Dark Helmet's Favorite Posts Of The Week 4: This Time, It's Personal

Techdirt

from the favs-favs-favs dept

It's Saturday and that means two things: I'm at least a tad hungover and it's favorites time! While I no longer make it a point to comment on every Techdirt post as though I was some obsessive compulsive narcisist (but don't worry, I still am that very thing), I do still read nearly all of them. I think what I like best about the most recent iteration of Techdirt is the diversity of writing styles. Mike has a style, as do Tim Cushing and Glyn Moody and so on. When I began going through my favorites this week, I noticed that there was a post from several different authors amongst them. So here we go.

First, you have to know we're going to begin with what I thought was the most entertaining piece all week, the follow up to On Press Inc.'s antics on Twitter and elsewhere. There is nothing more satisfying to me than seeing a bad actor get slapped down. While it would be nice to see Cushing's smackdown post result in some further discomfort for On Press in the form of actual publisher Knopf taking action to get their name removed from the situation, this post and the one that preceded it laid out the case and evidence beautifully. When something written can make you that angry, you know you've got a bit of blog gold on your hands.

Next, Mike detailed the smackdown of Lindsay Lohan's lawyers, who not only failed in their case against rapper Pitbull for mocking Lohan in a song, but also were sanctioned for plagiarizing their filing. This makes the list because any chance to see a pompous celebrity rebuked over attempts to control their name is a good day in my book, but also because I'm of the belief that of all the rights that our laws afford us, the right to free speech is amongst the most important. And I believe that free speech must include the right to offend. If you're not sure if you agree, I'd encourage you to see this public debate, featuring a personal hero of mine, Christopher Hitchens.

Next, I'll mention Glyn Moody's piece on the Indian government deciding to censor themselves as a method for avoiding criticism. This type of thing is important to note and spread whenever it happens, because it essentially negates any government's attempt at hiding the criticism they're looking to censor. Perhaps one day they'll learn.

And, finally, saving the best for last, we have…me.

It appears that I've officially taken on Techdirt's “fake war stuff” beat. To be honest, I love it. Nothing tickles me more than taking dictatorships and theocracies down a peg. To that end, I brought you the wonderful news that Iran made a jet all by themselves…but didn't trust it enough to get a picture of it actually flying for its press release. Instead, they photoshopped it over a stock photo of a famous geological landmark. Why? Because theocracies are stupid, that's why.

So with that, I'll leave you to your weekends. Until Monday, tip a few back for me. My fiance would rather you be the drunk than me.