Archive for the ‘internet/free speech’ Category

How left wing hackery killed Doctor Who…

Posted: February 15, 2010 by datechguy in doctor who, internet/free speech, oddities
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…in 1989.

Sylvester McCoy, the actor who played Doctor Who for two years in the 1980s, has revealed that left-wing scriptwriters hired by the BBC wrote propaganda into the plots in an attempt to undermine Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.

Shades of the Adventures of Robin Hood circa 1955:

“The idea of bringing politics into Doctor Who was deliberate, but we had to do it very quietly and certainly didn’t shout about it,” said McCoy.

“We were a group of politically motivated people and it seemed the right thing to do. At the time Doctor Who used satire to put political messages out there in the way they used to do in places like Czechoslovakia. Our feeling was that Margaret Thatcher was far more terrifying than any monster the Doctor had encountered. Those who wanted to see the messages saw them; others, including one producer, didn’t.”

And the Doctor wasn’t alone in this belief:

Sophie Aldred, who played Ace, the Doctor’s feminist companion, said a shared contempt for right-wing ideology had inspired “a real bonding process” for cast and crew.

“Thatcher was our prime minister and we weren’t happy,” she said.

Well of course they weren’t, after all you had people like Sakharov repressed not to mention people shot trying to cross the wall. Thatcher had much to answer for, oh wait that was East Germany and the Soviets the people Thatcher was opposing wasn’t it?

Well it didn’t matter after all it wasn’t as if a leftist tilt would kill a British institution that had existed for 26 years…oh wait:

However, ratings slumped from a high of 16m, when Tom Baker was the Doctor a decade earlier, to 3m and the show was taken off air twice: in 1986-7 by Michael Grade, then the director of programmes — who said it had “no redeeming features” — and again in 1989, two years after Grade had left the BBC.

Ah the joys of the left managing to make a British institution so unpalatable that it could not survive. One interesting thing to note, You see that same tilt in a few of the 7th doctor audios such as The Fearmonger. I wonder if this will come up in some of the commentaries?


Update: I just realized that I neglected to give the deserved hat tip to Life Dr. Who and Combom. Very much my bad.

The most dangerous thing to give your foes is hope…

Posted: February 14, 2010 by datechguy in elections, internet/free speech, opinion/news
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…as the democratic party is now discovering:

“People are coming out of the woodwork saying, ‘We’ve been Republicans in hiding and now we want to be out and help,’ ” said Jeffrey Hopkins, chairman of the City Republican Committee in the old Democratic union stronghold of Fall River.

It’s like the fall of communism, once people lose their fear they will suddenly shout out what they think:

In the past, he said, “You tend not to talk about your political beliefs very much. You won’t find anyone who agrees with you and you end up getting into fights.” But now, “That’s changing.”


However it hasn’t changed everywhere:

One Provincetown businesswoman and closet Republican said she’d like someone to organize a town GOP group, but she’s not sure it will happen.

She didn’t want her name used out of fear she’d lose customers. “Everybody has to have the courage of their convictions,” she said, “but I’m worried about my business.”

It remains to seen what is going to be the result. How will our democratic friends react? Have they learned anything, will republicans overreach?

It will be fun to find out.

Update: Hotair notices

Talk about bad timing

Posted: February 14, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, local stuff, opinion/news
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Ya think some Planned Parenthood fans might have wished that report didn’t make it out this week? The ones involved in Fitchburg likely do:

Local city and religious leaders this week reacted to a report issued by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which criticizes the approach the Catholic Church and Islam take to sexuality, and states that children as young as 10 are “sexual beings.”

Suddenly Massachusetts planned parenthood doesn’t know these people:

Jesse Mermell, vice president of External Affairs for the organization, on Thursday said she is not familiar with the report, and that the International Planned Parenthood Federation is a “completely different organization, of which we happen to be a member.”

Mermell said the connection between the Massachusetts league and the international organization is weak.

It has elicited some comment from the city counsel:

Ward 4 Councilor Kevin Starr said though he hadn’t read the report, he took issue with Planned Parenthood’s apparent criticism of religious groups.

“You need to respect the beliefs of the people in this city. There’s a lot of Catholics in this city,” Starr said.

Planned Parenthood would do well to keep quiet about different religions, given all the controversy that surrounds the organization, said Ward 5 Councilor Joseph Solomito, who had not read the report.

“You have a right to do it. Just do it quietly. Don’t put it in people’s faces,” said Solomito.

Still, the report doesn’t change his belief that Planned Parenthood has a right to come to Fitchburg, and the City Council should not oppose the organization.

Hey Joe if that doesn’t change your belief what will? I suspect that if you were as familiar with their history as Rosemary Reynolds was you still wouldn’t change you mind.

Councilor-at-large Rosemary Reynolds, who is pro life and has adamantly opposed Planned Parenthood, said she doubts the City Council is familiar with all aspects of Planned Parenthood.
“They’re not really upfront about it, and you have to go digging,” Reynolds said.

It’s must easier to keep oneself ignorant when you want to duck a tough call. It takes a special kind of courage to see what is in front of you and say it. Rosemary has that courage.

Tuesday’s meeting should be quite interesting.

Joan Conroy on Planned Parenthood

Posted: February 13, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, local stuff
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Here is Joan Conroy on planned parenthood

This might be considered a very provocative statement concerning Margart Sanger but lets read a few words that she has said:

It [charity] encourages the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste. Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant [emphasis added].

She concluded,

The most serious charge that can be brought against modern “benevolence” is that is encourages the perpetuation of defectives, delinquents and dependents. These are the most dangerous elements in the world community, the most devastating curse on human progress and expression.

There will be more to see on the subject tomorrow. I’ve put it up for a reason. And the reason will be apparent with tomorrow’s posts.

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