Posts by Stephen Judd
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Sonic, if that's the best parallel you can come up with, then we cannot agree, because your standards for analogy are so loose any intra-group conflict is going to meet them. And with that, I bid you adieu.
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Riddley, do you have anything other than speculation to offer? I think you're getting over-excited.
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As I wrote to another PA reader earlier in the week, although I enjoyed Riddley Walker, I spent so much time trying to figure out all the allusions that I started treating it less as a story and more as a puzzle. I couldn't engage with it or suspend disbelief.
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Sonic, I suggest you extend that care to consulting a history text then.
What you said was:
"In the same way we defended Jewish people being persected in the 1930's we defend Muslim victims of persecution today."
Kristallnacht was in 1938. The Nuremberg laws were passed in 1935. The first laws restricting Jewish civil rights in Germany were passed 1933. The Stormtroopers were actively putting the boot in as early as 1925.
I have already agreed that some ugly and untrue things are being said, and I hope the things I've said upthread make it clear where I stand. However your comparison is simply. plainly wrong.
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Yeah, I'm looking forward to bypassing the good old USA via Vancouver, unless they lighten up soon.
They still have common sense in Canada, don't they?
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PS: Uganda has a much nicer climate than Finland...
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Juha's point - that there is no equivalent persecution of Muslims - is very sound. There is some nastily evocative rhetoric from certain quarters, but that's it. Comparisons to Europe in the 30s are hyperbole.
I think it's important to counter that rhetoric, mind.
On another note, I'd call being sandwiched between Hitler and Stalin a classic rock and hard place. As far as Finland's treatment of its Jews at that time goes they rank very well compared to many other countries in Europe -- hell, the Finnish army had field synagogues.
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To be fair to DPF, I get the impression that he's had little-to-no time for comment moderation. It doesn't take long for the bad to drive out the good. When you factor in that he has explicit party affiliations and a high profile, that makes his blog a troll magnet. He's also been using a system that's very vulnerable to comment spam.If you spend ages cleaning up drive-by spamming I don't suppose you have much energy to improve the tone.
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Hilariously, the first attributed quote for "Islam is a religion of Peace" I can find via Google is from George Bush.
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Something is going to come out of leftfield and nail this, though. It's just a matter of when.
That's a statement of faith and nothing more, Russell. At least if by that you mean some new development is going to rescue the big players from the prospect of decreasing profit.
I don't buy the idea that the music industry is stupid when its main strategy is to try to make it illegal to bypass them. Very large companies with very bright lawyers and very bright technical folks have seen the writing on the wall, and decided that getting their business model enshrined in law is the bet approach to protecting their investment.
If from the outside we think that's an impractical and likely unsuccessful approach, well fine. The conclusion we ought to draw from this is that the music industry itself knows it is screwed and sees no relief. And it will not be un-screwed by wishful thinking.
There will be a new regime in ten or twenty years. The most successful businesses in that regime may share a lineage with the most successful ones now, because existing business know-how and capital will provide a headstart. But that's it.
That deflating sound is the entertainment industry investment in decades of intellectual property losing its value. Their franchise is ruined. It will not come back.