Where is Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"?

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Friday April 13, 2007 · 1:56 AM PDT

2007/04/13 · 01:56

Reading the eulogies of Kurt Vonnegut in the MSM, including this one from The New York Times, one cannot help but be struck by the total lack of reference to his potent short story: Harrison Bergeron.

As many already know, Harrison Bergeron is a young man living in a futuristic America that has gone through a very tragic revolutionary period. A large number of people had been killed. In order to prevent another catastrophe from happening, some social engineering is implemented whereby the population is kept in a constant state of "under-development" and therefore, it is presumed, "equality":

Freedom

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Monday February 26, 2007 · 2:05 PM PST

2007/02/26 · 14:05

RAW STORY has corrected the story it published on Hillary Clinton thus: "Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to Israel as the "Zionist state." A more accurate translation of his remarks were, "occupying regime." The updated version of this article also includes a more detailed discussion of the translation. Title also used "run" instead of "rule."

On February 4, Raw Story's John Byrne had advised me of the correction in a comment to the diary that I had posted on that issue - see here. Unfortunately, it is only today that I was made aware of that. Sorry John! And thank you for issuing the correction.

David Sketchley, the blogger who originally brought up this issue of misreporting, has also posted this very good news at Media Lens today and you can follow it from there.

[I don't know how to make the original diary appear in today's list, which I felt was only fair to RAW STORY. Hence this short diary with a link to the previous one here.]

Falling in love with Iran

Freedom

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Thursday February 15, 2007 · 8:43 AM PST

2007/02/15 · 08:43

Shariati Park, Tehran

No more talk of war!

Let's suspend "Bush's Reality" for half an hour or so, close our eyes and just listen! May I suggest you minimize that window and open a new one at Kos to read the rest of this diary and look at the images. Quite a treat I assure you!

Freedom

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Saturday February 03, 2007 · 1:33 PM PST

2007/02/03 · 13:33

Update [2007-2-26 16:52:18 by Freedom]: RAW STORY has corrected the story in question" "Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to Israel as the "Zionist state." A more accurate translation of his remarks were, "occupying regime." The updated version of this article also includes a more detailed discussion of the translation. Title also used "run" instead of "rule."

David Sketchy, the blogger who originally brought up this issue of misreporting, has also posted this very good news at Media Lens today and you can follow it from there.

Freedom

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Saturday December 16, 2006 · 9:03 PM PST

2006/12/16 · 21:03

Did you know that there was a "Joint Committee of the Knesset and the US Congress"? I did not.

Anyway, a guy named Steinitz, who serves as head of this "Joint committee of the Knesset and the US Congress" is expressing "his great hope" that "the US will attack Iran".

Steinitz, who serves as head of a joint committee of the Knesset and the US Congress, expressed his great hope that the US will attack Iran, saying he believes that "the US will attack Iran and hit it in order to thwart its nuclear ability, as the diplomatic activity has failed."

"Bush and Blair have a historical role" - Steinitz claims that the US is technically capable of bombing the nuclear reactor in Iran. He stressed that his estimation is based on his deep acquaintance with senior US Congress members and senators.

"I believe that the US will use a military operation to save the world," Steinitz added. "Bush and Blair have a historical role in dealing with the Iranian threat." - Full text [Alternative link]

Freedom

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Monday December 11, 2006 · 1:13 AM PST

2006/12/11 · 01:13

Has Amazon censored Norman Finkelstein's Beyond Chutzpah?

So it would seem! Finkelstein comments on the current situation thus:

I have received many emails wondering why Amazon no longer lists my book Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history (University of California Press: 2005). I do not have a ready answer. Experts I've consulted tell me it's unlikely to be a random program glitch. At this point the more sinister explanations seem also to be the more plausible ones. - Source

I first learned about this from the UK-based Media Lens Message Board,

Supporters and people genuinely inconvenienced by this "censorship" have sent emails to Mr. Finkelstein and those can be accessed at the above link to his website.

Hopefully Amazon will soon issue an explanation as to why Beyond Chutzpah is no longer available on its main US site.

Freedom

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Thursday November 30, 2006 · 3:55 PM PST

2006/11/30 · 15:55

First, an excerpt from Democracy Now:

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is accusing Israel of creating an apartheid system in the West Bank and Gaza. The charge comes in his new book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been deeply involved in Middle East policies for the past three decades. As president he negotiated the Camp David Accords - which secured a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt.

[...] Jimmy Carter writes, "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land."

Carter criticizes Israel for building what he describes as an imprisonment wall through the West Bank. He accuses Israel of strangling the residents of Gaza where the poverty rate has reached 70 percent and where the malnutrition rate mirrors countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. And Carter is critical of Washington's role. He writes, "The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories." - Full text

Freedom

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Wednesday November 29, 2006 · 12:52 AM PST

2006/11/29 · 00:52

Indeed today is that special day when we are meant to stop albeit a few minutes and reflect on this immense human tragedy:

In 1977, the General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (resolution 32/40 B). On that day, in 1947, the Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine (resolution 181 (II)). - Full text

More here

Related Activities (that I know of)

On this day, in Great Britain, activists will be lobbying Parliament to "Stop Starving the Palestinians - Stop Arming Israel".

A senior PLO aide is in New York to participate in the event at the UN.

RSS

Where is Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"?

Raw Story has issued a correction

Falling in love with Iran

[UPDATE] RAW STORY taken to task for neocon bias

From the Joint Committee of Knesset and US Congress

Censorship at Amazon.com?

Jimmy Carter vs Clueless America

Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People