Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Media3: The Maori Media Man

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  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

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

    On literary grounds, I'm not Rushdie's biggest fan but as a human being who's lived through that horrendous shit with a damn near-miraculous good grace (and even a sense of dry, black humour)? Nothing but the deepest respect.

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

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    and even a sense of dry, black humour)

    Very much on display in the Daily Show interview.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Bennett Row, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Russell, the web page you linked to doesn’t say that the skateboarding club was attacked. It says the bombing took place outside the ISAF headquarters and that members of the skateboarding club were near the HQ at the time. This is backed up by CNN, LA Times, ESPN, etc:

    http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/17/world/asia/afghan-children-suicide-blast/index.html

    Though one wouldn’t know it from reading the BBC report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19580747

    Since Mar 2008 • 8 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Very much on display in the Daily Show interview

    I don't think Rushdie is the only person who found something farcically surreal -- as well as incredibly sinister -- about it all. Could you imagine John Paul II (who was technically a head of state as well as a religious leader) basically trying to incite American Catholics to murder Rushdie's friend Christopher Hitchens, his publishers and anyone who sold his writings for dissing his home-girl Mother Teresa?

    It's also easy to forget while Rushdie himself is alive and well, the novel's Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was murdered in the same month Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator, was seriously injured in another stabbing. In 1993, Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was shot three times in the chest outside his home.

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

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Bennett Row,

    Russell, the web page you linked to doesn’t say that the skateboarding club was attacked. It says the bombing took place outside the ISAF headquarters and that members of the skateboarding club were near the HQ at the time. This is backed up by CNN, LA Times, ESPN, etc:

    Does that really make much difference? They strapped a bomb to a 13 year-old child and sent him to detonate it in a place where he would be surrounded by other children.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    The thing about this film that seems to be forgotten is that it's really seems to be an Egyptian domestic political play - it was made by Egyptian Coptic Christians to provoke Egyptian Muslims - sure it was made in the US and most of the push back has been towards the US - but I don't see how that is in the Copt's interest, it was probably unintentional - unless maybe the purpose was to have the US come down on their side against the new Egyptian govt.

    And I'm sure the film's not representative of all or even most Copts, as much as the people killing in the film's name are representative of most Muslims

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    I don’t see how that is in the Copt’s interest, it was probably unintentional – unless maybe the purpose was to have the US come down on their side against the new Egyptian govt.

    But the producer created a fake identity -- that of an Israeli Jewish property developer living in California -- to front it, which would seem to complicate likely intentions.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    And I’m sure the film’s not representative of all or even most Copts,

    Indeed. From what I've read it was made by a tiny community of Coptic extremists tied up with Evangelical extremists like that charming pastor in Florida who thought burning a Koran a good way to build bridges between religious communities.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Russell Brown,

    But the producer created a fake identity

    And is a convicted fraudster with a history of creating fake identities. Apparently also a pornographer.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    And the film’s stars have spilt the beans saying they were duped.

    It’s not just the convicted fraudster “Sam Bacile” who’s toying with political grenades. The real chessmaster, it seems, is Steve Klein, yet another rabid Breivikite who’s under the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s hate-group watch.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    And the film’s stars have spilt the beans saying they were duped.

    This account hosted at Nei Gaiman's blog makes for disturbing reading.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    The real chessmaster, it seems, is Steve Klein, yet another rabid Breivikite who’s under the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s hate-group watch.

    Ah yes. Forgot about him.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell, in reply to Russell Brown,

    that won’t be published until after the Naomi Wolf one …

    Somewhat off topic-
    Germaine has a go :)

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    That was a barrel of laughs Rob, ties in snugly with the recent NZ release of 'Hysteria'.

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

  • Bennett Row, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Does that really make much difference?

    On one hand, no – it’s a sickening act no matter who was targeted. But in the interests of accuracy I think it does make a difference. It was claimed that the skateboarding club was attacked, but this didn’t happen at all.

    Since Mar 2008 • 8 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

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

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    Germaine has a go :)

    "Wolf is not simply incurably heterosexual" - however accurate, I find it rather ironic seeing Greer complaining anyone else is guilty of seeing the world through heterosexist cis-privileged glasses given her oft-repeated and ghastly attacks on transwomen.

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

  • Martin Lindberg,

    Glenn Greenwald writes in The Guardian that the attack in Benghazi was not at all a protest that turned into a riot, but instead a planned terrorist attack.

    "'I would say they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack,' said Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

    "It was the first time that a senior administration official had said the attack was not the result of a demonstration over an anti-Islam video that has been cited as the spark for protests in dozens of countries over the past week .'The picture that is emerging is one where a number of different individuals were involved,' Olsen said."

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Greer's was funny in parts but I like this one the best: The Problem With Naomi Wolf's Vagina. The requisite number of silly puns, but also a broader analysis of why this sort of 'hatable' feminism is the only thing we really get to discuss any more.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Danielle,

    <i>also a broader analysis of why this sort of ‘hatable’ feminism is the only thing we really get to discuss any more.</i>

    And don't forget when two men disagree they're public intellectuals. When women do, it's a bitch-slapping cat fight over feminism's zombie corpse! Or something.

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

  • Angus Robertson, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    And don't forget when two men disagree they're public intellectuals.

    Huh, really?

    When two atheists disagree it is definitive proof of the majesty of God.

    When two anti-war activists disagree it is proof that appeasement will always fail and we can't lets the terrorists win.

    When [feminists] do, it's a bitch-slapping cat fight over feminism's zombie corpse!

    Same shit generic meme, different channel.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to mark taslov,

    Mark, can you perhaps use the PAS quote tags instead of making your whole extract into a link?

    quote

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Jonathan King,

    Attachment

    Sam Harris on That Film:

    http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/on-the-freedom-to-offend-an-imaginary-god

    The freedom to think out loud on certain topics, without fear of being hounded into hiding or killed, has already been lost. And the only forces on earth that can recover it are strong, secular governments that will face down charges of blasphemy with scorn. No apologies necessary.

    And I did like The Onion’s cartoon (above) of Ganesha fisting Bhudda while jacking off Jesus and Moses – no deaths ensue.

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-this-image,29553/

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    Same shit generic meme, different channel.

    If you don't see the gendered nature of these sorts of things, you are very lucky.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    The Innocence of Muslims affair also brings to mind the Masada movement in the 1980s, which was eventually exposed as a bunch of neo-Nazi agents-provocateur deliberately sabotaging Jewish-Muslim relations in France.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

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