So I was speaking with my Palestinian neighbors last night and they mentioned the fact that President Bush used the word “crusade” without my saying a thing about it, and were pretty incensed about that. The Arabic world has its own version of CNN – you can get it in America over satellite. (It’s based in Qatar and it’s called Al-Jazeera.) There’s no doubt in my mind that his use of that word got major, major play on the Arabic news all day yesterday.
Here’s more fallout from Bush’s use of loaded terms. Anyone can make a mistake like Bush did, I just find it interesting how powerful language can be. When you’re on the world stage, you really have to be unbelievably careful about the words you choose.
System administrators in the Microsoft universe, prepare to patch. The W32.Nimda.A@mm worm is on the loose. (Actually, you only need to patch your server if you’re not already up to date on Microsoft’s patches, which, of course, you should be.)
Kevin Kelly’s thoughts on Osama bin Laden are worth reading, twice.