The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:30:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 Somehow There Are Opposing Views: How Often Do Americans Get To Kill People and When? http://www.theawl.com/2010/09/somehow-there-are-opposing-views-how-often-do-americans-get-to-kill-people-and-when http://www.theawl.com/2010/09/somehow-there-are-opposing-views-how-often-do-americans-get-to-kill-people-and-when#comments Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:30:35 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2010/09/somehow-there-are-opposing-views-how-often-do-americans-get-to-kill-people-and-when mm hmmI too hope that the Glenn Greenwald-Andrew Sullivan fight goes on forever. Andrew is in this corner: "I do believe we are at war; and that killing those who wish to kill us before they can do so is not the equivalent of 'assassination.'" In the other corner: "Would Andrew be comfortable with a future Republican President–let's say, just to pick a random example... President Sarah Palin–having the power to order American citizens killed based solely on her unchecked accusation that they are somehow involved with or helping Al Qaeda Terrorists, while the targeted citizens have no recourse to any courts and she has no obligation to offer any evidence to justify the targeting?" Meanwhile! "An Internet video showing men in Pakistani military uniforms executing six young men in civilian clothes has heightened concerns about unlawful killings by Pakistani soldiers supported by the United States, American officials said." Never has the milquetoast newspaper phrase "heightened concerns" seemed more inadequate. Anyway, once we let gays in the military, we can carry forward this argument on killing with guns and executions, instead of blog posts! Thereby proving Malcolm Gladwell right-the Internet really is weaker than the sword/M-16.

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]]> mm hmmI too hope that the Glenn Greenwald-Andrew Sullivan fight goes on forever. Andrew is in this corner: "I do believe we are at war; and that killing those who wish to kill us before they can do so is not the equivalent of 'assassination.'" In the other corner: "Would Andrew be comfortable with a future Republican President–let's say, just to pick a random example... President Sarah Palin–having the power to order American citizens killed based solely on her unchecked accusation that they are somehow involved with or helping Al Qaeda Terrorists, while the targeted citizens have no recourse to any courts and she has no obligation to offer any evidence to justify the targeting?" Meanwhile! "An Internet video showing men in Pakistani military uniforms executing six young men in civilian clothes has heightened concerns about unlawful killings by Pakistani soldiers supported by the United States, American officials said." Never has the milquetoast newspaper phrase "heightened concerns" seemed more inadequate. Anyway, once we let gays in the military, we can carry forward this argument on killing with guns and executions, instead of blog posts! Thereby proving Malcolm Gladwell right-the Internet really is weaker than the sword/M-16.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2010/09/somehow-there-are-opposing-views-how-often-do-americans-get-to-kill-people-and-when/feed 24 'Hooray' For Workplace Violence! http://www.theawl.com/2009/11/hooray-for-workplace-violence http://www.theawl.com/2009/11/hooray-for-workplace-violence#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:40:46 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2009/11/hooray-for-workplace-violence FIGHTSIESThe wonderful Gene Weingarten weighs in on the recent fisticuffs at the Washington Post style desk. (In case you hadn't heard, an editor and a reporter came to blows over a story.) He gives it a "hooray"-that people still care enough to brawl. He's right-just think about the end of Giant, when the dinosaur daddy of the family starts brawling with a racist on behalf of ill-treated Mexicans. Yes! "Newsrooms used to be places filled with interesting eccentrics driven by unreasonable passions-a situation thought of as 'creative tension' and often encouraged by management in eras when profits were high and arrogance was seen not as a flaw but a perquisite of being smart and right. Sadly, over the years newsrooms have come to resemble insurance offices peopled by the blanched and the pinched and the beetle-browed; lately, with layoffs thought to be on the horizon, everyone also behaves extra nicely to please the boss. In the face of potential ruin, journalists have been forced to reach accommodations with themselves: New strictures, new styles, new protocols, new limitations on what is possible are now meekly swallowed. In the frantic scramble for new 'revenue streams,' ethical boundaries are more likely to be pushed than is the proverbial envelope. Some of all this has leached out into the product. We all feel it. You do, too."

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]]> FIGHTSIESThe wonderful Gene Weingarten weighs in on the recent fisticuffs at the Washington Post style desk. (In case you hadn't heard, an editor and a reporter came to blows over a story.) He gives it a "hooray"-that people still care enough to brawl. He's right-just think about the end of Giant, when the dinosaur daddy of the family starts brawling with a racist on behalf of ill-treated Mexicans. Yes! "Newsrooms used to be places filled with interesting eccentrics driven by unreasonable passions-a situation thought of as 'creative tension' and often encouraged by management in eras when profits were high and arrogance was seen not as a flaw but a perquisite of being smart and right. Sadly, over the years newsrooms have come to resemble insurance offices peopled by the blanched and the pinched and the beetle-browed; lately, with layoffs thought to be on the horizon, everyone also behaves extra nicely to please the boss. In the face of potential ruin, journalists have been forced to reach accommodations with themselves: New strictures, new styles, new protocols, new limitations on what is possible are now meekly swallowed. In the frantic scramble for new 'revenue streams,' ethical boundaries are more likely to be pushed than is the proverbial envelope. Some of all this has leached out into the product. We all feel it. You do, too."

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