Politics

It's interesting that chatter about the Iraq war has now made a paradigm shift. Most politicians and commentators (including Bill O'Reilly!) are willing to concede that the original invasion was a misguided strategic blunder, and are instead now focussing on the idea that the 'Surge' strategy worked and the US is 'winning' the war.

On the face of it, sure, the violence has decreased somewhat but that's about all you could call a success. The Iraqis are no closer to gaining control of their own country, the war costs the US 10 billion dollars a MONTH and the fact still remains that the fight in Iraq has nothing to do with what happened on September 11 except to poke the hornets nest even further.

Eventually history will show that the whole thing was total folly, but for now we're stuck with John McCain's version of events.

This week's quote is from none other than Sun Tzu's The Art of War and seems particularly relevant given all the talk we're hearing on the campaign trail at the moment.

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."
- Sun-Tzu

Yeah. What he said.

There seem to be a lot of casual political observers out there who can't understand why the US presidential race appears to be so close. After 8 years of Bush, most people think it should be a romp for the Democrats. How can McCain, whose policies are 90% the same as Bush's, be doing so well in the polls? How can people not notice?! It looks crazy to an outsider and it's easy to conclude that Americans must just be monumentally stupid. Rather than delve into the intricacies of the US race, I'd like to point out an interesting comparison.

Here in Australia, Rudd Labor's policies are 90% the same as Howard Liberal's but hardly anyone seems to notice or care. In the 9 months since Rudd took office, we've had the symbolic signing of Kyoto, the apology to stolen generations and the end of mandatory detention centres. The first two are welcome changes of pace, but purely symbolic. The latter represents a real change and a welcome one for anyone who believes in basic human decency. But if you're expecting more than symbolism and the odd bit of tinkering around the edges, don't get your hopes up.

Most of the power a government has lies in economic carrots and sticks. If you want people to stop doing something, tax it. If you want to encourage it, cut taxes on it. If something's important fund it, if something's not, cut funding. That's the day-to-day business of government. When it comes to the current government, it's hard to imagine a policy sheet that could be more like the previous Liberal government's if you tried. No wonder the Libs are angry and confused, they've had their space co-opted!

Now you tell me which is more amazing - that the new government is gutless enough to be 90% the same as the old one after being elected on the back of a vote for change, or the fact that nobody seems to notice or be willing to believe it? Except the ones who voted Liberal of course, but no-one listens to them.

What happens when 90% of your platform is the same as the other guy? You make a big noise about the 10%. That's what we get in Australia. That's what we got with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the primaries. That's what we've got with McCain and Bush. People obsess about the details and miss the much bigger picture.

The Republicans know this of course. So did Rudd. People like to be deceived. Sometimes the bigger truths are just too terrible. Much safer to stay in the 10%.

It's been a while since I posted some of my favourite forages from around teh interwebz, so here are a few to keep you going...

Obama's stadium speech to 84,000

Barack Obama officially accepted the Democratic Party nomination for president this week with a rousing speech full of soaring rhetoric, policy detail and attacks on the Republican Party playbook. It's a fantastic speech well worth watching. 66 days till the election...

What Happened to Hillary...

Continuing the political theme, The Atlantic has a great in-depth article about the inner workings of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign and why it went off the rails. Great reading for those interested in politics. Read it here.

The Phallic Logo Awards

Now for something fun - this is a contest for graphic designers to submit entries for companies whose logos look like... well... a cock and/or balls. It's astounding (and amusing) that these companies haven't realised their designers have been having a little fun with them, intentional or otherwise. Check out the phallic logo finalists here.

Photoshop for video?

Here is a video of some incredible technology that lets you apply a variety of Photoshop-style effects to video footage. Wow.

US Army using iPods in combat

US Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are using iPods with custom modifications as translators when dealing with the locals. The software contains thousands of phrases in all known dialects which can be played through an attached speaker. Apparently the iPod was chosen for its ease-of-use and familiarity among both US soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

A few more interesting interesting things from around the web to brighten up your Monday...

Pandas at play - so cute!

Bush surveys damage caused by presidency

News parody site The Onion has a video report of President Bush touring the country's disaster areas in the wake of his destructive presidency. Funny stuff

Playing with music's DNA

Folks in the music business will probably be familiar with Melodyne - the software that allows producers to pitch-correct singing and other instruments - it's an indispensable plug-in for many studios. Cool and incredible as it may be - this will make you sit up and take notice...

The new version of Melodyne has a feature called Direct Note Access, essentially breaking any recording into its component notes, including chords, and letting you rewire them however you please. Change a whole song from minor to major with one button? Done. For music geeks this is the biggest news in many years - watch a video of how DNA works at Celemony's website.

The Ethic of the Link

Journalism, like almost everything else, is being turned on its head and having its rules rewritten in the internet age. The man who understands this perhaps better than anyone else is Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University. In this video (4m 21s) he explains how news has changed online and why most traditional media outlets don't get it. It's worth the 4 minutes if you can spare it.

The Orwell Diaries

George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, two famous books which have had far reaching influences on our culture, kept a diary from 1938 until 1942. Exactly 70 years after he started it, The Orwell Prize is publishing Orwell's diary piece by piece as it was written, so readers can follow it in sync, providing a fascinating insight into Orwell's world 70 years ago.

Read the George Orwell's diary blog here.

