May 2006 Archives

media and name-calling

The WACC newsletter today gives a clear example of corporate media promoting a social discourse of misunderstanding.

The newsletter states:
"Thus we find that Western leaders are typically reported without adjectives preceding their names. George Bush is simply "US president George Bush". Condoleeza Rice is "the American secretary of state Condoleeza Rice". Tony Blair is just "the British prime minister".

The leader of Venezuela, by contrast, is "controversial left-wing president Hugo Chavez" for the main BBC TV news. (12:00, May 14, 2006). He is as an "extreme left-winger," while Bolivian president Evo Morales is "a radical socialist", according to Jonathan Charles on BBC Radio 4. (6 O'Clock News, May 12, 2006)

Imagine the BBC introducing the US leader as "controversial right-wing president George Bush", or as an "extreme right-winger". Is Bush - the man who illegally invaded Iraq on utterly fraudulent pretexts - +less+ controversial than Chavez? Is Bush less far to the right of the political spectrum than Chavez is to the left?"

Well said.
Adán

E-marketing

This is too funny. Paul links to this spoof site that mimics exactly what most business are doing now. I find this to be the case with financial planners, managers of mattress outlets, insurance providers, most of the people I've had to deal with in the last month.

The site could not be more accurate as a reflection of what goes on in business and in community. Last night the final episode of "Boston Legal" ended with James Spader lamenting to Captain Kirk "are we becoming la-la ?" I agree with him that la-la land has spread to our entire country.

Games and Wine

I want to save this link from Mary so that I can share it with seminarians and priests who are inventing new ways of i-pod publishing.
The link is the story about the seminarians who won first prize for a game design.

Also, I've received lots of questions about the mystery friend who wrote about wine and the enjoyment of Spirit. Sorry that I did not identify him. He is David Morgan and he wrote:
"There's something immensely important about certain forms of pleasure. I'm thinking of wine and cigars and chocolate. But one might argue the same of gardening and running and all forms of art. These kinds of activity exercise the embodied registers of value that connect us to the physical universe of mammals and bodies, but also articulate the realm of spirit, that is, the domain of culture that is characteristically human, and human in its best form. When we engage in embodied forms of knowing we change our relationship to the universe. We affirm it, but we also somehow transcend it, by which I
don't mean we travel to heaven and leave the world behind, but add to the physical universe a level of being that is our species' task to make and contribute. Spirit is about stretching language to touch taste and feeling and memory and fragrance."
am

Art Car Parade

This annual event has grown from a funky small parade on the north side of Houston to a major cultural event in the downtown area. thank goodness it is still funky. I'll be there, leaving now.

favorite books

Paul is listing his top 10 books on media, religion and culture and featuring favorites picks from others.

The Yes Men

Last night I saw "The Yes Men" documentary on the Sundance channel. It is hilarious. These guys actually succeed in impersonating World Trade Organization Personnel at trade conferences. They arrive at the selected conferences and after being greeted formally, obsequiously by the conference organizers, they proceed to make a bogus WTO powerpoint presentation.

They extol free market ideas, pushing them to their logical, hideously inhumane conclusions. Dressed in suits and totally straight-faced, they make the case for world domination beyond governments, beyond democracy, beyond morals. Example: Partnering with McDonalds, WTO will recycle human feces from people in rich countries and, after processing them, make hamburgers, at a cheap cost, for the poor countries. This is illustrated with an outrageous animation. Most of the conference participants keep taking notes, nodding. I gasped when I saw this.

Luckily, at a university gathering the students pelted the presenters in anger -- hurray for students.

The DVD is available for purchase. It's great.
am

This breath of refreshing news comes from Barry Creech.
Canadian musicians have organized have organized to make their voice heard about copyright and file sharing of music, and they are not in sync with the recording industries.

They say that "Artists do not want to sue music fans. The labels have been suing our fans against our will, and laws enabling these suits cannot be justified in our names. We oppose any copyright reforms that would make it easier for record companies to do this. The government should repeal provisions of the Copyright Act that allow labels to unfairly punish fans who share music for non-commercial purposes with statutory damages of $500 to $20,000 per song."

Let me know of the US counterpart to this group. I know there must be one or several.
am

It is the government’s responsibility to protect Canadian artists from exploitation. This requires a firm commitment to programs that support Canadian music talent, and a fresh approach to copyright law reform. Canadian music creators have identified three principles that should guide the copyright reform process.

1. Suing Our Fans is Destructive and Hypocritical

Artists do not want to sue music fans. The labels have been suing our
fans against our will, and laws enabling these suits cannot be justified in our names. We oppose any copyright reforms that would make it easier for record companies to do this. The government should repeal provisions of the Copyright Act that allow labels to unfairly punish fans who share music for non-commercial purposes with statutory damages of $500 to $20,000 per song.

2. Digital Locks are Risky and Counterproductive

Artists do not support using digital locks to increase the labels’
control over the distribution, use and enjoyment of music or laws that
prohibit circumvention of such technological measures. The government
should not blindly implement decade-old treaties designed to give
control to major labels and take choices away from artists and
consumers. Laws should protect artists and consumers, not restrictive
technologies. Consumers should be able to transfer the music they buy to other formats under a right of fair use, without having to pay twice.

3. Cultural Policy Should Support Actual Canadian Artists

The vast majority of new Canadian music is not promoted by major labels, which focus mostly on foreign artists. The government should use other policy tools to support actual Canadian artists and a thriving musical and cultural scene. The government should make a long-term commitment to grow support mechanisms like the Canada Music Fund and FACTOR, invest in music training and education, create limited tax shelters for copyright royalties, protect artists from inequalities in bargaining power and make collecting societies more transparent.

Am on hiatus. Be back

Am on hiatus. Be back in a few days.

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