Invented Story About NY Mayor Suckers Drudge Report

Image: theatlanticwire.com

Earlier this week, a story made the Web rounds, in which New York mayor Mike Bloomberg was allegedly denied a second slice of pizza at a Brooklyn establishment. The idea that Hizzoner would cross the Manhattan-Brooklyn moat for a slice should have immediately aroused skepticism. Ah, but those wild and crazy folks at the Drudge Report accepted the story at face value. According to The Atlantic Wire, the story was posted at the Drudge website as "news," although it was removed later in the day.

Hoaxes such as the Bloomberg pizza story happen to just about any media outlet. Those sites with perceived ideological perspectives are notably vulnerable to acts of folly. The easy solution to this dilemma is to check the facts. Drudge didn't do so in this case, but it's far from the only popular website for whom fact is not as important as speed.

An Argument Against Business CEOs Becoming Political CEOs

Simon Kuper
(Photo from the Guardian)

When Mike Bloomberg ran for an unprecedented third term for New York mayor, his principal claim to worthiness was his business background. He was a "successful" business person, and that perspective was touted as what America's largest and most influential urban city needed. Bloomberg was even touted as an independent presidential candidate, a sentiment he quickly scotched.

The notion that CEOs would make wonderful governors, presidents, or other officials of prominent elected office is based on faulty logic and misplaced, even disturbing sentiment. In today's Financial Times, British journalist and author Simon Kuper attacks the idea that CEO's, by their very nature, command superior qualifications for high political positions.

Kuper observed that the CEO's role as political savior is, historically speaking, quite new. In previous eras, "it was soldiers and clergymen that ran states." He also pointed out an assumption that our classist society holds dear. "The CEO fallacy," Kuper wrote, "is related to the 'money fallacy': the notion that life is a race to make money, and that rich people therefore possess special wisdom."

Kuper realized that it would not take a great deal of imagination to superimpose these arguments on Mitt Romney, and the writer does note how the arguments cast a shadow on the presumptive GOP presidential candidate's leadership bona fides. Yet, Kuper could have considered media sacred cows such as Mike Bloomberg; Kuper's aim would have been just as true.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg To Take Online Computer Coding Course

New York City Michael Bloomberg, whose eponymous computer terminals formed a cornerstone of his commercial empire, announced he intends to take a computer coding course this year. The class was spawned by an initiative called Code Year, which promoters are using to encourage more people to understand the rudiments of computer code and actually create very simple computer programs. (For more information, the About Us in codeacademy.com provides a very thin thumbnail outline of the project's goals.)

Pointedly, the Big Apple mayor and media mogul publicized his decision via Twitter. (It may have been posted via the hashtag #codeyear.) The story was picked up by online editions of the BBC.

Some of Code Year's most enthusiastic supporters have suggested that computer code language is analogous to the spread of Latin in Europe and the Mediterranean. While the analogy has its appeal on the surface, a look at the details makes one hesitate to embrace the concept. Of the many code languages in current use, which one would be the world's lingua franca? Another consideration is that code languages are not static, but fluid creations dependent upon logic and a certain sense of architectural understanding for successful creation of apps, databases, and web pages. How many code creators share that amalgam of sensibilities? And anyone who thinks a quick course in "code" can lead to the construction of something useful probably has not worked with code.

The most significant argument against the case for code as a universal, marvelously expressive tool is language itself. Like it or not, English remains the dominant language to talk about, define, and leverage code creation and its activities. Ironically, one of the world's most illogical, imprecise languages serves as the globe's current analogy to Latin's firm rules and powerful brevity. It is the English language, rather than alphanumerically communicated propositions, that continues to provide a most rewarding window into the human mind and soul. To paraphrase Hamlet, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in anyone's code.

Berlusconi, Bellochio, and Censorship

The BBC has steadily reported Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's alleged and verified sexual exploits. Today's edition noted a more disturbing aspect of Berlusconi's rule.

The article included an assertion by noted Italian film director Marco Bellochio that he has been subject to "creeping censorship." The silencing of Bellochio takes form through the unwillingness of producers and others to finance projects, due to their fear of the powerful prime minister and media magnate. In this case, according to the BBC report, Bellochio wanted to make a film in which a girl is "caught up in a headline-grabbing circus of racy parties and luxury villas."

Berlusconi's grip on the Italian media, combined with his political power, has permitted him to act above the law. Berlusconi's duality has added turbulence to Italian politics without any useful benefit to anyone except the prime minister and his court. The lesson Americans can take from this embarrassing episode is to firmly separate media and political power.

New York City learned this lesson the hard way during Mike Bloomberg's maneuvering for a third term as mayor. No one wanted to say "boo," because of Bloomberg's control of a media outlet and his money. It's much too dangerous for a representative democracy to permit those who own opinion shaping enterprises to simultaneously hold political office.

The photograph shows Marco Bellochio at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.