school plays. It wasn't a teacher turned mentor, or a seminal experience onstage which steered her towards screen acting. Instead, it was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The novel tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy in search of a worldly treasure. Along the way, on a journey of self-discovery, he learns the importance of listening to your heart and following your dreams.

“It wasn’t a teacher turned mentor, or a seminal experience onstage which steered her towards screen acting. Instead, it was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho”

Shah's hair is one of her striking features. It flows like molasses down over her shoulders, but for the role of Peachy, she knew she would have to cut it. How short? Shah didn't know exactly, but it didn’t matter - she had already ruled themselves out of getting cast. "I was so convinced I was not going to get it," they say.

In the audition waiting room with the "really freaking cool people" who were also going for the role, Shah promised to make edits for whoever got cast as Peachy. Cue the 1975's 'About You' or Phoebe Bridgers's 'Scott Street'. She reached the final audition and asked: "How short do you want me to cut my hair?" House showed her a picture of a woman who was "virtually bald", and Shah left the audition. She nervous-

her face as she sinks into her chair. If you put Peachy, who has a shaggy mullet, and Shah side-by-side, you'd think they're different people.

The actor made an impression on House, despite walking out of the audition. One day, towards the end of her final year at high school, Shah got the call that House wanted her for the part. I bring up how her performance in the film contrasts with how she appears over Zoom - Peachy in The Mountain is stone-faced and frank, but Shah is passionate, a ball of nervous energy struggling to be bound by Zoom's aspect ratio. She queries how I know so much about Peachy. Amusingly, I've seen The Mountain, but Shah has yet to see the film she stars in. The actor plans to finally watch the film at its gala screening in a few week's time.

She reached the final audition and asked: “How short do you want me to cut my hair?” House showed her a picture of a woman who was “virtually bald”, and Shah left the audition.

As a friend of protagonist Sam, a fearless young girl with cancer, Peachy is a friend and confidant. She aids in her escape from the hospital by making thinly veiled excuses for Sam's absence. Along the way, as she attempts to trek up the steep slopes of Taranaki Maunga, Sam joins forces with two other misfits, Mallory and Bronco. When Wendy discovers her daughter's plan to conquer the maunga, Peachy is a reluctant accomplice. Together, they must track down the roving escapee; luckily, the pair know where Sam is heading.

Taranaki Maunga is The Mountain's central metaphor— its towering peak, flowing hills, and dense bush represent the characters' journey towards self-discovery. Sam hopes that Taranaki Maunga will cure her cancer and connect her with her whakapapa. Mallory, the new kid on the block, is searching for friendship after losing his mother. Bronco, "a guardian of Papatuanuku, our OG mother," claims to be a runaway. His father is too busy to notice he's gone.

Taranaki Maunga is The Mountain’s central metaphor— its towering peak, flowing hills, and dense bush represent the characters’ journey towards self-discovery.

The adventure towards the peak of Taranaki Maunga represents an inner journey of transformation and follows a trope of Aoteroa cinema. Runaway, Goodbye Pork Pie, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Loop Track and The Lord of the Rings all embrace the monomyth. A physical beginning and an end to a narrative. If you’ve seen the trailer for The Mountain, you’ll know that it references Gandalf’s iconic line, “You shall not pass!”

Shah has fond memories of shooting on Taranaki Maunga, despite the closest bathroom being an eight-hour hike away and no time being available to nip to the bush. Her first day on set was at the base of the maunga: “I was nervous because this was my first take ever. I’d never done any projects on TV or on screen before, so it was my first time being filmed.” Another memory sticks in her mind: “We had to get a helicopter up to Pouakai Hut and we had to hike. I was wearing Doc Martens, which I hadn’t broken in yet.” Despite the pains of stiff leather and blistered heels, it was a day Shah will never forget. “The mountain, all the scenery and the amazing people.”

