Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Media3: The Maori Media Man

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  • Sacha,

    a South Auckland dance crew

    That'd be our world champions. Also quite sexy. Latest here:

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Pete Sime,

    If it’s a sexy ad for public transport, I think the Danes are on top of it

    Dunedin • Since Apr 2008 • 171 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    I'm keen to check out the Maori Media story, looks great.

    Based solely on the brief intro to the youtube segment:

    or is our freedom to watch a bad, hateful movie the whole point?

    From this angle; Google's corporate responsibility and autonomy vs US Government interference(s).

    a film that’s getting people killed

    Has the look of that old boilerplate. Underpinned by centuries of violent Western foreign policy, incited movements exploit western propaganda as justification for further violence. Western media shifts the viewers' gaze, exploiting the agitated violence to discuss peripherals such as freedom of speech, that elephant chilling safely in the bat cave. The only film getting anyone killed this year is 'The Dark Knight Rises'.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Richard Aston,

    I watched the same Native Affairs show, it was good television and Julian Wilcox is one sharp interviewer. He managed to nail the smooth talking Bill English without malice but with considerable skill . He's good.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to mark taslov,

    The only film getting anyone killed this year is ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

    For goodness sake, at least 28 people have died in violence attributed to this film, including people protesting about it. An imam in Egypt has declared a fatwa on everyone involved in the film, however unwittingly, and Salman Rushdie has seen his bounty raised by the mullahs.

    And meanwhile, YouTube is holding the line on the basis that the film doesn't violate its hate speech guidelines. And perhaps they're right to say so, but to say that the issue of free speech is "a peripheral" here is just nonsense.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    I'm immensely tempted to come along - I mean, I have a day off tomorrow and am therefore conveniently placed to do so....... 1) Because I love Native Affairs and 2) I might just have a teeny crush on Julian Wilcox (along with the rest of the population of people who are attracted to men).

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    Nonsense or not Russell, I'll stand by it. While the film is the catalyst of this year's protests, it's peripheral to the deeper motivations for the killings . Likewise the issue of free speech itself is peripheral to a film which hasn't contravened free speech laws in its country of origin.

    When Breivik killed 77 in 2011, I felt the issue of freedom of speech and the multicultural and immigration policies of Europe were likewise peripheral to key point:
    Anders Behring Breivik is a homicidal maniac.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to mark taslov,

    Nonsense or not Russell, I’ll stand by it. While the film is the catalyst of this year’s protests, it’s peripheral to the deeper motivations for the killings .

    Which are? Yes, it’s looking like in Benghazi the film was a pretext for an al Qaeda-linked group working with former Gaddafi loyalists. I don’t think their motivations are all that good.

    In Afghanistan, 14 people were killed after an insurgent group persuaded an 18 year-old girl to strap on a bomb “in response to the film insulting the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.” (At least that’s not as bad as last week’s heart-breaking child-suicide-bombing of a kids’ skateboarding club in Kabul. If you can find a geopolitical justification for that, you’re doing better than me.)

    And, of course, there have also been people killed in the act of protesting.

    Likewise the issue of free speech itself is peripheral to a film which hasn’t contravened free speech laws in its country of origin.

    But people in many countries have taken the film’s continued availability as evidence that the US government wants it to be available. They’re from countries where their governments – new or old – wouldn’t tolerate such publication, and have, in some cases, been blocking it – along with Gmail and Google. It’s quite central to the whole thing.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to mark taslov,

    Has the look of that old boilerplate. Underpinned by centuries of violent Western foreign policy

    Fucking hell, Mark, just take a damn look at where that violence is taking place and who’s getting killed. Hint: It’s not going down in ‘The West’ and this isn't about smug white liberals sticking it to The Man.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    But people in many countries have taken the film’s continued availability as evidence that the US government wants it to be available.

    I've observed many such individuals, subjected to a poor education fraught with nationalist/ religious indoctrination.

    They’re from countries where their governments – new or old – wouldn’t tolerate such publication, and have, in some cases, been blocking it – along with Gmail and Google. It’s quite central to the whole thing.

    In this VPN era any such efforts are largely cosmetic. I don't dispute this wave of protest is directly attributable to Innocence of Muslims. But I'm hard pressed to conflate protest with killing.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • mark taslov, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Rob S, in reply to mark taslov,

    I'm not sure that Islamic theology was the only or main reason that it made the West "profoundly uneasy'. It reached deeply into the west itself through conquest before being stopped in southern France and Vienna having taken over Byzantia, Spain and quite a few other parts of Europe. The breakup and subsequent war in Yugoslavia is in no small part an echo of this period. The crusades [ still a touchstone in the Middle East ] were an attempt to regain formerly Christian territory taken by Islamic forces.
    To say that Christendom misunderstood Islam is not an argument I would make.
    I do like your term odium theologium however. There seems to be enough of it about and it inspires far too much ill will.

    Since Apr 2010 • 136 posts Report

  • mark taslov, in reply to Rob S,

    Historian, R.M. Savory deserves any due credit there Rob (that is assuming he’s not you), I linked to ‘War against Islam’ as I didn’t want to go to too much of an effort seeing as Craig was probably taking the piss when stating in reference to western foreign policy and the locations of these protests that:

    "It’s not going down in ‘The West’"

    but yeah...

