Sunday, June 13, 2004
Interesting Posts on Ornery
Ornery.org is a site that Jeremy pointed me to a while back. Along with a rotating cast of guest writers, the site is run by Sci-Fi wruter Orson Scott Card (of Ender's Game fame) and comments on various political and social issues. Seems like the kind of site that Polyscifi should reference more often...
A quick little background on Card: he's a devout Mormon Democrat who supports the WoT and is voting for Bush this Fall. He's socially conservative (in a religious sense), but has strong libertarian leanings.
So with that in mind, the following gives a brief synopsis of three articles I liked on ornery.
Just War Theory and the War on Terror - Brian Moresonner
Brian gives a review of Paul Gilbert's book New Terror New Wars (thus making this a review of a review). The book (and the article) looks at the traditional conditions and premises for a just war theory and decides that just war theory does not apply. Specifically, a just war as specified by Thomas Aquinas must satisfy the following principles:
Ultimately, the author feels that the rules for just war need to evolve to encompass wars like the WoT as many of the traditional guides, such as the Geneva Conventions, do not really apply to the current war (Al Qaeda is not a state, definitely not a signer of Geneva, not in uniform, not concerned with endangering civilians - indeed focuses on attacking civilians).
Anyways it's a good read. So read it, and come back and leave a comment telling the world where the author is right or wrong.
The fanatics who tell us the news and "Fair and Balanced": Who Else but Dennis Miller? - Orson Scott Card
Over a couple of articles, Card gives his views on the national media. (While not as philosophically interesting as the just war essay, it also eloquently conveys my thoughts on the media).
Card thinks the vast majority of the media is slanted towards the Left (and this comes from a Democrat, albeit a social conservative - a combination that was not uncommon just 20 years ago. Lieberman is the only Democrat with national prominence that I can think of that is also a socially conservative Democrat). To support his point, Card goes through a local paper news portion for a single day and highlights three examples of bias. (While I agree with Card's conclusions, I think a better indicator of systemic bias is this Pew Survey of journalists)
Card then goes on to praise Fox and notes that, while unabashedly pro-American, Fox's news programs make an especial effort to actually present all sides of a story in a fair manner. Card especially likes Cavuto, Hume, and Shep. However, Card really doesn't like O'Reilly (see Polyscifi's thoughts on O'Reilly here and here), Hannity, or Greta. Specifically O'Reilly is rude to his guests and doesn't allow them to complete their points; Hannity hammers away on the same point without letting a guest respond (I just think Hannity is unable to adapt his arguments to a line he's unprepared for), and Greta goes off on tangents (I just don't care for a law discussion show).
Curiously, Card's favorite political show (I'm inferring) is also mine - Dennis Miller's CNBC gig. Ever since SNL, Miller has been par excellence in making comedy out of the news and in his new venue he again delivers. In addition to the humorous lead ins, Miller does an excellent job interviewing his guests. If he disagrees, he'll say so and say why, but he'll always let his guest say their piece.
A point in Miller's favor that Card doesn't bring up is his panel discussions. Miller's panels, like Hume's panels, are all done in studio and this seems to contribute to an air of civility so that the panelists can actually discuss different points of view rather than having a shouting match. Plus Miller has a chimpanzee on the show. How can you go wrong with a chimp?
The one complaint that Card has with Miller's show is also my sole criticism - CNBC's programming. You never know when Miller will be a rerun and (my point) it is frequently preempted.
Anyways, Ornery's a good site. Even if the other contributors' works are somewhat uneven, Card's World Watch (previously War Watch) is always worth reading.
Comments(0) |
A quick little background on Card: he's a devout Mormon Democrat who supports the WoT and is voting for Bush this Fall. He's socially conservative (in a religious sense), but has strong libertarian leanings.
So with that in mind, the following gives a brief synopsis of three articles I liked on ornery.
Just War Theory and the War on Terror - Brian Moresonner
Brian gives a review of Paul Gilbert's book New Terror New Wars (thus making this a review of a review). The book (and the article) looks at the traditional conditions and premises for a just war theory and decides that just war theory does not apply. Specifically, a just war as specified by Thomas Aquinas must satisfy the following principles:
1. having just cause,The author states that the WoT satisfies 1-3 (9-11, US gov, self-defense/peace/saving lives), is dubious of 4 because terror, or particularly Al Qaeda like terror, is so decentralized that success will be difficult to achieve, and thinks that 5. is difficult to do when a state is matched against a fanatic non-state actor with complete disregard to normal rules of civil warfare.
2. being declared by a proper authority,
3. possessing right intention,
4. having a reasonable chance of success, and
5. the end being proportional to the means used.
Ultimately, the author feels that the rules for just war need to evolve to encompass wars like the WoT as many of the traditional guides, such as the Geneva Conventions, do not really apply to the current war (Al Qaeda is not a state, definitely not a signer of Geneva, not in uniform, not concerned with endangering civilians - indeed focuses on attacking civilians).
Anyways it's a good read. So read it, and come back and leave a comment telling the world where the author is right or wrong.
The fanatics who tell us the news and "Fair and Balanced": Who Else but Dennis Miller? - Orson Scott Card
Over a couple of articles, Card gives his views on the national media. (While not as philosophically interesting as the just war essay, it also eloquently conveys my thoughts on the media).
Card thinks the vast majority of the media is slanted towards the Left (and this comes from a Democrat, albeit a social conservative - a combination that was not uncommon just 20 years ago. Lieberman is the only Democrat with national prominence that I can think of that is also a socially conservative Democrat). To support his point, Card goes through a local paper news portion for a single day and highlights three examples of bias. (While I agree with Card's conclusions, I think a better indicator of systemic bias is this Pew Survey of journalists)
Card then goes on to praise Fox and notes that, while unabashedly pro-American, Fox's news programs make an especial effort to actually present all sides of a story in a fair manner. Card especially likes Cavuto, Hume, and Shep. However, Card really doesn't like O'Reilly (see Polyscifi's thoughts on O'Reilly here and here), Hannity, or Greta. Specifically O'Reilly is rude to his guests and doesn't allow them to complete their points; Hannity hammers away on the same point without letting a guest respond (I just think Hannity is unable to adapt his arguments to a line he's unprepared for), and Greta goes off on tangents (I just don't care for a law discussion show).
Curiously, Card's favorite political show (I'm inferring) is also mine - Dennis Miller's CNBC gig. Ever since SNL, Miller has been par excellence in making comedy out of the news and in his new venue he again delivers. In addition to the humorous lead ins, Miller does an excellent job interviewing his guests. If he disagrees, he'll say so and say why, but he'll always let his guest say their piece.
A point in Miller's favor that Card doesn't bring up is his panel discussions. Miller's panels, like Hume's panels, are all done in studio and this seems to contribute to an air of civility so that the panelists can actually discuss different points of view rather than having a shouting match. Plus Miller has a chimpanzee on the show. How can you go wrong with a chimp?
The one complaint that Card has with Miller's show is also my sole criticism - CNBC's programming. You never know when Miller will be a rerun and (my point) it is frequently preempted.
Anyways, Ornery's a good site. Even if the other contributors' works are somewhat uneven, Card's World Watch (previously War Watch) is always worth reading.
Comments(0) |
