I am a terrorist sympathiser. Now let me back-track: I’m not really a terrorist sympathiser, because I don’t think that terrorists should kill people. And actually all I have is sympathy for people who are so frequently oppressed, abused and silenced that they can only seek solace in terror.

No people should kill people, whatever their ‘justification’. And no people should oppress another people, whatever their reason.

Terrorists are very angry people. Nobody decides to blow themselves up without a good bellyful of outrage to help them depress the detonator. So the funny thing about our War on Terror is that we try to solve the problem of very angry people by sending our angry people (the military) to deal with them. It’s really weird actually, because if someone was angry with me, or intent on hurting me, I would want to know why, and I would try to resolve any conflict with communication before I ever threw a punch.

So why do Western societies tackle terrorists with extreme violence, rather than with calm diplomacy? Why do we throw hate upon hate? Bombing people who are already oppressed, downtrodden and fired up for Jihad just breeds more terrorists, so why do we do it?

Glourious Terrorism

I watched Inglourious Basterds yesterday and was surprised at my delight when the fictional band of Allied soldiers began hunting Nazis. The good guys were going after the oppressor, the abusive, violent Nazi scum, and it was almost heart-warming to behold.

Inglourious Basterds leads you to sympathise with terrorists; the Basterds are undoubtedly terrorists: they explicitly choose to commit horrifically violent crimes; murders so bloody and wicked that the Nazis speak of them in awe, in terror.

Because the Nazis are so completely awful, it seems acceptable for the Basterds to murder and mutilate them. The viewer watching Inglourious Basterds can cheer on their crimes, knowing that, however wrong, the bad guy is getting his comeuppance. But I wonder if this is how some Muslims feel when an Islamic terrorist commits a murder.

Have we become, in the eyes of some people, no better than the Nazis?

Speaking to Terrorists

We have a rule that we must not speak to terrorists. We can bomb them, but we can’t speak to them. We fought the IRA, but after many years of fighting, nothing changed. So we spoke more, and eventually the fighting stopped.
One day, perhaps many years from now, after all the bombs have been dropped and the guns are out of bullets, we’ll chat about our differences, see how we can live together, and stop terrorising each other.

They aren’t really news papers, in the strict sense of being a paper full of news. They are full of political bias and commentary, but they aren’t very reliable as reporters of factual news.

Now I realise that what I’m saying is obvious. We all know that:

Guardian= liberal

The Sun= conservative pornographers

Telegraph= conservative

The Daily Mail= fascist

and so on.

I’ve always known this, but the other morning when I was scanning the headlines on the major papers (outside a supermarket) I could suddenly see how ridiculous our faux-news really is.

The Sun had manufactured a story that connected a mother’s grief to Gordon Brown; The Mirror had concocted its own outrage about something they’d decided David Cameron had done; the Daily Mail was frothing about immigrants; the Guardian was pulling eveything to the left.

Altogether, this montage made news look a little hopeless.

Our newspapers do not just report the news. They promote their agenda. They snipe at their enemies. And occasionally they report the news.

I wish I had been taught this at school: Newspapers are not reporters of the news. They are political organs that manipulate news to further their cause, be it political or financial.

And there’s another thing: newspapers are businesses.  And that’s a whole other problem…

Short version

Myself and Jonathan Markwell – the industrious and philanthropic mastermind behind Inuda, the Skiff and SocialPlume – have created Nyouse (pronounced “news”).

Nyouse is a system that allows ordinary people to alert the press to news stories. Nyouse is designed to bring attention to unreported stories, by creating a quick and easy system for people to announce their news – a system that is easily scannable by journalists.

Nyouse is a SocialPlume application that sucks up messages from Twitter. So if you want to alert the media to something important, just compose a tweet and include: #nyouse. Your message will appear on Nyouse.com, where journalists will see it.

Long version

If you’ve visited Words By Me before, you might have noticed that while I’m supposed to be sharing short stories, I often end up writing about politics or current events. That’s because I’m a news junkie. I often think about the news, and the way stories find their way onto our front pages.

Anyway, Nyouse started because I was interested in creating a citizen journalism blog. So I created a website called Nyouse (it’s YOU in the NEWS, yeah?). Then Prem told me about Now Public, so I destroyed Nyouse. Then I forgot about it and got busy writing copy for the web. Then I remembered Nyouse and wondered what to do with it.

Then, I realised Nyouse might have a purpose, one that was linked to Twitter.

One problem with citizen journalism is that not everyone enjoys writing. Some people have a story to tell, but they don’t want to write it. If people could use Twitter to highlight their story, professional journalists could pick up their story and do the writing. This would combine the best of both worlds: the ideas  and stories of ordinary people, crafted into professional articles by trained journalists.

So, here you have Nyouse. For Nyouse to succeed, we need two parties to take action.

A Polite Request to Everybody

If you have a story to tell, a whistle to blow or breaking news to share with the world, write a message on Twitter and include: #nyouse.

By adding #nyouse you give your message legs – it will instantly leap beyond the confines of your Twitter stream and the limited eyes of your followers. Including #nyouse means going public, finding an audience, exceeding your potential and changing the way news circulates. So give it a try!

What is Nyouse.com?

Nyouse.com – authentic press releases, from the people to the journalists, on Twitter

“We consider the war on drugs a failure because the objectives have never been achieved,” said César Gaviria, Colombia’s former president and co-chair of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy.

“Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalisation have not yielded the expected results. We are today farther than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs.”

Why do we persist with wars on things? The war on terror has proved to be the best recruitment tool for terrorists, meaning that the war on terror has generated more terror while trying to eradicate it.

But the war on drugs is equally senseless. Prohibition should have taught us that illegalising something does not stop people using it, it just makes those people into criminals.

When will our attitude to drugs be based on dispassionate, rational analysis?

The Guardian seem to take a dim view of corporate tax avoidance, but other sections of the press aren’t so scathing. To some, corporate tax is an ‘onerous burden’ that can stifle prosperity.

I always find it interesting to see how differently the media portray corporate tax evasion compared with benefit fraud.

Individuals who claim benefits they’re not entitled to are described as ‘fraudsters’ and ‘cheats’, but businesses who basically do the same thing (but with the benefit of expensive tax lawyers) are described as enterprising or careful ‘tax planners’.

Does the problem begin when newspapers are businesses? Can a newspaper that is a business be expected to fairly report issues that negatively portray businesses? Who owns the Daily Mail? Who owns the Sun? What are their business interests? How do they conflict with even-handed reporting of business issues?

It’s surprising that so many people buy newspapers, given their corporate ownership. Can we trust anything they report? Why do we have any faith in their ‘news’?

Could the BBC do more to report the news that businesses (newspapers) can’t?

The trophy for Greatest Moron of 2008 must be given to Meir Sheetrit, a man who said:

“The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel,”

Why is this so stupid? Well, the best explanation comes from Tom Segev, an Israeli historian:

“Since the dawn of the Zionist presence in the land of Israel, no military operation has ever advanced dialogue with the Palestinians.”

If the Israeli government want to break the will of the Palestinians to fire rockets at Israel, perhaps they should consider removing their motives, rather than giving them more. What better way to radicalise a people, to fire up a populace, than by using excessive force against an already beleaguered nation?

Bizarrely, I find myself cheering the good sense of THE POPE:

The pontiff urged both sides to restore a truce and not to yield to the “perverse logic of confrontation and violence”.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/29/israel-gaza-military-strategy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/israel-gaza-attacks

Crafty drug fiends have been bending drugs laws by taking mind-altering substances that aren’t covered by current laws. Now, the dull reality of these drugs is that not being illegal does not mean they are safe. You can still leave half of your brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire, or be overrun with paranoia and anxiety. So be careful, yeah?

Get High Legally

I didn’t plan on getting all serious. I just wanted to point out that there are plenty of legal ways to get high, and presumably, because they are totally legal, they must be good for you too.

Legal High #1: Cigarettes

Yum, fags! Ooh, delicious. Particularly when you’ve got a cold. They’re also a stimulant which is great if you’re tired and addicted to them.

Legal High #2: Booze

Smashing! Who doesn’t like booze? Booze is warming, soothing, anti-septic, mildly depressant and gives you just enough confidence to leave the house in the morning. It’s the staple food of homeless people everywhere, and the way that civilised people dull the pain of their sham marriages and meaningless existences.

Legal High #3: Cheese

Smelly, tasty, it’s cheese! It’s legal, full of fat, calcium and morphine, and you can get it everywhere! Let’s get buzzed off on cheese-balls!

Beautiful pictures courtesy of:

Cigarettes – SuperFantastic

Booze -AZAdam

Cheese – Cwbuecheler

I really like John McCain. Not when he speaks, because when he speaks he looks like someone’s cantankerous granddad who’s had bad plastic surgery. But I like him in pictures, when I can’t hear him. He looks very tough, determined and experienced.

Old Money-Bags McCain

John McCain reminds me of someone’s granddad – I can just imagine him helping me and a friend put a model plane together. Although, considering his immense wealth he’d probably be helping us assemble a life-sized diamante model of Paris Hilton, or something equally valuable.

Micro Chips

But, given his warm, grandparent-y charm, I do worry about him. He is nearly 80, and I can’t help but wonder how on Earth an 80 year old man can survive the stress of campaigning. Given that McCain has had heart operations, a hip replacement and is literally knocking on heaven’s door, should he be allowed to run for president?

Special Dispensation for Being Old

Should the American people, out of concern for another human’s safety, ask him to stand aside? Or maybe Sarah Palin could run in his place, like a proxy. Or maybe, at the very least, John McCain could be given some kind of old-age allowance and allowed every other day off to do grandfatherly things, like help kids learn to ride bikes, feed ducks, play golf and take frequent naps.

(Picture courtesy of SoggyDan)

I have read the Bible from cover to cover, but I keep getting the impression that I missed something important:

“Sarah Palin: babies, guns, Jesus.  Hot damn!”

- Rush Limbaugh, during a discussion about the woman chosen to help old John McCain up the steps of the White House. Rush was excited because Sarah Palin is anti-abortion, pro-guns and she really loves Jesus.

That’s all great, but what I can’t understand is: how did Jesus come to be lumped in with guns? Would Jesus have packed heat? Would Jesus have popped a cap in Judas’ ass?

Somehow, during my year-long reading of the Bible, I completely missed this aspect of a vengeful, bad-ass Jesus.

Pictures courtesy of Teknorat and Defrost.ca