    If you can find a geopolitical justification for that, you’re doing better than me.)

    Thanks Russell, I hope the show's a blinder ;)

    C-man

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Yamis,

    errr

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report

  • tussock,

    Who's attributing the violence (and the classic propaganda "low angle" crowd scenes) to this film? There's constant protests against US foreign policy around the world, including inside the US. There's fundy Imam's calling fatwas on some bullshit as often as US fuckwits are calling for war on yet another Muslim land over some other bullshit (only the wars kill rather a lot more people). Is anyone surprised the Libyan people aren't perfectly compliant to the violent restructuring of their state via overwhelming air power, including the bombing of cities and hospitals? That you can organise an attack on a US base in Afghanistan on a flimsy pretence?

    As to what the deeper motivations are, it's Palestine, duh. The massive ongoing non-negotiable US financial and military backing for a violently repressive racist state that refuses to recognise the rights of groups of natural citizens simply because they are Muslims. It's a sore spot, particularly for Muslims. That thing where they get to sit at the big kid's table because they have nukes is hardly a secret either.


    Which comes back around to Māori and if property is something only white-people's law gives you, or something. Funny how the government can sell something that no one can own, unless they mean "no one brown can own".

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to tussock,

    Is anyone surprised the Libyan people aren’t perfectly compliant to the violent restructuring of their state via overwhelming air power, including the bombing of cities and hospitals?

    Well, no, not in the case of Benghazi. Benghazi was days away from slaughter at the hands of pro-Gaddafi forces . It was Nato air support that saved the city and its people.

    And according to the Guardian's report, the people of Benghazi are not at all happy about the attack on the US consulate:

    Loudspeakers outside the mosque broadcast a sermon in which the imam,, Suheib, condemned the attack. "The burning of buildings is not the path of the prophet Muhammad," the imam said.

    It was a sentiment shared by worshippers mingling outside in the hot afternoon sun, and anger was growing towards a government unable or unwilling to take control. The fear across Benghazi is that the jihadists want to decouple Libya from western support, creating chaos in which they will hope to seize power.

    So no, I don't think your characterisation of the attitude of the local populace is accurate at all.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Another interesting angle to consider about The Innocence of Muslims is why anyone (including You Tube) would want to touch a movie whose producers are being used by cast members and crew for what can most charitably be described as fraud.

    And another rather sad irony, the same day the Rushdie fatwa hit the wires again, the first reviews were appearing of his memoir Joseph Anton. I’m not sure he’d have much time for the “any publicity is good public” school of thought any more.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    And then we’ll have a little something I won’t tell you about yet. But it’s sexy. Literally.

    Whatever it is, it's going to take a lot to beat Amanda Palmer's startling dance on the Webstock edition of Media 7 in 2011.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • mark taslov, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    for what can most charitably be described as fraud.

    Cultural Learnings of America meets Greyskull? Money should change hands, I’m kind of taken with the crawling:

    “SUPPORT WEEKLY BLITZ – THE ONLY ANTI JIHADIST NEWSPAPER CONFRONTING RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND PROMOTING INTERFAITH HARMONY – BLITZ FEARS NONE BUT GOD – SUPPORT WEEKLY BLITZ”

    random.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • andin,

    free speech dimension of the dreadful The Innocence of Muslims film and its violent international fallout free speech dimension of the dreadful The Innocence of Muslims film and its violent international fallout

    The film is bad in so many ways...10million views phew!
    What Sam Harris thinks

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    And now France prepares to temporarily close 20 embassies after some dipshit libertarians publish a bunch of cartoons whose sole purpose seems to be to offend.

    I have no quarrel with the right to publish (although it’s already been pointed out that if the topic had been the Holocaust they’d have been charged with a criminal offence) but it’s a rather high-stakes environment to be doing something just because you can.

    And this is pretty much just adolescent denial:

    One of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, who uses the name Tignous, defended the drawings. “It’s just a drawing,” he said. “It’s not a provocation."

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Salman Rushdie was pretty good on last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Defend their right to make a movie, while calling them an arsehole for doing it.

    The contrast between his work and this one....

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-18-2012/salman-rushdie

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Kyle Matthews,

    Salman Rushdie was pretty good on last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Defend their right to make a movie, while calling them an arsehole for doing it.

    He was great. It’s a shame he couldn't speak for longer.

    Just FYI, Dian Wichtel interviewed Rushdie for The Listener this week. But I guess that won’t be published until after the Naomi Wolf one …

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Angus Robertson,

    Salman Rushdie was pretty good on last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Defend their right to make a movie, while calling them an arsehole for doing it.

    Salman Rushdie has provoked the killing of a lot of people.

    He was great. It’s a shame he couldn't speak for longer.

    Yeah he is.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    but it’s a rather high-stakes environment to be doing something just because you can.

    Quite, and - in tandem with ToplessKateGate - I don't think I'm the only person to note the considerable irony that this meta-trolling is taking place in a nation with not only incredibly strict privacy laws but where, in Alsace and Moselle, blasphemy is still an offense (if one nobody has ever been convicted of) under the local penal code.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

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