BuzzMachine
by Jeff Jarvis

May 31, 2003

How to make fishwrap
: Matt Welch has a wonderful column about the newspaper biz post BlairBragg in the National Post (datelined Los Angeles, I should add).
He argues that newspaperpeople are more upset about BlairBragg because they (read: we) put it on a pedestal more than readers in most of America. Guilty. I love and admire the Times. That doesn't mean I always like it. The paper has become terribly overwritten lately, with writerly writers spending paragraphs showing off before getting to the point, which just wastes my time as I try to figure out what the hell a story is trying to be about. I've never said the Times is perfect, but it is damned good.
The problem isn't liking the Times. The problem, Welch points out, is emulating it in the wrong ways.

Almost every newspaper that views the Times as a role model... is a local monopoly in a less liberal city. Chances are, it will equate success with such Timesian yardsticks as Pulitzer prizes, and (in the immortal words of Rick Bragg) the ability "to go get the dateline."
Amen, brother. I've said here before that if I ran a paper, I wouldn't enter any contests. The only contest we want to win is the fight for the attention and affection of our readers. And the way to win that is to be useful, not to write 1,000-inch show-off thumbsuckers. But I say that such mondostories are born not of Times envy but of conference bragging.
Welch sees a silver lining in the cloud over West 43rd Street:
As importantly, the bulk of this navel-gazing is happening in public, giving readers a rare, transparent glimpse into the sausage-making minutiae of newspapering. A week ago, if you had asked 10 Americans about the journalistic significance of the word "dateline," nine probably would have said "that stupid entertainment show on NBC."
Perhaps. But the risk is that all this will make newspapers even more boring -- not only in their new sense of what's safe but also in their reflex to write reflexively, about themselves. Please, no.
Welch's money graphs (as we say in the news biz) are these:
Newspapers, in theory at least, are attempting to help their readers become as educated as possible about their city, country and institutions. Luckily for everyone, the World Wide Web has enabled consumers these days to have an unprecedented ability to consume, debate and, most importantly, repackage their own news, from nearly infinite sources across the globe.
Every person who has created a current-events weblog -- and there are tens of thousands of them, at least -- has been forced to write headlines, weigh the veracity of sources, select an appropriate mix of stories, avoid running afoul of libel and copyright laws ... basically, to make many of the decisions that are familiar to editors everywhere.
This has created a revolutionary level of reader sophistication, one that savvy newspapers will eventually recognize as a valuable source of feedback and potentially bottomless reservoir of distributed intelligence. If a newsroom uses the post-Blair level of scrutiny to strengthen practices and improve the product, these people will be the first the notice.
Right. We saw that during the war and not just on the Web but also on TV, as new tools gave the audience instant access to news as it happened or allegedly happened, including front-row seats at previously press-pass-only briefings. The audience had to learn, as reporters and editors have long-since learned (or should have), that you can't take the first word as the true word; you have to see how things shake out; you have to ask more questions; you have to doubt.
And so here's my money graph:
The Times represented the pinnacle of an old news business and it was taken to be as true as it gets because it was the best we had. But now we have something better and that's not more newspapers (or weblogs): It's more information, more up-to-the-minute news, more of it in the audience's control. And the audience will have to learn that news isn't easy. Nobody does it perfectly, not even the Times.

Put down that pen, Penn
: All I have to say is, this guy needs an editor!
I kept trying to read Sean Penn's full-page, type-crammed ad in yesterday's New York Times but it was so badly written, such a drone, and so full of Penn that I gave up.
See whether you have more stamina than I do.
Here's a PDF of the complete Penn screed.

Pincer movement on Iran
: Not only is the right -- that is, the White House -- putting pressure on Iran, but so is the left.
Here's a Manifesto for Iran signed by Noam Chomsky, Costa Gravas, Edward Said, Harold Pinter, and other leftie lights for the International Committee for Transition to Democracy in Iran:

...we hold that the peaceful transition of Iran to a democratic republic, free of all interference by religious authorities in the affairs of the state, would enable the decisive forces of the society—such as wage-earners, women, the youth, university students and professors, who have demonstrated their democratic will over the last six years— to play the principal role in the destiny of their country.
Iranian blogger ba2k publishes email from Said saying that he did not sign the petition and from Chomsky saying he did. The blogger is shocked that the group did not find a single Iranian to sign its petition.

Are you ready for your closeup, Miss Diaz?
: There is an evil side to technology. This from Television Week [via Lost Remote]:

Cameron Diaz is beautiful, right? After all, the green-eyed blonde has been a regular on People magazine's list of the most beautiful people in the world.
However, the magazine's editors-and most of the Western world-do not have a high-definition TV. If they did, they would see that Diaz's face is spotted with small pockmarks, the unfortunate consequence of a longtime acne problem....
When seen on film, Diaz's skin imperfections are not noticeable, thanks to Hollywood's talented makeup artists. However, with HDTV, the picture is so precise that the acne damage cannot be hidden. In a high-def broadcast of Charlie's Angels on HBO, Diaz looks like a different person. She's still very pretty. But to be very frank, I doubt that she would make People's most beautiful list.
I am writing this not to discount the considerable charms of Cameron Diaz. But the story illustrates the impact that HDTV is having on the Hollywood glamour machine. As stars run for cover-literally-the industry is searching for new makeup techniques that will combat the evils of digital television. With high-def now in fewer than 6 million homes, the problem is under control. But if new solutions aren't found-and millions more get HDTV, as expected-the technology could change our perception of who's beautiful and who's not.
: UPDATE: Ken Layne adds:
I've seen the HDTV screens in various sizes, and I have to agree it makes even an attractive person look like a grotesque, makeup-crusted whore on the wrong side of 50. Nobody needs to see anybody that goddamned close up in such perfect detail. I can be nose to nose with a living human and it will never compare to the horror of a three-foot-tall pixel-perfect Mike Wallace face.

He's not anti-American; he just prefers flame-broiling
: I just came across a page from the European TV show Arte with a quiz: "Are you anti-American?" (in German or French). The first questions: "Do you sometimes go to McDonald's?"

May 30, 2003

.IQ
: Baghdad's first postwar Internet cafe opens, offering access for only $1/hour.

The Salam Pax litmus test

: I'm getting fed up with people ascribing their own opinions and world views to Salam Pax -- or to what is being said about him on blogs or in print.
If you dare to criticize him, says one view, then you're clearly a blind war-mongering rightie who won't admit the trouble America is having postwar in Iraq.
If you dare to value him, says the other view, then you're clearly a blind anti-American leftie who won't admit to Saddam's evils and America's success.
I've been called all of the above in my comments and even in IM and I'm tired of it.
It's all just camel poop.

Let's remember that this is just one guy -- one smart, articulate, brave, privileged, and haughty guy who happened to be the only witness to war in Iraq who could tell the world what he saw and what he thought online, taking advantage of this new and heavily gehypt thing called a weblog. Because of that, he became pseudonymously and deservedly famous.
But now, because of the way media works (and, yes, because of the way he's working media) he is risking overexposure before we even know his name. But more to the point I'm making, he is becoming a symbol that takes on whatever shape the speaker wants. Without even knowing it, he's being used.

