Strange Apples
I love this.
vreemde appels copy
Originally uploaded by markus.winkler.
Theoryheads and Postmodernism
I’ve added a new page – “About VirusHead.”
There is a short explanation of why the blog is named VirusHead.
There is also a long rambling section about theoryheads and postmodernism (only for the intensely curious).
I’ve also added a page dedicated to Jehovah’s Witnesses issues, news and resources. In addition to page links (to bits of the main VirusHead site), the page lists all the titles of the blog posts on this topic, so that you don’t have to click through the category pages to get a sense of what’s there.
I’ve also moved my tag cloud to its own page, which includes all the tags. All of them.
Media Vocabulary Guidelines Needed
When you see it, protest. I wrote to Brad Kalbfeld (Deputy Director, Managing Editor, a member of the AP senior management team) to recommend vocabulary guidelines:
“I am writing to you to request that you draw up some vocabulary guidelines for the Associated Press.
As an objective reporting service, you surely cannot have missed the fact that vocabulary choices resonate. In the political climate of the United States at this time, I think it is important that you consider very carefully the way certain words are gaining currancy in our news. Please do not contribute to the problem.
The immediate cause of my writing is the following story (see below), which was distributed by you and picked up by action news2 wbsbtv.com.
MARTINEZ — Two people and an unborn child died when their car was struck at an intersection by a shoplifting suspect.
In describing a pregnancy of 16-20 weeks as an “unborn child” you are choosing a vocabulary that is championed only by those who wish to change our laws about a woman’s right to choose an abortion, to use birth control, and the like. The rhetoric of the personhood of a fetus is extremely charged. Not all of us want to be visualized as “pre-pregnant” and I, for one, am completely opposed to the christian dominionist thinking that has permeated our media. A child is a child at birth. “Unborn” is nonsense, like “pre-dead”.
“Two people, one of whom was pregnant, died…” or something like that would have been more appropriate.
The AP has stood for freedom of information. The media is the message. I implore you to consider the discourse and rhetoric that you use and construct. There are neutral ways of talking, and I rely on the AP to employ them.”
When I read the article more carefully, I realized that the woman who lost her pregnancy hadn’t died in the accident, so my alternate wording would have been incorrect. My bad, but the larger point holds.
I urge others to comment on specific instances of inflammatory or inappropriate language, misleading coverage, outright propaganda, and the like.
419 Nigerian Email Scam
Salon.com People | I crave your distinguished indulgence (and all your cash)
Here is a lovely article on the "419" fraud scheme emails that usually reference Nigeria. They target your greed and suggest plans money laundering, inheritance, fake lottery, and the like. The people who follow up on these propositions are easy marks for these con games.
What I like about the Salon article is that the focus is on the language. Douglas Cruickshank writes that he has fallen for these emails, "not for the scam part, but for the writing, the plots (fragmented as they are), the characters, the earnest, alluring evocations of dark deeds and urgent needs, Lebanese mistresses, governments spun out of control, people abruptly ‘sacked’ for ‘official misdemeanors’ and all manner of other imaginative details all delivered in a prose style that is as awkward and archaic as it is enchanting."
My favorite: "An Iron in his own stead! The reins of government grabbed by illation!"
The 419 Coalition Website has more details and suggestions on what you can do besides just delete the message.