That's an aphorism by Paul Valery :-)
The man got a point...
What gave?
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20150818
20150730
Who is afraid of Press TV?
-
Press TV (stylised PRESSTV) is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network, affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). IRIB is state-owned but independent of the Iranian government in its management; the IRIB is a legal TV and radio broadcaster inside Iran. Press TV is headquartered in Tehran, Iran, but has offices and bureaus around the world, inlcuding in London, Beirut, Damascus, Kabul, and the Gaza Strip. Press TV began broadcasting HDTV on the Hot Bird satellite cluster since 13 January, 2014. The network's slogan is "News Anew".
The BBC journalist Linda Pressly has described Press TV as pro-Palestinian, anti-sanctions against Iran, and... critical of Western foreign policy.
LOL
We can't have that now, can we?
In July 2013 Press TV and other Iranian channels were removed from several European and American satellites (amongst others those of Eutelsat and Intelsat), allegedly because of the Iran sanctions, even though a EU spokesman told the channel that these sanctions do not apply to media. In November 2012, the Hong Kong-based AsiaSat took Iranian channels off air in East Asia, and in October 2012 Eutelsat and Intelsat stopped broadcasting several Iranian satellite channels, though the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting managed to resume broadcasts after striking deals with smaller companies based in other countries.
Anyway, this is their website: http://www.presstv.ir/
And this is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's speech in Damascus, dated 7.26.2015, they recently published:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/07/26/421935/Syria-PreAssad-ISIS-UN
Is Press TV's take on the world ethnocentric? Is it biased? Is Bashar al-Assad's account of the events in the region slanted?
Undoubtedly so.
Is it propaganda?
Of course, it is.
How much so?
It depends.
It would depend, I suppose, on what one's definition and understanding of terms such as "ethnocentrism," "bias," "slanted," and "propaganda" are. And to what degree one think such terms might apply to our own media, like, say, Fox News, CNN, NBC, or, God forbid, BBC America.
Call me a stickler for the credo of pluralism and world-mindedness, but it does seem to me that people in this country, in Europe and in the Americas, ought to be free to listen to any media news channel they wish and exert their own judgement, without a third party deciding for them what they ought to watch or not watch and banning what said party deems inappropriate. Because anything less, would be… Well, it would be anti-American, now, wouldn't it? And against everything the people who founded this great nation of ours fought for.
MORE >
Press TV (stylised PRESSTV) is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network, affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). IRIB is state-owned but independent of the Iranian government in its management; the IRIB is a legal TV and radio broadcaster inside Iran. Press TV is headquartered in Tehran, Iran, but has offices and bureaus around the world, inlcuding in London, Beirut, Damascus, Kabul, and the Gaza Strip. Press TV began broadcasting HDTV on the Hot Bird satellite cluster since 13 January, 2014. The network's slogan is "News Anew".
The BBC journalist Linda Pressly has described Press TV as pro-Palestinian, anti-sanctions against Iran, and... critical of Western foreign policy.
LOL
We can't have that now, can we?
In July 2013 Press TV and other Iranian channels were removed from several European and American satellites (amongst others those of Eutelsat and Intelsat), allegedly because of the Iran sanctions, even though a EU spokesman told the channel that these sanctions do not apply to media. In November 2012, the Hong Kong-based AsiaSat took Iranian channels off air in East Asia, and in October 2012 Eutelsat and Intelsat stopped broadcasting several Iranian satellite channels, though the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting managed to resume broadcasts after striking deals with smaller companies based in other countries.
Anyway, this is their website: http://www.presstv.ir/
And this is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's speech in Damascus, dated 7.26.2015, they recently published:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/07/26/421935/Syria-PreAssad-ISIS-UN
Is Press TV's take on the world ethnocentric? Is it biased? Is Bashar al-Assad's account of the events in the region slanted?
Undoubtedly so.
Is it propaganda?
Of course, it is.
How much so?
It depends.
It would depend, I suppose, on what one's definition and understanding of terms such as "ethnocentrism," "bias," "slanted," and "propaganda" are. And to what degree one think such terms might apply to our own media, like, say, Fox News, CNN, NBC, or, God forbid, BBC America.
Call me a stickler for the credo of pluralism and world-mindedness, but it does seem to me that people in this country, in Europe and in the Americas, ought to be free to listen to any media news channel they wish and exert their own judgement, without a third party deciding for them what they ought to watch or not watch and banning what said party deems inappropriate. Because anything less, would be… Well, it would be anti-American, now, wouldn't it? And against everything the people who founded this great nation of ours fought for.
MORE >
20150624
They Fooled Us With Springtime
-
You say it like you are surprised?
What were you realistically expecting?
Remember this?
Or this?
What time is it in Washington?
Springtime
(Hope)
What time is it my heart?
What time is it my heart?
(Mr President?)
What time is it my heart?
What time is it my heart?
What time is it my heart?
