Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Links 11/2/10

Fun later. For now, here are some links.

Liberal Conspiracy - Daily Mail cartoon equates immigrants with animals. I can't really work out what the point of the cartoon is. Is it that immigrants are animals, so marrying one is somehow multicultural? Is it that bestiality would be permitted under the same kind of Government that would allow multiculturalism, because they're equivalently bad things? Is it that if you say you vote Labour, you can do whatever the hell you like, including fucking a sheep? I'm not entirely sure. All I do know is that it's rather unpleasant. I can almost hear the clattering of keyboards being melted by people roaring "Of course it's not racist! Only a PCgonemad nutcase would think that! You can't say anything nowadays! Wurrrgh free speech, the left wants to stop us from having fun!" and so on. But I still find it rather unpleasant, and it's not attacking freedom of speech by using your freedom of speech to say you think that something is shit when you think it's shit.

Hidden Eloise - Cannot chase Paperchase. This designer is quite understandably pissed off that Paperchase have brought out a design that looks suspiciously similar to one of hers. But contacting the company hasn't got her anywhere. Maybe they're hoping it will just go away. In which case, let's make sure it doesn't.

Septicisle - Seven paragraphs. Re Binyam Mohamed: "Despite then already being fully aware that the information in the seven paragraphs was already well known, the real reason for wanting them to remain secret was because they show just how out of control our supposedly fully accountable and enlightened defenders of British security actually were and indeed remain."

Speak You're Branes - Ultra Hyper Jingoism. "I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that the world of right-wing opinion is actually one big competition. Rod Liddle, Melanie Phillips and the angry gaggle of delingpoles that make up the Fucking Blogosphere, it’s all a race to lay down the hardest line on the most sacred PC cow." Oh yes. Today's Spectator has a piece slagging off Oxfam for the way in which they run their bookshops, for example.

Upon Nothing - The standard of Daily Mail journalism. If you're thinking to yourself, "I imagine that standard is very high", then you might be surprised. The rest of us will find this tale rather familiar. See how a 'row' comes from nowhere!

Stumbling and Mumbling - TV drama v macroeconomics. What's more believable - economic theories or TV shows?

Newsbag - Vernon Kay 'embarased' over bad spelling. Poor the Vernon. It's another one of those tawdry tabloid tales that informs us of nothing at all of any benefit to our lives, but this spoof made me laugh.

Andy Worthington - Defending Moazzam Begg and Amnesty International.

Ponderboxes - Justice seen, justice done? A look at 'community payback.

Related posts:

1. Hooray for freedom!
2. Links 19/5/09
3. A question of harassment
4. Links 12/5/09
5. Friday links 24/10: Journalism