The Mountain was shot on location on Taranaki Maunga. House wanted audiences everywhere “to see some of the wisdom and magic that exists within Te Taiao, the natural world.” She ensured the cast and crew respected this world when on the maunga. Shah remembers the strict rules they had on set. One day, during production, they were shooting a sequence on a bridge, and there wasn’t a moment when the cast and crew stepped off it. The flora and fauna of Taranaki Maunga, an ancient living ancestor, was well looked after.

“I was nervous because this was my first take ever. I’d never done any projects on TV or on screen before, so it was my first time being filmed.”

The actor had lived under the shadow of Taranaki Maunga until she moved to Tāmaki Makaurau for university. Shah is now doing a conjoint degree in law and fine arts while still working as an actor. They were up at 05:00 am this morning to go to set. At the start of her degree, she had to balance playing the role of Peachy in her first feature and the anxiety of adapting to university life. Shah was flying in and out of Tāmaki Makaurau every week to shoot The Mountain. “Where did that girl go?” her classmates would wonder.

Now, Shah seems to have settled into a rhythm and adapted to her busy life in a new city. You may have seen the actor

on Shortland Street as Gigi Arshad, but she can’t reveal what else is in the pipeline. Don’t expect her to stick around Tāmaki Makaurau for long. “I’m a Sagittarius, and I like to travel,” Shah says. Before she jets off, you can catch her in The Mountain.

The Mountain will be released nationwide on March 28th. We’ve partnered with our friends at Madman to give away two double passes for the film! Keep your eyes peeled to our social media channels to be in with a chance to win!

Written By Thomas Giblin (he/him) | @thegreengiblin | Entertainment Editor Illustrated By Chloe Bagayas (she/her)

1984 has served as a cautionary tale, a grimly prophetic insight into what our world is becoming. The dystopian novel written by George Orwell in 1949 reflects on the themes of totalitarianism, suppression, and falsehoods illustrated. It's difficult not to see parallels with the ongoing war in Gaza.

Examples of fake news have been around for centuries, from the Greeks to the Catholic church. But the term has been used incessantly in recent years with the rise of social media, the surge of AI and the increased prevalence of conspiracy theories. Its overuse has diluted its once potent meaning, rendering it almost meaningless.

In 1984, protagonist Winston Smith's job at the Ministry of Truth was to create fake news. He altered historical documents to align with The Party's revisionist narrative of events. They manipulated history for propaganda to control citizens' thoughts.

Fake news applies to the Israeli government, from restricting journalists from entering Gaza to spreading misinformation. They claimed that Palestinian hospitals were being used as Hamas command centres and that Hamas were beheading babies. Like The Party, the Israeli government manipulates facts to align with their agenda.

Powerful world leaders feed into these lies, with President Joe Biden publicly asserting that Hamas were beheading babies: "I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children."

He delivered this shocking claim to a group of Jewish community leaders, which shortly after was proven to be false. The fake news was first spread by Israeli journalist Nicole Zedeck on i24 News. After a thorough inquiry into the accuracy of the statement, the Israeli government was forced to admit that there was no evidence to back up the allegation. When public authoritarian systems and figures use their platform to spread misinformation, democracy is eroded.

When public authoritarian systems and figures use their platform to spread misinformation, democracy is eroded.

The Israeli government distorted events and created misinformation during the civilian convoy evacuating Gaza. The

evacuation route was designated as safe by Israel. Still, it came under attack from an Israeli airstrike, resulting in the deaths of 70 individuals and injuring at least 200 others, according to NBC News.

. Palestinian health officials reported over 100 deaths from the incident, with most attributed to Israeli troops' gunfire. Israel's military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, contested the claim and stated that the majority were trampled as crowds hurried towards aid trucks.

Despite the Israeli military's denial of responsibility for the attack, the United Nations has called for an inquiry into the attack alongside Amnesty International's digital evidence lab confirming that Israeli forces targeted the fleeing civilian convoy.

The downplay and denial of allegations, alongside the spread of misinformation from the Israeli government, highlights Orwell's theme of language being used as mind control. The power of language as a tool for manipulation is evident in media coverage. In 1984, "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. […] Power is not a means, it is an end." This quote speaks to the Western media's reporting of the war's events favouring Israel.

