The stupidest news headline of the year so far

I find myself bewildered and irritated by the enormous attention paid to the story of an apparently sick whale which seems to have drifted up the Thames. It's all right to find it curious, but all the news programmes - including the super-snooty Channel Four, which fancies itself as the most serious news supplier in the country - have dedicated it enormous slots at the opening of their programs, five-ten minutes each, and all bar one of the national newspapers have placed it on their front page. I find this insane. You may say that the British are crazy about animals, but I do not think they are crazy to the extent of imagining that a sick whale is the world's most important single story. This is not so much a display of native sentimentality, as an insulting reminder of how much the cynical yet ignorant manipulators of the British media despise their readers. No wonder newspaper sales and tv news viewer numbers are falling across the board.

For lovers of history only (part one)

A while ago, a person with whom I no longer correspond discussed with me the role of the Church in the history of Nazi Germany. Her views led me to write a whole essay, which I think contains some good things, and I have decided to publish it. The first paragraph contains my opponent's views; the rest, mine. Because of its size, I have been forced to cut it in two parts; bear in mind that the next post on this LJ contains the second part.

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second part

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