There’s a marked change in the range of opinions on this week’s Question Time. It was summed up by the ovation received by a Kurdish woman in the audience who described rather graphically how she was treated by Saddam’s regime. Panelist and Independent columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was then booed for suggesting the woman was using emotional blackmail. Alibhai-Brown lost the audience even further when she asked, “what kind of audience is this?” In general, most of the audience members comments were making points similar to ones I made some time ago.
The topic of discussion then turned to the media coverage. Al Jazeera has been showing the war in a much more graphic way than our somewhat sanitised coverage. In this instance I agreed with Alibhai-Brown who said that we should be seeing the war in all its horrifying truth. Hiding from the facts is unhealthy. Those who accuse people of watching this war as if it was a video game (a turn of phrase used by Geoff Hoon on the programme) seem to me to be trying to hide their own guilt at finding the news coverage entertaining. They’re less likely to find it entertaining if it was less sanitised. And let’s be honest, watching a major historical event unfold in real-time is fascinating; what’s to feel guilty about?
A woman in the audience amusingly announced, “I’ve seen the Al Jazeera photos on the Internet, and they make me sick. And quite frankly, I’m glad our boys are in Iraq to get that bastard out!” She hit the nail on the head - how many would be willing leave Saddam in power after having seen what he’s done?
Posted by Rob Fisher as News at 11:47 PM EST
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A story highlighted by TRA about a boy who was run over by his negligent mother and survived just can’t be ignored. (Unfortunately I can’t seem to link to the original article). She says, “God is watching over this little kid”, which presumably is why she didn’t feel she had to. I’m glad my parents didn’t rely on God to look after me…
I find it odd that whenever something has a happy ending it’s called a “miracle”. What is it called when something bad happens? God is rarely invoked then. Where was God when this, this, this and this happened?
Posted by Rob Fisher as Imaginary Friends at 6:58 PM EST
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Even the Christian Science Monitor is reporting on nanotechnology now. Their article provides a brief overview of the field. It fails, however, to properly distinguish between nanotechnology in the sense of nanometer-sized-stuff and nanotechnology in the sense of molecular manufacturing — assembling small (and large) objects molecule by molecule.
For example, Loreal is reported to be using, “nanoscale additives to enhance its beautification products”. This sounds like marketroid speak to me. Any kind of molecule is nanoscale, so it would be easy for Loreal to say this. When molecular manufacturing is mentioned, it is simply in terms of its potential dangers. While there are undeniably some dangers, molecular manufacturing promises revolutionary benefits. See Drexler’s book Engines of Creation for a fuller account.
Posted by Rob Fisher as Nanotechnology at 6:40 PM EST
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Has Kevin Spacey ever been in a bad film? He’s an expert at picking out good scripts. The Life of David Gale is no exception. It’s top quality story telling. There’s the developing, often funny relationship between the two reporters (correction: reporter and intern), a fascinating mystery to be solved, the tragedy of Gale’s decline from successful university professor to divorced electronics store manager, the race against time, and there is even room left to present the arguments against capital punishment. The outcome is suitably satisfying, leaving no loose ends. Watch out for the clues which are there all along: I did guess at the ending about half-way through, but at that point there was no way it seemed possible. Seeing the story fall together bit by bit was compelling stuff.
Posted by Rob Fisher as Reviews at 3:57 PM EST
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The following quotes were applauded on tonight’s Question Time. I started writing them down because it often amazes me what inane, un-inspiring waffle people will clap. However, the following quotes are a mixed bag. Attributions are given where I remember them. Some editing was necessary, due to my not being able to type fast enough.
- I will think this war was wrong a year from now. Audience member.
- I find this whole link with Nazi Germany absolutely ridiculous. Piers Morgan in response to a point about not making the mistake of Neville Chamberlain.
- There’s no evidence to suggest [a link with Al Quaida] at all.
- We’re taking the tough choice [to go to war] because it’s the right way.
- The most effective way to get rid of weapons of mass destruction is not bombing the hell out of women and children. Shirley Williams
- I can think of no better way of undermining the UN. Shirley Williams
- Saddam said he had no Scuds and yet tonight we find he has used them…There has to be some limit to the gullibility of people…who actually believe what [Saddam] said. William Hague
- The UN is the way to go. Audience member
- The daily Mirror has become an apologist for Saddam Hussein. William Hague
- Where were the UN in Kosovo and Sierra Leone? Audience member
- We are openly flouting the will of the UN.
- If any polititan thinks that the mood is changing about this war, [he] needs to get out there and talk to people.
- The French have taken a totally principled position on this war. Piers Morgan
- I find it shameful that only Robin Cook has [resigned] on a point of principle. Piers Morgan
- We’re not flouting the UN, we’re flouting the French, the Russians and the Chinese. Audience member
- I don’t understand why people don’t demonstrate against Saddam Hussein killing people with impunity. Audience member/li>
- I think we should take [Claire Short] out and shoot her. Piers Morgan
- Robin Cook stood up as a principled member of the government.