The downplay and denial of allegations, alongside the spread of misinformation from the Israeli government, highlights Orwell’s theme of language being used as mind control.

Biases in the media include using terms like "killed" instead of "murdered," and victims are often only recognised on one side of the conflict, drawing a similarity of the dehumanisation present in the citizens of 1984. The word “victims” is seldom used to explain Palestinians when there is reporting about the Israelis. Instead of emphasising the human tragedy in Gaza, numerous Western media outlets often reduce the Palestinians who have lost their lives to mere statistics.

This loss of individual identity and dehumanisation bears resemblance to the society depicted in George Orwell's 1984, where individuals are stripped of their personal histories and reduced to objects.

Israel’s “right to defend” itself is an excuse supported by the Western media as colonial powers have historically asserted their “right to self-defence” in response to the populations they have colonised.

According to an analysis by the Intercept, major media outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times have displayed a consistent bias against Palestinians in their coverage of Israel's war on Gaza. Over 1,500 journalists representing numerous US news outlets have collectively penned an open letter condemning the portrayal of Israel's actions against Palestinians.

The letter speaks to the "imperative" need for comprehensive on-the-ground reporting and urges for "free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media". The letter also calls out the "double standard in how civilians are seen" within the media.

A group of eight BBC journalists have authored an open letter addressed to Al Jazeera, alleging their own network's failure to provide accurate coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The letter accuses the broadcaster of displaying bias by dedicating more attention to humanising Israeli victims while neglecting to include crucial historical context in its reporting. While Western correspondents cover the anguish and experiences of Israel, what remains scarcely covered in comparison is the experience of innocent civilians suffering in Palestine.

While Western correspondents cover the anguish and experiences of Israel, what remains scarcely covered in comparison is the experience of innocent civilians suffering in Palestine.

The media's misrepresentation of the conflict has caused a public outcry, leading to the arrests of countless individuals around the world who have protested against the war and shown their solidarity with Palestine. In 1984, thoughtcrimes are beliefs that contradict The Party's teachings and beliefs. Citizens are punished with imprisonment on suspicion of having rebellious thoughts.

Thoughtcrime has transcended digitally; since the onset of the Israel-Gaza war, Meta has been censoring pro-Palestinian content. Over a thousand reported cases of Meta suspending content and permanently banning accounts were reviewed by Human Rights Watch. Instances of censorship include Instagram and Facebook removing the Palestinian flag emoji, as well as deleting comments like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “ceasefire now” under the guise of community guidelines.

In a landscape of misinformation from the Israeli government and the Western media, it is imperative more than ever that the public should actively seek legitimate information instead of succumbing to closed-mindedness that recognises no perspective other than its own.

Orwell's words ring painfully true today: "If all others accepted the lie which the party imposed - if all records told the same tale - then the lie passed into history and became the truth."

Written By Nabeelah Khan (she/her) | @nabeelahkhann | Contributing Writer

Illustrated By Mikaela Stroud (they/them) | @azuresparkz.art | Contributing Illustrator

I’ve only recently realised that I might actually be a hot girl. Like an actual hot girl! Such a crazy concept, but it dawned on me during O-Week. I was watching over the Debate stall, telling Liam how the amount of uni students out in the wild is so overstimulating, that I could actually cry – but I was mainly talking about the amount of straight dudes lurking about. Even when I started uni in 2019, I’d take the bus home and pass Grafton, and I would shrink at the amount of high school boys that hop on the bus. These were sixteen year olds, and my nineteen-going-on-twenty ass would just sit there, quivering at the idea of having so many of these walking Lynx bottles ride the 75. I would just hop off and find a less bodysprayed bus. It’s an odd feeling; I feel scared that they’re there, but I also feel bad for taking up space, and I don’t want to be punished for taking up space. I don’t know how to explain it thoroughly, but I do know that I just shrink to the old, dweeby, insecure Gabbie that I was when I was twelve (I’m still a bit insecure now, just less dweeby).

It’s an odd feeling; I feel scared that they’re there, but I also feel bad for taking up space, and I don’t want to be punished for taking up space.

