Translations

Giles: "Ah, (holds finger up) ahhhh, the Latin is translated from the Sumerian, and rather badly." Buffy Season Two. "When She was Bad"

My thoughts this morning are on how we translate what we hear and see into something that fits with our own worldview. It's also about intellectual curiosity, a theme Harry at Harry's Place started yesterday, read his story of a bottle of red wine and a book here.

We are dependent on others to provide us with information. We are dependent, to a certain extent, on the media to do as truthful a job as they are able. To report the relevant facts of a case in a succinct and memorable way.

The mainstream media decided some time ago to move to an indefensible, biassed position. Some link it to the time of Rushdie's fatwah but I only started noticing after watching BBC One for fifteen minutes on September eleventh.

In a very short time, just four years or so, internet blogs have joined the media scene. Some incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable people are compelled to put their alternative perspectives out to whomsoever is interested.

There isn't any comprehensive and scientifically valid market research on blogs yet, because the blog world keeps expanding in a rambunctious way. But anyone who knows how to examine market data and extrapolate could follow the internet/blog dynamic and see that something extraordinary is happening.

Here's an example - this past summer a woman who has been unhinged by her grief over the death of her soldier son in Iraq decided to join the zillions of others who demonstrate their beliefs in a mad cap but media friendly way. She did this by camping outside President Bush's holiday home in August.

People in England won't know about her because she never really got on the radar over here but she was the filler news item in the States for a long time.

So it is amazing to see the photographs of her recent book signing. And really rather sad. This is what she's come to, see the photos here.

Today's the only day I buy a paper, other than for long train journeys, so I'm off but will continue this theme later.