Abetter question would be - when is it NOT ok to be a tall poppy? There is a mentality among some parts of the country, a throwback to the days of class society, that says you shouldn't have ideas above your station. Australia, a nation founded by cast-offs from this section of society, has this idea deeply entrenched in its soul. In Australian culture, heroes are the ones who stay true to their roots, the 'true-blue' Aussies. You can be an actor, war hero, sportsman or murderer - so long as you're true blue, we love ya. The worst thing you can be in Australia is a snob.

At the risk of being called such, I believe that mentality is total ignorant garbage. Seriously. If it's snobbery to think you're better at something than someone else, what are you supposed to do if you actually are? Pretend you're not so you don't offend anybody? Modesty is one thing, but dumbing yourself down to be acceptable is wrong. Acceptable to whom? If it's more important to other people that you fit in than reach your potential, are these the kind of people you need in your life?

From the moment you're born, people are lining up to impress upon you the idea that you can be anything you want. That's nice, and it has the added bonus of being true. But you soon discover that if following your dreams involves something other than sport or one of the few other culturally approved pursuits, you're going to have to go somewhere else to do it. Which means you are confronted with a choice to stay and make the best of it or to go follow your calling. Through the frame of Australian culture as a whole, if you choose to go, but manage to stay 'true blue', you're a hero. If you go and don't look back, you're a snob and good riddance. It doesn't actually matter what you do or whether you succeed or fail, it only matters what you think about Australia.

This represents a deep and abiding cultural insecurity - a nation's need for constant reassurance to help assuage its low self-esteem. This observation will be hotly denied of course by those who choose not to see the problem. For it is a problem, and an absurd one at that. The truth is Australia is an incredibly blessed country full of natural wonders, amazing people and untapped potential. But as anyone who knows a gifted person with low self-esteem can vouch, it doesn't matter how obviously brilliant they are, low self-esteem will somehow sabotage everything they do. In this light, Australia's obsession with cutting down tall poppies is both understandable and tragic.

The truth is - it is ALWAYS ok to be a tall poppy. Tall poppies show strength, possibility and hope. And yet they are still poppies, true to their roots. We should welcome them and appreciate them, not seek to cut them down at the first opportunity. If we were more accepting towards tall poppies perhaps they would be less suspicious and aloof.

It is the right and indeed the duty of each and every one of us to be the tallest, fullest flowers we can be. What good does it serve others or ourselves if we waste potential that could have been used?

Why should following your dreams mean you have to go elsewhere? Why force people to make that choice? For a small country, Australia produces some of the best and brightest leaders in all sorts of fields. Yet they almost always leave to pursue their careers overseas, simply because there is so little opportunity to do so here. Certainly most would stay if they could. Each time we let one go we let go of a chance to pull ourselves higher as a nation, thereby only reinforcing the same problem.

Australia needs to look forwards. Instead of cutting down tall poppies we should grow to meet them.

From now on instead of posting links to interesting things individually as I find them I'll wait until I get half a dozen or so and then post them together in a digest like this.

Every day I spend 2 to 3 hours reading, watching and researching. During this time I see hundreds of interesting things. Here are some of the best. Enjoy!

Free!

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine, author of The Long Tail and perhaps the most far-sighted man in Silicon Valley, has a new book due out soon. Everything that goes digital eventually goes free. Find out why $0.00 is the future of business.

Microsoft tries to convince people Vista doesn't suck

Apple's Mac and PC ads are starting to bite and Windows Vista is still a colossal flop and embarrassment 18 months after its launch. In response, Microsoft has conducted an 'experiment' in which people who don't like Vista are shown a secret new version of Windows which they instantly fall in love with. Turns out it was Vista all along! The people in this video are real, but are clearly computer noobs. Watch the video and see what you think. To me it seems equivalent to responding to someone who has read a bad review of a car by showing them a sales brochure for the same car. The actual virtues of the car itself don't come into it because the person has never driven it. I'd love to see Microsoft try this experiment with someone who has actually used a computer before.

What makes people gay?

That's what John Barrowman sets out to find in this BBC documentary. Barrowman, the Scottish star of Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, married his boyfriend last year. In the documentary, filmed in America, John challenges scientists to explain why he's gay. With the help of friends, family, psychologists and geneticists, he asks whether nature or nurture determine what we are. The Making of Me was the highest rating program on UK television when it aired this week. BBC have made it available online but only for UK viewers. Those with Bit Torrent clients will find a link to a working torrent file here.

China cleans up its air for Olympics

And this is the result! Beijing has a scale by which air pollution is measured. 100 is considered not great, 200 is bad and has been recorded many times in the last decade. Sometimes it even gets to 500. This picture, taken last week after anti-smog measures had been introduced, rates 113. No wonder the athletes are concerned.

Crazy right-wing nuts hijack public debate

Ever heard of the Overton Window? That's the name given to the idea that debate about an issue takes place within a certain range of views, focussing on mainstream beliefs with crazier fringe opinions at the edges. The idea of 'moving the Overton Window' is that by putting the crazy ideas out into the public arena more often, they become closer to the mainstream. Progressives say this is the technique that FOX news and other far right-wing voices use to hijack the political agenda. No need to back up what you're saying, just say it loud enough and often enough and people will consider your ideas normal and the other guy's ideas even crazier and more extreme. This blog looks at how this happens in Australian politics and media.