What to call these...demeaning for humanity and for free web?

2007-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

I created the blog 'best of the web' to show my appreciation for some of the wonderful pieces with deep insights or with simple facts. But just as we can't separate good from bad in real world where they rather come together, it was inevitable to create the opposite of that here in this blog. I now realize that by creating 'best of the web' , I rather fell into this trap of creating one that's on the other pole.

However, let me admit that it's an individual opinion. Just like there are many colors and we like diferent colors, just like there are different stars of liking (and also of sex appeal - a more down to earth animal instict), just like terrorism means different things to different people, these two polar posts also are subjective. And depends on what schools of thoughts we belonged to when we ranked them in their extremes. So just like a dollar is not absolute and floats against other monetary and asset classes in a virtual world, 'best' and 'worst' are also not absolute and rather float in a virtual world of our subjectiveness (subjectivity is fine, selfish interest may not be so - however in a simple world that's getting complex with every passing day - subjectivity and selfish interest may again be related).

So here comes what I have seen lately to be termed 'worst of the web' - the dumbest things that apparently come from the smartest lot.

Come on folks - we know that The Economist, Guardian Unlimited is not that stupid at times that they pretend to be. Problem is we can deal with simple ignorant people - coming from India - the country with world's largest poor people and largest illiterate people, I rather enjoy (with deep empathy for their deprivations) having a simple chat with a simple underprevileged farmer, a daily wage earner. There is absolutely no attempt to, as the master song-writer Dylan in the 'Gates of Eden' stated

"With no attempts to shovel the glimpse
Into the ditch of what each one means"

And knowing that we all are responsible collectively for their ignorance, we rather feel bad about that. I am sure people from India who have this experience and people from all over the world (there are underprevileged, and ignorant (may not be a mutually inclusive set) lots at all corners of our world).

But when many Indian politicians (say our ministers from Ivy League defended reservations for creamier caste-based ones, come-on, we know Ivy League standards and their otherwise intelligence levels. I joined IIT from semi-rural-semi-urban place, my father was a Government clerk; and there I saw students under quota with both their parents as senior executives from reputed organizations, coming from leading private schools, not as exceptions but as norm. So those politicians don't fool me) pretend they are stupid, or when The Economist (remember the lines “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and our unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress’’ from this renowned weekly) pretend to be stupid, we know that their that pretension also appears stupid.

A smart man can't act stupid - but they do try several times - may be for vote bank or for propaganda. Like British PM Tony Blair attempted many times by talking about humanity, but his actions spoke otherwise.

So in this section, we don't post worst of the web when that's the result of genuine ignorance. However when someone pretends ingonarant and thereby acts stupid - that gets posted here to appreciate their 'we know the truth, but we attempt feigning stupidity because it suits us at times. Actually, we aren't fools and not fooling ourselves; but it's an attempt to fool you. Hope we are successful'.

Come on...as common people of the world, me and you can't go to an Indian minister and say 'we know, and unfortunately you also know that you are lying', neither the world body could state that to many of the likes of Blairs.

But in web, thankfully we can do that...and here we do that. Here are a few to start with...

(More the *s, more is the stupidity and worst rating from the hypocrites) :

Buddhadeb asks industry to help formulate policy (on land acquisition for industrial and infrastructure projects and on rehabilitating those displaced): Have you ever heard farmers being asked what Government should do to protext their interests? It sounds like that a direct interest group (in conflict with another group) is being asked to frame a policy that will result in profits of 1st group and losses for 2nd group. Nothing can be funnier. This guy really has lost his mind!

If Iraq Falls: The author has recorded history right but with wrong learnings and interpretations. And more America stays in the Middle-East, the task would be even more difficult. Let it not be China, Iran or Russia - let countries and people of Middle-East decide what they want from their oil assets. rarely do we come across such flawed and one sided analysis. Desrves a perfect five out of five and worst of the web.

Why Putin Pulled out of a Key Treaty: Stated 'But it also might be serious water testing on his part to see how far he can stretch his empire-building muscle and get away with it' ignoring smartly . 'Meanwhile, during the past 30 years the US has bombed or attacked Syria, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Sudan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Guatemala, Japan, East Timor, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Somalia, Haiti, Yugoslavia, and Panama. The common denominator of these nations is that they are all non-members of the World Trade Organization. Since the invention of the WTO only Japan has joined willingly; the South American countries have been “persuaded” by friends of the system.’ From ‘Money’, Library of Halexandria, http://www.halexandria.org/dward299.htm. Also sometime back, I did quote Gorbachev who said empire building never succeeds. Mainstream english language media thinks the world is what we think as merely the US and the UK. Sorry Time...grow up.

