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“WWIII Started in 1979”, paranoia

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I can usually usually judge the level of paranoia flowing through the GOP, NeoCons and the far right, from the propaganda email forwarded from my brother in the central United States. These usually follow some talking point or another that the White House would be proud of, but are cloaked in “personalization’s” like ‘joe’ told me, or a “friend of mine” something, to allude to a personal first person truth. Often, as in the last one, titled “WWIII Started in 1979” it resorts to paranoid delusion and vastly over simplified history and the motivations of the depicted (read spun) events. In this case many unrelated events are painted in a ‘pro-war with the Arabs’ fashion using little more commonality than of race. An enemy easily identified as Muslim, those “vicious anti-west, infidel killing religious fanatics”.

You get the picture anyway.

This brings me back to the point, that this represents another attempt to deflect attention from the GOP corruption, lawbreaking and embezzlement of the public trust. and an attempt to elevate paranoia, and create fear of “The ENEMY them, those people, that sleeper cell down the street that behaves strangely.

The real question, do we really question anymore? When do we stop believing in the ‘Bush who cried wolf”. When are we going to require real accountability for improving the security we really desire? When, if ever, are we going believe which “Terror Alerts” are real?

Why would anyone give up their freedoms, liberties and privacy, the very things that have made us great for the illusion of security being offered by the NeoCon GOP. Why would you believe any politician, for that matter.

People must believe in themselves, trust to the good elements of our chosen society, represent them, educate with them, and work to prevent the hate, paranoia and fear from blinding us to the truth that we are all human. And that the rights which we have fought for over the years must be applied to all equally.

Ok I’ll get off the soapbox.

Do Bloggers have a Gene?

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A good article about Gene’s and That Wild Streak? Maybe It Runs in the Family. So the argument about Nature vs Nurture is back in the news.

The real question is something more important, is it genetics or the ‘self fulfilling prophecy’! If people Believe they are predisposed to some action, or behavior they will act on that belief whether or not there really is a gene for that social behavior. What if I believe I’m predisposed to mass murder, or worse yet, that I am genetically destined to Blog?

What about freedom of choice? Does that also go by the wayside?

Xenophobic Far Right rewriting history

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I have chosen to use the words ‘Far Right’ rather than the Republicans, as it has become very clear that the current Far Right government of the U.S. is not what the Republican party stands for.

I now come to the conclusion that the Far Right is in control of the government in Australia as well as the U.S.. And they share the same propaganda tools, fear of terror and are manipulating the same general xenophobic stories. I discovered this after to an Australian tourist yesterday. And he was complaining that foreigners were moving into Australia and into tight communities bringing in their own culture. With intention of changing Australian culture. Now this had the familiar ring of the the immigration issues in the U.S. (really everywhere)

The Far Right has used this fear of culture change to scare the public into surrendering their freedoms for the appearance of some security. The whole argument that foreigners are attempting to change the culture that they are moving into, wither it’s in the U.S., Australia, Ireland or England by establishing communities as some sort of ‘foothold’ for some imagined invasion is bogus, and just a propaganda tool of control.

Historically ‘enclaves’ have always existed when populations merge. Anyone moving into a culture will naturally seek out familiarity. It’s more or less like dipping your toe into a pool of water to see if it’s war enough. The Irish in America, or Italians formed communities in the U.S. a hundred years ago. There are still ares in New York call “Little Italy” for instances. It did not then, nor does it still indicate that the Italians were seeking to change the American Culture. They may have added a little flavor (who doesn’t love Pizza?) and the Irish brought Corned Beef. But the enclaves that my new Australian friend fears do not represent an invasion. And while it turns out that his origins are really English, and his intention was to immerse himself into the Australian culture. Others from more diverse cultures may have a bit more of a culture shock, and require more time, and culture “therapy” in order to adapt. Will they leave cultural artifacts in the Australian (or Irish, or U.S) culture, maybe, but their assimilation will happen, and if allowed, it may only bring with it the better parts of that culture. After all, the Australian culture does not represent the Aboriginal origins of that Island, neither does the culture of the United States of American represent the native Indian culture that was it’s origin.

And that’s really the weapon of fear, it all boils down to a fear of change. The real tool of the Far Right, and the conservatives that represent the Republicans. And the history as rewritten by the Far Right is that these Invasions of culture must be fought, and turned back like any invader. When in reality these cultural staging areas have existed for countless generations. And have never constituted an affront to their host countries.

Stop fearing change, it will happen with you, or without you. Really the only fear we should have is of fear itself. We can help the assimilation of these new friends in our society, through education and socialization, and not by Fear, and alienation.

Mindless reporting, Scare Tactics

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It’s almost as if no one in the Media, or for that matter, any reporter, makes any connections with the facts. As an example:

Connecting these two articles,

Mac OS vulnerabilities increased 200 percent McAfee rains on Apple’s smug parade

and again

Cold water thrown on Apple TV claim

Leave it to McAfee to rain on those new television commercials Apple Computer is running about its virus-free computing.

and this article?
Vista to hit anti-spyware, firewall markets

New security features in Windows Vista will largely eliminate the need to run separate antispyware or firewall software, according to a new analyst report.

Spyware-killing Vista could take out rivals

The first two articles, while feeding on themselves, never makes the connection that McAfee, or for that matter any anti-virus company is facing elimination at the hands of the Microsoft Monopoly Monster. And that for them to survive they, like President Bush, must find a new enemy, and a new platform that needs their protection. It has very little to do with Apple needing virus protection. And everything to do with scare tactics as a marketing tool.

Net Neutrality, and opinions, on Ethics.

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David S. Isenberg is worried that for once he has disagreed with Cory,
Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow on Network Neutrality

Disagreeing with Cory should be common. He’s only another person with an opinion.

