First, a disclaimer
The debate on how one can protest against the IraqFirst, Al QaedaSecond policy of Bush/Blair without being accused of being objectively pro-Saddam, or a Baathist, or yellow, or a coward, or French, or so on, continues.Nick suggests a placard with two sides, one showing what an upstanding member of society you are, and the other protesting. The idea is that you would show the 'good' side first to gain access, then unfurl the 'bad' side.
I have another idea which came to me today when reading a financial prospectus. Perhaps all placards, blog entries, etc could carry a Disclaimer.
In financial terms these tend to look something like this (but longer):
"X exercises the utmost care with the information provided in this report. The company does not, however, guarantee all of the information to be correct or complete. X will not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions in the information or for any loss, damage or injury suffered by any user based upon the information herein."
In blog terms it could go something like this;
" This blog entry has been prepared with its usual standard of care. However [insert your name] cannot take responsibility for any errors or omissions, and in particular failure to condemn an acticvity, group or person does not imply support for that activity, group or person. Indeed, when that activity, group or person is connected to Terror or Evil, any omission should be taken as condemnation. Any criticism of our elected Leaders contained within, or those of foreign lands, does not imply that he/she is worse than Saddam, Kim Il-Jong, Fidel Castro, Tony Benn, the Wicked Witch of the East, Fungus the Bogeyman or whoever today's hate figure is. In addition any criticism of our country's Leaders, or our country's Policy, is made with the full understanding that such criticism would not be allowed in many countries of the world, and indeed in some would invite the death penalty, such as Iraq, Iran and most countries in the European Union. Such criticism is made because they are Our country's leaders or policies. It should not be taken as meaning a wish to live in Iraq, Iran or North Korea. Finally if the comments made in this blog entry are similar to those of Other People, it does not imply agreement with views of those Other People on every subject under the sun. "
Now one could argue it is too long to type in for every blog entry. But if you use Word's 'Autocorrect' feature, then once it's setup you could just type in 'Disclaimer', and it would automatically pop up, saving you from nasty comments from the pro-war on Iraq lobby.
posted by Matthew @ 11/24/2003 04:45:00 PM
Comments: 0
