"People just liked it better that way..."
I love my friends...
We are an ecclectic bunch!
Even if not everyone agrees with everyone else.
I trust that we will still be able to agree to disagree & manage to find ways to enjoy one anothers' company, still?!!!
Many of my friends don't even know each other, but when they post in their journals...
my brain takes this sometimes radically disparate data & attempts to compare & contrast all of the information in order to understand what's really happening!
Such as when doryan76 pointed out some data about the sacrifices of those who signed the Declaration of Independence.
While sophiaserpentia mentioned some ironic events subsequent to the American Revolution.
And many people on my friends list have posted links to, or embeddeded the video through youtube of the July 3rd Special Comment from Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Olbermann often uses a method of repeatedly addressing the President in the way that he delivers his reports, and it is not an uncommon tactic for journalists... to redress the President for his wrongdoing, as if he were going to change the modus operandi of the Leviathan just b/c some intelligent & brave reporter was willing to stick his neck out in the name of truth, justice, & the American way?
The entire point of the report is to hold the President accountable for his actions (which is an excellent goal). Even the John Wayne quote he uses refers to the President: "I didn't vote for him, but he's my President & I hope he does a good job." However, I am afraid that this is the same kind of insufficient accountability that ended up allowing President Nixon to escape prosecution for his crimes, when he was pardoned by President Ford. Yes, Olbermann mentions a couple of lines at the end & another one halfway through the report that indicate the President is not the only target for his vitriol. But the entire report is so slanted with language criticizing the President (who certainly deserves it), and it is an eve of the 4th of July report; so it really comes off like he is calling for the head of King George! For the purpose of communicating with his audience, many of whom still think the President has any spine, perhaps Olbermann is just trying to use the old blame-game... to give people a target at which to point their finger. But I honestly think that this is side-stepping the actual problems.
"Blame is so powerful and great that it is almost a way unto itself. Blame is the slayer of guilt. The enemy of introspection. The destroyer of doubt. And the ultimate weapon of the oppressed Others everywhere." -- Mawr.22.14-18
I know that you can't re-educate the populate in ten minutes, but it's not just Bush & Cheney & Rove who need to be held accountable. It's also the entire system of crooked lawyers, greedy finance capitalists, & the whole body of corporate stockholders whom they represent. And perhaps that's just too much to expect in any news program? The media doesn't really want to bite the hand that feeds them, anyway.
However, I do believe that there is an inevitable paradigm shift occuring: Desovereignization is a natural evolutionary process stemming from the inevitable effects of globalized communications and trade -- and is already very far advanced. Now, we just have to insure that the supra-national corporations don't completely replace the traditional war-mongering countries. And one of the most disturbing evidences that they are doing so is the growth of the private security corporations... mercenary organizations like Blackwater must be kept in check!
Why did Constantinople get the works?
Gibbon was the great critic of empire and as analyst of its decline he explains the disappearance of the public virtue and withdrawal of citizens from personal participation in the life of the empire: "Their personal valour remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honour, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defence to a mercenary army."
'It cannot happen here' is always wrong
Obviously, corporate armies (which are all the rage in Russia, too!) aren't the only problem with our future, but it does seem a bit bizarrely cyberpunk, doesn't it? There are also other forms of Transnational Gangs arising... some just on our borders, even!
Yesterday, missdeekupps made a post which has me contemplating transhumanism & the technological singularity, and considering all of this socio-political strife & international warfare in that context does remind me that we can rise above these petty squabbles. I would very much enjoy removing these last few obstacles to our evolution! The trick is... in order to ensure cooperation between people, there must be some kind of accountability for people's actions... otherwise, someone will attempt to betray the group's long term goals, in order to profit in the short term.
Meanwhile, I will end this post with something that always reminded me that we can all win together: What The World Wants, And How To Pay For It Using Military Expenditures
oh, and if you're in doubt as to whether or not you should click on the lj-cut, here's a brief list of some of the tags for this entry:
Declaration of Independence, irony, American Revolution, Keith Olbermann, Leviathan, journalism, Bush, Cheney, Rove, accountablility, John Wayne, Nixon, escape, prosecution, crime, Ford, vitriol, criticism, blame, lawyers, greed, finance capitalists, corporate stockholders, news, media, biting the hand that feeds them, paradigm shift, sovereignty, independence, Desovereignization, globalization, internet, communications, trade, supra-national corporations, Constantinople, Istanbul, Edward Gibbon, mercenary army, It cannot happen here, corporate armies, private security corporations, Transnational Gangs, Blackwater, cyberpunk, transhumanism, technology, singularity, ganesha, obstacle, individual, collective, short term, long term, goal, method, game theory, evolution, cooperation, win-win
We are an ecclectic bunch!
