On The Third Hand

Warblog Archives

Friday, 18 Jan 2002

If you are in Kabul, golf has some rather unusual hazards. The people in Kabul might have a tourist attraction there, for those who like to live dangerously. They'd do much better; though, if they'd serve beer at the 19th hole.

• The PC statue has been scrapped. This is good news, I never thought a statue of a flag-raising was a good memorial for the heroes who went into the towers. Let's have a memorial acknowledging their bravery and self-sacrifice, and not a memorial honoring the flag. It's a great picture, of a very American sentiment, but it's not suitable for a memorial.
• "It is unrealistic to believe that ever again, a plane full of passengers will sit quietly when someone tells them, 'Sit quietly. Everything is going to be all right,'" said Patricia Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants. Ma'am, you got that one right on the nose. I hereby declare you and the other flight attendants official Bellicose Women, because you went and made your own guidelines, without waiting for "the officials". Bravo.
• Exploding chips could foil laptop thieves. I love it. Steal this computer, and it becomes totally useless. Great idea. And I'm damned glad al Qaida computers didn't have these chips.
• Kabul Session. Scientific American has discovered that some of the terrorists were reading them. They have very kindly authored a tutorial to help those terrorists who might be slightly deficient in scientific knowledge. I hope the terrorists will learn a lot from this very informative article.
• We are freezing the detainees in Cuba. Or so they say: "He said that in the US army prison in Cuba, the Afghan Taliban were kept like wild animals in 6'x 8' outdoor cages where they were exposed 24 hours to rain and freezing cold winds at night and the only concession allowed to them was a mat to sleep on, if sleep was possible with the bright lights blazing down on the cages throughout the night. " That is some real media slant. I do agree about the lights, but freezing in Cuba? I checked the weather forecast for today in Guantanamo. It is supposed to get down to 74F (23C) -- I don't think they will be very uncomfortable, especially since they have recently been surviving the 'brutal' Afghan winter.
• Collectivism Kills. I'm mulling this one...

Glenn Reynolds says: "A READER WRITES that there's something not-quite-right about this story. I'm inclined to agree, though I can't put my finger on it." It's a story about the Egyptian student who was falsely accused of having an aviation radio in his hotel room.

The student is being very forgiving, and accepting of it all. He doesn't seem to want revenge (though I think his lawyer would like to sue). He seems to want to forget it and get back to studying. He's a sensible and cool-headed computer-nerd type. I think that is exactly what both Glenn and his reader find not-quite-right. I think there is a bit of subconscious stereotyping going on here, we have been focusing so much on the victim-oriented types and the screaming fanatic types that we forget that many people in many places would just like to 'get on with it'. Personally, I think there is something very right about that article. However, the US government does owe the man an apology, in my opinion, and an investigation on just how that radio got into the student's room. Strikes me that there is something very much not-quite-right in that.

Thursday, 17 Jan 2002

Kudos

My previous rant was inspired by The Kolkatura LIbertarian's excellent post regarding cultural integration (which gave me the term I wanted) and Fred Pruitt's comments on PC culture having 'no senzayuma' (page down a bit). I've been looking for a word (or phrase) to describe what I see as multicultural, and couldn't quite come up with one. Suman Palit did that, and gave a perfect explanation of what I see as truly multicultural activity. Fred Pruitt's post just got my bellicosity index up; I agree completely with his comments about the PC war on humo(U)r. (Sorry, couldn't resist making a bit of fun of the Brit attachment to that unneeded 'U'... nasty e-mails expected...). Many thanks to both of them, for making me think.

