Monday, February 13, 2006
Quality and the Mainstream Media
For the Swedish readers. We often hear the argument that Mainstream Media gives us more quality and thorough investigation than bloggers. I know I might not spell everything correctly on this blog since I mainly write very fast - getting the posts published is more important than getting every single letter on the right place. But the mainstream media is supposed to be better than bloggers. Yeah, right. This story from today's edition of the broadsheet Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter:
Hajen är dödSteven Spielbergs film om en vit haj som terroriserar ett kustsamhälle på Long Island uppmärksammades över en hel värld. Peter Benchleys intresse för havets djur väcktes redan i barndomen som han tillbringade på ön Nantucket på Massachusetts.Skaparen av "Hajen" är död. Författaren Peter Benchley har avlidit i en ålder av 65 år.
Han tog examen på Harward, arbetade som talskrivare åt president Lyndon Johnson, inledde en journalistkarriär och blev författare på heltid. 1974 utkom "Hajen", i filmen med samma namn medverkade Peter Benchley som upphetsad reporter.
"Hajen" är fortfarande en av Hollywoods mest berömda filmer och boken har sålts i mer är 20 miljoner exemplar.
Peter Benchleys intresse för havets okända var livslångt, på sin hemsida skrev Benchley:
- Om du är försiktig finns ingen anledning till oro över att bli attackerad av "sea creatures".
Hösten 2005 insjuknade Peter Benchley i en lugnsjukdom, det var i sviter av den som han stilla av avled i hemmet i Princetown, New Jeresy.
Harward? lugnsjukdom? New Jeresy? Makes you wonder if this journalist even knows what Harvard is... or if he even has a clue about where New Jersey is located?
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
I love boobs (but I don't need to shout about it)
Funny story. Swedes can actually be real prudes sometimes. And we don't even need to rely on the FCC. At least the newspapers are free to publish what they want.
Let's be reasonable here. Lindex, a major competitor to Swedish H&M in the field of women underwear has a poster campaign out now where the claim to "love boobs". This, some politicians argue, is insulting to women. Yeah, exactly. I am sure Lindex would just love to insult its main group of customes (i.e. women). I guess that kind of lost logic only makes sense to a politician.
Let's be reasonable here. Lindex, a major competitor to Swedish H&M in the field of women underwear has a poster campaign out now where the claim to "love boobs". This, some politicians argue, is insulting to women. Yeah, exactly. I am sure Lindex would just love to insult its main group of customes (i.e. women). I guess that kind of lost logic only makes sense to a politician.
French kissing in the USA
There's a lot of french kissing (or butt kissing...) going out from the US to the Muslim world right now. American MSM are not showing the images of Mohammed not to offend Muslims. (Showing prisoners of war without any right to legal councelling or legal status on base Gitmo is something completely different of course, which will not insult any Muslims at all.) What is with this sensitivity training one might ask. Can't US authorities see this conflict for what it is - just like one of my readers wrote in a comment on this blog earlier - it is a photo opportunity for some fundamentalists that use the cartoons as a reason to further their own political agenda.
Still ... the US State department feels that the cartoons are insulting. (See transcript from press briefing below.) Which begs the question - has press spokesman McCormack even seen the cartoons? As ironic as it may be - he confirms that he has not (see transcript)! What part of the Sharia law about stoning women is it he feels that we should show our respect to? Which part of the burqa-laws in former Al-Qaida controlled parts of Afghanistan is it he wants us to "understand"?
When did public beatings of homosexuals in the name of religion become the US policy - if not for themselves so at least in terms of "reaching out" to the Arab world? THIS is what the cartoons wanted to address - together with the hot topic issue that illustrators felt they would be threatened if they dared to attempt to draw Mohammed (even in a less cartoon-satire way...) - which they obviously have.
Bill Clinton asked, high on sensitivity training , compared the "anti-Islamic prejudice" in Europe with a previous "anti-Semitic prejudice." Funny. I thought that most Islamic cultures in the Middle East were Semitic (as in Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Syriac...) but maybe Clinton knows something about linguistic/ethnicnationalism that I don't.
Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff has a great take on the American approach to Tolerance Towards Intolerance in his WP column.
***
Transcript from press briefing, US State Department, February 3:
Still ... the US State department feels that the cartoons are insulting. (See transcript from press briefing below.) Which begs the question - has press spokesman McCormack even seen the cartoons? As ironic as it may be - he confirms that he has not (see transcript)! What part of the Sharia law about stoning women is it he feels that we should show our respect to? Which part of the burqa-laws in former Al-Qaida controlled parts of Afghanistan is it he wants us to "understand"?
When did public beatings of homosexuals in the name of religion become the US policy - if not for themselves so at least in terms of "reaching out" to the Arab world? THIS is what the cartoons wanted to address - together with the hot topic issue that illustrators felt they would be threatened if they dared to attempt to draw Mohammed (even in a less cartoon-satire way...) - which they obviously have.
Bill Clinton asked, high on sensitivity training , compared the "anti-Islamic prejudice" in Europe with a previous "anti-Semitic prejudice." Funny. I thought that most Islamic cultures in the Middle East were Semitic (as in Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Syriac...) but maybe Clinton knows something about linguistic/ethnicnationalism that I don't.
Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff has a great take on the American approach to Tolerance Towards Intolerance in his WP column.
***
Transcript from press briefing, US State Department, February 3:
QUESTION: Yes? Can you say anything about a U.S. response or a U.S. reaction to this uproar in Europe over the Prophet Muhammad pictures? Do you have any reaction to it? Are you concerned that the violence is going to spread and make everything just --