Entries Tagged as ''

Land of Confusion

As I’ve said before, I find songs to be one of the most powerful uses for words. I enjoyed this song as a child and found that its lyrics were shockingly accurate, no matter what time frame. I was glad to see that Disturbed has brought it back as a remake, still not as good as the original by Genesis though.

I mustve dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
But I can hear the marching feet
Theyre moving into the street.

Now did you read the news today
They say the dangers gone away
But I can see the fires still alight
There burning into the night.

Theres too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Cant you see
This is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.

Ooh superman where are you now
When everythings gone wrong somehow
The men of steel, the men of power
Are losing control by the hour.

This is the time
This is the place
So we look for the future
But theres not much love to go round
Tell me why, this is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.

I remember long ago -
Ooh when the sun was shining
Yes and the stars were bright
All through the night
And the sound of your laughter
As I held you tight
So long ago -

I wont be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
Were not just making promises
That we know, well never keep.

Too many men
Theres too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Cant you see
This is a land of confusion.

Now this is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for.

This is the world we live in
And these are the names were given
Stand up and lets start showing
Just where our lives are going to.

[tags] genesis, lyrics, political [/tags]

V for Vendetta

I finally saw this film today. There are certain stories that should be told to everyone, to all generations, stories that are neccessary, essential. The story of corruption and revolution is one such story. I thank Alan Moore for bringing the seed of this story into the modern theater. I need to now read the actual text of his story to find out the problems he had with the film. However, the film is better than not experiencing it at all. I can even forgive the Wachowski brothers for the last two Matrix films now. This film says so much that needs to be heard, yet will be forgotten. It shows the nature of rhetoric and its uses for good and evil, how the power of words can invoke fear, and how fear can imprison a society. The use of words in this way is nothing new, our acknowledgement of their power over us is also not revelation. We can easily become indignant towards abusive rhetoric, but then have our attention diverted by “reality” television and slanted media just as easily.

There is so much more that can be discussed, and should, about this film, or just the ideas that the film provokes. Its the use of words, of rhetoric, that I attempted to study in college and still try to. This film is a good example of the power of words and why they must be truly heard, to be understood as tools of ideas, and what those sometimes hidden ideas are. Here are the words of “V”.

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security, the familiar, the tranquility, repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillence coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence.

[tags] v for vendetta, rhetoric, revolutions, words, corruption [/tags]

No more listening to my plots

Federal Judge Orders End to Warrantless Wiretapping

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 — A federal judge in Detroit ruled today that the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program is illegal and unconstitutional, and she ordered that it cease at once.

District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor found that President Bush exceeded his proper authority and that the eavesdropping without warrants violated the First and Fourth Amendment protections of free speech and privacy.

“It was never the intent of the Framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,” she wrote, in a decision that the White House and Justice Department said they would fight to overturn. A hearing will be held before Judge Taylor on Sept. 7, and her decision will not be enforced in the meantime pending the government’s appeal.

The judge’s ruling is the latest chapter in the continuing debate over the proper balance between national security and personal liberty since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which inspired the eavesdropping program and other surveillance measures that the administration says are necessary and constitutional and its critics say are intrusive.

Read the rest HERE

Score one for liberty and freedom!!! Now if only this trend would continue, and then resources aimed at fixing the problem and not the symptoms. i.e. people hate us and fly planes/etc into us. why? fix the why.

[tags] aclu, wiretapping, liberties [/tags]

Nonverbal Rhetoric Terrorists

Nonverbal Communication in the Fight Against Terrorism

Does anyone else see a problem with this strategy?

Faces, Too, Are Searched at U.S. Airports

DULLES, Va., Aug. 16 — As the man approached the airport security checkpoint here on Wednesday, he kept picking up and putting down his backpack, touching his fingers to his chin, rubbing some object in his hands and finally reaching for his pack of cigarettes, even though smoking was not allowed.

Two Transportation Security Administration officers stood nearby, nearly motionless and silent, gazing straight at him. Then, with a nod, they moved in, chatting briefly with the man, and then swiftly pulled him aside for an intense search.

Another airline passenger had just made the acquaintance of the transportation agency’s “behavior detection officers.”

Taking a page from Israeli airport security, the transportation agency has been experimenting with this new squad, whose members do not look for bombs, guns or knives. Instead, the assignment is to find anyone with evil intent.

So far, these specially trained officers are working in only about a dozen airports nationwide, including Dulles International Airport here outside Washington, and they represent just a tiny percentage of the transportation agency’s 43,000 screeners.

But after the reported liquid bomb plot in Britain, agency officials say they want to have hundreds of behavior detection officers trained by the end of next year and deployed at most of the nation’s biggest airports.

“The observation of human behavior is probably the hardest thing to defeat,” said Waverly Cousin, a former police officer and checkpoint screener who is now the supervisor of the behavior detection unit at Dulles. “You just don’t know what I am going to see.”

Even in its infancy, the program has elicited some protests.

At one airport, passengers singled out solely because of their behavior have at times been threatened with detention if they did not cooperate, raising constitutional issues that are already being argued in court. Some civil liberties experts said that the program, if not run properly, could turn into another version of racial profiling.

Other concerns were raised this week by two of the foremost proponents of the techniques, a former Israeli security official and a behavioral psychologist who developed the system of observing involuntarily muscular reactions to gauge a person’s state of mind.

That’s it, my leg shaking is going to get me arrested. Plus some of us might want to cut back on the caffiene, fidgety bastards.

[tags] behavior detection, civil liberties, rhetoric [/tags]

ill

not sure if there are any repeat visitors, if so, sorry for the lack of posts. very ill, wish i was dead. life will return to me soon i hope…

links for 2006-08-15

links for 2006-08-12

Bubblegum Cards

How many people are old enough to remember bubblegum cards? The little cardboard cards of movies, sports, etc that came with Double Bubble gum? I don’t remember any of them quite like these! That’s right, Clockwork Orange trading cards

http://bubblegumfink.blogspot.com/2006/07/blog-post_115419897303214348.html

[tags] oddities, bubblegum cards [/tags]

[Global Trickster] Trackback: “Monkey Shit”

New trackback on your post #66 “Monkey Shit”
Website: Carpet (IP: 154.35.1.12 , 154.35.1.12)
URI : http://www.orkoba.info/carpet/
Excerpt:
Carpet

I am Karin, very interesting article that contained the information I was searching for in Google, thanks.

You can see all trackbacks on this post here:
http://globaltrickster.com/2006/08/06/monkey-shit/#comments

To delete this comment, visit: http://globaltrickster.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=confirmdeletecomment&p=66&comment=166

links for 2006-08-09