I've tried to stay somewhat neutral and even-handed about Salam because that is, in fact, the way I look at him -- I value and respect him and what he has done, but that doesn't mean I also can't criticize some of what he says (as I do with many of the bloggers to whom I link!). But people keep assuming what I really think -- based, of course, on what they really think. So I end up having to give my Salam Creed every time I write about him, but apparently I have not done that well enough.
So, if you give a damn, here's what I really think:

1. I have always believed that Salam Pax is real and in Baghdad.
2. I value his weblog and I'm glad he has been writing it and continues to. He has a helluva story to tell and he tells it well and we're lucky to have had anybody there telling it. I would read his book. I would watch his movie.
3. I don't know enough about his background to conclude where he fit into the bad old days. The online columns about him and his privileged position are convincing as far as that goes. But I still don't know where he really stands and so I think trying to criticize him based on what he really thinks is impossible until you know what he really thinks.
4. I think he is getting a bit big for his britches now, which is both the fault of the media attention he has been getting and also his own fault for what he says and how he says it sometimes.. He has an attitude and it's getting grating.
5. I think he should reveal his name and his family history and his positions and stop hiding behind his nom de blog. He no longer has to fear Saddam or fear his father's wrath over his lifestyle (though, of course, that doesn't mean there aren't other forces to fear in Iraq). Still, revealing himself is the only way to stop people assuming who he is and what he thinks -- and assuming the worst to fit this agenda or that.
6. I agree with those who say he is to glibly critical of the American effort. You can't say that you're against Saddam and want him out and then try to easily slough off the sacrifice and work of those who did it for you. Yes, I'd say he's ungrateful.
7. On the other hand, I agree with those who agree with Salam that the American postwar effort has problems. The first problem, in my mind, is that the expectations were set too high. Of course, things can't be all fixed up and democratized in two months! What a ridiculous presumption! But then again, we'd be in better shape if we showered the people of Iraq with the fruits of capitalism and democracy right now; it would only pay dividends in the region. So we're not doing the best we can do. And that's not an anti-American position.
8. Finally, as I've been saying again and again, what we need in Iraq now -- what Iraq needs -- is more voices, more viewpoints. We need Iraqi weblogs written by individuals who are now free to say what they think, individuals of all sides. That is how to plant and water a democracy.

The reason Salam Pax rose to fame is because he was the only one there doing what he was doing. The reason he is becoming such a matchstick now is that he is still the only one doing what he is doing.
I urge him to find others to join him online; that will show that he is generous with his knowledge and open to a free future and willing to contribute his expertise to help build it.
So that's what I think, if you give a camel's ass.

: UPDATE: I see that Glenn Reynolds left a wise comment on the topic at a post below. So you don't have to go digging, here's what he said:

I didn't find Salam's post especially over-the-top. And I think he's very honest, and not at all over-the-top, in saying that things are better, but he doesn't know how they're going to turn out, and he's angry about some stuff that's going on.
From here it's easy to say that of course there will be problems. And of course there will. But living with them is something else.
I've said all along that I didn't think Salam was an agent of influence -- though of course I couldn't know -- because he didn't seem to do a very good job of pushing a useful ideological line for, well, anybody. His dad's obviously an even bigger shot than we thought. Now he seems to be doing well in the occupation, and if Salam were a sellout, the obvious move for him would be to be singing the praises of America all the time now, and explaining his earlier negative posts as self-protection under Saddam. He's not doing that. That suggests that -- while he may be wrong about stuff, of course -- he's honest.
As for the intemperate response to email -- hey, he's just getting the loads of crap that we bloggers out in the non-war-struck world have had a chance to adjust to gradually. God knows what I would have said if I had suddenly opened my mailbox to find today's typical collection of love- and hatemail by the hundreds, with no buildup.
My advice to Salam: put up a Paypal button. One person who sends you fifty bucks makes up for a lot of assholes who call you names.

Gehypt
: Netzeitung, the German online newspaper, interviews Thomas Burg, the organizer of the BlogTalk conference in Vienna, and we see this wonderful exchange (don't worry: you don't have to speak German to enjoy the joke):

Netzeitung: Werden Weblogs zu sehr gehypt?
Burg: Nein, ich denke zu wenig.
Translation:
Netzeitung: Are weblogs over-hyped?
Burg: No, too little, I think.
Don't you love it: Gehypt. What a great verb for our age. It's the Gawker of verbs. I was with a bunch of people last night and told them about it and they all started using it, as in: Madonna's too gehypt.

Salam updates
: Note that Salam is back today with a new post and, boy, is he pissed.
He'd better get used to controversy -- especially now that he's writing for the Guardian.

: Nick Denton is offering to help Salam get a book published. I emailed him sometime ago also offering help. I suspect he doesn't need it. He's media-savvy and he got himself a Guardian gig. I'll just bet the movie negotiations are going on right now.

: Says Ken Layne:

There's no doubt Salam is a guy who lived pretty well in part because his family wasn't a vocal enemy of the regime. But dead guys post no blogs.

I'm suffering from blog elbow
elbow.jpg: Just got back from the doctor; annual physical-humiliation day. One of my complaints is a sore spot in my right arm; it limits my movement; it can be very painful. (And, yes, I'm a hypochondriac and a complainer.) Doc said it's tendonitis.
I couldn't think of what caused it until I returned to the office and talked to my real doctor, Coach Hauck, who explained that tendonitis comes from repetitive activity. So here's what came out:
(1) I've been blogging a lot more during the war. (So you could call it my war injury.)
(2) I've been blogging from the couch, now that I have wi-fi. (So you could call it wi-fi elbow.)
But you put the two together and it starts to make sense: I'm holding my right arm in a certain angle because the laptop is on the lap and my lap is on the couch and I'm holding it in that position more than I would if I were merely typing because I'm doing a lot of trackpad mouse-moving and a lot of clicking: I'm blogging.
Thus, I suffer from blog elbow.
I'm calling the New England Journal of Medicine.

: Update: Glenn Reynolds is in worse shape than I am.
We're going to found the Home for Old Bloggers.

Salam joins the Guardian
: The Guardian's story on Salam Pax has run at last -- and with it the announcement that starting next week, Salam will write a fortnightly column called the Baghdad Blog for the Guardian (under what byline, we wonder?).
The story says surprisingly little, tells us nothing new, does not dig into Salam's stories or opinions, and does not identify him (only saying that Salam is his real first name).

There is a shocking edit in the story. The Guardian quotes the story of the Guardian interview from Salam's own blog but deletes choice words -- as if we're not going to look at the blog and find this dubious edit.

Blog version:
A day before that I sold my soul to the devil. I talked to Rory from the Guardian.
Look, he paid for a great lunch in a place which had air-conditioning and lots of people from foreign. It was fun talking to him but when Raed saw me after “the talk” he said I looked like someone had violated me. So there is a bit of guilt. But that was washed away with the cool air-conditioning. Yeah, I am cheap like that. I would sell my parents for a nice bottle of wine.

Guardian version:
A day before that I talked to Rory from the Guardian. He paid for a great lunch in a place which had air-conditioning and lots of people from foreign.

What the hell?

May 29, 2003

How to blog
: Heiko Hebig points us to a super primer on how to blog using Movable Type, out of Tokyo. So when you are asked, you now have an answer...

Tools
: 20six, the impressive weblog tool that started in Germany and then started moving west is now in Britain, which means it's now in English.

Chance, the blogger
: I'm struck by all the quoting and dissection and analysis and argument over one young man who suddenly has the ear of media big and small just because he was at the wrong place, Baghdad, at the wrong time, in a war, and he had the connections that let him start a weblog and speak to the world.
But reading more of Mark S. Meadows' interview with Salam Pax at Tekka (someone put a link to this part in the comments), I'm struck by the rhetorical meandering in unsuccessful search for a point:

I asked him, "What are the Americans pushing for?"
"Bigger markets. Politics. Soft Drinks. Making sure they will be successful -- financially successful. How could one nation have such influence on the whole world? These days you have to please the USA to make sure your country succeeds. I don't know… I don't know what they are pushing for. But they've been pushing since before the Cold War. And now these things are starting to spring back. Consider Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia… and now Iraq again. These things are backfiring. Iraq and Iran went crazy: the wars and the ideologies. The media do this to a large degree, and the media will backfire too. "The Global Village" … what stupid words. There is an implication of equality in this idea of "Village" but there is no equality. None."
Huh? Try parsing that paragraph and then please translate it into English. It's jibberish.
The problem is not that he said it, but that we asked to hear it.