I was a competitive swimmer growing up, and mean boys made up 70% of our team. Don’t get me wrong, some of them were great - but by ‘some’, I mean three. I really wanted them to see me as their equal, so they wouldn’t pick on me. They’d tell me that my body was too fat to be in a training bikini, hence, I should just stick to wearing a one piece. When I finally lost weight, they’d tell me I looked too muscular, that I wasn’t feminine looking; when I would wear the training bikini one of them even pinched my stomach just to make sure I knew the parts that I needed to work on. They even had the gall to make fun of my humour at times, like it’s me that wasn’t funny. Even now at twenty-four, standing at an O-Week stall - I felt like I warped back into the Gabbie that felt defeated by that.

Before the stall was set-up, I went to the bathroom and gave myself a pep talk. I was really tired, and I left the house that morning feeling not great about how I looked. I was about to get my period, so I was bloated and my acne was exploding. As I washed my hands, I looked at myself in the mirror and something in me just clicked. I don’t know what happened but I felt like I was just possessed by a spirit of confidence that made me realise “you know what, I actually look so fucking cute.” My brows were brow-ing, my lip combo was actually perfect, and another girl told me she liked my skirt. A surge of ego just came over me, and I thought to myself: “How can I be scared of all these straight-boy-uni-students? I’m a woman with an amazing sense of humour, two degrees, and great tits – literally nothing stands in my way. I am the hot girl.”

A surge of ego just came over me, and I thought to myself: “How can I be scared of all these straight-boy-uni-students? I’m a woman with an amazing sense of humour, two degrees, and great tits – literally nothing stands in my way. I am the hot girl.”

I ended up making forceful eye contact with anyone who came by the stall and got them to sign up. There were about twenty sign ups for visual arts alone – I mean, I know that it’s probably because Debate pays its illustrators but you know what, it felt great! I went out of my comfort zone and talked to anyone and everyone. I did not break conversation and I did not quiver, not one bit.

For the rest of the week, my emotional health and self-confidence was amazing. It was like I had a divine intervention - even if I would go to sleep angry, I would wake up the next day feeling better. An emotional reset. It’s actually been steady since that day – if I do feel anxious I just cry. How? An alter ego.

Beyoncé once said that she used to be extremely shy growing up, so when she performs, she creates an alter ego named Sasha Fierce. She claimed that playing a character like Sasha would give her the confidence to perform the way she does, and the way she never thought she could as a kid — like her Deja Vu performance at the 2006 BET Awards (honestly insane). But if you’re on YoncéTok at all, you know that Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé have merged. It’s great that she’s found comfort in her own self on the stage, and knows that we respect her as Beyoncé - not as Sasha Fierce. The idea of creating an alter ego separate from who you currently are is the next step to becoming who you want to be. There’s that little step you take when you muster enough self-belief to know that you can play this “role” that’s slightly different from you. I’ve named mine Gabriella. Still a derivative of Gabbie or Gabrielle, but that just makes it easier for me to believe that I am Gabriella.

For the rest of the week, my emotional health and self-confidence was amazing. It was like I had a divine intervention [...] How? An alter ego.

Gabriella gets shit done. “Shit” that Gabbie initially felt demotivated about because she has doddery self-belief. Gabriella is vulnerable and strong enough to cry in public. Gabriella also recognises her physical assets and understands that her full lips, almond eyes, big chest, and luscious hair help make the patriarchy work for her. She knows that she does not need to do so much if she can make a man’s ego do it for her! She recognises her intellect and her humour, her skillset and her achievements; she knows that even if she’s had help to build these (as no woman is an island), that it’s a fact that she has been able to harbour and achieve them. The best part is, Gabriella knows that she has space to take up –like her seat on the 75 – and space to make, helping other Gabbies see themselves in their Gabriellas.

Gabriella gets shit done. “Shit” that Gabbie initially felt demotivated about because she has doddery self-belief.

