Archive for December 15th, 2008

the war on idiocy
Meet the worst parents in the world

Heath and Deborah Campbell seem like normal people. Until you hear the bat shazbot insane names they’ve given to their children. There’s Adolf Hitler Campbell, 3; Joycelynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 2; and little Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell (a feminization of Heinrich Himmler), just eight months.

What kind of monster, you might ask, would give their children such names? Names that simultaneously pay tribute to murderers while marking the children as social pariahs? Tragically moronic monsters, as it turns out. Says Heath:

“They say, ‘He (Hitler) killed all those people.’ I say, ‘You’re living in the wrong decade. That Hitler’s gone. They’re just names, you know. Yeah, they (Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They’re not going to grow up like that. It’s not fair to my children. How can a name be offensive?”

Gee, I don’t know Heath. You’ve got me. People are so uptight about naming children about history’s most despicable madmen. But, in his defense, Heath does practice some pretty progressive parenting:

Heath Campbell said he doesn’t want to force his views on his children, in part because he had views forced on him. He said he also teaches them nonviolence.

Abusive guardians, Heath Campbell said, used Bible verses to teach him to distrust blacks. If he questioned the guardians, he said, he was hit. He acknowledged he couldn’t challenge the guardians’ views.

He said Adolf Hitler, Aryan Nation and Hinler would be able to make their own decisions about race.

Not that he hasn’t front-ended the question a little by naming them after freakin’ Nazis. Somebody needs to arrest these clowns for child abuse.

December 15th, 2008 by graeme | | 5 comments »

mediated
Bush’s post-shoe comments

By now, everyone has seen the footage of an irate Iraqi journalist whipping his shows at President Bush. But you may not have seen his surprisingly thoughtful comments immediately afterwards:

 

Impressive. Of course, one wonders why Bush’s thoughts about ‘free societies’ was reflected exactly nowhere in his administration’s policies. Via TPM.

UPDATE: A few commentators on CNN Al-Quds Al-Arabi and elsewhere are making an interesting point: would the journalist have dared even criticize Saddam Hussein, let alone throw a shoe at him. Iraq is a mess, but there are small victories, I suppose.

December 15th, 2008 by graeme | | 2 comments »

mediated
World Economic Forum goes gonzo with social media

Ah, Web 2.0. You make everything more interesting.

The World Economic Forum - where politicians, businessmen, intellectuals and journalists get together to discuss how to improve the world and stave off social and environmental collapse for another year – has gone whole-hog with their use of social media. Last year, the Forum allowed interested individuals to submit questions via YouTube. For the 2009 edition, the YouTube channel is back. And, one lucky submitter will be selected to attend the Forum in Davos, Switzerland, based on their originality and how well they answer the following questions:

  • How confident do you feel about global growth in 2009?
  • To what extent do you think environmental issues will be sidelined by the economic crisis?
  • What are your expectations of incoming US president Barack Obama’s administration?
  •  Should company executives should abide by a similar code of ethics to lawyers and doctors?

But the social media goodness doesn’t stop there. There is also a WEF twitterstream, Facebook and Myspace pages,  a wiki for their Open Forum program, and a pretty decent blog.

The WEF isn’t always seen as the most progressive of institutions, but this use of  web tools is a fairly innovative way to open the conversation up to more people. And who doesn’t love the chance to win a Swiss vacation by spouting off on political questions? Now, if only I can come up with a decent video concept…

This entry is cross-posted with Rabble.ca.

December 15th, 2008 by graeme | | 1 comment »

green bin
Weekend roundup – 12/15/08

Canada

World

Media

  • The Guardian declares a “Victory for Irony” as a spurious libel suit by Elton John is defeated.

Science & Tech

Pop Culture

December 15th, 2008 by graeme | | no comments »

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