And now read this (my emphasis):

I ask Salam, "How do you deal with something like this -- with cultural imperialism?
"Well, you need to know how to manipulate the media. Media is an American tool now. The Americans think that they are the only people making television shows and music and news. But more and more people are learning how to use these tools. Then suddenly these people use your tools against you. We are now learning how to get what we want to say on your TVs. If Iraq is not on the TV we are out of the American consciousness. Consider Afghanistan: if it's not on the TV, then let it rot. Osama bin Laden is an expert at this. He drops every now and then just a little note, just a few phrases, to al-Jazeera or whoever. Just to let you know he's still there...."
Well, he's making much more sense here because he's talking about a subject he knows obviously quite well: manipulating the media.

I've been wondering why he's really keeping his identity secret and I'm coming to believe that it is a very cagey media strategy, the essence of his media manipulation. It gives him control of his spotlight.

Before you start accusing me of either attacking Salam Pax or buying his line, save your keystrokes. Nor am I attacking him for manipulating media; it's your right to try to manipulate the media about you. And I'll still say I was glad to have his voice from Baghdad before and after the war; better his voice than none.
No, I'm simply marveling at this media moment.
What made Salam Pax interesting was his place and time. But that time has passed. And yet we keep asking questions and listening to answers because he remains mysterious and because he's still the only game in town. It's morning-show syndrome. We'll keep asking until we get tired of him or until we hear new voices.

New York, on drugs
: The smoking ban spreading slowly across the globe is having an odd impact in Holland:

EUROPE’S Mecca for marijuana users has suffered a sobering shock. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, the infamous Dutch coffee shops can still sell joints, but their customers will have to go outside to smoke them.
The Netherlands’ new national health guidelines were aimed at second-hand smoke from tobacco, not marijuana. Due to take effect next January, they are fiercely contested by Dutch restaurateurs and bar owners. But they are also threatening to drive a stake into the heart of the liberal Dutch drugs policy.
Yes, we know the affect of that second-hand smoke.

At last
: It took Muslims killing Muslims to bring earnest condemnation and discussion of suicide bombing but at least it is happening. See this at Alt.Muslim:

But the power that suicide bombing brings with it is intoxicating, and as recent attacks in Morocco, Chechnya, and Saudi Arabia have shown, the line between civilian and combatant, Muslim and non-Muslim, has been all but obliterated. (Even Muslims celebrating the Prophet's birthday in Chechnya found themselves a target.) Now that the carnage of suicide bombing is claiming more Muslim than Western lives, scholars who were silent about (or even approved of) the use of suicide attacks are trying to put the genie back in the bottle. "Bin Laden's war is not with the US," said Abdulmuhsin Akkas, a member of the advisory Shura Council. "It is against the Muslims and the Arabs. Bin Laden's form of Islam is a violent way of life, and the Riyadh bombings showed us that." Open debates about Wahabbi schools that "breed extremists" appeared in the Arab press. Even jailed leaders of the Egyptian Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya (Muslim Brotherhood) called the recent terror attacks "religious mistakes." But even a march of hundreds of thousands of Muslims against suicide bombing might not be enough to halt the bloodshed, as the tactic is spreading to new countries, genders, and targets.
Yes, just how will the genie be put back in the bottle? Can it be?
Katie Couris asked former Israeli PM Ehud Barak this morning whether suicide bombing will end even after peace with Palestine; there's no answer to that, not yet.
It is an evil coming out of the Muslim world today and it can be stopped only by widespread condemnation of the act and its supporters (including, I will repeat, Yasser Arafat). They must be repudiated the way a war criminal is.
Germany was deNazified. Iraq is being deBaathed. The Muslim world must be de-terrorized.

: See this, too:

Al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, warned Monday that Muslim rage does not justify suicide bombings, such as recent deadly ones in Riyadh and Casablanca.
"These savage and blind attacks have terrified the whole Muslim world ... and are in clear violation of many Islamic principles," Al-Azhar's theological research committee chaired by the institution's top cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, said in a statement.
"Taking Muslims' sentiments of frustration and injustice in other parts of the world" to justify attacks "is erroneous," the committee said.
It's a start.

Blogopoly
: Aaron Brown reports it first: FCC to restrict blog ownership.

Salam Pax interviews
: I can't find the comment that tipped me off to this but Boar talked to Salam Pax in Baghdad and here's his take:

actually, its not just that he's kind; as his father told me, salam has been doing this at risk of his entire family. his dad didn't find out about what salam was up to and if, prior to the regime's fall, the wrong someone had found out, heads would have rolled.
this is part of the reason salam's a good man; his freedom means something to him. he and i had a chance to talk in the middle of the mobile media empire named The Sheraton Hotel, Baghdad. we were surrounded by the mass media neither of us trusted. it was a good talk. Salam, like Ghaith, is smart, alert, and watching the distant waters of the US for ripples that will, when they break on the borders of iraq, bring problems. and he's smart enough to be ready for it. and smarter, still, to know how to use this energy to his own benefit.
salam unpacked for me the finer points of using media against imperialism, of what it means to speak iraqi arabic these days, and how important it is that americans take the time to familiarize themselves with cultures that aint theirs (noting that its even more important for non-americans to famliarize themselves with Amerika..)....
: Tekka, an online magazine, also says it has an interview. But you'll have to pay $50 to see it.

: Salam Pax said on his blog that he did an interview with the Guardian. Haven't seen it yet. Wonder why.

May 28, 2003

Blah-blah-blog
: Chuck Olsen, video Boswell to the bloggers, puts up a long snippet from our time together (gawd, I do go on) about blogs, journalism, and democracy.

Moving day
: Jim Treacher moved, into a much nicer house. I saw Puce helping him haul boxes.

Oh, Insty? Insty? Where are you, Insty?
: Glenn Reynolds isn't quite back up yet. The electricians are still working on his server. I envision his server being as big as a 1930s locomotive and they have to get up a big head of steam before he's back. But he will be back, chugging down the track...

: Glenn wonders how many were reading his backup. Well, in a matter of hours, it got to #16 on Blogdex.

Outting God
: Just as my servers went down this morning, I found this story that I couldn't blog. Damn, that hurt:

JESUS was gay – the University of Queensland gave $51,000 of public money to a PhD student to reach that conclusion.
Melbourne-based Rollan McCleary, who will today be awarded his doctorate, earned $17,000 a year to work on his three-year thesis on homosexual spirituality.
As well as his revelation about Christ, Dr McCleary has also reached the conclusion that three – or possibly four – of Jesus's chosen disciples were also gay....
Dr McCleary also believes that gay people find it easier to be Christian. "You don't have to be gay to be Christian, but it would be easier," he said.
Gay people, he said, were "looking for the ecstatic", sometimes in harmful ways, but were more inclined to be visionary and open to the transcendent.
He said Jesus's astrological chart, clues in the scriptures to which the churches had been blind and accurate biblical translations had all played a part in his conclusions. "The starting point is the matter of John, who always referred to himself as Jesus's beloved disciple," Dr McCleary said....
Hooboy.

: I thought Australia was the land of tough he-men. First they have Jesus singing show tunes (starting with Jesus Christ, Superstar, of course). And now we have this from Down Under: Limp-spined sports stars who, their coach fears, will off themselves if they're off the team:

THE Matthew Capuano sacking affair took extraordinary twists yesterday when Richmond offered the ruckman a lifeline and Mick Malthouse suggested mid-season axings could lead to suicide....
Collingwood coach Malthouse warned the public humiliation could leave players emotionally traumatised.
"We do not want to be one of the sports who has the first player dropping off a bridge or swinging from a bridge," Malthouse said.
Jeeesh.

