The Daily Mail printed a picture in which “Barack Obama was caught out yesterday in a leer worthy of his Italian counterpart Mr Berlusconi” (see bottom story on this page). Only he was not. Barack Obama was in fact being courteous as the first 63 second of the below video demonstrates.
For another example of The Daily Mail’s penchant for making things up see Eric The Fish: King of the Sea’s look at The Mail’s apology for making up that somebody that they do not like is a supporter of Al Qaeda and radical cleric Abu Qatada.
Councils issue wheelie bins to make collection and recycling more efficient and effective. They're better than normal bins - they've got wheels and can be emptied mechanically. Because they're bigger, they can be collected fortnightly. Because collections can be fortnightly, recycling collections can be slotted in without doubling the refuse budget. I'm sure the NIMFYs would hate me for saying this, which is why I'm doing it, but it's good, simple, common sense. The bins might not look lovely, but there are more important considerations in play here. […]
Explaining why mid-terrace residents had no option but to keep the unsightly wheelie bins in front of their houses, a Chester resident said: "Otherwise they would have to walk three bins all the way down the street, round the corner and into the backyard. Imagine doing that with three bins? It's just crazy."
I can almost hear the Oxfam advert: "This is Andrea. Every week, she has to walk three bins all the way down the street, round the corner and into the backyard. It's either that or people will see her bins. It's crazy, but you can help."
I intended to link articles by Tabloid Watch and Enemies of Reason; however, Angry Mob not only beat me to the punch but also did so with style. I make no apology for this blog-post loop as Angry Mob’s post includes the links and adds substantial value. The topic itself is the media’s lacklustre response to anti-Muslim protests – “rather than being roundly condemned on the front page of every tabloid they are left to small articles and are treated somewhat sympathetically in them.” In response to the, at least, 1451 people who voted in favour of the views of a “fucking moron”, who believed that the violence was “due to Politcal [sic] Correctness”, Angry Mob writes:
Sadly this is the mindset of some people who think that political correctness is somehow stripping people of fundamental rights - and in some ways I guess it is.
For example, if you are the kind of un-evolved, ignorant, shit-kicker that attends this kind of protest then you have been stripped of the right to call a black person a 'nigger' or an Asian person a 'fucking Paki'. You can no longer beat up a person for being a different colour or for being gay. You have lost these rights because we live in a world that is on the whole becoming more tolerant - whatever you or the Daily Mail may think you are merely a noisy minority.
Also by way of Angry Mob, indirectly this time, an illustration by Procrastinationathon.
The video below is an animated music video interpreting the war on terror from the point of view of Leo Blair. Although it is a couple of years old, it still affects. If you can forgive the relatively obscure and pretentious reference, it is like something from Nancy Spero’s War Series in the internet age.
& one from a month ago by Five Chinese Crackers which deals with Islamophobia and media semantics. ‘You seen what they're doing now?’
**For some reason, people searching for Russia Today are being directed here. For blog posts relating to Russia Today click here. For stories relating to Russia, click here.
Witness Carol Thatcher being asked whether she regrets "using the word that she did" by Andrew Marr twice. "No" is her obstinate response, at the second time of asking. Her initial response was obfuscatory - she attempted to reposition herself as the victim. She also suggests that plenty of people agree with her. If The Daily Mail agrees with her about political correctness, how could she be wrong? (!). She had over two months to construct a response. The best she could muster was arrogant denial.
Another thought occurred to me after the initial disgust for her misplaced conviction. What was she doing on television? Of course, she should be granted a right of reply, but she has already had many opportunities. What this short clip does not reveal is that she was on there to review newspapers primarily. It is only for the 1 minute 28 seconds that it was even acknowledged that she had been offensive and is unrepentant about it. For the most part Carol Thatcher was treated in a familiar cosy manner.
Although not entirely relevant - here is Stewart Lee’s response to an audience poll that revealed that the majority thought that political correctness had gone mad.
Thank-you Stewart Lee – that makes me feel better.
UPDATE Since originally writing this post, I have stumbled across Mongoose Chronicles. She offers a spirited assessment of Carol Thatcher’s performance worthy of a link. 'Carol Thatcher disgusts me'
[J]ust because you grew up seeing golliwogs on the side of your jam jar as you sat at your breakfast table with your white, wealthy family and friends, does not entitle you to decide for another group of people what they are and are not allowed to be offended by. […]
I was disgusted by Thatcher in this Andrew Marr interview, because alarmingly, she seems to be part of this club of golliwog collectors who think their quaint little hobby is more valuable than the historical and current subjugation of an entire group of people; and worse, she is also one of those who has assumed the role of victim because The Man wants to take away her right to hurl racial slurs at people. And the rest of us should just get over it so she can have her golliwog fridge magnets and make fun of black people.
in the internet age.