[Digression] I think that humor is one of society's social lubricants. It can be insulting to individuals and cultures, and it does tend to stereotypes, but that is exactly why it is useful. Say that I'm upset at a man who is British. I can bloody his nose, or I can tell people a bad joke about Brits that reinforces a stereotype that has something to do with why I'm angry. Say, for instance, that he's been whinging constantly and it's driving me bats. I can punch him or tell the old one about 'How do you know a plane full of Brits has just landed? The whining doesn't stop when the engines shut off.' Yep... that is stereotypical... and insulting... and it saves him getting his nose bloody, because I've just redirected my anger to a chuckle. You may say it perpetuates stereotypes, but I don't really believe that all Brits whinge constantly, and that joke still diverts my anger from one who does. It's a way of letting off steam, and I honestly think that restricting humor, even not-so-nice humor, makes people more likely to blow up.

Reclaiming my native language

I adore English, and I'm terribly tired of seeing it misused.

I'm not talking about other English-speaking countries. The differences in usage are funny enough that I have fallen on my fanny laughing a few times -- it's just lucky I wear my fanny-pack closer to the Brit/Aus fanny than the American one, or I'd have crushed the darn thing. I've been known to blandly announce that it's too hot for me to wear pants when there are Brits in the area, and I'm wearing a dress (and chuckle to myself at the raised eyebrows and attempts to look). I'd direct an American who wanted to 'blow a fag' to the nearest gay bar, and hand a Brit a cigarette and lighter. I enjoy differences in language.

I am not fond of the grocer's apostrophe (words pluralized with an apostrophe: apple's, pear's, etc.). I'm not fond of confusion of 'it is' with 'its' (it's = it is). But I'll wince and carry on when I see that sort of thing. What really gets me upset is the hijacking of words for political purposes. Here are some of my pet peeves:

• Racism/racist: A racist judges people primarily on the basis of race. A black who judges others on the basis of race is a racist as much as a white who does the same. That includes those who judge their own race on the basis of race. Anyone who says only whites can be racist is a racist. Got that?
• Sexism/sexist: Same idea. Women can be just as sexist as men.
• Multicultural: This should mean a multitude of cultures; I'd very much like to know how it came to mean 'I respect your culture, you ignore mine'. A multicultural culture should be inclusive, not exclusive. It should integrate, not segregate or assimilate. The US (and the Anglosphere) is multicultural in that sense. We have been incredibly enriched by integrating other cultures into our own, just as my beloved language has been enriched by all the words adopted from other languages.
• Almost any politically correct term. I'm short, not height-challenged -- and I'll bite the kneecap off anyone who uses nonsense terms like that in my presence.

I'm taking back my language. From now on, I am going to call a spade a spade, not a gardening tool. Furthermore, I'm going to tell as many politically incorrect jokes as possible, and laugh at the ones directed at me (because I have always found them funny). In short, I'm starting a revolution. Would anyone like to join me?

Wednesday, 16 Jan 2002

Prisoners

Despite my previous non-serious post, I am a bit worried about the way the US is treating prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Especially in the area of "trials". We need to prove to the uncivilized world that we are civilized. We need to rub the noses of those in the civilized world who consider us uncivilized in the same fact.

I'm not particularly worried about shaving heads and beards. I once caught head lice from a housemate who worked with children... I'd happily shave my own head to get rid of them, if I had no other way. The only other option the military had to delouse them would have involved the prisoners standing around for about a half hour -- in winter -- with wet heads and beards. I think that would truly have been inhumane. As for the cages, Cuba is a tropical country... it's likely those cages are more comfortable than an enclosed room.

However, despite the fact that these people are dangerous fanatics, I do think there should be some attempt to give them some privacy and some comfort. There needs to be a bit more balance here; the treatment they are getting now will only make them more determined to become martyrs. Admittedly, even housing them in a 5-star hotel might get the same reaction, but there is always the chance we could throw them off-balance if we don't act like 'the Great Satan'. At the very least, we'd force the American-haters to find something else to whinge about.

Short Stuff

• I've been a misfit all my life. Should this idiot writer worry about me flying a plane over to England and into the Guardian building? I'd nominate this for the Sontag Award if Andrew Sullivan hadn't done it already.
• Glenn Reynolds has a new motto. It's a good one, too.
• Regarding the article from which Glenn got his motto, all I can say is that I think that one really does need some 'discipline'. He seems to be getting a bit too hysterical over what he considers a 'weird self-referential cyber-culture of warmongers'. Now... where did I put that riding crop?
• Shooting Kills 3 at Virginia Law School. Students subdued the gunman. The one thing the attacks did change in America... we've stopped yelling for help and started fighting back. I hope the trend continues.

