The Torturers Accept Your Apology

Guantanamo torturers accept Senator Durbin's apology.

What We Know

Atrios reflects on the lead up to war.


They said he had WMD and, under the shitty definition of that word we've embraced, it's possible they believed it even if they didn't have the evidence they claimed to have (which was obvious at the time and one of many reasons I opposed this thing). But the kinds of weapons they believed they had were, for the most part, only useful as a deterrent to invasion, which appears to be the reason Saddam let the rumors about his evil laboratories persist. They just wouldn't be useful either for direct military uses or even for terrorist blackmail.

Believed in WMDs they hyped? Perhaps. Believed in the threat they hyped? Nope.

It kills me every time I hear some Bush apologist talk about how in the run up to war, "we ALL" thought Iraq had WMDs, and that every intelligence agency in the world backed up the US's claims. Oh please. If I knew the administration was lying, a LOT of other people did too. It just happens that the political atmosphere at the time made it nearly impossible to call them on it.

PledgeBank - Tell the world "I'll do it, but only if you'll help"

PledgeBank is a cool idea which allows you to pledge your support for a cause as long as a certain number of people make the same pledge. I like the idea a lot.

Steven Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good For You"

I watched an interview with Steven Johnson on PBS last night. His book sounds pretty interesting, although his main point is nothing surprising. He says that the common view that modern media is dumbing us down is not supported by the research. While there certainly is a preponderance of lowest common denominator-type programming out there, by looking at the kinds of media people consume nowadays, it's clear that we are in some ways becoming much smarter than we were years ago. Think of the complexity of modern video games, or the intracacies of today's TV dramas.

Johnson talks of a type of intelligence, "fluid intelligence" (which is related to pattern recognition) that is required for much of today's fast-paced media. He says it is a mistake to assume that the fact that kids read less today and watch more TV and play more video games is making them less intelligent, in fact it may be the opposite. I've long felt this to be true, based on my own experience as a child of the electronic age. While I may read less than my parents, I'm certainly better equipped to deal with new technologies.

To me, this confirms what I've long thought about the effect of modern media, and the internet in particular. McLuhan's said, "the affairs of the world are now dependent upon the highest information of which man is capable. The word information means pattern, not raw data." The stresses caused by the accelerating changes in our media environment can only be managed by an equally dramatic shift in our abilities as human beings. And as Steven Johnson notes, we are now seeing that shift, through changes in the way we think, solve problems, and recognize patterns in an ever more complex world.

Innis, McLuhan, Chomsky, Postman

The Anarchives

This article sums up some of the major contributions to communications theory. I've read some of McLuhan's stuff, as well as some of Chomsky's, but so far I haven't delved into Innis' work - a shame and a sin to be sure. It's interesting to read other people's analyses of the connections between different thinkers, because I spend far too much time trying to make these connections myself, and with so little time to read, it's nice to read even semi-serious articles like this (apparently a take home exam -- for what, I can't be sure).

The big ideas that jump out at me are the connections between media, power, and reality. Reading this stuff is like having a cool shower after being hot and sticky all day.