Subject: Truth and Dollars
Re: " Life and Art: Billy Elliot"
From: Ben W
Date: Wed Jan 31 10:08 a.m. PT

Irish and British filmmakers are willing to misrepresent history and the people of these countries to any extent for the dollars that are in it. The Brits involved in Billy Elliot misrepresented the Miners' Strike—the epochal event of Thatcher's Britain, the most divisive and impactful event of the decade. The Irish and British movies which American viewers enjoy, thinking themselves "discerning" with their spurning of Hollywood cliché and bias, are, in fact, just as bad, just as inaccurate, just as beholden to commercial interests and just as uninterested in telling historical truths.

[Find this post here.]

Subject: Protection and Advantage

Re: " Dispatches: Davos"

From: Brian Burgoon, Department of International Relations, University of Amsterdam

Date: Fri Feb 2 12:39 a.m. PT

Much of the supposed Southern opposition against [rights and standards] initiatives doesn't come from the South's poor but from their government representatives. Many labor groups in developing countries have actually joined forces with their Northern counterparts in calling for formal protections and labor rights—knowing full well that they need to maintain their competitive advantages through lower wages and some standards in order to grow. The governments putatively representing these voices, however, are flat against such protections—in no small part because these governments speak more for corporate elites who want to clamp down on labor rights.

[Find this post in full here.] 

Subject: When It's OK To Argue        

Re: "The Breakfast Table: William McGurn and Wladyslaw Pleszczynski"

From: Cezar

Date: Tue Jan 30 5:28 p.m. PT

Are John Ashchroft's opponents [inspired by] bigotry? Only if you argue that any belief, political or otherwise, is acceptable. For the most part, our society does not. Certain beliefs, however honestly felt, are considered unacceptable. Nazism and communism to name two. This is not to suggest that Mr. Ashcroft's beliefs are equivalent to either, or for that matter even to say that they are unacceptable. But once you decide that some ideas are out of the pale, it then becomes only a question of where you can draw the line. Honest people can disagree about that.

[Find this post here.]

Subject: Taking Diseases Seriously

Re: " Assessment: Mad Cow Disease"

From: Siobhan

Date: Mon Jan 29 3:30 a.m. PT