Samizdata

Today I had lunch (a sandwich and coffee anyway) with my friend Kristine Lowe, who is a journalist – you know, one of those people who writes stories for a “newspaper”, which is “printed”, on a Big Machine somewhere in London. The newspaper that Kristine writes for is called the “Daily Express”. She had a story in it today, about the improving business performance of a company called London Clubs International, which is now doing better than it was, because of the relaxing of the British regulations concerning gambling which apparently occurred last August. (So something is being deregulated here, even if it’s only gambling.)

The reason I am reporting for Samizdata.net on this meeting is that, much to my surprise, I found that I was able to tell Kristine things – about business, about the big wide world, about the world of men trying to damage each other – things which she didn’t know much about and which I knew somewhat more about, as a result of me being a blogger. I talked of Glenn Reynolds (K: Who is he? What does he do when he’s not blogging?”) and of Trent Lott (“Who’s Trent Lott?” – this despite Lott having finally made it to the British TV news shows last night), of the arguments about data copying and patent protection, in connection with the music industry and the pharmaceutical industry. I told her of particular bloggers to pay attention to, such as Stephen Pollard (pharmaceutical patents and intellectual property generally), Michael Jennings (telecommunications), my recent discovery China Hand (China), and Reynolds of course (for the Lott story, and for his very different take on intellectual property).

I had assumed that my blogging activities would be a matter of at most polite interest, but basically indifference – like amateur dramatics talk to a real professional actor. But actually Kristine started scribbling things down and didn’t stop until her lunch hour did. Interesting. I wonder if anything – Daily Express-wise – will come of this.

We haven’t become The Media. But we are starting to be a part of The Media’s nervous system.

Sean Gabb will tonight be speaking at a debate – “This House Believes Promoting Diversity Causes Discrimination” is what he will be arguing – organised by the Local Government Association. (Sorry, I realise now that he didn’t say where this would be.) He has been circulating the proposed text of his speech to other Libertarian Alliance people, and I can therefore (and with his permission, given by phone this afternoon) tell you the kind of thing he’ll be saying:

I will begin by questioning the notion of diversity. What does it mean? As commonly used, it means that we should work for the sort of society in which every organisation, public and private, is filled with representative numbers of women, black people, homosexuals, and the handicapped. Anything with less than representative numbers of these and other groups is to be investigated on the grounds that it is probably discriminating. In describing the ideal society according to this view of diversity, the old sneer about jobs for black, one-legged lesbians is not that unfair.

Now, this is a diversity of sorts. But it is not the diversity that really exists when not as carefully managed and constrained as a bonsai tree. This is the diversity that concentrates on superficial differences between individuals. When it comes to matters of opinion, there is no diversity. Everyone is expected – in public, at least – to endorse the kind of opinions that would not be out of place in a Guardian editorial. Let there be diversity of belief – let someone say the number of black people in this country has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished; or that America is the Great Satan, and got a jolly good hiding in New York last year, and should mind its ps and qs over the Middle East in future if it wants to avoid more of the same; or that homosexuals are the spawn of Satan, and aids is only the beginning of God’s punishment for their abominations – let anyone deviate from the Guardian line on any issue dear to the promoters of diversity, and there is an end of talk about diversity. The cry will go up for sackings from employment, for police and security service harassment, and of course for censorship laws with criminal sanctions attached. Promoters of diversity as the word is commonly used are inclined to tolerate only the diversity of which they approve. Where they do not approve, they will happily manufacture excuses for hate crime laws as arbitrary and soon perhaps as draconian as the religious laws of Elizabeth I.

That, I suspect, is the diversity promoted by the Local Government Association. …

Sean tells me that he intends soon to write a report of how this all went, in his Free Life Commentaries series, hopefully tomorrow. → Continue reading: An Old Whig in action – and perhaps a new blogger

At my suggestion Perry recently added Sofia Sideshow to our blogroll. I’ve rarely commented directly on other blogs, but I’ll make an exception this time.

It’s fun. Go read it. And oh yeah, bro’ Brian, you should get together with him since you’re producing a film in his general region of the world.

Mr jcrank: If you ever need some intros into the commercial space world for an SF movie, feel free. I’m part of the Artemis Project.

Alas Dodgeblog is dead… yet despair not for Andrew and his eldritch minions have gone slithering and gibbering over to their new cobwebbed lair in some dark and dank corner of the otherwise fragrant realm of La Blogatrice, Sasha Castel.

Also, former Dodgeblog alumnus Mommabear has found a new den at On The Third Hand.

At least that’s what Law.com says.

We always knew Glenn was destined fer a better title than Perfesser…