Following the vein of the previous thread, the White House just recently decided that it's no longer the "Global War on Terrorism," but now we should call it the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism."

From the Wikipedia entry on propaganda:

"Propaganda is a mighty weapon in war. In this case its aim is usually to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external. The technique is to create a false image in the mind. This can be done by using special words, special avoidance of words or by saying that the enemy is responsible for certain things he never did. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just."

Bold added for emphasis.

31 July 2005 at 4:37 am | No Comments »
bitching

A lot of the reason I haven't written lately, moreso than the reasons I usually provide (too busy, depressed, lazy) is that I've been sooo pissed off about things lately that I was afraid to write any of it down for fear of accidentally setting my laptop on fire in the process.

The botched second subway attacks bug me. I'm not the type to. You know. Point fingers and cry "conspiracy!" but there's just something to it that's tickling my intuition and saying "this is suspicious!" And now that the US is claiming they had the chance to catch the guy who planned it a month ago if only big cowardly England had let them makes me raise both of my eyebrows so high I lose them in my hair.

Jake and I saw the effect of the random subway searches Friday. That was the first time I've actually been in the city since they instituted the policy. I wasn't stopped and neither was Jake, but still. The army of police officers just hanging out at every station we stopped at was disconcerting, not to mention the cadets who seemed to follow us from stop to stop to stop. It's an invasion of privacy and those who say they don't mind it really aggravate me.

I will go on record as saying this is pointless. When's the last time you saw CNN declare "Muslim terrorist plot foiled when police discovered bombs in a man's luggage while boarding an airplane." You haven't. Because it hasn't happened. In the days following the World Trade Center attacks every person on the news was some crazy white nutso having a panic attack. And you know they haven't caught anybody with these preemptive searches because the moment they did Bush would masturbate it all over the world with his annoying fucking smirk.

I think all of this is pointless in general. Life has taught you that if a person or group is determined enough they will find a solution to whatever obstacle you present them. Vaccines for crippling diseases were produced, teenagers found out ways to download songs illegally after the loss of Napster, and terrorists will find some way to blow us up even if they have to shove antimatter in their noses and sneeze.

That is assuming there are even terrorists to begin with and Bush didn't ask Connie Rice to go visit London last week out of happenstance.

As I've said to both C.S. and Jake a few times recently, the road towards Absolutism and tyrannical governments starts with a few civil liberties being removed at a time when it all seems reasonable until suddenly we wake up as a society and realize it's gone too far and we have no constitution.

I personally don't think I'm going to be one of the peaceful ones when it reaches that point.

31 July 2005 at 3:31 am | No Comments »
bitching

My once friend (I dunno what I should call him now) Joel is now heading up the fast track towards stardom with articles in the Advocate and gay-haiku books.

I feel it necessary to mention him because I was checking his site and I noticed that he's become hot.

Not to say that he wasn't before, really, and when I first discovered him a week before moving to NYC I wanted to pound the bottom right out of him, but for some reason it never happened. I think there was mutual attraction, maybe just not mutual motivation.

But it fits that now since he's hot and famous he'd have a boyfriend for 20128743714754 years, and still have not fucked me.

There he is. The only gay male in NYC I didn't sleep with. I think I need some pie.

29 July 2005 at 6:10 am | No Comments »
bitching

I was ordered to update.

This week has been interesting to say the least. Most notably, I had the guy (and this is his requested moniker, not mine) who's "an actor with a massive prick well over 12 inches" come onto me. I'll give you a hint. Google: Rolling Stone, penis, and brooklyn in one search. What you look for next is up to you.

C.S. suggested last week that I do a tarot reading on the second London bombing, as I was only half joking when I suggested it was something Bush thought up. So I decided to pull a card, my question being "what connections do the second attacks have with the first?"

The answer surprised me a bit. I pulled the Eight of Wands, reversed, which my guide book defined quite aptly: "Turned around the image becomes one of continuance, of nothing coming to an end, especially when an end is desired. A situation or attitude simply goes on and on, with no conclusion in sight." Interesting take, I felt.

Today Jake and I went into the city so that I could return 8.00 overdue library books and also renew my non-profit's P.O. box. I knew the bill was coming up but I didn't realize it was already a month overdue; when I got to the post-office to pay it I had to extricate a shitload of packed-in junk mail (I didn't expect there to be ANYTHING) before finding a little pink-slip telling me it was overdue and if I hadn't paid by 7/1/2005 they would change the lock and I couldn't get my mail. Obviously. That worked amazingly.

I realized today with a sinking stomach that my birthday is in three and a half months. In three and a half months I'll be 21. Sick.

Now I'm off to finish my night of staying-up before work tomorrow/today and trying to finish the abysmal Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before Jake allows me to read the sixth book. Harry's such a fucking prick.

29 July 2005 at 1:57 am | No Comments »
the daily things

And a week to the day after getting the fish, both it and the snail died at the same time. Fuck.

21 July 2005 at 11:14 pm | No Comments »
bitching

I decided to tweak the bamboo display a bit by adding a goldfish:

I am, so far, enjoying the new job. It's interesting to be working customer service again, much less having so much of my income vested in a single individual. But I was wrong about the pay being really bad; as long as I make a certain amount in tips each shift (which is theoretically possible), I will be making more than at my last job. All from just three days a week. That makes me pretty happy.

