Posts Tagged ‘telling the truth’
Silence and the abandonment of moral leadership
Wow. Following President Obama’s decision to publicly release the long form of his birth certificate to address Republican crazies, conspiracy theorists and cynical opportunists (or all three like Donald Trump) I read a brief essay by Clarence B Jones which, like others since, squarely placed the hallucinatory ‘controversy’ in racist territory … and also echoed […]
Compulsory ‘uncovering’ of sin
I read this article last week with a shudder. A mother has been jailed after her conviction for child neglect: A mother who knew her partner was sexually violating her two daughters has been jailed for a year for failing to act, in an unprecedented case of child neglect. So, effectively, this individual has been […]
Carumba! Scott Adams defends himself using sockpuppet? Yes.
From the ‘Huh? Wha? Dang!’ files and following on from my post: ‘Is it worth dishonestly defending a reputation? No.‘ It’s emerged that Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, has slipped into the same category as property spruiker Sean Wood — using an anonymous sockpuppet to defend himself from criticism/discussion online. (OK, Adams is not quite as […]
That was ‘not intended to be a factual statement’
Spin doctors for this nincompoop junior senator from Arizona Jon Kyl afterwards excused his blatantly false statement (Abortions are ‘90%’ of what Planned Parenthood does — actually 3%) on the Senate floor with a line: ‘That was not intended to be a factual statement’. Oh boy. Nutty. Which, of course, rightly, is like candy to […]
Is it worth dishonestly defending a reputation? No.
‘Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.’ – Oscar Wilde . Reputations — good and bad — are a topic we discuss here at thePaepae.com from time to time. I’m interested in hearing what you think about it (…if anything). Watching the chickens coming home to roost on some of the […]
Reliable sources. And not-so-reliable
After my comments this week about the need usefulness for ‘new media’ operators to have or develop a ‘traditional’ media sensibility, I pulled out my copy of Salisbury’s Without Fear or Favor and reacquainted myself with this great book about the NY Times. It’s like everything: Where you put your focus is where you produce […]
Shaun Stenning schadenfreude
Despite what some may suspect, I’ve never been big on schadenfreude and, as noted, I despise grave-dancing. So … I feel some concern for the collateral damage inflicted as it seems pretty clear the wheels are falling off the Shaun Stenning wagon train. In the last few days several of his former business partners, associates […]
Overcome the past by FACING it
This article (below) from The Guardian‘s ‘Comment is free’ site reminded me of the wonderful, uplifting movie The Lives of Others which featured the late Ulrich Mühe in the role of a world-worn East German secret policeman whose job it was to bug a playwright’s apartment and report on the goings on. I won’t spoil […]
An insight into sociopaths and liars
This quote, from an excellent Tom Junod piece in Esquire on Murdoch’s Fox News Gruppenführer Roger Ailes, says a LOT about the trouble with trying to shame the manipulative, or liars and con artists … The pundits, the professors, the professional journalists, the left-wingers, the tree huggers, the liberal blogosphere, President Obama — they all […]
Paradox
I’m big on perceiving paradox and contradictions, quoting the already oft-quoted Walt Whitman from his Song of Myself: Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.) I see this everywhere. It’s OK. And I acknowledge that if I reach for the comfort/licence of that philosophy (which I do) […]
Uncovering the Scientology cult and its practices
Writing in The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright gives a comprehensive and illuminating account of the cult known as the Church of Scientology. His article is a follow-up the controversy surrounding writer/film director Paul Haggis’s public defection after 35 years as a Scientologist. I quoted Haggis’s resignation letter with its core message: ‘Silence is consent … […]
Quite a lot of wannabe Hemingway
Oh zing! From Ed Vulliamy’s The Observer piece about WikiLeaks publishing US State Department cables re the background of the Egyptian — gee, what do we call it? Uprising? Revolution? Riots? Julian Assange: ‘How do you attack an organisation? You attack its leadership’ Julian Assange … has been up all night disseminating, on his WikiLeaks […]
Bad scene in Egypt — round up the usual suspects
A crackdown on the truth often starts with rounding up the journalists… images from Huffington Post. + UPDATE 5/2/11 Bugger!
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
I had the opportunity for a long face-to-face discussion with Dean Letfus yesterday, as earlier forecast. For those of you who haven’t met him, let me say first off I find Dean an intelligent, personable chap, with good communication skills and a sense of humour. (I’ve never subscribed to the ‘Say no good thing about […]
Oops. False pretences?
Nothing to do with spruikers! Wall St Journal: CCTV Tries to Pass Off ‘Top Gun’ Clip as Military Drill? Chinese netizens are accusing China state broadcaster CCTV of repurposing footage from the movie “Top Gun” for use in a news story about an air force training exercise. Take a look:
