Salman Rushdie's memoir, Joseph Anton, is amazing. His beautiful prose starkly contrasts with the ignorance that forced him into years of hiding. It glows with life- go read it now.
No Easy Day remains on the best seller lists, morphing into a political cautionary tale. Since No Easy Day was published, The Secretary of Defense has publicly discussed disciplining Mr. Owens for not honoring his nondisclosure agreement. Many military writers and bloggers don't meet their nondisclosure agreements because public affairs officers clumsily edit and overwrite, and because the services significantly relaxed their standards over the past 10+ years to leverage soldiers' output for public relations. Mr. Owen's comments like, "We'd kept this whole thing under wraps for weeks. Now, Washington was leaking everything, and we were going to get the lecture for it," might have touched a nerve. The kerfuffle appears partially politically motivated- keep your eye on it.
The filmmaker behind the anti-Islamic video that recently sparked violence was arrested 27 September for violating his probation, including allegedly lying about his role in the film's production. A judge ordered Mr. Nakoula detained, citing a "lengthy pattern of deception," adding that he posed "some danger to the community." He was hiding due to death threats, and HE poses a danger to the community? He could face up to three years behind bars- if he isn't killed first.
Piss Christ, the photo by Mr. Serano of a plastic crucifix in urine may be viewed beginning 27 September at the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery in New York. Throughout the photograph's worldwide tour, it was vandalized multiple times, and Mr. Serano was threatened. Seriously? Isn't it punishment enough to be the dude who takes photos of urine and calls it art? And tell me how the photo is worse than what we do to Christ daily?
Everyone in the global village, even the global idiots, should be able to speak freely, openly, and safely. The proper response to bad ideas and bad art is beauty like Rushdie's writing or scorn and snark, not fatwas and persecution.
P.S. Or suing someone for libel...On 12 September, as part of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the Philippine government made service providers, people who "like" content, and re-Tweeters responsible for any content deemed libelous under antiquated libel laws condemned by the United Nations Committee on Human Rights- effectively squelching free exchanges of ideas on the Internet in the Philippines. BTW- the law extends to service providers and individuals outside of the Philippines too. Yikes! Could this change what you do on the Inter-webs?
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