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Gramsci
Nice Comment....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on April 17, 2007 at 8:04 AM
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Corbin
This post is such a paranoid non-event. The European Union is a large diplomatic organisation. Of course it's going to have language guidelines that will be followed, to a greater or lesser extent, by most of its staff. Enough pointless research would dig up the guidelines used by the departments of the U.S. public service.
So what? Your only interest here is a potential opportunity to stir the Muslim pot...
posted by
Antipodean
on April 17, 2007 at 7:04 AM
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Corbin_Dallas,
Damn, I wish I had the time to research the things you put forth here. Who was Naut? And what was his interest in Islam? Why is his perception so critical to your argument?
posted by
Glennb
on April 17, 2007 at 6:42 AM
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The proposal is coming from the Eurpoean Union.........
as guidelines for member nations....this is not a journalist. It's a Euroweenie bureaucrat.......
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on April 17, 2007 at 5:06 AM
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The guy who proposed the new language usages for journalists that you
refer to in your post.
posted by
Ciel
on April 16, 2007 at 9:27 PM
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Ciel
Who is "this guy"???
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on April 16, 2007 at 7:51 PM
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Okay, through the wonder of blogit, my comment came up here
instead of where Taps drew my attention to it. So be it! Now I've read your post, I have an actual comment to it.
I have no love of PCism. However, I also abhor yellow journalism; and it is simply mistaken to confuse Islam with the particular twisted doctrine that is commonly being equated with Islam because terrorism gets press, because it gets readers. When it is deliberately done to sell papers, it is a shoddy practice, and dangerous to those who believe what they are told, and trust the authority of print, as well as to their mis-labeled potential victims.
This guy is trying to reduce an inflammatory element in reporting that feeds common misconception, and feeds on one of humanity's least noble traits: the self-indulgent urge to get even. That urge causes us to target anyone who resembles the perpetrator of our pain, and create the scapegoat we can actually reach and punish, when we can't get hold of the one(s) really responsible.
The trouble with emotional based reaction is that it often cannot, in fact, distinguish a spade from a f---n' shovel, nor a hawk from a handsaw no matter which way the wind is blowing. Reporting that exploits our gut fears and angers is not what journalism should be.
posted by
Ciel
on April 16, 2007 at 5:46 PM
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Taps, I saw that report on the cameras and speakers that are
being used in parts of Great Britain, but have heard nothing of public toilet cameras in Singapore. My initial thought on that echoes Phyllis Diller's, on peeping toms at her bedroom window: They deserve whatever they see!
posted by
Ciel
on April 16, 2007 at 5:24 PM
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What really frightened me was to see a report on TV
last week, that people not only are watched by camera on the streets, but that there are in certain cities even loudspeakers, who give warnings to passers by when they are in violation of some rule or other (like e.g. dropping a piece of paper on the ground). This is really looking like Big Brother.
In Singapore e.g. people are watched even on the public toilets !
posted by
linter
on April 16, 2007 at 9:55 AM
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Actually, the line should read,
"call a spade a f*ckin' shovel."
It does get more Orwellian every day. I remember back in '84, in my callow college days, when Time or Newsweek or someone ran a cover story "Where is Big Brother?"
My guess is that he's running late, but unfortunately, not never.
posted by
strat
on April 16, 2007 at 8:25 AM
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oops - that could be taken the wrong way. 
posted by
Troosha
on April 16, 2007 at 8:21 AM
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Corbin
PSism had gotten way out of hand. Call a spade a spade...
posted by
Troosha
on April 16, 2007 at 8:21 AM
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Orwell's "1984" was science fiction at it's best:
a warning of the dangers of censorship, of having the powers that be control our thinking. I once saw a program on racism that clarified the issue. A racist is someone with the power to enforce his / her prejudices. So the big guys aren't going to say illegal immigrant or Islamic terrorist: that doesn't mean it isn't true off the printed page.
You and Naut are good thinkers and writers, and I enjoy reading your work.
posted by
Pat_B
on April 16, 2007 at 5:34 AM
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Corbin-Dallas
Well, for me, I have the same feelings in my head now as I did about Nazi's when they existed, end of story.
This entire business of Islam has made me come to the conclusion that all religions have to be controlled by law, or be tried by law under 'Hate Crime Legislation' with teeth in it.
To be fair, I wouldn't want the Catholic Inquisition times back either, and I was/nearly am/Close but no cigar-;) a Catholic.
Now I'm closer to mainline Liberal Christian Protestant or Quaker and I have to be quiet about that because I want to be buried with my Joycie.
posted by
WileyJohn
on April 15, 2007 at 9:45 PM
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Gramsci
With all due respect, the Eu is not Islam. To me, and i mean this in all due respect, it's not up to another nation of peoples to distill a culture into an emoticon or new word. --Joy!Mary
posted by
FoliageGold
on April 15, 2007 at 7:27 PM
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Foliage
What do you mean 'another culture'? The EU is talking about diplomatic language for the collective European nations.
posted by
Antipodean
on April 15, 2007 at 7:23 PM
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Corbin Dallas
We have reached it. Good is bad. Bad is good. Black is white. White is black. I will not bend to the crippling deamon of Political Correctness. It will be the chain that binds all before it is over. Thank you for this very revealing but scary post.
posted by
Justi
on April 15, 2007 at 7:01 PM
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Corbin
What can I say?! The PC speech police have gone even a step further in a different area - they didn't announce that they were doing it, they just started doing it - I'm referring to the fact that, unless you're watching Lou Dobbs or Bill O'Reilly, there are no such people as "illegal immigrants", only "immigrants." Apparently, there never was such a thing as an "illegal imigrant". I'm just grateful that war (terrorism) is peace, otherwise we'd have a big problem on our hands!
posted by
Enigmatic68
on April 15, 2007 at 6:20 PM
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Corbin
Oh boy. That's quite the question. What I wonder is why the EU feels they have any business making up new words for another culture of people? --Joy!Mary
posted by
FoliageGold
on April 15, 2007 at 2:47 PM
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Corbin_Dallas
I have to get back to this post. The title peaked my interest?
posted by
Glennb
on April 15, 2007 at 8:06 AM
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Corbin
I wish! My mind is just a collection of question marks...
posted by
Nautikos
on April 15, 2007 at 7:50 AM
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Naut....
Guesses??? I could never think of you having to guess about anything!
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on April 15, 2007 at 7:47 AM
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Corbin
I guess you don't need any further guesses from me...
posted by
Nautikos
on April 15, 2007 at 7:44 AM
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I think the fundamentalists were completely wrong from the beginning of their thought process. My dad was strong and of noble character, and he could never be replaced.
posted by
Jenasis
on April 15, 2007 at 7:42 AM
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Corbin - it seems like civilized societies are bending over backward to
pander to muslims. To answer your question, yes, I think such actions as the one discussed here only make it worse. Eventually the West is going to give too much ground, those Old Testament mentality muslims will have positions of authority and enforce their backwards view of the world thru legal means (and still the occasional happy sack stuck to a jihadists back).
posted by
FreeManWalking
on April 15, 2007 at 7:22 AM
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