What time is it in England?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Gibraltar?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it over there in Fisterra?
(What time is it in Gibraltar?)
What time is it hey byebyebom?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it the whole life?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Japan?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Mozambique?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Washington?
(What time is it my heart?)
They fooled us byebyebom
They fooled us with springtime
They fooled us byebyebom
bombala bombala bombala bombala bombala
(What time is it my heart?)
bombala bombala bombala bombala bombala
(What time is it my heart?)
bombala bombala bombala bombala bombala
What time is it my heart?
MORE >
You say it like you are surprised?
What were you realistically expecting?
Remember this?
Or this?
What time is it in Washington?
Springtime
(Hope)
What time is it my heart?
What time is it my heart?
(Mr President?)
What time is it my heart?
What time is it my heart?
What time is it my heart?
What time is it in England?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Gibraltar?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it over there in Fisterra?
(What time is it in Gibraltar?)
What time is it hey byebyebom?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it the whole life?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Japan?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Mozambique?
(What time is it my heart?)
What time is it in Washington?
(What time is it my heart?)
They fooled us byebyebom
They fooled us with springtime
They fooled us byebyebom
bombala bombala bombala bombala bombala
(What time is it my heart?)
bombala bombala bombala bombala bombala
(What time is it my heart?)
bombala bombala bombala bombala bombala
What time is it my heart?
MORE >
20150114
20140910
Hello, Danny
Come and play with us.
Don't heed the sensationalistic and naive pronouncements of the International Human Rights Commission:
The IHRC doesn't have a case.
This is a dangerous world, sir. What are you going to do when the [fill-in the blank] are coming.
When push comes to shove... Who are you going to trust?
The speed of AI's circuitry?
Or human reaction time?
Beside, it's not like the gentleman's people really have a choice.
Think about it... Progress, sir... There is no stopping it.
If you don't do it, some other unprincipled unconscientious rogue nation is bound to do it anyway.
Evolution. Survival of the fittest, sir. Isn't it what it's called?
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20140904
Hubris
-
Here is Foreign Affairs's refreshing and unexpected analysis on the events in Ukraine:
- Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault
And here are a few alternative independent news sites worth watching, and some of their takes on the crisis:
• RSN (Reader Supported News): "No outside investment capital was used in the startup of RSN. No advertising money or grants is sought or accepted by RSN. RSN carries forward the core concept that the reader is best served by financial control of the news service they depend on":
- Meet some of the good people who put together the coup in Kiev.
• AlterNet: AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. (Has won its fair share of Webby and Utne Independent press awards, and also made it on NPR's five "best of the internet"):
- A brief history of time: America's coup machine - since 1953
• CounterPunch: CounterPunch's "muckraking with a radical attitude" welcomes a range of contributors critical of conventional wisdom on a wide variety of topics:
- Chronology of the Ukrainian coup
CounterPunch—like good Tequila— is to be taken with a grain of salt. While the publication does indeed "tell you the facts and name the names," some of its contributors' interpretation of current events can get a bit out there—though, admittedly, oftentimes with good reasons.
But then again, that's the whole point of the exercise, isn't it? "Mudkacking with a radical attitude": not just an idle boast.
What can I say? If any of these sites and publications seems too divorced from mainstream media for your own taste, well, there is always Katie Couric's "Now I Get It":
The battle for Ukraine
She speaks with a soothing, soft, controlled voice, and her page always comes with visual aid in the form of a video—for those of us who do not read.
MORE >
Here is Foreign Affairs's refreshing and unexpected analysis on the events in Ukraine:
- Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault
And here are a few alternative independent news sites worth watching, and some of their takes on the crisis:
• RSN (Reader Supported News): "No outside investment capital was used in the startup of RSN. No advertising money or grants is sought or accepted by RSN. RSN carries forward the core concept that the reader is best served by financial control of the news service they depend on":
- Meet some of the good people who put together the coup in Kiev.
• AlterNet: AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. (Has won its fair share of Webby and Utne Independent press awards, and also made it on NPR's five "best of the internet"):
- A brief history of time: America's coup machine - since 1953
• CounterPunch: CounterPunch's "muckraking with a radical attitude" welcomes a range of contributors critical of conventional wisdom on a wide variety of topics:
- Chronology of the Ukrainian coup
CounterPunch—like good Tequila— is to be taken with a grain of salt. While the publication does indeed "tell you the facts and name the names," some of its contributors' interpretation of current events can get a bit out there—though, admittedly, oftentimes with good reasons.
But then again, that's the whole point of the exercise, isn't it? "Mudkacking with a radical attitude": not just an idle boast.
What can I say? If any of these sites and publications seems too divorced from mainstream media for your own taste, well, there is always Katie Couric's "Now I Get It":
The battle for Ukraine
She speaks with a soothing, soft, controlled voice, and her page always comes with visual aid in the form of a video—for those of us who do not read.
MORE >
20140827
20140429
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