Red Rag

Music seems to be popping up regularly in the Iraq debate. First there was the Opera House protest, and then Mike Seccombe encountered a disturbing coincidence:

Remember the scene from Apocalypse Now? Colonel Kilgore, the mad militarist, “loved the smell of napalm in the mornings”, swooping down in his helicopter to blow away Vietnamese civilians, as specially mounted speakers on his chopper blared Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.

Ominous coincidence, then, that as the Herald was waiting on hold for the Prime Minister’s office yesterday, the recorded music was Ride of the Valkyries.

There was John Howard, on his feet, arguing that Australia, for the first time in its history, should be involved in a pre-emptive strike against another nation.

And on his office phone the music of German militarism.

A violent metaphor for the violence about to be unleashed on Iraq.

And his judgment of yesterday’s sham debate?

When Howard began his speech he was strangely dispassionate, as if he has tired of trotting out the same old arguments for war. … Simon Crean, in contrast, spoke well and with passion.

I agree. However, in fairness to the Government, Robert Hill spoke very well in the Senate.

Australian Veterinarians Against War.

Some of you might be interested to know, and I’m sure Jonathan remembers, that I bitterly opposed “censorship” when the Ranters Network kicked someone off for allowing racist crap to be posted. Things change, I guess.

I’ve banned “Cassandra” from posting. I tried to ignore them (I understand there is more than one person behind the nickname) but they wouldn’t go away. Gareth Parker thinks this is a big deal:

For which, apparently, she has been banned by Corr from posting comments to his site. Here in Australian blogland, where opinions fly thick and fast, this is an unprecedented move, and one that I believe flies totally in the face of what this whole blogging thing is all about.

I’m not sure that it’s unprecedented, but I certainly don’t think it “flies totally in the face of what this whole blogging thing is all about.”

In the space of about a week, Cassandra (and Norman, Polanski, Nostradamus and Not Lyndall, who all have the same email and IP addresses) posted a total of 77 comments. Every single comment has been provocative and arrogant, and many have been rude.

As Gareth noted, Andrea See has also fallen victim to Cassandra’s harassment. She’s not the only one. Gary Nuzzi and Jill Walker also complained. Jill wrote,

I think I just got my first ever mean, bitchy and unconstructive comments. I’d actually thought that weblogs were fairly immune to that, and that it was mailing lists suffered from trolls.

I think she’s right. The various weblogging communities (with a few notable exceptions) is generally a very civil place. The debate is interesting and entertaining — primarily because people seem to observe an unwritten code of behaviour.

However, things change. Some changes, like the development of blog spam, are probably beyond our control. Other changes, though, can be relatively easily prevented. Trolling is one of them.

If banning Cassandra from my blog eliminates a troll, then I believe I am upholding the ideals of blogging. The descent of newsgroups into flame wars and other anti-social behaviour is well documented. A tool that once facilitated a free, open and democratic forum for debate quickly becomes a useless, inane and down-right idiotic waste of time if trolling is permitted.

Gareth should remember that my weblog is first and foremost for my own enjoyment. If a daily dose of sarcastic, petty comments in my inbox starts to piss me off, why shouldn’t I ban them? Cassandra’s freedom to post comments should not impinge on my freedom to enjoy my weblog. Gareth is a strong defender of bodies such as the ACCC. Surely he recognises that some regulation is necessary to maximise freedom?

Most importantly, my banning Cassandra does not seriously hinder their right to freedom of speech. The beauty of the blogosphere is that anyone can join in, and nobody can stop them. Cassandra should feel free to set up a blog of their own — it’s free and it’s easy. If they like, I’ll help them.

Preventing Cassandra from posting comments on my weblog is not an attack on free speech. By discouraging trolling and encouraging genuine debate, the ban I have imposed in fact facilitates freedom of speech. Rather than damaging the fabric of the blogosphere, it enhances it.

Earlier today, I witnessed something very beautiful.

After losing myself in the corridors of Parliament House, I finally found the Photographic Pass Office. I was sitting waiting for my pass to be printed when silence was broken by a sudden chorus.

Nobody knew what was going on. A tradesman joked, “I’ve just walked through the building and they’re singing my praises.” When my pass was ready I wandered into the foyer to see what was happening.

The voices continued singing, with the tone and talent of a professional choir.

Lament

Open the doors of the Chambers (of your hearts),
Open your minds to our song.
We si-ing for peace, through the power of love,
Hear the wisdom of women, hear our song.