Feels so good when it stops hurting
: I share the same host as Instapundit and we've both been down today as our host suffered a fire alarm that shut down the power.
Weird feeling: I saw things today I wanted to blog but couldn't.
I was blogagged.

: If anybody sent me email today -- to offer me great riches -- I probably did not and will not get it. Please resend.

The Dowd diss
: Even Gawker is piling on Maureen Dowd:

I find Dowd's column encouraging on some level because if Maureen Dowd can have a column, anyone can have a column. But I can't read it without desperately wishing I could have those seconds of my life back immediately afterward.
dowd_new.jpgbrown.jpg: By the way, were Maureen Dowd and Blair Brown separated at birth... or do they just share the same '80s hairdresser.... or will Brown play Dowd in the movie of the Times? (And that's your cue, bloggers: cast the Times movie now.

Iran
: Wired.com covers the BlogTalk conference and comes away with the story of Iranian bloggers.

Q&A
: Q: Why do you blog?
Der Schockwellenreiter: Because I live.

May 27, 2003

You want to talk media bias?
: Dateline: Baghdad:

The director-general of the controversial Arab satellite television, Al Jazeera, has been sacked, a spokesman for the channel has confirmed.
His dismissal follows allegations he worked with Saddam Hussein's intelligence services.

Dialogue
: Pedram replies to my post below replying to his post about Iran, Iraq, Israel, and America. See also the spirited comments in both places.
I won't respond to Pedram's response; it's late and after a heated charity trustees meeting, my brain is done to a crisp.
But I will make one important point and note it well:

Here is a discussion about the hottest hotbed of issues on earth: the Middle East. It comes from an Iranian and an American -- two peoples who have not, let's be honest, trusted each other for decades. The discussion is passionate and pointed and honest.
Yet the discussion is also almost entirely respectful and civilized.
That beats what you'd hear on the street here or there, or on editorial pages across the world, or in the seats of power, or in the U.N. And -- pardon me for turning this into another damned self-referential blog about blogging -- but I think this is to the credit of weblogs as an medium. Weblogs are interactive -- moreso by far than print or broadcast -- but in a more civilized way than, say, forums and that's because we all own and care for our little corners of this world. I have my little plot of media land and I ask you to respect it as you ask me to respect yours. And so what could turn into a flame war -- or, in the real world, a real war -- instead becomes an effort to find some understanding or at least education.
No, weblogs are not going to bring us world peace and harmony. You can put away your tapes of It's a Small, Small World and the Coke song.
But weblogs across the world can create bridges and in this world, that's something.
And that -- to continue my neverending plug -- is why I want to see weblogs in Iraq, so they, too, can build bridges.

A happy ending
: Will at A Minute Longer reports from a mission to pick up truckloads of mail for our soldiers in Doha. The story has two happy endings -- first, getting past a bureacratic lieutenant and then:

The happy ending came on the drive home. Matt was riding shotgun, and a civilian SUV pulls up alongside us with a female driver and 5 girls, the oldest one around 12 and the youngest maybe 6. Matt is an incorrigible flirt, and those little girls didn’t mind waving and pointing and giggling when he started making funny faces and goofing off. It was the first time I’ve seen anyone local to this place smile, and the fact that the mom driving the SUV slowed down so the kids could play along was a good sign. Maybe the next generation won’t grow up hating Americans, thinking that we’re devils and warmongers. Maybe the next generation will remember that we’ve all got little kids in us, and we’re just looking for a reason to goof-off and play. That the real reason we came over here was so that little kids can be little kids, and grown ups can let their kids grow up safe.

Women in Iran
: Steppenwolf, an Iranian blogger, gives just three examples of the issues facing women in Iran today.

: Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the Times of London reports:

RELIGIOUS police in part of Pakistan have been granted authority to enforce harsh Islamic laws that have been modelled on those imposed by the Taleban in Afghanistan.
Since a United States-led coalition toppled the Taleban regime, thousands of Islamic fundamentalists have crossed the Afghan border to find refuge in North West Frontier Province in Pakistan.The area, which is under the control of the Islamic alliance, has now begun to look more like Afghanistan under the Taleban than a part of Pakistan.

The Internet returns to Iraq
: Glenn Reynolds points me to this story about efforts to bring the Internet back to Iraq. Next: Weblogs, lots and lots of weblogs.

Wieners
: David Weinberger got to Vienna and got the sillies.

The terrorists are coming! The terrorists are coming!
: Mike Wendland reports today on Priceline founder Jay Walker's brain dingleberry to put web cams on power plants and other criticial facilities so nosy web watchers can keep an eye out for evil masked men approaching to blow them up. Sign up here.
But...
How can you tell on a crappy web cam that somebody's suspicious or merely dressed like a union worker?
And by the time you see this suspicious person and notify somebody, isn't the plant probably already a smoking pile or rubble?
And if the bad guy can find the cam, can't he put bubblegum in the lense or hack it to show old episodes of Gilligan's Island?
And won't authorities be besieged by calls from crackpots like Gladys Kravitz spying on Elizabeth Montgomery? (That's a Bewitched reference, my children.)
This sounds like a remake of the remake of The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

The hawks on the net go bomb, bomb, bomb
bomb, bomb, bomb
bomb, bomb, bomb.
The hawks on the net ask what is next?
Let's bomb Ira'an
: That's my contribution to the new Open Brackets song:

The Lefties on the web go yikes, yikes, yikes,
what the f++k;
guilt, guilt, guilt.
The Lefties on the web go yikes, yikes, yikes,
all through the strife.

The browsers on the web say upgrade me,
flash, pop, crash,
404.
The browsers on the web say upgrade me,
Every other day.

And a contribution from a reader there:
The blogs on the web go me, me, me,
My witty remarks,
and my views on tee vee.
The blogs on the web go me, me, me,
the sucking you hear is their vacuum.

A camera, a blog, and a guy with a story to tell
: See what a guy with a camera can do when he has a web page (and no paper to pay for): Michael Totten gives us a tour of premodern, modern, and postmodern Portland architecture, including the ugliest building he's ever seen (which means he hasn't seen Jersey City).

All the news that's fit to print about all the news that's fit to print
: Having someone else do your reporting for you -- which is how Rick Bragg wrote a story from a Florida town without spending much time there -- is hardly a new or scandalous behavior in the news biz.
Every reporter you see on TV has a producer doing legwork aplenty -- and often even conducting the interviews (with the TV star edited in later).
The newsmagazines have armies of correspondents getting the facts for the stories written in New York (and whenever an editor wants to know something that's not there, they put a blank in the story -- a "TK" -- that is filled in by a researcher).
What Rick Bragg did was no cause for suspension or the sliming of his career. Says Bragg: "Those things are common at the paper. Most national correspondents will tell you they rely on stringers and researchers and interns and clerks and news assistants." And not just at the Times but everywhere in the business.

: If there's justice or taste in the publishing business (you're welcome for the straight line) no one will buy the book written by stinking liar Jayson Blair. It will have absolutely no credibility. But Times-haters will buy it and quote it and so someone will publish it.
Read Howard Kurtz' weekend story about the book proposal to see just how far up the ass a human head can go.

Blair says of Malvo, the alleged triggerman in some of the Washington-area sniper murders last fall: "The moment I began to see parallels between his life and mine was the moment things began falling apart." He writes of "how the frustrations of black men in this world can explode, crescendo into a huge rage that can manifest itself in some odd and sometimes unclear ways."
In the proposal, which was read to The Washington Post by a source not connected to Blair, the 27-year-old admits that he "really screwed up," "distorted the truth" and "embarrassed the New York Times and myself." But the dominant motif is one of anger -- hurling unsubstantiated charges of racism at the paper and promising to reveal the Times's "darkest secrets," which he says, without offering evidence, involve drug parties and one editor's affair with an intern.
Blair casts his story as one of "a young black man" told he would never succeed "by everyone from his white second-grade teacher to his editor at the Times, who rose from the fields and got a place in the master's house and then burned it down the only way he knew how."
He doesn't just play the race card. He plays the race casino. So black rage is an excuse for lying, cheating, sliming, and sleazing (and by extension to Malvo: murder)? No, there's no excuse for what he did. None.