- I’m perfectly capable of chairing the programme, Piers. Jonathan Dimbleby
- It’s about time Tony Blair listened to the public, if he doesn’t he’ll have to go. Audience Member
- The next time we threaten to disarm a dangerous dictator and fail to, we’ll look as ridiculous as Claire Short. Audience member
- I’m anti-George Bush. Piers Morgan
- Every time I see George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld speak, I want to be physically sick. Piers Morgan
- I think that when the war is finished there will be no mention of a Palestinian state.
Interesting that Piers Morgan was applauded for, “I’m anti-George Bush” but the audience member who said, “I’m for the war because it means the removal of Saddam Hussein” was met with silence.
Posted by Rob Fisher as News at 12:14 AM EST
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TV journalists keep referring to Scud attacks tonight. If the Iraqis are firing Scuds then they have demonstrated that they have had illegal weapons all along. Yet the BBC’s foreign affairs editor was quick to report that so far there is no confirmation that Scuds have been used.
So whether there are Scuds or not, it seems clear that the news people know a lot less than they’d like us to think…
I would link to relevant news stories, but it seems BBC news is off the web at the moment. Of course, I’m sure this site will stay up when we need it.
Posted by Rob Fisher as News at 10:29 PM EST
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The motorway junction roundabout next to where I work is the kind with multiple sets of lights and a three lane arrangement where the left lane leaves the roundabout at each exit and the other lanes all shuffle over to create a new lane on the right. On many mornings I encounter people who have a hard time understanding the lane markings, perhaps they haven’t quite woken up yet.
This morning was like that. I was in the rightmost lane, another car was in the middle lane, the lights went green, and I followed the lane markings into the middle lane. Or I would have if the woman on the left hadn’t decided she wanted to be on the spot of road I was on. I braked, honked, fell in behind her, wondered how someone could consider crossing dashed lane markings without signalling an acceptable way to drive, and forgot about it.
See for yourself using my badly drawn diagram. If you wanted to get to X, would you start from lane A, B or C?
Then the woman drove into the car park of the place I work. I briefly considered asking the receptionist who she was, but there were visitors in the foyer so I decided it wasn’t important. Until she phoned me up. “Are you Rob Fisher?” Yes. She explained how she didn’t mind being beeped when she was wrong, but that she had been taking that route around the roundabout for three years, so obviously it was me that tried to drive into her lane! Three years?! It’s kind of understandable if you encounter that roundabout for the first time and get it a bit wrong, but surely you would notice if you’d been hustling people out of their lane for three years? I explained that she had crossed lane markings without signalling, she suggested we both look closely at them next time, and that was that.
Anyway, although I’m referring to a specific incident, plenty of people successfully annoy me in this way. If you want to annoy me on the road, simply don’t bother to to look at the lane markings and randomly change lanes. For extra effect, change lanes several times. To make sure you get me, do it wrong every single day for years on end, it’s bound to be me you carve up eventually. Finding yourself in the wrong lane, checking there is enough space, signalling and then changing lanes in front of me will not annoy me, that’s not good enough. Being an unpredictable idiot will. Keep working at it!
Posted by Rob Fisher as Driving at 10:40 AM EST
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Mil Millington has a wonderful page about arguments he’s had with his girlfriend. As Maciej Ceglowski of Idle Words puts it, “Milk will shoot out of your nose.”
If Mil’s writing looks familiar, it may be because the Mail on Sunday plagiarised it. But then, you wouldn’t be reading a filthy rag like the MoS, would you? There’s more on this at The Weekly, a site I haven’t yet read which looks promisingly entertaining.
Finally, I found Mil’s site via the well-worth-reading weblog Idle Words, where it is currently French Week. Go there to read good things about the French, for a change.
That lot should keep you going a while!
Posted by Rob Fisher as Links at 6:26 PM EST
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Some of the human shields criticised by Simon have stayed in Iraq, and the Christian Science Monitor describes their turmoil. Human shield Phil Sands sums it up nicely: “In a way, it’s unfortunate … because in this case my goal - stopping the war - coincides with the goal of someone else [Mr. Hussein], whom I don’t want to be supporting.” Indeed.
For a somewhat more balanced view than mine, read the whole article.
Posted by Rob Fisher as News at 12:02 PM EST
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An article at Seth Finkelstein’s Anticensorware Investigations shows how an unthinking mob got Google to blacklist a page containing nothing more than a somewhat sick joke. Somehow the idea has set in that the blacklisted page is illegal. What’s remarkable is how moral panic about paedophilia paralyses people’s brains. Of course, this is not a new phenomenon.
Posted by Rob Fisher as Links at 11:56 AM EST
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The Alan Bown Set Before and Beyond
