For some fine examples of how language is being manipulated in the War on Terror, try the Cato Institute briefing paper Doublespeak and the War on Terrorism. This 16-page report is very readable, and somewhat disturbing. Read on for some of my favourites…
Reclaiming Fascism: perspective please, people!
No, this isn’t an apologia for Nazis, far from it. It’s a plea to reserve “fascist” for situations which actually warrant the term.
There may (may the gods forbid!) come a time when we need to label a government fascist and be taken seriously. So please, don’t devalue it by calling every little disruption of personal choice “fascist”. It’s a very poor media strategy.
Continue reading “Reclaiming Fascism: perspective please, people!”
Royal Navy’s first ever gay sex
According to that ever-reliable journal, The Sun, fitness instructor Sam Connell is the Royal Navy‘s first ever male trainer to be accused of a sexual liaison with a male recruit. That’s right, the very first. Ever.
Now it just so happens that Mr Connell is a finalist in Mr Gay UK. And while the prize money is only £5000, it strikes me that having his photo in The Sun won’t harm his post-RN career path. A hunky “I was a sailor” fitness instructor should do quite nicely.
And thank you to Richard Watts for keeping his eye on the tabloids. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.
“Honourable” is a nice compliment
My good friend and colleague Zern Liew gave me a copy of Cubicle Commando today — not as you might guess from the title some sort of military-themed gay beat sex DVD, but a new book he co-authored with Lisa Messenger.
Inside he thanks…
Stilgherrian for being one of the most perceptive and honourable people I have had the opportunity to learn from.
Am I chuffed or what? Of all the adjectives which could be used to describe me, I think “honourable” is one of the best ever.
“Essential”? It’s all a matter of perspective…
“Essential”, says the Macquarie Dictionary (Fourth Edition), means “absolutely necessary; indispensable: discipline is essential in an army“. But the new Thursday supplement in the Sydney Morning Herald, entitled essential: Style + Home + Health (not online), must work to a different definition.
Continue reading ““Essential”? It’s all a matter of perspective…”
Why the US space program is shite
Thanks for joining us. In the centre of the screen, wearing the white spacesuit — sorry, white Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit — is Heidi Piper. This is her first Extra-Vehicular Activity in her brand new Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit. Heidi’s current task is “remove aft solar array blanket box restraints”.
Judging by the loud clanging noises, followed by something falling off, Heidi’s task involves bashing something until it falls off.
No-one else seems bothered. I assume it’s OK to bash your space station until bits fall off.
You can’t quite see him, but up on the left is Joe Tanner. This is his sixth Extra-Vehicular Activity — oh, “spacewalk”, dammit! — so he gets to “mate the T5 to the J5” on the P4 truss segment.
That’s is, Joe plugs in a data cable.