As for Net Neutrality regulation, you will never know till you try, if it will work or not.

Anytime congress passes a law, someone’s rights get removed. But would you remove the restriction over which side of the road you drive on?

Many of the restrictions we place on ourselves are based on an understanding of our human nature. We know that we are greedy, we place restrictions on our greed.

Since corporations are treated as a ‘corporate body’ and hence treated in the courts as if the corporation were a human. You must treat that person based upon what you believe that persons ethics are founded on. Since Corporations have no moral soul, the observations of it’s ethical behavior are, that it has no ethics. And hence controls placed on the corporate person are greater than that placed on a human person.

Cory’s problem is that that he personalizes the issues from his own point of view. He believes that as an ethical person, he should be allow to control his own actions. And for the most part he can, except for his tendency to run off at the mouth. But he is not a corporation, who’s only ethic is profit. And has no moral compunction to control that motivation. Laws are passed to provide the moral lessons to corporations.

Pissing match over Iran.

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The The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the The President of the U.S. George Bush have a lot in common. Aside from them both having small penis’s (hence the current pissing contest). They both like to rule from fear. Ahmadinejad, by making his people afraid that the U.S. will attack Iran. And Bush, the American people, of a potential nuclear weapon that the Iranians might produce.

As I may have mentioned before, I had an Iranian roommate in college. This was when the Shah was in power. And the student was in the engineering school trying to avoid getting a degree in nuclear physics because he did not want to help the Shah develop a nuclear bomb. The U.S. of the time, supported this effort of the Shah, just as they supported Saddam.

The U.S. has been making a potential hell out of the world for a long time.

I just wish one of the presidents grows up, and grows some balls, and steps back from the brink. I suspect it won’t be Bush, as I pretty sure that as a chicken hawk he has no apparatus.

Nuclear First strike was granted years ago.

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With all this talk about a Nuclear First strike on Iran, no one bothered to notice that this plan has been in the works since December 2002 since the start of the Iraq war and published here in the Washington post September 11, 2005 Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan

To quote:

The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Bush has been planning to Nuke somebody for a long time, that would surely guarantee his place in history. The First Strike Nuclear Killer.

The last time nuclear weapons were used was as a Last Resort, By Harry S. Truman. If you use Nuclear weapons at the beginning of a war, where does it escalate from there?

That should scare any sane person, too bad the U.S. does not have a Sane President. (If the president is not sane, does that mean you could replace him on medical grounds?)

This is your most Dystopic Science Fiction movie plot, an Insane President with his hand on the nuclear option.

Funny, I don’t remember any of these movies working out very well.

Sleeper Cell

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I have been watching the advertising for ‘Sleeper Cell’ a television program about Islamic terrorists in a western country, trained to hide, and poised to strike on command. This is a standard, ‘spy vs spy’ plot line used in many novels, so the plot element is well known. It’s great when used to produce paranoia in your reader. It’s an even better subject when you use it to control the public. If you point to the possibility, or the probability that there are ‘Sleeper Cells’. ready to strike the public at anytime. You can pretty much do anything you want to that population, their induced paranoia will allow you vast powers to subvert their freedoms and liberties.

What isn’t well known is the concept of a sleep cell is another way to describe an oppressed minority group, any group. As the the description of a cell as a small group of angry people so frustrated, that they are willing to lash out at the majority in a culture. Calling any minority group, a sleeper cell, allows you to suppress that group even more. And, better yet, conditions the majority population to assist you in that suppression. The only difference between the dreaded sleeper cell, and a group of frustrated teenagers is the myth of control. The sleeper cell takes orders from a leader, or a cause from outside, control is from a mythological and mysterious external source. The teens lash out, either from external peer pressure, or from their perceptions of the environments, or from just plain anger.

So the concept is, more or less, a Spin name for a frustrated disenfranchised minority. Again, ANY MINORITY, and that applies to vegetarians, immigrants, old age pensioners, atheists, christians or Muslims. Whom ever you want to suppress, call them a ‘sleeper cell’ and suppress away. They are now the enemy, and you no longer have to deal with their frustrations, or their needs. You no longer have to deal with mythological and mysterious causes for that frustration.

Sound familiar?

Information Stressing

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I have noticed over the years that when a big issue appears, or when big issues are in the news over a long time, that people in general tend to become saturated with the subject. They ignore it in favor of mundane trivial subjects. It occurs at a more rapid rate when there is someone, or something confronting the subject in question. It happens even faster when the subject is controversial. Subjects like Religion, Science, politics and War are such subjects. When there is a long running issue, the general population generally duck for cover into non controversial details like gadgets and toys, entertainment, and Hollywood stars, restaurants and food, anything not related to the controversy at hand.

This may be due to the belief that ‘someone’ else is dealing with it. Say a government, or a politician or priest. And that therefore it need not be necessary for themselves to deal with it. Or it may be due to fear of confronting the issues, and either the belief or hope that the matter will just go away.

All of these behaviors are indicative of a generally ignorant population, or of a population completely overwhelmed with information. And that’s the point, I can’t tell the difference.

Blogging is a point in reference, the blogging world will hop on a subject to great illustration and commentary, but like a wave, the focus moves on, crashing on another subject shore.

I have noted such waves in my blogging statistics, when the wave is high, any comment I make on the focus-du-jour brings in traffic. And when I comment, or post an article not in the ‘curl’ of the wave, the traffic diminishes. And while the subject I post might be important (at least to me, or the world as I perceive it), it gets no viewing. It is easier to post trivial things, computer items, trinkets, gadgets subject materials, than it is to post subjects with substance. And I get more traffic dealing with gadgets than with the ‘big’ topic items.

Go figure.