Weep for our sisters in danger,
Weep for our brothers and children.
Sound the cries of grief and despair.
Sound the lament for the dead.

I couldn’t work out where the sound was coming from. A tour group from a girls school was lined up in a block about four rows deep, but they weren’t singing.

It took me a few moments to realise that everyone else was singing: the young mother with a pram, the old lady on the stairs, a middle-aged African woman. Everywhere I looked, people were singing. There were about thirty or fifty women scattered around the foyer; some in the entrance, some near the pillars, some on the landing, some half way up the stairs.

Their voices filled the room and resonated through the hallways. The final couplet was accompanied by an anguished ululation. It conjured images of Iraqi mothers wailing over the bodies of their dead daughters and sons. It was chilling.

When the singing had finished I approached one of the women and asked which group they represented. She replied that they were “just a loose group of women who like to sing. We felt that we needed to be heard.”

I’m ashamed that the most democratic act that occurred in Parliament House today was not committed by our elected representatives. They are consigned to having a mock debate about an issue of immense national and international importance, knowing that the executive will ignore them.

No, the spontaneous decision by a few dozen songstresses to make their voices heard in the legislature was far more democratic.

And what’s more, the women were right: we must sound the lament for the dead.

A woman in Palestine was killed — perhaps deliberately — by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer. Apparently that’s okay, because she once burned the American flag. I can see how the punishment fits the crime… Sick fucks.

Australia will be at war by the end of the day.

Apparently, George W Bush phoned John Howard at 6:00am this morning.

Cabinet is meeting as we speak.

This is a dark day for Australia and the world.

UPDATE: ABC (full coverage), The Age (full coverage), SMH (full coverage), NEWS.com.au (full coverage)

Former blogger Geoff Parkes sent me this interesting story about the forged “evidence” of a revived Iraq nuclear program. The Democrats want to know what happened.

If you recall, the US presented documents to the weapons inspectors that supposedly represented a deal with an African nation to purchase nuclear material. The documents were shown to have been falsified, which raises important questions about the rest of America’s evidence.

[Sen Jay] Rockefeller asked the FBI to determine the source of the documents, the sophistication of the forgeries, the motivation of those responsible, why intelligence agencies didn’t recognize them as forgeries and whether they are part of a larger disinformation campaign.

So far, the Bush administration has said little more than, “don’t blame us, we didn’t forge them”. (The Bolochistan Post suggests it was Israel, but cites no evidence other than the “fact” that “it is obvious that only Israel could go that length of treachery and to use the military might of the United States for its vested interests in the region.” I couldn’t find anyone else who repeated the claim.)

The allegation that the US is engaging in a deliberate attempt to mislead the UN is very serious, and should be investigated thoroughly. But as much as we need to know about the veracity of information passed from the US to the weapons inspectors, we also need to know to what extent information is not being passed on.

There is no doubt the Americans have detailed information about most activities that occur in Iraq, so why haven’t they yet revealed a “smoking gun”? Is a few forged documents and some aerial photos of cranes the best the US can come up with? If so, then war is surely unjustified. If not, why aren’t the Americans assisting the weapons inspectors more fully?

Jesus! Costello has spoken! I just wish people would stop using the word “pre-deployment” to describe sending troops to Iraq. Pre-deployment would be, say, making sure you’ve got your uniform packed and your boots polished. When you’re on a ship waiting for the war to begin, you’ve already been deployed.

Now Crean has wobbled — he’s finally where Gareth thought he was all along (and where he belongs).

I’m flying to Canberra tomorrow, courtesy of your hard-earned tax dollars. I’ll be there until Friday.

I think I’ve just fallen victim to a “comment spammer”. Two of my posts have just received an identical comment from somebody called “zip codes”, using the false email address “a@a.com”:

nice article, keep up the good work. lookup zip code

This is likely to become a massive problem in the future, and, short of removing the comment script from your host, there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it.

Remember when I said the recent flag burning was orderly? Apparently the courts agree: “Magistrate Stephen Vose said he could not accept the plea amid doubts the allegations matched the charge.”

Bill Leak is without a doubt the funniest and most talented cartoonist in Australia.

UPDATE [16/3/03]: Tim Blair reckons I should be careful about copyright. Perhaps I should. If Bill Leak wants me to take the picture down, I will. In the meantime, everyone should think about buying The Australian to keep Bill’s salary topped up.