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RSS FeedOctober 6th, 2010
Constitutional Right of (Hate) Speech at Funerals?
Regarding Westboro Baptist Church’s Anti-Gay Protest (pic on left): This isn’t really a protest against homosexuality (which can at least be understood as a values related discussion or criticism). Rather this hateful, provocative and disgusting action is just a manifestation that their religion does not teach love, compassion or tolerance. These people passing judgment on others are in for a shock when they go through the gates.
I am also wondering (and this is purely out of curiosity) – since these protesters can go and protest something at someone’s funeral, why don’t they go and protest at the Dupont? Are they somehow trying to say that dead gay people are bigger sinners than li
ving ones? Or is it simply that at Dupont no one recognizes them anyway and the entire protest fizzles out, with people spilling over to Starbucks and Caribou Coffee?
One reasonable explanation is that the Westboro Baptist church is extremely jealous of the Florida Dove World Outreach Center and pastor Terry Jones, and this is the only outlandish event that will get the required attention without being labeled as creativity-challenged copy cats.
But perhaps even trying to find a rational explanation is misplaced, and their hate speech needs to be countered with this placard.
October 4th, 2010
Tiririca in Sau Paulo – “It can’t get any worse” :-)
Amazing story: “No joke! Illiterate clown triumphs in election“. An entirely honest approach and (hopefully) no over-promising attitude – what is not to love about it. 
Tiririca’s humorous slogan: “It can’t get any worse”
Tiririca’s promise: To do nothing more in Congress than report back to them on how politicians spend their time. “What does a congressman do? The truth is I don’t know, but vote for me and I’ll tell you.”
Clowns as politicians – who would have thought?
October 3rd, 2010
Commonwealth Games 2010 – New Delhi
Ok, finally the Commonwealth Games 2010 are on the way in New Delhi. This is the first time India is hosting an event of this magnitude since the Asian Games of 1982. The media frenzy that preceded the event notwithstanding, the opening ceremony seems to have gone very well and the first videos on Youtube have started appearing.
I feel bad to have missed the opening ceremony, but as far as I was able to read, the conch shells from India, the Tibetan ‘Dung Chen’s and various other musical instruments have left a great impression on the people who witnessed it.
So, what do we make of all the media hoopla leading up to the event? There is a strange case of media bias. Many of the atomic complaints that the media highlights were all true – things lagged, schedules slipped, etc, and the problem isn’t really in reporting that – that is what the media is here for. The bias starts becoming apparent however, when the next day, the same exact information is repeated as “news” with the only addition being perhaps of a quote from one other person. So, the feeling is that the news agencies have to keep a focus on the chaos that existed before. Having found nothing today, they need to keep stretching the ghosts of yesterday. And if some day turned out to be good, the media simply doesn’t have to report it, turning its attention to other important matters of the universe. This is all subjective however, and if it weren’t for a very repetitive pattern, it would really be fine.
CNN takes a different take. It begins with the very neutral headline: Commonwealth Games begin in India “amid security”. One might ask, as opposed to what? Did CNN expect a free movement of people across the parliament, the presidents house and the capital with no security in place. Did the Olympics begin in Beijing (or even in pre-911 Atlanta) without security? Which part of the title is the news?
And then, don’t even get me started on the BBC. I stopped being its reader back when BBC stopped being anti-India covertly (and became overtly anti-Indian). Incidentally – on that note – BBC still hasn’t found any further details on the “gunmen” of 26-11, although it continues to end every piece on India with the standard 3-sentence paragraph about the 3 wars with India’s western neighbor. That’s really great for about two kinds of readers – those who have in coma for about 64 years, and those who want to have 3 sentences for every country so they can get on the big boss or some other reality show. It meets BBC’s agenda of always hyphenating India so that it doesn’t challenge UK’s rightful place (as what, I don’t really know). [I routinely get some emails from UK readers - something like "Please stop equating BBC with UK!" - and I always tell them the same thing - "I cannot distinguish, because BBC is FUNDED by the UK - it isn't just a UK company."]
Anyway, back to the games, the medals tally can be found here: CWG 2010 Medalls Tally.
October 1st, 2010
Facts and Information
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Mark Twain
Every day some or other news comes about that says “Car sales highest in one year!”, “Unemployment at lowest point in 36 years!”. And this, and that! For one thing, almost all of those facts are true. For second, they are also ridiculous misrepresentations. (Unless of course you happen to be reading National Enquirer, in which they are all false but serious representations.)
This doesn’t happen just in the media and news (although, media has the first right to blame due to its power). I came across a recommendation about a candidate: “One of my top 25% students in last 16 years.” So does that mean you had to go back 16 years so that he would squeeze into the 25%? Was he not the top 25% of students this past year?
By amrinder | View this Toon