: UPDATE: Late-breaking opinions..... Reading my comments on this post, I have a few responses..... I'm not saying that it's right not to credit stringer and other lowly souls. I'm saying that it is done everywhere and thus it's wrong to treat Bragg as if it is a sudden sin he just invented. It's not. It's standard practice. Whether or not it should be standard practice is an entirely different argument. But it's one in which Bragg should not be caught in the middle.... I need a copy editor to fix that last sentence..... Gawd, I miss writing with dots..... Stop me.....

: And on bylines: As I was saying to Elizabeth Spiers at lunch today... Andnow that she's a hot media property, that's quality name-dropping... Anyway, as I was saying today and now I'm obnoxiously quoting myself.... My own mother used to tell me about stories she'd just read in the Chicago Tribune and I used to have to say, "Yeah, Ma, I know, I wrote that." Reporters' own mothers don't notice their bylines. Thus, nobody else in the world could possibly give a rat's rump about Rick Bragg's byline....

May 26, 2003

Mattter, meet antimatter
: Heiko Hebig meets Haiko Hebig.

Germans, military snobs; Ukranians, military allies
: The Ukraine has agreed to send troops to Iraq to work with Polish forces there -- something Germany refused to do.

Compare and contrast
: The draft European Union Constitution is out. Compare:


: E.U. Constitution: Reflecting the will of the citizens and States of Europe to build a common future, this Constitution establishes the European Union, on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common. The Union shall coordinate the policies by which the Member States aim to achieve these objectives, and shall exercise in the Community way the competences they confer on it. The Union shall be open to all European States which respect its values and are committed to promoting them together.
: U.S. Constitution: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Did the European version lose something in the translation from the French?

: I find it telling that the Constitution "respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States." Why single out "churches?" Because there are not many synagogues left? Because they wish mosques would go away?

: Note that the Constitution has a sex quota (what about race and religion?): "Each Member State shall submit a list of three persons, of whom at least one must be a woman, whom it considers qualified to be a European Commissioner."

: The EU is going to have its own foreign minister. So what happens -- as happened lately -- when the nations disagree? Sounds like a mess. In any organization, somebody has to be in charge or no one is in charge. So who is it?

Member States shall consult one another within the Council and the European Council on any foreign and security policy issue which is of general interest in order to determine a common approach. Before undertaking any action on the international scene or any commitment which could affect the Union's interests, each Member State shall consult the others within the Council or the European Council. Member States shall ensure, through the convergence of their actions, that the Union is able to assert its interests and values on the
international scene. Member States shall show mutual solidarity.
Sounds as if they'll never decide anything. How convenient.

: "The Union and its Member States shall act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if a Member State is the victim of terrorist attack or natural or man-made disaster."
Bin Laden will test that.

: I'll be eager to read their bill of rights vs. ours when it's released.

Safe and sober
: Saudi authorities nab 60 kilos of TNT, 50,000 pieces of ammunition... and 64 barrels of booze. Given the pickle you're in, my brothers, I'd consider moving the alcohol police over to TNT duty.

DNC GPA
: Martin Devon at Patio Pundit grades the Presidential candidates' sites.

Iraq, Iran, Israel
: During the imprisonment of Iranian blogger Sina Motallebi, I linked frequently to Pedram Moallemian at Eyranian because he started the petition to free Motallebi (he also started a petition to "stop the hate" when he saw Nazi references on some Persian weblogs). He is one of a now-large group of Iranian bloggers I read daily and hope to get to know under the Tony Pierce dictum (below).
Lately when I've read and linked to Pedram's blog I've had a twinge of difficulty as he, more and more, makes anti-Israeli asides. On one level, of course, I accept that; everyone's entitled to an opinion, including opinions critical of Israel.
But two things have troubled me.
Today, Pedram takes me to task as a "member of the far right end of the political spectrum" (ha!) because I attack Yasser Arafat over his halfway condemnation -- and thus, halfway endorsement -- of suicide bombers. Arafat has murdered civilians and used his own people -- his own youth, for God's sake -- as weapons, as human bombs. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, Pedram, and mine is that Arafat is slime.
More often, Pedram attributes U.S. actions regarding Iraq -- and more to his point, regarding Iran today -- to the work of "the pro-Israeli group in Washington DC" and "hard-line American Jews."
Pedram, not everything is about Israel. Not everything is about the U.S. What this is about, in the end, is local issues of freedom and human rights and democracy and responsibility.
As for Iraq: No matter how and why we got there, no one can regret the disposal of Saddam Hussein's tyranny. That was vital for Iraqis, not Americans, not Israelis, but Iraqis.
As for Iran: I don't want to see us inserting ourselves into Iran, considering our troubled history there. But you want to see change, there, Pedram, for you you are involved with opposition groups. There is ample reason for change. And it is best if it occurs from within. This is not Israel's issue. I hope it does not become America's issue. It is Iran's issue.
I say all this in an effort to keep the dialogue going here in the Blogosphere. I've been excited to see bridges being built from person to person, country to country, culture to culture and I don't want to see them blocked and bombed through glib assumption and accusation. We're going to disagree; in fact, disagreeing is the best thing we can do so long as we keep on talking. So I'll keep on disagreeing with Pedram and keep on linking to him.

May 25, 2003

Changing the world
: With a paragraph's worth of clarity (next to a picture of a smart and pretty young women who has a weblog) Tony Pierce says it all:

this is the first time in mankind that people from all over the world, completely different people, can tell each other what its like to live where they live and do the things that they do.
why hold back?

Dateline
: NEW YORK -- Well, actually, New Jersey, but who'll notice? You can't fire me! It's only a blog. Only I can fire me.
Anyway, following up on the latest NY Times scandal, the dateline caper, in which a prize-winning reporter gets sent to detention for not staying long enough at the place from which he dateslines his story...
I know of at least one big newspaper in this country where datelines are meaningless: Rewritemen took the wires and whatever else was handy and wrote stories under datelines as well as their bylines without ever leaving the desk. I was a bit surprised when I first saw this, but it was SOP.

Curves
: Gail Armstrong's verse on the seven ages of breasts.

My avatar can beat up your avatar
: From MTV Europe comes a wonderfully stupid bit of Flash: Digital Protest, in which you can launch a stupid protest and people's avatars will join you on the picket line with their stupid signs. Among the causes: Bring back the 80s... Bush sux... Burn the SUVs... Computers is bad... Hate McDonalds... No more frozen pizza!... Smash capitalism!...

Homeland security comes home
: Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin on the aftermath of the law-school bombing:

...a group of agents from the FBI and ATF came to my house Thursday evening. This was my second interview of the day. They were utterly professional and polite. They did their jobs incredibly well. But the first words out of their mouths threw me for a loop.
"Professor, we'd like to ask you about some of your writings....."
For a second, just for a second, I thought: "Oh my God, John Ashcroft has finally sent them to round me up for all those anti-Bush op-eds I've written."
And sure enough, one of the agents put a folder on the table in front of me containing a copy of all my recent op-eds, downloaded from the Internet and neatly printed out.
It quickly became clear what was going on. They wanted to know if anything I had written might have enraged someone enough that the person might consider taking his or her frustrations out on the Law School. They asked me which of my recent op-eds had gotten the most virulent responses. They didn't seem to know about my blog, or indeed, about blogs in general (although perhaps they were just playing possum). I explained what a blog is and how it changes the audience for political writing, how the Internet changes the group of people who can react to what you are saying. They asked for an example, and I mentioned how one of my op-eds criticizing Bush had been picked up by the conservative site NewsMax and distributed to their readers by e-mail and on the Web as part of a special "Insider's Report." The idea, apparently, was to stoke up some resentment at what NewsMax called the "most demonic form" of the liberal academy, an "Elitist Yale Law Professor."

