[Imc-uk-features] 374918

[yossarian]

Chris wrote:
> Hi
>
> On Mon 02-Jul-2007 at 01:46:19AM +0100, Ben wrote:
>   
>> hidden
>>     
>
> Again no reasons to the list for this being hidden:
>
>   UK Terror Plots Result In Irrational Fear Mongering
>   http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/374918.html
>
> The reasons left in admin:
>
>   ben - hidden, blog cut and paste, speculative and
>   contradictory 'false flag' comment on story unfolding in
>   mainstream media
>
> Are not any reasons that are in the guidelines so I have
> unhidden it.
>
> Chris
>
>   


Hey,

I'm not sure how to approach this whole discussion but thought I'd try
to make a contribution.  From my perspective, at the same time as the
government and media reaction to recent events is totally overblown
(al-qaeda? come on...) I think that the reflexive "black op" stuff in
the newswire is almost a parody of what one would expect from the 9/11
"truth" crowd.  And at the same time as I can see a need for more
analysis in our newswire, I have pretty serious problems, as is well
known, with the claims that everything bad that happens in the world is
directly traceable back to the intelligence agencies of rich western
governments.

So, we have something of a problem - any significantly newsworthy event
involving violence brings a flood of newswire postings "proving" that
the responsible parties include MI6, the CIA, the Mossad, etc.  This
puts us in an unfortunate bind, because our site is supposed to be about
"radical, passionate truth-telling", and there is a disagreement about
what the site is for.   Certainly the 9/11 types have enough passion to
fill the newswire many times over, and they certainly believe that they
have found "The Truth".

Personally I don't see, and have never seen, any reason to keep the
conspiracy stuff in the wire.  In my view, there is plenty of room on
the web for this sort of speculation, people can easily set up a MySpace
page, a blog on blogger.com, etc.  The fact that many of the conspiracy
reports we get are just cut-and-pastes from blogs that are readily
available elsewhere doesn't make me think that they are deserving of our
time and effort, or that the 9/11 truth "movement" are contributing to
the wire in the same way as people in other movements, who consistently
create original content (including both action reports and analyses) to
contribute to the collective undertaking that is the Indy UK newswire. 
I also don't feel that the conspiracy "movements" are standing up to
government or corporate power in the same way as the people at G8
protests, demonstrations against financial institutions, the Zapatistas,
noborders groups, wildcat strikers, Justice 4 Cleaners, the anti-CPE
demonstrators in France, the squatters of Ungdomhuset or Les Tanneries
or The Square or Ramparts, anti-GMO activists, Brian Haw, the B-52
wreckers, Smash EDO, the big anti-war demonstrations, etc (just to name
a few).  Those, and many other movements, are the reasons that I put
time into Indymedia.  I have respect for them, because to me they are
more than a bunch of bloggers who occasionally get together to hold up
placards in Whitehall. 

I also think that we have a real chance of intervening in these
struggles in a way that makes sense to me - we can report their actions,
publish analyses of their strategies and tactics, participate ourselves
in these movements, and help them link together.  It doesn't seem likely
to me that we can act in the same way in the case of 9/11, 7/7, or
whatever other conspiracy theories hit the wire, because the events
themselves are not generated by "us" (for lack of a better term). The
main actors in these events are not "us", they are either various
terrorist groupings, or the CIA, depending on who we want to believe -
and I happen to believe that there are in fact real live terrorists in
the world who actually have the capacity to act without government
direction, unpopular as this view might be to many newswire contributors
at the moment. 

A few thoughts - newswire posts stating "you guys are a bunch of fucking
morons" from people who clearly know of the existence of the features
list, and who even personally know some of our newswire admins, don't
really make me think want to take their complaints seriously or consider
their cut-and-pastes in a more favourable light.  Another thing is that
I have been getting consistent flak about "stupid 9/11 bullshit in the
wire" in London when I'm out at movement meetings, socials,
demonstrations, and other events, which is maybe worth relaying here.

I am not saying that I think our newswire should be reserved only for
action reports - I think that there is a desperate need for more
analysis in the UK.  I guess I am trying to figure out what I see as the
distinction between the various conspiracy "movements" and the ones I
actually think belong in the newswire.  Very obviously, others will
strongly disagree.  I am not really sure how to proceed, but I thought
I'd try to make a positive contribution to the discussion.  I don't
expect that we'll figure all this out today but it'd be nice for a
change if everybody who does get into the discussion could try to
refrain from personal attacks and keep the tone positive, the features
list has been a pretty unpleasant place recently.


Greets,

Yossarian