Archive for October 2009

‘Celebrity bullshit’

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

In my last post I wrote:

For instance, regularly the mainstream media subordinates climate change stories to what newspapers editors clearly think are more important issues - these issues can range from ‘celebrity bullshit’ to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

A perfect, crude example of such a thing occurred today.

At 11am this morning, the BBC News front page appeared like this:

screen-shot-2009-10-28-at-1121161

How, I asked myself, could anyone think that Barbara Windsor quitting EastEnders is as important as “Six foreign UN employees and three Afghans” being killed. How could anyone think that the EastEnders story is of the same calibre as that of a car bomb killing scores of people in Peshawar, Pakistan, and therefore put the two stories on the same page?

As Bruce Jones said on Famous, Rich & Homeless, “society is fucked up”. Clearly the BBC is quite ‘fucked up’ too.

Iraq vs. Iran

If I was to moralise the BBC News site’s front page, the first recommendation I might make is that they replace the EastEnders story with a story that The Guardian newspaper covered on its front page today: Iraq goes nuclear with plans for new reactor programme.

Photograph from Guardian article

According to The Guardian, the news in brief is that Iraq has approached France, the UN, and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to obtain nuclear power. Why this is a notable story, of course, is that Iran is ‘not allowed’ to have nuclear power. Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether Iraq is or is not ‘allowed’ to have nuclear power. When I say ‘allowed to’, I don’t refer to IAEA rights or international agreements, nor do I refer to moral law or economic practicability, but I refer to Western elites’ comprehension of a just world order.

If Iraq ends up with nuclear power, then an overt, crude case of hypocrisy will have developed. If they do not end up being allowed to have nuclear power, it will be very interesting to hear the elite’s justification for denying Iraq’s right. After all, the puppet government of Iraq was instigated by the USA. Iraq clearly isn’t a threat to national security since thousands of American troops are still in Iraq, parked there in psuedo-permanent military bases.

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Nothing matters if you are dead

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

One philosophical question that always crops up on my mind is: can you ‘rate’ pain? Although, I am still not convinced either way, I do think that it’s fair to say that if you’re dead, nothing else matters, and therefore, we can say that the right to life is an important and supreme one.

In the context of political issues, I ask myself, should we rate political issues with importance? I have arrived at the conclusion that, yes, of course we should and we should judge importance as being based on the severity of the human suffering involved.

Climate change

In June I wrote the following:

I’m ‘progressive’, but not so much so that I think huge global temperatures changes are acceptable. Nothing is more essential than the world around us. The environment capacitates the fundamentals of life.

I stand by this.

We are told that about 4 billion people out of the current world population of about 7 billion will die as a result of the climate catastrophe that we are en-route to. The truth is that the surviving 3 billion will mainly be the rich in the West, I would like to add.

If we judge the severity of the issue of climate change in terms of potential human suffering that is due to arise, it does seems that climate change is the ultimate issue of our time - for the 4 billion people who would pay with their life, death would be the ultimate affliction.

Earth planet in hand by fire

Reality

I am not advocating that we forget all other issues and focus on climate change solely, of course. However, I believe that climate change simply isn’t on the agenda enough (in government and in the media) as it should be. For instance, regularly the mainstream media subordinates climate change stories to what newspapers editors clearly think are more important issues - these issues can range from ‘celebrity bullshit’ to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. 60% of articles in mainstream media newspapers are brought into existence as a result of government’s actions - press releases, public announcements, chamber debate, and Westminster rumours.

But I ask you…

What of foreign policy in a world where more than half of the population have been killed? What of human rights? What of transport and education? What of gay rights, women’s rights, minorities’ rights in a world where 4 billion people have vanished?

It seems to me that these issues would be dwarfed in comparison to the catastrophe that would have shaken humanity if we continue on our current course.

Death in New Orleans


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Fair Dealing Doctrine

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Some of my videos contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorised by the copyright owner.

It has been made available for noncommercial, educational and informational purposes only.

It is believed that this constitutes a ‘fair use‘ of any such copyrighted material as legally provided for in the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (§§ 29, 30, 178) and in the US Copyright Act 1976 (§107).

Copyright law permits fair use exceptions

Copyright law permits fair use exceptions

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Iran in The Times

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Yesterday’s The Times newspaper featured this article on its front-page, entitled Iran could make an atom bomb. I urge you to read it while bearing the following in mind:

  • Israel has one of the largest armies in the world, already has nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and routinely breaks international law. In fact, the USA gives Israel many of its nuclear weapons. Why is Israel’s neighbour, Iran not allowed even to have nuclear power? Is it because it is the only resource-rich Muslim state not in US control left in the world?
  • The whole article has been prompted into existence by a leaked intelligence report. Do you not think that this is ridiculous? This is the same sort of ‘intelligence’ that was actually believed by some people and indeed led to the illegal occupation of Iraq and the death of 1 million Iraqis and thousands of Western soldiers.

  • How is it that The Times can just perpetuate the paradigm that Iran is not worthy of nuclear power but others like Israel are? It devotes no words to a debate on whether Iran ’should’ ‘get away with’ having nuclear power.
  • Israel has nuclear weapons that can reach any part of the world. Yet, regarding the range of different nuclear weapons, all we hear is how “Iran has done extensive research and testing on how to fashion the components of a nuclear payload to be delivered by the Shahab 3, a medium-range missile capable of hitting Israel and parts of southern Europe”.
  • Why does the article feature many quotations from people like Obama’s National Security Advisor, but there is only one quotation from an Iranian person? The only quotation from an Iranian person is from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s Supreme Leader who apparently said in 1984 that “a nuclear arsenal would serve Iran as a deterrent in the hands of God’s soldiers”. The article attacks Iran and villanizes it. Yet the only quotation from an Iranian person is not from a politician, it is from 1984 and features the word ‘God’. If you don’t believe that Iran is our new target, in part, because it is a Muslim state, think seriously about the significance of this being the only quotation carried from an Iranian person in the entire article, and that it features a religious point.

If you want something to counter the mainstream warmongering, try getting your news from somewhere like The Real News Network.

Thanks for reading.

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