Web logs as a news tool

Amateur Newsies Top the Pros

Who Said the Web Fell Apart?

both thanks to Scripting News

I don't have a TV. So I watched some of the coverage at Zoe's midday Tuesday. The rest has been pretty much from the web and most of that has been from web logs, like Scripting News, Doc Searls, BookNotes, Red Rock Eater Digest, and wood s lot. They have provided me with a dizzying array of stories and sources. (Other weblogs under the navigation bar on top left of this page.) It also provided me with many voices compared to the single voice that corporate media has become. The web log has changed how we gather news. It will be even more important as the war machine gets into gear. There was an almost total control of the news, by the military, during Desert Storm. I don't think that is going to happen again. Not as long as we have our web logs.

An example of the personal story, that many are linking to, that doesn't make it to the*real* news but is more real than anything coming from the talking heads.

Brother, if you don’t mind...

And the incredible commentary that keeps coming, not from a journalist, but from a software developer named Dave Winer at Scripting News.

Warfare trial balloons

War

Get ready for war, Bush tells America

Announcing that bin Laden, the Islamic extremist believed to be hiding in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban regime, was the prime suspect behind the carnage, Bush told Americans to brace themselves for a long and potentially bloody conflict, suggesting they should expect sacrifices from their armed forces. Speculation was also mounting last night that Iraq - suspected by some of financing bin Laden's recent operations - could also be attacked.

'I will not settle for a token act,' said Bush. 'Our response must be sweeping, sustained and effective. You will be asked for your patience, for the conflict will not be short. You will be asked for resolve, for the conflict will not be easy. You will be asked for your strength because the course to victory may be long.'

Military preparations are believed to be focusing on air attacks with cruise missiles, followed by the landing of special forces by helicopter - including the British SAS - into Afghanistan to dismantle bin Laden's training camps and organisation. The first attacks are anticipated within days.

And this is the guy who claims Jesus is his favorite philospher. Who says he asks "What would Jesus do?". I think he forgot to ask Jesus about this one. Maybe he doesn't realize that Jesus is in the New Testament. He seems to only have read the Old Testament. Or maybe someone just read him the good parts. You know...the eye for an eye part.

This is also the guy that dodged Vietnam by joining the National Guard and then not even showing up there for a year. And he has the gall to tell us that we need to brace ourselves for a long and potentially bloody conflict, suggesting we should expect sacrifices from our armed forces. Where the hell was he when sacrifice was asked of him?

At least there are small voices raising questions...

Un-American activity

The country wants blood. Convinced of the conclusion we must reach, our investigators will supply our leaders with the facts they require. Nobody I have talked to is talking deterrence or defense. The only words we use are retribution and revenge. When I ask my friends how they will know when they have exacted enough revenge, I am told this is a rhetorical question. When I ask from whom they should extract revenge, they look at me as if it is obvious. I ask, even if every existing terrorist (by the broadest of definitions) is killed, what do they plan to do to those who are inspired by their martyrdom to follow them?

I'm getting too old for this shit.

The Matrix

I spent this evening at my good friend Andrew's. It was his birthday party. It was good to get out with friends and eat their good food.

Later we watched The Matrix on DVD with great surround sound. I saw it on the big screen when it came out and loved it. Tonight I felt very uncomfortable watching parts of it. When the helicopter crashes into the skyscraper and a ball of flame erupts I kept thinking about another ball of flame erupting from another skyscraper. And the realization, watching it this time, that, when balls of flame erupt from the side of a skyscraper, people are going to die. Many people.

We have watched so much violence on the big and little screens. We know that it's not real and I think that we start confusing the fact that no one is really getting hurt on the screen with reality - that maybe no one is really getting hurt in real life too. At least not the hero. Recent events indicate otherwise.

Young men are anxious to enlist so they can invade Afgahnistan and whup some ass. I guess every generation has to find out for itself. Not everyone runs through walls of bullets like Keanu Reeves. Read All Quiet on the Western Front or Johnny Got His Gun.

An Amazon review for Johnny Got His Gun:

Reviewer: Norm McDonald from Orem Utah
I read this book just before I saw the movie of the same name. It was the first book I read and the first movie I attended, both within a few days after leaving Vietnam in Oct. 1971. I was home on convalesant leave from a military hospital. I probably should have waited a while to see something like this, but it had been recommended to me by other soldiers who, like me belonged to the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. I found the book to be the greatest argument against waging war no matter how justified that had been published up until that time. I would like to see the book as required reading during senior English courses.

I guess Norm didn't get his wish. Too bad.

I'm getting to old for this shit.

[Disclaimer: My daughter is a Specialist in the Army and is stationed in Germany. She is in the Quartermaster Corps and supports the motor pool for a couple of attack helicopter squadrons.]