Great. Another idiotic piece in The Observer about freedom of speech. I know journalism is a terribly taxing profession in terms of those mental faculties, but really, how hard is it to see the difference between people using Twitter and blogs for online organisation, even if that organisation goes against some other person - the insane stupidity of Jan Moir, the inane hipsterism Max “Daddy Got Me This Column” Gogarty - and a government banning certain people’s opinions. Idiots like Catherine Bennett - like, oh, Andrew Brown, Madeleine Bunting, Inayat Bunglawala - is why I don’t buy the Guardian anymore. If the Graun wants me to read again, get their opinion columnists to take an introduction to logic and have ‘em read “On Liberty”. The anti-Jan-Moir people are exercising free speech - by pointing out how wrong she is, they are doing their part in the great marketplace of debate and free expression. Call it a mob if you like, I call it democracy.
Speaking of crap newspapers, The Independent reckons that copyright law doesn’t apply to Flickr photographs. Which is an interesting take on “all rights reserved”.
Jaron Lanier’s recent discussion on NPR On Point is interesting, as is Dave Winer’s Corporate media is the problem. I’ve got a long piece about my thoughts on similar topics (especially the crapness of social media), but it’s been sitting in my Drafts folder for about two years now.
Correct misperceptions of non-theists and help Haiti victims
If you’ve got some spare cash, go donate through Non-Believers Giving Aid. There’s a long persistent lie that the religious have a monopoly on charity and goodness. Every dollar you give to help the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders through NBGA helps Haiti and it helps refute said pious windbaggery. This won’t stop people from questioning said motives.
It’s really simple: this campaign, beyond helping Haiti, is about being a necessary corrective - about correcting public perceptions and the claims of religious apologists. But, of course, how justified this is will be ignored. Meanwhile, the many religious pseudo-charities which exist only to push specific religious messages will not be covered. Read, for instance, about how the Scientologists cynically deploy their ‘Volunteer Ministers’ who used September the 11th to promote their bullshit “touch assists” and anti-psychiatry campaigns. Read about Operation Blessing, Pat Robertson’s very cynical ‘relief’ charity. Look at George W. Bush’s change to the rules on international aid - reversed this year by Obama. Everyone uses charity cynically. And no bad thing either. If people have a competitive spirit, get them to compete on who can help most. That seems like a perfectly fine thing to do.
Speaking of Pat Robertson, here is a way to respond to his shit. Call up his freecall 800 line and tell them what you think about his views on Haiti (or 9-11 or gays or anything you like).