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Global funds to be winners from China investment change: This article is in the worst of the web not because of content, but because of the style. It's ridiculously stupid, watch this para: 'Executives with Schroders (SDR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Amvescap (AVZ.L: Quote, Profile, Research, China Southern Fund Management Co., and the joint ventures of HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research(0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Fortis (FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research(FOR.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research and KBC (KBKBt.BR: Quote, Profile, Research have all told Reuters they want to launch QDII products into China.' If that's not overdone...I happened to be at a loss on what the sentence was. And then found the simple one after 3rd or 4th attempt. Editors, please take a not. That way Bloomberg has kept its style easy. Links are good, but don't kill the article.
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Venezuela's Bonds Fall on Concern IMF Exit Will Trigger Default : In expected lines of global cartel of US-led investment bankers, and unfortunately Bloomberg is an indirect part of that cartel (as evident from its WB Wolfowitz stand). More so when inputs come from none other than J P Morgan - the evilest of the evil (whose CEO Demon had only one dream - to get rich!). So nothing wrong in technical default or fine-print going wrong: 'In the prospectus of the country's 9.375 percent bond maturing in 2034, it states that ``Venezuela ceasing to be a member of the IMF is an event of default.'' Venezuela paid off the entire nation's IMF debt last month.' Hey Bloomberg and J P Morgan - how many technical defaults, moral defaults and all-across defaults do you recall that US Government and US Federal reserve had? Do you recall any and have you reported any? Oh...now let's examine the mountain made out from the molehill: 'The yield on Venezuela's 9 1/4 percent dollar bonds due Sept. 2027 rose 6 basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 7.18 percent at 5:05 p.m. in New York, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The bond's price, which moves inversely to the yield, fell 0.80 cents on the dollar to 122.00.' 6 basis points...are you kidding...that happens once in a month in India itself if not more. Then why did it become a news...are you not trying to raise a panic by such baseless reports and propagandas? There is as such nothing to be termed in this article that can be called either informative or news...it's a pure propaganda, and I am increasinly getting the true color of Bloomberg (in-spite of some excellent financial reportings from them).

Wolfowitz, Disputing Allegations, Leaves Door Open to Departure It seems Bloomberg is the lawyer. In its 2-3 articles earlier also, it tried to defent Wolfowitz, but they were so much hypocrite that people ignored those. And now in this article, rather than focusing on 100 other voices that asks Wolfowitz should go, it preferred one voice for whatever reason best known to Bloomberg itself: 'Former Malaysian Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who called himself an admirer Wolfowitz's ``passion'' for helping the poor, said the onus is on the bank chief to explain the raise for Riza.'

Putin invokes language of the Cold War Irrespective of the content of the news, the shameless style of putting an ad (of Mazda) on the news that neither goes away not vanishes even if one clicks on it needs to deplored. I plan not to click anymore of the Telegraph links in Google News.

Anger at U.S. unites Sunnis and Shiites The decision to place this article here, and not in Best of the Web was taken after reading the 1st-para: 'The unexpected outcry over the proposal to build a wall around a Sunni Arab neighborhood has revealed the depths of Iraqis' frustration with the petty humiliations brought on by the new security plan that is intended to protect them. I am sure that Alissa J. Rubin (AJR) won't be able to defend 'unexpected', 'petty humiliations', 'new security plan that is intended to protect them (Iraqis). I see it as expected, I see it as not ;petty humiliations' but as another aggression of the allied forces who officially now claim that Iraq has its own government but unofficially runs that government (and much more); and as on 24th April, the less I speak on new security plan, more would be the clothes on AJR's body. I have time and again talked highly about quality of western media (more so when one compares them with our own media), however what I fail to understand is these type of pieces that looks like coming from Tony Blair or Bush's office than from IHT. Good that bad US decision would unite Iraqis (albeit temporarily, may be in days or hours even): '"My view of Maliki has changed since I heard of this news, and we hope he would be able to carry out this decision," to stop the wall's construction, Um Muhammad, a teacher in Adhamiya, said.' If one follows next few lines: 'About two years ago, the U.S. military erected a wall along the section of the Amiriya neighborhood that borders the airport road. While hardly foolproof, it reduced the number of attacks on U.S. convoys on the airport route. More recently, the military has erected walls around marketplaces to safeguard them from suicide bombers, Brigadier General John Campbell, a top U.S. official in Baghdad, said in a statement released Saturday, when questions about the plan began to emerge', what becomes evident is the proposed wall was not to secure Iraq against Iraqis (there aren't anyway they can secure them against US); but to secure the aggressor against the domestic population (true many of domestic Iraq is now terrorists or support terrorism, but why?). As I read the article, at times I question my decision whether I should put it here or take it to Best of the Web. 'Maliki's decision to speak out against the wall was understood by many people here as a moment of defiant Iraqi sovereignty in the face of the Americans, whom the vast majority of Iraqis view as an occupying force' , however when I did put one article in Best of the Web; it stated that as per multiple surveys (with names like BBC, ABC and all other respected media firms), it was found majority Iraqis wanted allied forces to stay. What's the fact? 'There was still confusion on Monday over whether construction on the wall would proceed. Despite Maliki's declaration in Cairo on Sunday that construction would be halted, the chief Iraqi military spokesman said that there was no change in the plans to build the 12-foot, or nearly four-meter, barrier. "We will continue to construct the security barriers in the Adhamiya neighborhood," the spokesman, Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, said. "This is a technical issue."' So now we see, military and chief spokesman of Iraqi military is stating something that's against the opinion of al-Maliki. Is the US thinking to replace al-Maliki by the chief of Iraqi military?