So I’ve been Gabriella lately, and it’s been great. Which is why I wanted to write this guide in the first place. I don’t think I’m the only girl out there that needs to see themself as another being before they become them. So create your Gabriella and internalise her. Understand what her assets are. What are your assets that you haven’t been able to say out loud? What are the fears you need to face? What’s the shit you need to get done? What’s stopping you from it? Tell yourself in the mirror! Because if a twenty-four-year-old and acne-ridden, low-self-esteem, socially-anxious Gabbie, can do it, I’m dead sure you can too. I mean, okay, you don’t have to have an alter ego, you can just be the person you want to be, who you should be… but it’s easier said than done. I’ve been on this earth for a bit more than two decades, and I’m only now learning how to take up the space that's built for me. Before we make space for people, before we give up our seats on the bus, we must be able to know how we can stand on our own two feet.

Written By Gabbie De Baron (she/her) | @gabizzlesizzle | Graphic Designer

Illustrated By Chloe Bagayas (she/her) | @lilclodoodles | Contributing Illustrator.

Photographed

In partnership with Under The Radarindependent music news, gig guide and tickets, interviews and more at undertheradar.co.nz

Dateline’s Katie Everingham on their new track, “Choose Me”

Dateline is this multifaceted music project of Katie Everingham (she/her), an indie musician who jumped around from band to band and city to city for years. Back in 2022, her and the Tāmaki Makaurau iteration of her band (lovingly referred to as Dateline 2.0) released their debut LP Dumb For My Age - tracks from which spread across student radio stations and underground venues throughout the motu.

Now, with Katie based in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, the band has evolved into Dateline 3.0 - with a variety of Welly musicians taking up the other instruments and forming a mini supergroup to build on Dateline’s grunge-pop sound. The gang has just put out their first release in this latest iteration, ‘Choose Me’ - a bittersweet jam reminiscing on a period of Katie's life during her mid twenties. The single sees the band tour across the country, culminating in Tāmaki Makaurau on the 6th of April. I had a chat with Katie to learn more about ‘Choose Me’, the different iterations of the band, and more.

Liam:

Let’s start off with ‘Choose Me’. What were the origins of this track?

Katie:

I suppose it was the first track after we had a little break. I was making music as Dateline with an Auckland band for a few years, and they were all amazing - but I was living in Hawke's Bay, so the opportunity to actually write songs and develop them with the band were few and far between. Then we had a baby, which also slightly derails songwriting, haha. ‘Choose Me’ itself came after that break. It was the first creative burst of songwriting that I had had in a while. I think I wrote the chords first, and I ended up randomly writing about a period in my life that was like seven years ago - you know, just as a little throwback.

Liam:

You mentioned your Auckland band - Dateline 2.0, as it used to be referred to. We’re at Dateline 3.0 now - it’s always been one of the things that have stuck out to me about Dateline, how the band seems to go through little software updates every few years. Is that an intentional choice, allowing the different groups of the band to be firmly separate from each other?

Katie:

I love your description of it as like a software update, it’s definitely a little bit like that. That's not because I've ever wanted to change the members, but just because this is a project

that's been going since 2018. People are busy, life changes, you move around, band members go overseas, so the lineup changes have always been necessary. Everyone I've been in the band with has been amazing, and I wouldn't have voluntarily replaced anyone. Everyone has been really supportive when it's been time to mix things up a bit. When I was in Hawke's Bay, I was commuting to Tāmaki Makaurau solely to do band stuff, which wasn't really sustainable. I moved to Wellington about a year and a half ago, so the band changed again. It's been really good, because now we can practise regularly, the bandmates here are just as awesome, and it’s just been easier to get into it again.

Liam:

Who’s in the lineup now, for Dateline 3.0?

Katie:

So, we’ve got Hikurangi, who’s a drummer from Wellington, who's played in heaps of bands. Phoebe is our bass player, who also leads Revulva - another fantastic Pōneke band. And then Reuben is our other guitar player, who brings such an awesome energy to the band. It’s been a really fun group of people to work with.

Liam:

Do you think there’s been many changes to your musical style with the new band, especially since the release of your first and latest album Dumb For My Age?