Losers
: A former adviser to former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl -- getting ready for the next campaign, clearly -- says Germany blew it:

Despite the announcement of plans to create a European army along with France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, Germany is less relevant in both European and world politics than it was before the Iraq war. Repairing the damage will not be easy. Every part of Germany's international position has been wounded by the Iraq war.

Now here's a punchline waiting for a joke
: From ArabNews:

PR Drive Planned to Counter Smear Campaign
RIYADH, 25 May 2003 — The Saudi Committee for the Development of International Trade (CIT) plans to invite delegations from Europe, the Far East and North America as part of a drive to counter negative reporting on Saudi Arabia and provide first-hand experience of life in the Kingdom to opinion-makers abroad....
Addressing concerns among the delegates about girls’ education, Dr. Fahad said that 52 percent of students enrolled for public education are girls.
Mr. Bahlaiwa said the delegates visited the Shoura Council, a hospital, a school and the industrial township to enable them to correct their perceptions about the Kingdom. During their visit, the Saudis were able to address their concerns relating to women’s education, living in an Islamic environment, and overcoming obstacles in the development of Saudi-British relations.

Yes, God is
: The best single gag in Bruce, Almighty: God's hat with a familiar logo: Yes, He is a Yankees fan.

On the road again...
: So the Israeli Parliament approves the road map, becoming the first Israeli government to utter the secret words Palestinian right to statehood.
This is good news, right? Even though we've been on this road before, via Oslo and Camp David. Sometime, there has to be good news. The world is due.

: Israpundit says...

Soloist needs choir
: Salam Pax has a new post up and I have one thing to say about it: We need more weblogs -- that is, more voices, more viewpoints -- coming from Iraq.

Strap it on, Yasser
: The way I read this: Yasser Arafat both endorses suicide bombers (or as al-Jazeera and I prefer to call them, human bombs) and supervises them.
He issues a statement telling them to try not to kill women and children.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has urged would-be suicide bombers not to kill Israeli civilians, saying it was "inadmissible to kill a child or a woman in a restaurant", an Arabic newspaper reported on Sunday....
In what he described as a message to "young people ready to blow themselves up", Arafat was quoted as repeating his longheld stand that "we oppose violence against Palestinian and Israeli civilians".
He then specified what he meant by civilians.
"The struggle against occupation is legitimate and I mean 'soldiers of the occupation'. It is inadmissible to kill a child or a woman in a restaurant or a cafe," he added.
Show us how it's done, Yasser: Blow yourself up.

May 24, 2003

New York justice
: The Soho House -- the new club/restaurant/hotel/spa imported from London that has a certain clique in New York all atwitter -- has rules:

2. Should a member infringe the rules of Soho House New York or make him or herself obnoxious to another member or be considered guilty of misconduct he or she may be required to furnish an explanation to the disciplinary sub-committee.
Oh, the possibilities are rich. Imagine this:
TO: Disciplinary Sub-committee, Soho House
FROM: Tina Brown, member
RE: Obnoxious Gawker person
Please be advised that Elizabeth Spiers said means things about me on that thing she calls a blog. Off with her head!
Or this:
TO: Disciplinary Sub-committee, Soho House
FROM: Anna Wintour, member
RE: Obnoxious Gawker person
Please be advised to Elizabeth Spiers tried to talk to me on the elevator. No elevator for her!

So that's where he went
: Tim Blair is roasting fools on a new barbie.

BlogTalk
: Henry Copeland's BlogTalk presentation is up.
: Heiko (the one who can't read maps) has more pictures.

Cheeselovers unite!
: The Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung reports that the Germans now trust France more -- far more -- than America:

A new public opinion survey shows that Germans now overwhelmingly see France as their country's most important and reliable ally, with the United States having declined significantly in importance.
The survey, prepared by the Allensbach Institute of Public Opinion Research for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, found that 49 percent of Germans said France was their country's most important partner, compared to 17 percent for the United States.
...only 38 percent of the respondents said their country could “rely“ on the United States. Asked if France was reliable, 62 percent said yes.
This is, of course, a treasure trove of punchlines: Yes, Germany can rely on France not to fight when it invades.... Yes, Germany can rely on France to piss on America, too...
But this also clearly reveals a big change in post-cold-war dynamics. Note this, too, from the FAZ: :
German Defense Minister Peter Struck has announced the closure of nine military bases and made it clear that the future of the German armed forces lies in operations abroad, not territorial defense.
Germany and France now have no threats. They are surrounded by civilized countries that are members of their club. They don't need us. Well, they don't think they need us....

May 23, 2003

Liberal talk radio: I'm ready
: Thom Hartman reports at Alternet that liberal talk radio is coming from... drum roll, please... Clear Channel. Of course, Alternet smells a conspiracy here: Radio loosens up for the left only after media consolidation (read: deregulation) goes forward on June 2.
Nevermind that: If Clear Channel is looking for new voices (not old saps and sods like Phil Donahue), I'll bet they could find fresh talent right here among blogs.
And I'll stand in front of the line: A sensible liberal, not afraid to talk tough, not afraid to offend those who deserve offense, not afraid to support a war, even.
And I talk fast.

Troubled Times
: Chris Hedges, the NY Times reporter and antiwar-book author who gave the booed-out commencement speech at Rockford College, tells a radio interviewer that the Times is looking into his views:

Q: What has been the response of your newspaper, The New York Times?
A: Well, they're looking into whether I breached the protocol in terms of my very pointed statements about the Iraqi War. I mean, that's something that makes them uncomfortable. I don't think they have a problem with the book, because the book talks more generically about what war does to societies although it certainly does mention what it has done to us since 9/11. So that's something that they're looking at.

Bloomberg would die...
: ...at the sight and smell of this Iranian teahouse. [via Eyeranian]

daybyday3.jpg
Cartoon mullahs
: I've been remiss not linking to Chris Muir's Day by Day, the great online cartoon strip; Glenn Reynolds touted it to me long ago. My bad.
Here's today's strip making proper hay of Iran's blog-fearing mullahs (thanks to Pejman).

: And while we're at it, I have not seen any updates on arrested Iranian blogger Sina Motallebi in sometime. Hoder or Pedram: Please give us the latest.

SARS source?
: BWG reports that a Hong Kong scientist believes SARS may have come from the civet, an animal used for food and perfume in China.

We're in for a treat
: Longtime readers of mine will know that I'm a big fan of Rossi (just Rossi); I linked to all her pieces on 9.11; they all displayed strong voice and perspective and wisdom.
Rossi also writes about food and about her amazing life (Jewsweek ran a great piece about the time her parents dumped her on a Hasidic doorstep in hopes they could detangle this frizzy teen).
She has been writing her memoirs but has had a helluva time finding a publisher.
So now she's making the big mistake of following advice I gave here the other day and she's going to post her memoirs for us to read -- and this is the important part -- in hopes that a wise publisher will spot this new talent and great voice and decide to print it in old-fashioned paper for the world to read.
I'll tell you when Chapter 1 goes up. You will enjoy.

Dulling down
: Nick Denton adds perspective on l'affaire Blair:

Jayson Blair is an exception at the New York Times; his journalistic 'techniques' are standard practice among British hacks. And, if I have a complaint about the New York Times, it's not about accuracy; the newspaper's dull. Howell Raines was trying to jazz it up. Whether he stays or goes, his external critics and the inhouse reactionaries will be watching. The old, cautious Times used to be known as the Gray Lady. Welcome her back.