From opium to outsourcing: Andrew Leonard, the author did break the IIT Bombay Internet-ban story (at least I saw it there much before elsewhere). And I liked it, made a wrong comment, he checked and politely asked me to check back my facts. I realized my mistake. And that article indeed was a great one. However what one is at a loss here is what is is that the same author trying to state here? That Tatas have root to Opium Trade (if I am not mistaken, even Birlas had it and so did many other industrial houses). But so what...that was in the past...British colonialism, exploitation, slavery (and recent episode where a black man spoke THE TRUTH in front of Tony Blair and the Queen); those all were also parts of those days. It may not be wrong to state that much of early wealth that developed world gained from Europe to Japan to even the US) was by exploiting other developing countries (or own natives, in case of the US). So we, Indians, Koreans, people from African nations write on the wrong doings of colonial days again and again. What do we achieve? All these are facts, unfortunate those are, but we must ensure that we should not allow similar facts anymore (which anyway still happens). The same hypothesis is also locally true that the rich and wealthy, in most cases, even in India did exploit poor or did something wrong (landlord or zamindari, etc.). But the only feeling we get in India by seeing such rambling covering from Salon, for whom we have a lot of respect and for this author as well, is that they feel uncertain, unsure and to some extent even threatened by the rise of these Indian firms in their landscape. Indians don't feel bad to work for an IBM or a GE or a TCS; so should the world. Otherwise we should also feel bad to work in UK because of their past-doings in India for 200-years. Digging history partially may not serve the purpose to defame Indian firms. The author anyway stated following against one comment that was similar to above: sometimes I just find the interconnections inherently interesting, especially on a Friday afternoon.

Former Mossad chief: Kill Ahmadinejad The 'attitude' problem and obsession of certain section of Israelis come out here again...like a tit-for-tat and eye-for-eye. If Iran (read Ahmadinejad) can states they would 'wipe out' Israel from map, Israel matches with words like the subject article. One can understand how helpless Israel suddenly feels - first humiliation under Hezbollah last year that achieved nothing but killed many and showcased the weakness of Israel to take on militant-organizations (as US is also facing), then a weakened Bush-administration that's too preoccupied with its own problems and can't look at its best ally any more, an united Arab voice, a potential nuclear Iran...So the world believes that Israel has full right to live peacefully when it gets due acceptance from its neighbors and ensures it does the exact same thing to its neighbors that it would like to receive; not vice-versa (or dictation, which's been the case so long).

SEZs to use just 0.1% of total farm land: govt Lately, I stopped posting in this blog, because no point in wasting my time over nonsense. However this article caught my eyes, as it looked like a response from Government against many points I raised in my angry outburst 'Why Nandigram, SEZs in India'. Let's understand the credibility of this media-house because I used one of their articles in my article as references.

Here is the story:

Dear Editor,

In 'Asian identity crisis amidst war on terror and a falling dollar' ) did come in their group-owned editorials some time back. As I see this group now, it should be renamed 'Newsletter from Ministry of Commerce' and Editor: The Minister himself.

