Flit

JOSEPH CAMPBELL WOULD BE PROUD

Gabriel Gonzalez, at Winds of Change:

"What all of this hardcore truth-seeking lacks when compared to the original is that it overlooks an important fact about "heroes" like Jessica Lynch and her rescuers: They are supposed to have mythological status. They are symbols. Jessica Lynch is our Athena or Joan of Arc, and that symbolism is more important than the grubby little details of camera angles or the exact wording of a CentCom briefing. Even better, Private Lynch is the perfect modern heroine: She is a woman. She represents our strength and courage, as well as our vulnerability. She is our sister, our daughter, and with a couple more years, she could be a mother. She also represents our need for encouragement, a timely morale booster when it looked like the chips were down. Her rescue is our salvation... I much preferred the original version, guns ablazing and all, and think it comes much closer to any notion of "truth" that has any real meaning. I hope it comes out on DVD"

Maybe, just maybe, I could see a sports victor described thus and not wince. To describe the activities of real-life soldiers like Jessica Lynch's rescuers, and presumably the rest of the Anglo-American victorious army (for what line would demarcate one from the other?), as mythological and necessarily to be exalted above any skepticism or second-guessing is deeply authoritarian and fascist by definition. What I really can't understand, though, is the scare quotes around "heroes." In context, it sounds like the author considers even that word an insult, and would prefer that America's soldiers be regarded instead as gods.

GARFUNKEL'S EVIL TWIN NOT AN EXPLORER FAN, APPARENTLY

The disgraced Tom Jakobek campaign for Toronto mayor is using the ad window in the free version of Opera for a campaign ad. He's a horrible man, but I gotta admit that's original. The European-based browser company must be localizing its advertising, too, which is also kinda interesting... I wonder how granular they're going with it (even a provincial audience would have little interest in Jakobek... it must be Toronto IPs, only). If someone wanted to send an ad to one or two specific known IPs ("Hey BruceR. You're an idiot." or some such), would Opera allow it? How much would they charge?

UPDATE: About $0.0005 US an impression, apparently. (Minimum price, $99). And they don't claim to localize below the "metro area."

NY TIMES ADDS MORE DETAIL TO LYNCH STORY

Slowly the truth comes out.