open Democracy News Analysis - A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices, - Comments

Neocon on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

Neocon — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 04:13:14 +0000

Solana, Ahlmark's books are published by the Timbro publishing house. http://www.timbro.se His new book is called "Det är demokratin, dumbom!" Yes, I still find myself referring to Schwartz's article in discussions here. Neocon

Solana Larsen on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

Solana Larsen — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 02:55:25 +0000

Thanks Neocon! That article from Stephen Schwartz (the writer you suggested last year) is still one of my favourites in any openDemocracy debate. I've made a note of Per Ahlmark, and will keep him mind. I'll check out his book too (being Danish comes in handy once in a while). Solana F-M

Neocon on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

Neocon — Sat, 13 Mar 2004 03:35:25 +0000

Solana, You might want to ask Per Ahlmark, the former deputy prime minister of Sweden as well as formerly the chairman of Sweden's Liberal Party to contribute with an article. Here in Sweden, the ideas on foreign policy that in America are associated with neoconservatives are in Sweden associated with the Liberal Party and with Per Ahlmark in particular. This week he published a book about Islamism and Jihadism. For decades he has been fighting all forms of totalitarianism. If you ask him to write an article about America's role in the world you will be positively surprised. If he is too busy you could always ask Fredrik Malm, the president of Liberal Youth who has similar views and is like Ahlmark an excellent writer.

Solana Larsen on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

Solana Larsen — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 02:00:16 +0000

Certainly no need to apologise! You make a valuable contribution to the site as a whole (unintentionally?) by participating so generously in the forums. I'm just here to help (and wind you guys up from time to time ;-)). Big thanks for sharing your thoughts. See you around, Solana my email address is solana.larsen@opendemocracy.net

ursa9 on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

ursa9 — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 01:24:12 +0000

Solana, Thanks for a fuller explanation. Again, having never participated in anything like this I was quite unfamiliar with the setting. I was applying unfair standards. As a kind of open forum I think you actually all do quite a nice job. It is also interesting for me to see a range of thoughts here, especially because of the British base of many contributors. I apologize for my misconceptions. Perhaps i will have some folks contact you ... even for free. I would not want to comment on the specifics here becaus some are widely known. Again thanks. Alan

Solana Larsen on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

Solana Larsen — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 18:48:07 +0000

Hi again, Everyone gets stirred up by different things. We'd never publish anything that was directly hateful just to get people fired up in the forums, no. I understand your concern with 'quality'. We don't pretend to be a journal, and certainly don't deliver arguments in the depth or tone you might be accustomed to in an academic setting. But I think this is part of what makes us open and accessible to a wide and varied audience. We try to keep the ideas sharp and surprising and the articles short enough that your eyes don't glaze over at the screen. The article by Michael Santos may not have rocked your boat, but one of the things we try to do at openDemocracy is introduce readers to many different kinds of people - whether its the former president of Ireland, the foreign minister of Bhutan, an activist in Cameroon, or a prisoner in the United States. These people write from their own experience, and help add colour to menu as a whole. It's part of why I enjoy reading openDemocracy. It's based on curiosity about what very different people are thinking and why. By the way - it's why I like the forums too. Our budget limitations are so, that none of our writers are paid whatsoever. Amazing to revolve around the generosity of excellent thinkers, no? Anyway, a big part of the job is asking people to share their thoughts or respond to other articles. Usually they say yes. If there are people you would like to hear on openDemocracy, you just have to say so. We are genuinely committed to getting a range of perspectives. Sometimes that's harder than you would imagine. Solana -forum moderator

ursa9 on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

ursa9 — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 17:53:35 +0000

Ms. Larsen, Thank you for your response. I understand the motivation of stirring things up. Still, this cannot stand alone. I am not equating Mr. Santos to a memeber of the BNP here, but would you publish a BNP diatribe just to stir things up. I was reluctant to comment on pieces before and was reluctant this time because response as you suggest is encouraging. It is again not just 'perspective' I am concerned with, but quality. The fellow who wrote the article referring to Kant; or rather his piece, was sub-standard. The subject was interesting and the conclusions had a small dose of validity, but that subject was not given justice. Now, I am not aware of your budget limitations and this is not an unimportant factor. The people I might suggest to you, some of whom I know, are generally and deservedly well paid for their efforts. Most publish elsewhere in conventional media though do not have exclusivity contracts. I am not very familiar with web journalism here or iin the U.K. and some may be reluctant to publish here or lsewhere. I simply do not know the situation. My associations are with traditional and academic journals and I am now moving in a different direction. Still, I suppose I could make some aware of this site and make you aware of them ... Best, Alan

Solana Larsen on "A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices"

Solana Larsen — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 17:13:32 +0000

Hi Alan, We try to cook up a little of everything on the site. Sorry you weren't pleased with the article - but also happy you were displeased enough to share your comments in the forums. If you want to read more about Michael Santos, he has a website where he explains more about himself, his conviction, and the books he's written: http://www.michaelsantos.net/ I doubt it will change your mind about anything - but you were curious enough to read the article, so maybe you will enjoy it. I did. It's hard to imagine what it must be like living in those conditions. You should know, we always value suggestions from members on who we should commission articles from. Really. If there is ever someone specific you think we should be talking to, please share their name. Either by email or directly in the forums. We'll do our best to get their writing on the site. Help us give you what you want! Member feedback from distant corners is part of what keeps us going. Solana - forum moderator

A Brief Respone to the Santos Article and Open Democracy's Choices,

ursa9 — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 16:29:47 +0000

First let me me say that without knowing the details of Mr. Santos' felonious behavior, a forty-five year sentence seems excessive. Still one must be aware that Cocaine 'distribution' does not exist out of context and is not a benign professsion. His tears of joy over Clinton's election suggest to me that like many Americans he was seduced by that gentleman. In the primary season, Governor Clinton allowed the death penalty to be administerd to a retarded black man so he could not be labelled soft on crime. As far as the Willie Horton add; the issue was brought up by another Democrat in the primary season. That democrat would become vice-president. Now, why would Open Democracy publish this piece. The suggestion that editors seek out various perspectives does not cut it here. Why this perspective and why this gentleman ... Of course the reasons are both obvious and nearly insufferable. Many of the editorial choices here reflect simplistic agendas and a taste for mediocrity. And it is not pleasant to be patronized by pat answers, such as, ''welcome to the discussion.'' There was a piece published earlier by a gentleman in flight over America suggesting an encroaching police state. In fact the piece was more a vehicle for that gentleman to let us know how 'hip' he was in his admiration for Woody Guthrie and to suggest his virility by telling us of his fantasies of physically assaulting a security person at the airport. Self-indulgence, poor style and poor argumentation. At least the notion of America as police state was presented. The author had his agenda and the editors of Open Democracy had theirs. I do not mind various positions, but would not it be wise to seek out more worthy contributors .... Perhaps they are difficult to find or perhaps the editors see these choices as worthy of merit .... Let us not pretend though that there is a substantial openess involved here. Exceptions to the rule will not suffice as cover ....