Virtual Wien
: I can't be at BlogTalk but I can sure read about it. Dave Weinberger has a list of BlogTalk blogs. Heiko Hebig has posts from the scene and pictures aplenty. Der Schockwellenreiter postet (is that the Denglish form of the verb?) auf Deutsch. PapaScott survived the drive. Hoder wowed the crowd with the vitality of Iranian blogs (and by the way, anybody have design work for him?). Martin Roell posted reviews of his talk (he'll also be at the upcoming Boston weblog conference). Lilia Efimova blogs aplenty. Maria Milonis told the group about weblogs in Poland (where, interestingly, 60 percent are women), reports Oliver Wrede (who has more photos). Here's live blogging in English und auf Deutsch. More from Azeem Azhar. And Dan Gillmor's busy.

bloggingthis.jpg: All this needs Project Lafayette to bring it together in one place.

: Martin Roell:

Favourite Quote: "The majority of bloggers feel better after having posted." Der ganze Saal lacht.
The whole room laughed.

: And here's the T-shirt they should all be wearing, courtesy of Dienstraum. In fact, all of us should wear them all the time. I sat next to someone the other night who heard me whine when the words "off the record" were used. "You bloggers," she said, "I have to watch out for you." Right.

Salam Pax redux
:
I will confess to being a bit coy about what I think of the articles about Salam Pax and about Salam Pax himself now. I didn't want to get caught up in the detective game of who-knows-what-when-where-how-why. But because there's now a discussion on the issues in my comments, I need to say what I think:

David Warren and Bryan Preston have used the evidence at hand to paint a convincing picture of Salam Pax's life that is probably accurate. He clearly is a child of privilege -- and in Saddam's Iraq, privilege and its source present an imposing moral problem. His grandfather, father, and other relatives are apparently connected with Saddam and the Ba'athists. Salam lived with more resources and less fear than other Iraqis. He is cheeky now and was even before the war. He associates himself now with antiwar or anti-American groups and snipes at us on his weblog.

I don't quibble with any of that. What I do quibble with in Warren's and Preston's pieces -- but really more in all the weblog chatter about them -- are the conclusions people are coming to about Salam Pax without knowing his full circumstances or his full views and certainly without knowing the man. And by that, I mean conclusions pro or con.

I still value Salam Pax's weblog before -- and after -- the war. I view it in the context of the times and circumstances and now, the man. But I'm still glad to have it.

Put it this way: If, in World War II, you'd had the chance to read the contemporary diaries of a son of, say, Albert Speer -- without knowing who he was -- would you have read them? Of course. Would they likely have been fascinating and informative even in view of the time and circumstances and relations? Yes. Would he have had a viewpoint? Naturally. Would we have to take everything he says with a grain of salt the size of Utah? We'd be fools not to. But we would read it and even learn from it.

I do not discard the value of Salam Pax's weblog because of his circumstances. I might discard them if I knew he were a war criminal and pathological liar but I certainly don't know that. I do know he is a witness. Preston argues that he's an unreliable witness. But some people in my comments point out, quite rightly, that a witness is not necessarily a journalist. This witness brings with him a viewpoint and baggage aplenty. But most any witness in that time and place would do the same. A weblog from a Shiite or a Kurd or an Iranian revolutionary would have just as much baggage. It's a proper argument, I think, to say that now that the war is over, Salam Pax should reveal his circumstances so we better understand his viewpoint but because he is gay in a Muslim country, that would appear to give him cause for continued anonymity. Still, if I met him, I'd press him to come out in more than one way.

Nonetheless, we need to get used to the idea of getting information from contemporary witnesses who have a viewpoint. Thanks to weblogs (and moblogs and audblogs and vlogs and all our new tools for publishing and communication) we are likely to have more witnesses to big events -- not just reporters -- telling us what's happening from the scene. And that is wonderful. All we have to do is know how to judge what they are saying in the context of their times and circumstances. I think that's what Warren and Preston are really trying to say: Take this witness with a grain of salt and we still don't know how big a grain because we don't really know him.

I'll take this one step further: This is precisely why I have been pushing to get more weblogs out of Iraq, so we get more witnesses with more points of view (and yes, more baggage). It is only through the airing of all this, at long last, that we will be able to get anywhere near the truth.

May 22, 2003

Why us?
: Norway asks why it was singled out in a screed from bin Laden's boy.

Cannibals v. pygmies
: When first I saw this headline in the Times of London, I thought it could not be real: "Pygmies beg UN for aid to save them from Congo cannibals"
But it is all too real and tragic:

“Pygmies are being pursued in the forests. People have been eaten. This is nothing more, nothing less, than a crime against humanity.”
More than 600,000 pygmies are believed to live in the Congo’s vast jungles, where they eke out a subsistence existence. Both sides in the war regard them as “subhuman”, and believe that their flesh can confer magical powers.
UN human rights activists reported this year that rebels had cooked and eaten at least a dozen pygmies.

Salam Pax, analyzed again
: Bryan Preston of Junkyard Blog dissects Baghdad blogger Salam Pax for the National Review Online. He covers pretty much the same turf David Warren did a week ago. They both conclude that Salam Pax is a privileged son of Ba'athist power in Iraq. But then they both go one step too far judging the man and his motives before knowing fully his stance and his role. Not saying that's right, not saying that's wrong, only saying that's premature. Preston concludes:

As a supposed insider, his opinions carry weight with his numerous readers in a way that official Pentagon briefings or U.S. press reports do not. They shouldn't, because those opinions still flow from his old elite ways, and from a lifetime of steep indoctrination in party thinking. He is interested in reworking the truth about the Baath party both to assuage his own guilt and to get himself a leg up in the chaotic new Iraq. But that doesn't make him an official agent of influence. It just makes him a quirky, iconoclastic Iraqi whose life of irresponsible leisure has come to an abrupt end. His anti-American spin reflects an unconscionable irresponsibility and an effort to save himself, and truth just gets in the way of that. Thus, he is an untrustworthy witness to history.
: Update: Bryan Preston has more to say in my comments.

Worse than spam
: Somebody I know just bounced my email to him with one of those "spam protectors" that forces me to click on something to prove I'm OK before I can send email.
Confidential to you-know-who-you-are: Nope. Not doing it. Pain in the butt. I'm not going to encourage getting scores of bounced messages like that from everyone I do know. I'm not going encourage my email being blocked and delayed. Nope. Not doing it. I tried to tell you something useful. But now you won't know what it was.

Old fool
: Molly Ivins:

Much as I hate to interrupt what is apparently a deeply felt triumphalism on the American right, now that it's over, does anyone see any reason for our having invaded Iraq?
I realize that's what we all kept trying to figure out before the invasion, but don't you think it should at least be visible in hindsight? Good thing we won the war, because the peace sure looks like a quagmire.
If I had the energy, I'd pull out the fisking knife and start chopping. But I don't and this is just too patently stupid to be worth the effort. You want a reason, Molly? Try staring into a few mass graves, for a start.

Out on top
: Gen. Tommy Franks is retiring.

Homelessness: the bright side
: I submit for your consideration Beer For The Homeless and Homeless Soccer (scroll down).

Free speech
: Lessig tries to muzzle Bennett on copyright.

Scorecard
: Ed Cone summarizes everything:

Mickey Kaus: Scrutineer is right that Instapundit is wrong that I am wrong; Jeff Jarvis is wrong that Instapundit is right that I am wrong.
Got it?

International relations
: Blogger and its new parent, Google, need to fix something: Hoder, who started the blogging revolution in Iran, reports that the new Blogger doesn't support unicode (which, I now learn, is a means of displaying no end of languages in browsers) and that means that the many Persian bloggers now using Blogspot can't. And that would silence most of them, for they are taking advantage of Blogspot because it is both free and anonymous. Hoder also reports that commenters in his Persian blog are paranoid about this, fearing that Blogger is trying to get rid of them.

