Sunday, May 09, 2004

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Random Thoughts for the Day

Here The New York Times explains that the war has done little to hurt American brands. Isnt this interesting?

Second, to place on record this racist BBC article. The BBC website -- when it reports on the third world -- is racist in not very subtle ways. Perhaps, I should start adding to this blog whenever I notice one of these incidents. This particular article describes the elections in Bihar as follows:

"It has a reputation for violent and corrupt politicians, election fraud and an electorate that has largely abandoned hope. "
...
The only other woman in sight is an emaciated beggar, cradling a sick child.
Scruffy youths hang about aimlessly, leaning on each other's shoulders, teeth stained red with betel nut. "

Isnt that interesting. I wonder how this racist woman decided that the electorate has given up hope? A good measure would be to look at voter turnout. Now, we notice wonder of wonders that despite the fact that Bihar is infinitely poorer than the US and hence its much more difficult for people to vote, voter turnouts are higher than in the US. Looks like the Bihar electorate has more hope than the American electorate.
Second, she does not mention the rise of regional parties and oppressed castes obtaining some voice through elections. Compare that to the US with two indistinguishable big-business parties.
Third, even on technological grounds this Indian election has managed to do better than the US.

Now, this is not to deny obvious points. India is not a democracy, just like the US is not a democracy. But, as far as bourgeois democracies go, India is probably more 'democratic' than most first-world countries.
Of course, the BBC report tries to maintain the myth -- as my friend puts it -- that:

in all non-white countries, elections are a hoax, governments are corrupt, 'they' cant get their act together, so 'we' must help them by stealing their wealth.

Isnt that impeccable logic?

Thursday, April 22, 2004

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Maureen Dowd: frivolous racist

So, the gossip columnist for the New York Times spins out her usual frivolous attacks on Bush and then ends her column with this: "Soon, these people had the problem of the body language of more than 700 dead soldiers. Some persuasive non-body language is way overdue. "

Of course, we are to forget that probably more than 50,000 Iraqi people have died in this war leaving aside the question of destruction of their country close on the heels of murderous sanctions and the first gulf war that also killed 200,000 people.

Here is a letter I wrote to this woman:

Monday, March 15, 2004

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Monday, March 15th, 1984

This article in the NYT today reveals that the Bush administration used
actors pretending to be reporters in "video news releases" praising his
medicare reform (which puts more $$ in the pockets of drug companies) and broadcast as genuine news segments by local TV stations around the U.S.

What appears in print is one thing, but the airwaves are a
common good leased to operators and as citizens we have a say in how this
resource is used. To represent a piece of creative propaganda as
an actual news story over public airwaves, as some stations have apparently
done, is a crass violation of the public trust.

Privately owned media, such as cable, are not subject to regulation by the
FCC, which is one reason that certain folks are also working to privatize
the airwaves by allotting bandwidth to the highest bidder. Should that
nightmare scenario come to pass, we will all be pining for the days when
dollar-driven propaganda could still be distinguished from the truth!! For
example, see Buzzflash for a great transcript showing the media doing their job for once, catching Donald Rumsfeld
in a big fat lie.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

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A Tribute to Thomas Friedman

Thomas Friedman's latest column, "The Secret of our Sauce" is so exquisitely silly that it merits a full blown tribute to his singular genius.

Here are three articles cataloguing his contributions to contemporary discourse:

Outsourcing the Friedman by Naomi Klein in the Nation.

Friedman's Education: Tommy Boy Pats Some Good Little Indians on the Head by Mickey Z. on Z-Mag.

and an oldie but goodie:

The Mixed Metaphor Madness of Thomas Friedman by Matt Taibi in the NYPress.

These three articles are also archived here if you click on this link.