21 July 2005 at 11:17 am | No Comments »
shutterbugs, the daily things

Twice.

Then she asked to see what I was listening to on my iPod and chatted with me for a bit about the bands she likes.

Then she took a photo of me with her camera phone and asked the (obviously tourist) teenage girls behind her where York street was before realizing we were parked at the York street stop and running out rather lopsidedly.

I think she was drunk. The whole thing was a little weird. According to my sister she apparently is an alcoholic, and I guess she'd be the expert and all as she's fifteen and has her foot in that drawer.

She was with this blonde guy who I felt I should have recognized because he looked pretty familiar, but given her behavior she could have very well picked him up on the way to York street.

In related news, I found out Sunday that apparently Heath Leger lives barely a few feet from my apartment. Theoretically I can see the backyard of his place from my window. The things you learn, eh?

20 July 2005 at 8:19 pm | No Comments »
the daily things

I don't have to say anything about how displeased I am being awake at 6 am on any day of the week, right?

It's clear already how I feel?

Good. Just checking.

15 July 2005 at 6:02 am | No Comments »
bitching

Well, it never uncomplicates itself when it comes to me.

I mean all of HUMAN EXISTENCE, ofcourse.

I went to training for the new restaurant gig Friday. Fine fine, fun fun. The place was nice, and despite the fact that it's in the middle of nowhere and a torrential storm splashed upon the establishment for the duration of the time I was there the place got packed. It reestablished my confidence that maybe I could make some money at it. So the owner was out of town and returning Tuesday. The manager in charge said she'd call me then to let me know where on the schedule I'd be. Hooray.

Except that she didn't call yesterday. So by nine, still having heard nothing, I got frazzled and tracked down the number of the restaurant. Which was difficult since it just opened and google apparently hadn't yet had the chance to spider all the sites relating to it. That or there really aren't any. So I called.

"We decided to use the schedule from last week, so you aren't on it just yet. But I'll give you a call at the end of the week to let you know. Thanks!"

Disheartened to say the least, Blanche. Plus, it does have a certain familiarity to it, dontchu think?

So I stressed out over it and set out with resolve to find something else, as my gut said I wouldn't be working there. Then, out of nowhere, some place I dropped my resume off at a month ago called me up and asked me to come in for a second interview. I did. I begin training Friday.

Now the pay will be shit-like, but maybe if the first place gets off its ass and corrects itself I can do them both and make lots of big ballin uber dough.

Maybe.

I went around the house and planted a bunch of seeds; lately I've been way into growing flowers. I repotted a bunch of things and happened to notice some bamboo shoots that I'd bought six months ago and completely forgotten to tend or water since then. Despite my expectation of such things they were thriving. So, inspired, I went out and bought two more and decided to arrange them for my room:

Then, in taking the above photo, I discovered this one that I hadn't taken off of my camera yet. C.S. took the picture; the baby belongs to Jake's best friend and I thought the photo was cute.

13 July 2005 at 2:31 pm | No Comments »
shutterbugs, the daily things

So my PETA letter not only received one automatically generated response but three. Whether a real human replies or not remains to be seen. However I think they will; PETA strikes me as the kindof group that likes to argue.

The highlights from one of them were:

"Thank you for contacting PETA about the "PETA Kills Animals" billboard and the accompanying promotions for it.

We believe a lot of good will come from this shabby attempt to undermine PETA's efforts to help animals. This campaign, as you may know, is the work of the deceitfully named Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a front group for Philip Morris, Outback Steakhouse, KFC, logging interests, cattle ranchers, and other animal exploiters who kill millions of animals every year, not out of pity, but out of greed. These companies are concerned about the strides that PETA is making that are changing their industries and compelling them to take animal welfare concerns seriously, so they hope to scare people away from caring about animals by spending millions on ads like this.

PETA can't afford billboards in Times Square, so we're grateful for the opportunity that this one provides to discuss the animal overpopulation crisis. We are on the front lines of the battle to turn back the tide of unwanted dogs and cats, and we need you to help.

Our caseworkers tirelessly rescue homeless animals from environmental dangers, as well as cruelty and neglect. They crawl through sewers, poke through junkyards, climb trees, and dodge traffic in order to reach animals in danger. During floods and storms, they are out saving lives at all hours.

We do not run a traditional shelter. In fact, we refer every healthy, cute, young animal we can to shelters. And some of the animals we rescue are lost companions whom we are able to joyfully reunite with their families. Of the homeless animals we take in ourselves, the healthy and adoptable ones are fostered, adopted, or taken to local shelters. However, most of the animals we receive are broken beings for whom euthanasia is, without a doubt, the most humane option."

Aside from all of the above being absolute lies and bullshit, it seems the biggest problem that PETA has with the Center for Consumer Freedom (an organization I happen to very much respect) is who funds them, not the allegations they make. Too bad the monster they kept poking with a stick finally got annoyed.

Incidentally, PETA erected two billboards in Times Square. And their budget is massively higher than CCF's.

Also, in 2003 PETA killed 85% of the animals they received, finding homes for only 14%. The Norfolk SPCA, four miles from their headquarters, found homes for 73% of the animals they received in 2003. Are PETA's supposed to be more broken than others? Nah, I doubt it.

10 July 2005 at 2:24 pm | No Comments »
bitching