: UPDATE: Good news from Blogger boss Ev in the comments:

We do support unicode. The new version is still in beta, so perhaps there's a bug with it, which we'll look into. But internationalization and character set support is much improved.
Pass the word.

Maybe SARS will have one positive impact on the world...
: ...people will stop spitting.

Open source entertainment
: I met someone yesterday who quit her profession -- the law -- to write a script -- the next Buffy! -- and so I asked the rude question: Do you have an agent? Her reply was a tired roll of the eyes: Not yet. But she knows some people...
Someone else I know has a pitch for a TV series, complete with trailer. Have you started taking it around? Eye roll. Not yet. But he knows some people...
Afterwards, I started thinking that if Hollywood had half a brain -- bets still out -- it would use the Internet and specifically weblogs to beneficially disrupt the inefficient and expensive system now in place to find its raw material, clogged as it is with agents and managers and executives and all their go-betweens, their people who know people.
Why not put that script online? Why not put the trailer online?
Now you might say that that's nothing but an electronic slush pile or perhaps a paperless vanity press. How does anything get attention? How does the gem rise above the lumps of coal?
The answer: The audience finds the good stuff and they do it through the magic of weblog links. The good stuff will get links and recommendations; the bad stuff will molder in a digital corner, ignored. And the best part of this is that these judgments are not being made by some cog isolated in an office; they're being made by your own customers, your audience.
This has worked with two novels I know of, one a thriller, one sci-fi. And it worked because a couple of clever publishers saw something no one else saw, got there first, and grabbed it.
Clever editors, publishers, producers, and execs need to bother to look in new places for new voices and new material rather than relying on the same hidebound network all their competitors rely on. That who-knows-who network is better suited for finding personnel than product (do you buy office supplies at Staples because you know somebody who knows them?).
If I were an editor of a paper or magazine, I'd find new writing talent on weblogs. If Tina Brown were an editor now, I bet she'd do the same; she's certainly paying heed to blogs.
This will work for books, scripts, treatments, and songs if creators put their work online and if the executives who control production and distribution let the audience do their work for them and point to the good and popular stuff (via Technorati et al). What happens if someone steals an idea? Then you have the proof online that you had it first.
All it will take is one hit found online for this to become the new darling of Hollywood.

Buddy buddy
: I went to a dinner/talk/network thing last night that was off-the-record, which is a good thing, because I think I called Jayson Blair "a stinking pile of lying shit," or something equally eloquent (and it had more impact after an allergic reaction to the strawberry tart occluded my throat and gave my voice the timbre of a really pissed of Harvey Fierstein).
Anyway, Eric Alterman was on the bill and I just want it on the record that we made up for our last awkward meeting and he was a gracious good guy. For the record.

: And, by the way, Jayson Blair is just a stinking pile of lying shit. For the record.
His interview in the Observer clinches it. He saw lying as some sport or as a waystation in his psychotherapy or, worst of all, as humor. Even in shame, he is arrogant. I look at him the way a soldier looks at a traitor, a cop looks at a crooked cop, an accountant looks at Arthur Anderson. Slime.

May 21, 2003

Yale bomb
: A bomb went off in the mailroom of Yale Law School. Nothing on any of the local weblogs.

: Let's hope, of course, that it wasn't aimed at a Bush daughter. Then we'd have news ripped from TV dramas.

War on terror and information as a weapon
: Iranian weblogger Khash Sajadi says

I don't see the Riyadh or Casablanca attacks as a sign of failure of war on terrorism or as prove of the theory suggesting war in Iraq will escalate suicide bombers. There has been many attacks on Western interests before the war in Iraq and will be for a long time. This is in the nature of Islamic fundamentalism to blame everyone else (western countries in the first place, if there isn't one, the "puppet" leaders of their own) for their own failures. Although I'm totally against Israel's policies in the West bank and towards Palestinians in general, but I can not deny the fact that number of Palestinians killed by Arab rulers in the past 50 years are still higher than ones killed by Israel. In my point of view, as long as the flow of information is limited by Islamic governments, it is easy to convince people the only way to get rid of the evil is to blow yourself up in a cafe. And again I doubt if America is genuinely keen to be peoples friend rather than rulers friend which means we have to get used to terrorism and be scared of everyone in a beach resort or restaurant.
Strikes me as reason to bring more news to Iraq and its neighbors in newspapers, on TV .. and on weblogs.

Oops
: The Presurfer has a headache:

I just switched from Blogger Pro to Blogger Dano, but it doesn't seem to work very well. I lost all the posts on the front page and my May archives as well.
I'm looking into this, so please bear with me.
And with Blogger...
: Oops II: Aaron Bailey blew up his Movable Type blog.
Bad blog karma today.

Danny Glover, ex-spokesman
: Danny Glover was just fired by MCI as its spokesman after a campaign against him by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, launched because, says a show's press release, Glover...

...called the president of the United States a racist, he blamed American policy for the murderous acts of September 11th, and he signed a petition comparing American soldiers in the Gulf War to 9/11 terrorists. He called America ''the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.'' And most recently Mr. Glover signed a letter of support for Fidel Castro.
Scott Baron among others complains that this is a blacklist.
But meanwhile, at a SunSpot newspaper forum, a reader says:

It is quite amazing that Mr. Glover complains about getting blacklisted for speaking in favor of a government that blacklists every single person who is against it. Mr. Glover has no idea what "very dark and very sinister means." As a Cuban having lived in Cuba all my life I know. In Cuba, all persons, from all walks of life who oppose the government are blacklisted. Dissenting carpenters, athletes, electricians, doctors, lawyers, farmers, you name it, are kicked from their jobs and given menial positions for the rest of their lives. Should Mr. Glover happen to live in Cuba and disagree with the government, right now he would be sweeping floors for a living.
The bottom line here is that we all need to stop being scared of free speech. Glover's a doofus. So's Scarborough. I've heard Danny Glover say many doofus things on TV; he's certainly not changing my mind about anything -- including MCI!
I wouldn't have fired Glover. I wouldn't have hired him, either.

: And then there's the Chris Hedges brouhaha. He gave what has been described as a Chomsyite antiwar speech to a Rockford College graduation and was booed offstage after 18 minutes.
Well, the college shouldn't be shocked. The guy wrote an antiwar book!
I'm not supporting what he said not am I supporting the mob boos.
I wouldn't have booed him. But I wouldn't have brought him either.

Hallo, Wien!
: I'm very sorry that I won't be attending the BlogTalk conference in Vienna put together thanks to single-minded hard work by Thomas N. Burg. What I regret most is that I won't be meeting my many German-language blogging friends. Work schedules got in the way (as, I'll confess, did war nerves at the time I had to make the decision). Damn. Well, I just wanted to send my good wishes to all the lucky participants. Blog well. And snarf down a Figlmüller Schnitzel für mich.

Conflict
: Reynolds is right (and thus Kaus is wrong) about Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz and his conflict of interest criticizing the media while in the media. First, as Glenn says, it's enough to reveal one's conflict and let the audience decide. Second, if he doesn't criticize the media in the media then who will hear him (besides bloggers)? Third, it's nearly impossible these days to live without a conflict. I was clothed in conflict as a critic and editor at both Time Inc. and News Corp. and, in the end, it came down to my own integrity and that of my own boss to maintain our credibility and careers. If you have Jayson Blair criticizing media in media, you'll get a stinking heap of lies. If you have Howard Kurtz, you'll get his honest view.

Advice
: Mickey Kaus has good advice for the Democrats on their Iraq stance:

Certainly the idea that Bush isn't capitalizing on our victory seems more salient at the moment than the Democrats' favorite charge--that Bush is somehow stinting on "homeland security."

Gun control
: As the war was underway and we heard reports that Saddam had handed out AK47s to his people like Bush hands out tax