Katie:

I think so - I mean, the life material that you have to draw from changes. Things are less dramatic now than when I was in my early–mid 20s. It's not like I'm super old, but I'm just doing different stuff with my life. I've also found working with the band in Wellington has really opened up opportunities to craft songs together. I used to just write them and be like, “This will do! Let's play it.” Now we brainstorm it a bit more, and I think it's really helping us get more out of the songs.

Liam:

Everyone in each of the bands’ line-ups is so talented - it always ends up being a bit of a supergroup. Dateline 2.0 had members from Hans Pucket, Lips, and BUB.

Katie:

Yeah, 100%. The line-up has always kind of been made up of indie musicians, whereas now Hikurangi and Phoebe are both jazz trained. They’re totally killing it - it’s brought a new level of tightness, and sophistication of sorts.

Liam:

You can pretty much fix anything with a bit of jazz trumpet.

There were about four other people in the Debate office, quietly working as I was doing this interview via Zoom. Cam, our social media coordinator (who has played trumpet for numerous bands), and Corey, one of our contributors for this issue, both made direct eye contact with me and tried not to laugh. Cam gave me a thumbs upThanks, Cam!

Taking it back to ‘Choose Me’, is this a part of a new album you’re working on?

Katie:

Yes, it is - we haven't quite announced it or finished it, but it is a work in progress. In September last year, we did a recording session and managed to smash up eight songs, which was quite an effort, but it was really, really fun - ‘Choose Me’ was one of them. So we'll be looking to finish that, properly announce it, and hopefully release it by the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

Liam:

Finally, you have a tour coming up across the motu, ending in Tāmaki Makaurau on the 6th of April at The Wine Cellar. Is there anything new the Auckland audiences who haven’t seen Dateline live for a few years can expect?

Katie:

It probably will be quite different. Last time I played in Auckland, I was still drumming with the old lineup. I’m now playing guitar at the front, which I’ve found to be really liberating out from behind the drum kit. It’s a lot easier to be expressive, move around, and have fun. We've just been having heaps of fun playing together. So I do think it will be a good show for anyone who comes to it. I’m just so grateful to have such cool people to make music with - I feel very lucky.

Dateline is touring in Tāmaki Makaurau on the 6th of April, playing at The Wine Cellar with Work - tickets are available from undertheradar.co.nz.

You can keep in touch with Datelines work via Instagram, at @dateline3.0.

Photo Credit: Nicola Sandford

Get ready for a carnival eggstravaganza (I'm sorry) with the 2024 Tāmaki Makaurau Easter Show! With amusement rides, a petting zoo, an art show and street performers, there's something for everyone Last year there were over 85,000 attendees & this year is set to be bigger and better! Don't miss out!

Don't miss Academy Cinema's annual Un-Holy Easter double bill! Watch two films for the price of only one! Alejandro Jodorowsky's surreal The Holy Mountain and Ken Russell's scandalous The Devils have to be seen to be believed Even after 51 years, Warner Brothers still refuses to release the original uncut version of The Devils Do you have what it takes to endure watching two of the most controversial films of all time back-to-back?

Relive your childhood with the thrill of an Easter Egg Hunt You have a set of clues, and it's up to you to find the beautifully decorated eggs hidden around The Auckland Museum! Take a sibling along and enjoy a fun and free day out!

Maka Tāmaki *gig guide*

FULL NOISE 2024

March 29th - 30th at Grey Lynn Library

With bands, markets, and more!

Punk, alternative, all ages

Tix $25 from UTR

Write Or Reason Album Tour

April 4th at Big Fan

With HIRI, Flea Miller, Fan Club, and ADV

Indie rock, alternative pop, all ages

Tix $15 from UTR

Psyberia III

April 5th at Neck of the Woods

With, DJ G2G [DK], clay louis, cupid, DJ Test.e, Lil Kaiviti

DJ, electronic, market

Tix $20 from UTR

Dateline ‘Choose Me’ Tour

April 6th at The Wine Cellar

With Work

indie rock, grunge, postpunk

Tix $15 from UTR

1984 crossword

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