So when this new article stated (what apparently looked like many of our concerns): 'Currently, 1,016 businesses are operating out of SEZs, providing direct employment to more than 1.79 lakh people, of which about 40% are women, says the government. In the 63 notified SEZs set up after February 2006, investments worth Rs 13,435 crore have been made and 18,457 people directly' - true the last part of the sentence didn't make much sense. Although it didn't answer my primary question, here we get a ratio of (employment generated/investments made) which comes to roughly 1.4-1.5 (=18457/13435). I am not sure whether this investment includes land price or not (logically it should), so for Nandigram, employments to be generated as per their own figures would be hardly 3000. For 10000 acres to 27000 acres - and going by average land holding in India per farmer-family (with their figure of 15,34,166 sq km of agriculture land and ball-park calculations with 60 crores being dependent on farming, lower side estimation with 4-members family size), it comes to 2.5 acres. So forget tillers, with that investment in Nandigram, equivalent direct jobs also can't be created even for owners (or their equivalents in numbers because land-owners may not skills).

The next figure is even more ludicrous - 'The commerce ministry projects that by December 2009, the 63 notified SEZs will draw investments worth Rs 53,561 crore and provide employment to 15,75,452 more people.' This comes to Rs. 3.3 lakhs ($8000) capex/job created in manufacturing sector; and if I am not mistaken, these aren't SMEs.

God help us! If the ministry and its publications. that is this media-firm are really interested, please make your reports public in a web-site, and drink less while on job.

Read me first Well, one high-ranking person from wikipedia falsified his profession and qualification...but I fail to understand the big deal unless Guardian is obsessed about it. True, wikipedia is not teh Bible and isn't sacrosanct. However towards the objective of spreading knowledge, they have done much better in last 3-4 years than what Guardian (or other so-called 'protectors of knowledge' did). I believe it even speaks better that less qualified man can also contribute. Let's ignore those PhDs (I happen to be a PhD scholar myself) and so-called 'all knowing' teachers. And unlike in the west, where a PhD may truly mean something more, in India we have most PhDs unworthy of that PhD, and there is rule that says that one can't teach without a PhD. So so-called PhDs produce more so-called PhDs, and students...

Satellite wars are coming next...They say some stoop to show...some stoop to conquer and some stoop to show their stupidity. Some section of press from Israel does that well - link Iran with Antartica if possible if Jerusalem can gain diplomatic and military mileage against Iran by using Polar Bear threats. And it shows how smart people get stupid...Jews aren't as such; but the drums of war against Iran can be heard loud and clear...'west, do something...west...help us retain our superiority and atrocities in Middle-East'.

Independent Central Banks Are Rare Breed in Asia While agreeing with Pesek here, I can't help but put this in Worst of the Web. Because (1) the timing of the article is malafide and uncalled for when Asian economies are struggling to adjust to tremendous cheap money flow resultant from US fiscal indiscipline. True, Asian Central Bankers are not autonomous (look at India, RBI raises interest rates, and Finance Minister asks Public Sector Banks to hold interest rates to retail borrowers, and is against increase in Interest Rate), but the what credibility does Fed (which many allege to be a private body, not even a Central Bank the way we understand it) has which (1) pumps in $100 billion immediately after 9/11 to stabilize dollar, (2) stops transparency by not issuing M3 data (and God only knows how much has been the real money supply, be it MZM, M1 or M2, though there is official release on them), (3) who has a record of colluding with global investment bankers in creating financial riots in many countries to gain political advantages, (4) Fed is most politically linked central banker who supports Dollar hegemony with US military, (5) and now with increasing evidence on what Fed and European Central Bank did illegally to bring down gold prices whenever they feel Gold has a chance to 'threaten' in minute way to their 'fiat' papers. So when we see enough evidence of that there in developed world, it's better to be cautiously optimistic than deadsure stupid. Sorry Pesek - you got a good one sometime back - but here you get dumped, and flushed...

1. Has Google reached the tipping point? (**)

2. Is this digital democracy, or a new tyranny of cyberspace? (there was another one from same source which was even more critical of Time's choice on Person of the year' for 2006 with pseudo-superiority on expertise that the author claimed, but I could not locate that now) ***

3. Hussein executed with 'fear in his face' (CNN subsequently changed the title as power of net showed otherwise with released pictures. It highlights the competition of getting and dramatizing breaking news in global media, where one may even get it wrong. Unexpected from CNN to say the least where they should not have fallen to that trap).

4. Catching up (If you consider people, not countries, global inequality is falling rapidly) - Economist stubbornly maintained its position since 2000 against arguments (see 'best of the web' ) and may finally decided to change the stance in 2006...a small amend (The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them (in US context)) **

Keep adding...if you believe the web offers us the platform to tell powerful people that they are lying, which we can't mostly do otherwise.