Lachlan McKenzie, Author at The Australian Independent Media Network

Control room manipulating reality and perceptions.

Beyond the Overton Window: The Reality Dashboard

24 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 10

What Australians were told was “normal”, what we experienced instead – and why the old model no longer works For a long time, the Overton Window was a useful way to describe Australian politics. It […]

Cartoon of women presenting evidence to man.

Daddy Issues, Castrati, and the Political Pathologising of Women

19 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 5

I watched a short clip of Miranda Devine attempting to explain why younger women dislike Donald Trump. It was awful. Not “controversial.” Not “provocative.” Just awful – in the way that makes you sit back […]

We Can’t Stop All Bushfires. But We Can Stop Pretending Total Loss Is Inevitable

18 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 1

Australia is rightly having another conversation about bushfires, housing vulnerability, and what can realistically be done to reduce loss. A recent article in The Age argued for a “simple system”: a standardised way to assess […]

Some Things Are Too Powerful to Love Up Close

11 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 14

Living in Australia teaches you an early lesson about proximity. When you swim in the ocean here, you are almost certainly closer to a shark than you realise. Not because sharks are everywhere in a […]

Australia Is Getting Heat Data Wrong – And It’s Putting People at Risk

10 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 10

Australians are told every summer how hot it’s going to be. But increasingly, the information we’re given bears little resemblance to the heat people are actually exposed to – and that disconnect is becoming dangerous. […]

Two people revising Newspeak Dictionary definition.

Clarke & Dawe – “UNSLEEPEN™”

6 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 0

(Bright, cheery corporate music. Neutral set. Everything beige.) Dawe: Good evening. Tonight we’re pleased to announce an important update to the English language. Clarke: Yes. Following an extensive review, the word “woke” has been removed. […]

Political illustration with text and cityscape background.

Clarke & Dawe – “The Transactional States of America”

5 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 2

Dawe: Mr President, are the United States at war with Venezuela? Clarke: No. Dawe: So there has been no invasion? Clarke: No. We’ve simply taken control. Dawe: By force. Clarke: Efficiently. (Pause) Dawe: Under what […]

Politician speaking about rules-based order chart.

Clarke and Dawe: The Opposition Spokesperson on “Our Rules” and “Their Order”

4 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 6

INTERVIEWER: So the Prime Minister has said Australia is concerned about events in Venezuela, emphasised restraint, international law, and the need for stability. OPPOSITION SPOKESPERSON: Yes. Very disappointing. Weak. Soft. Un-Australian. INTERVIEWER: Because he didn’t […]

Typed text about establishing a Jewish homeland.

Palestine Before Nationalism: What Was Lost – and Why It Matters Now

2 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 16

Before Palestine became a battlefield of competing nationalisms, it was something far less dramatic and far more instructive: a plural society. Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived across the country under the governance of the Ottoman […]

From Shared Failure to Heinous Crime

1 January 2026 Lachlan McKenzie 2

Why How We Remember World War I Shapes How We Understand World War II The way societies remember war is never neutral. Memory shapes what is excused, what is repeated, and what is permitted to […]

Group sitting outdoors, man speaking to others.

Jesus Without the Myth: Who He Was, Why He Died, and Why He’d Be Targeted Today

28 December 2025 Lachlan McKenzie 12

Introduction: Removing the Halo to See the Man Few historical figures are so well known – and so poorly understood – as Jesus. Over two millennia, theology, empire, myth-making, and political convenience have layered stories […]

Pigeon wearing wig on chessboard, crowd watching.

WWTD? Predictable Moves and the Pattern we Kept Ignoring

27 December 2025 Lachlan McKenzie 7

WWTD (“What would Trump do”) is no longer a hypothetical. It is a pattern of behaviour repeated so consistently that its outcomes are now predictable. These moves (30 in total) are not a list of […]

Sunset beach scene with four people standing.

The Politics of Misery and the Performance that Follows Tragedy

22 December 2025 Lachlan McKenzie 6

Australians often respond to tragedy with compassion and solidarity. Too often, that moment is quickly overtaken by a cycle of performative outrage – loud, divisive, and indifferent to the care it claims to express. Like […]

Low-fat and low-sugar labeled food products.

When “Low Fat” and “Low Sugar” Labels Hide a Bigger Problem

14 December 2025 Lachlan McKenzie 1

Modern nutrition science tells a more complicated story than food labels suggest. When fat or sugar is stripped out, flavour, texture, and shelf life still have to come from somewhere – and the replacements are […]

The Coffee was Stirred, and Civilisation Survived

13 December 2025 Lachlan McKenzie 2

I knew what I was doing when I bought the stirrer. This is important to establish early, not because it matters, but because it definitely doesn’t – which is where all the comedy lives. The […]

The Australian Independent Media Network

The AIMN is an online platform that provides a space for citizen and public interest journalists to engage in and contribute to independent media, focusing on politics, democracy, environment, and identity.

Articles by Lachlan McKenzie