Even if not everyone agrees with everyone else.
I trust that we will still be able to agree to disagree & manage to find ways to enjoy one anothers' company, still?!!!
Many of my friends don't even know each other, but when they post in their journals...
my brain takes this sometimes radically disparate data & attempts to compare & contrast all of the information in order to understand what's really happening!
Such as when doryan76 pointed out some data about the sacrifices of those who signed the Declaration of Independence.
While sophiaserpentia mentioned some ironic events subsequent to the American Revolution.
And many people on my friends list have posted links to, or embeddeded the video through youtube of the July 3rd Special Comment from Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Olbermann often uses a method of repeatedly addressing the President in the way that he delivers his reports, and it is not an uncommon tactic for journalists... to redress the President for his wrongdoing, as if he were going to change the modus operandi of the Leviathan just b/c some intelligent & brave reporter was willing to stick his neck out in the name of truth, justice, & the American way?
The entire point of the report is to hold the President accountable for his actions (which is an excellent goal). Even the John Wayne quote he uses refers to the President: "I didn't vote for him, but he's my President & I hope he does a good job." However, I am afraid that this is the same kind of insufficient accountability that ended up allowing President Nixon to escape prosecution for his crimes, when he was pardoned by President Ford. Yes, Olbermann mentions a couple of lines at the end & another one halfway through the report that indicate the President is not the only target for his vitriol. But the entire report is so slanted with language criticizing the President (who certainly deserves it), and it is an eve of the 4th of July report; so it really comes off like he is calling for the head of King George! For the purpose of communicating with his audience, many of whom still think the President has any spine, perhaps Olbermann is just trying to use the old blame-game... to give people a target at which to point their finger. But I honestly think that this is side-stepping the actual problems.
"Blame is so powerful and great that it is almost a way unto itself. Blame is the slayer of guilt. The enemy of introspection. The destroyer of doubt. And the ultimate weapon of the oppressed Others everywhere." -- Mawr.22.14-18
I know that you can't re-educate the populate in ten minutes, but it's not just Bush & Cheney & Rove who need to be held accountable. It's also the entire system of crooked lawyers, greedy finance capitalists, & the whole body of corporate stockholders whom they represent. And perhaps that's just too much to expect in any news program? The media doesn't really want to bite the hand that feeds them, anyway.
However, I do believe that there is an inevitable paradigm shift occuring: Desovereignization is a natural evolutionary process stemming from the inevitable effects of globalized communications and trade -- and is already very far advanced. Now, we just have to insure that the supra-national corporations don't completely replace the traditional war-mongering countries. And one of the most disturbing evidences that they are doing so is the growth of the private security corporations... mercenary organizations like Blackwater must be kept in check!
Why did Constantinople get the works?
Gibbon was the great critic of empire and as analyst of its decline he explains the disappearance of the public virtue and withdrawal of citizens from personal participation in the life of the empire: "Their personal valour remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honour, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defence to a mercenary army."
'It cannot happen here' is always wrong
Obviously, corporate armies (which are all the rage in Russia, too!) aren't the only problem with our future, but it does seem a bit bizarrely cyberpunk, doesn't it? There are also other forms of Transnational Gangs arising... some just on our borders, even!
Yesterday, missdeekupps made a post which has me contemplating transhumanism & the technological singularity, and considering all of this socio-political strife & international warfare in that context does remind me that we can rise above these petty squabbles. I would very much enjoy removing these last few obstacles to our evolution! The trick is... in order to ensure cooperation between people, there must be some kind of accountability for people's actions... otherwise, someone will attempt to betray the group's long term goals, in order to profit in the short term.
Meanwhile, I will end this post with something that always reminded me that we can all win together: What The World Wants, And How To Pay For It Using Military Expenditures
oh, and if you're in doubt as to whether or not you should click on the lj-cut, here's a brief list of some of the tags for this entry:
Declaration of Independence, irony, American Revolution, Keith Olbermann, Leviathan, journalism, Bush, Cheney, Rove, accountablility, John Wayne, Nixon, escape, prosecution, crime, Ford, vitriol, criticism, blame, lawyers, greed, finance capitalists, corporate stockholders, news, media, biting the hand that feeds them, paradigm shift, sovereignty, independence, Desovereignization, globalization, internet, communications, trade, supra-national corporations, Constantinople, Istanbul, Edward Gibbon, mercenary army, It cannot happen here, corporate armies, private security corporations, Transnational Gangs, Blackwater, cyberpunk, transhumanism, technology, singularity, ganesha, obstacle, individual, collective, short term, long term, goal, method, game theory, evolution, cooperation, win-win