[Air-l] <nettime> Aljazeera VS. U.S (fwd)

[robert m. tynes]

In addition to all the previous discussions mentioned, I also wondered two
more things about the Al-jazeera and the blog piece that I forwarded:

1) what's up with blogs?  why do they seem to have some sort of
extra aura of authority about them? is it just hype, or do they have some
other added value that I am missing?

2) beyond the political complexities of the middle east and the
biased/unbiased reportage of Al-jazeera, how is it that *patriotism* has
come to mean - do what ever you can to win, and screw the idea of free
speech/press? whether you agree with Al-jazeera or not, if you apply duct
tape across the face of its website and post a *rah rah go USA, we're
patriots* splash page over it, aren't you squashing the very principles
that you are so proud of? and how is this different from culture jammimg
DOW, which I think it is?

(please answer the above in short essay form. each question is worth 25
points. no points will be deducted for improper formatting, spelling
errors, or political affiliation.  :-)

-robert