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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Saturday, August 17, 2002
One Born Every Minute
Funny that I should get so wound up by a badly-written Reuters story today. Yesterday I had to assure a friend, an intelligent and well-educated friend, that the following e-mail spoof she received was not a real Reuters story:
Bush OK's Summary Executions Of Some Designated As Terrorists
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a surprise move sure to raise outcries from
foreign governments, civil liberties groups and others, The White House
today announced with little fanfare that effective immediately, certain
individuals whom President Bush or other high-level Administration
members have designated as terrorists are subject to summary execution
by either Homeland Security operatives, U.S. intelligence operatives,
and in some cases by U.S. military personnel.
The presidential directive applies to both U.S. and foreign citizens,
both within and outside the United States territory.
The White House gave notice of the new policy in as quiet a way as
possible, making the announcement late Sunday evening from Crawford,
Texas. The unprecedented move is thought certain to generate a firestorm
of protest from numerous quarters.
Part of my reasoning for why it was obviously fake, apart from the utterly ludicrous suggestion that the White House could keep a policy like that quiet by releasing it late Sunday, was the poor reporting and the poor wording. "They didn't quote anyone," I said. "And the writing is practically illiterate. I mean, 'numerous quarters?' 'Sure to raise outcries?'" I should have held my tongue. Evidently, the Appleson piece is life's way of showing me that a real Reuters story can be every bit as badly done as a fake one.
The hoax story made me curious, though. Who put it out there, and to what purpose? I mean, I'm no friend of Bush or the near-dictatorial arrogance of his administration, but spreading bullshit stories about executions is no way to fight it. It's not even a particularly amusing way to satirize it. All it does is cry wolf, and make the real crimes -- the detainment of thousands of unnamed citizens, the bid to light the Middle East tinderbox by attacking Iraq -- seem mild by comparison. If I was the conspiracy theory type, I might suggest the e-mail itself emanated from Crawford. Good thing I'm not the conspiracy theory type, eh?
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