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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.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
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... Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Free Speech vs. Freedom Speech
What the hell is it with this country? Last week french fries bit the bullet and became Freedom Fries. Now it seems free speech is going the way of the dodo too, replaced by what I guess we should call Freedom Speech.
Freedom Speech means saying you support American troops and their commander in chief and beyond that, nada. Declaring that the President "failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced into war," as Tom Daschle did today? Sorry, that would be free speech. You can give aid and comfort to the enemy that way, GOP speaker Denny Hastert says. Bush's diplomacy may indeed have been a failure of the most miserable variety, but best keep your mouth shut about it if you don't want to be dubbed a traitor.
Look what happened to poor Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks. "Just so you know," she told the fair citizens of London last week, "we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." And who could dispute that, you might think? It's clearly her opinion. She can't be the only Texan to think it. As for Texans who are proud of the President and want to tell all of London -- well, here's a good place to make plane reservations. Bon Voyage. Et bonne chance.
Yet amazingly, the Chicks have been banned from radio stations across the country -- Maines' hasty apology notwithstanding. Now, let's see. What kind of free speech can't you take back? What kind of free speech earns you eternal opprobrium? Oh, yes, that's it. Blasphemy!
But who speaks for free speech? Who is going to stand up and scream the First Amendment in Hastert's ear? When will some descendent of Thomas Jefferson -- black or white -- phone in to those country music stations and give them a piece of their free mind between station breaks? Does the right wing really have a monopoly on absolute, apoplectic outrage?
Meanwhile, the Pope has been making his opposition to this war increasingly clear, saying the Bushies will have to answer to "God, their conscience and history." Which, if they are consistent, should soon put our Freedom Speakers in an interesting position: accusing the Holy Father of treacherous blasphemy.
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