Tuesday, 15 Jan 2002

• An entirely appropriate rant on Pseudo-Feminist Weenies by the Inappropriate Moira Breen.
• The United States said it was investigating reports that an American citizen had been kidnapped in Afghanistan [link via Fred Pruitt]. Well? Why am I not hearing updates on this today?
• If you get an e-mail notice to update your MS Outlook, don't do it.
• I've hung around expat enclaves too; though in a different part of the world. Aside from the fact that I also knew some who were anti-American from the conservative side, Matt's got it right. He's also correct about the fact that we all need to rigorously challenge our own assumptions. And about.... oh, heck... just go read it.
• Saudi royals better to work with than alternative. This guy does have a point, but I think we need to find another alternative.

Monday, 14 Jan 2002

• Andersengate by William Safire (link requires free registration). The big scandal in Enron is in the field of accountancy. Don't let anyone tell you anything different. I was once a CPA, and I tell you three times... Arthur Andersen messed up big time. The Bush administration did the proper thing. Ok? Now let's go blog something interesting. I hate accounting.
• Teen Pilot May HaveTargeted Fla. Military Base. Good example of headline hysteria. He asked where the command center was, but never went near it. It's also a good example of editor's bias. The teen pilot's name is known, there is no reason to keep mentioning 'teen' unless you disapprove of teenagers flying.
• Al-Qaeda plans death on a golf course. Another interesting headline. The videotape mentioned shows them planning death damned near everywhere. The Times is upset about the golf course idea. More interesting stuff: ABC in the US doesn't mention the golf course at all. Let's not frighten the golf tourism industry!
• Glenn Reynolds says about airport security: "The more I think about it, the more I think this is a clever Bush Administration plan to make the airline screeners emblematic of Big Government, thus discrediting the notion for all time." I wish he were right, but I think the Bush Administration likes big government.
• I missed mentioning the Pundit Watch yesterday. In fact, I missed blogging anything yesterday (sorry!). If you haven't read Pundit Watch yet, go and do so.

Iain Murray has reappeared in Blogistan after being missing and presumed deathly ill for several days. He has just written an article about the death penalty in the The American Enterprise Online. (Imagine him neglecting blogging to write a magazine article for mere money.) From talks I've had with Brits and Europeans in the past, I'd say he's got it 'spot on' why the European and British governments are against the death penalty, and refuse to extradite to the US unless we agree not to use it. He also makes some very interesting points about the European governments.

If anyone has been having trouble understanding why they go a bit gaga on the subject, his article gives a very good overview. I have my own question; though. Just why is the US government so set on refusing to say "ok, we won't kill them"? Surely it would be better to have these terrorists in our hands, where we can at least give them life without parole. Leaving them in European hands may mean they will get a few years in prison and be set free. On a purely pragmatic (and probably evil) note, there is a good chance that incarceration in a US prison would be a death sentence anyway. Even our prisoners don't like certain crimes -- that is why Manson has been in solitary confinement for most of his life.

I'm not personally in favor of the death penalty, though not for reasons given by most. (I'm very much in favor of it when it is administered on the spot by the intended victim or victims.) I've got several problems with it. The biggest problem is the number of people who have been found innocent after many years in jail. There is also the fact that it costs more, between appeals and long incarcerations on death row, to kill someone than to imprison them for life. The third, and probably nastiest, reason I don't like the death penalty is that I consider it much less kind to lock someone up for life than to kill them.

If I were the US government, I would quit trying to fight the European 'morality', and just promise that they will not be sentenced to death (with no comment about what fellow prisoners might do). If we chose to get those prisoners extradited; though, we better make damned sure we try them in a state that allows life without parole.