Global Trickster

I am surprised that this film won awards, not because it is of low quality, but due to the nature of its themes. The film itself is extremely well done. Syriana covers too many complex themes to cover in a small blog post, perhaps too many for the film itself. It shows an adage that I have always held, that the demons of mythology and fantasy were not from some other world, they were merely human. Evil is not the work of fallen angels or dark divinity, just the nature of men. Some will find this film a revelation of this truth, others, a blasphemy against the American way, while many will simply think of it as a movie, and forget it.

In one sense, that is all it is, a film, with words and images of actions by people. But this is what so many people forget, the power of words, of images, especially when dictating  actions. Hitler used films to rally his people to war. America has used them for the same reasons. Some films teach hate, while others expose it. This is no different then books, speeches, songs, commercials, or journalism. This is power. This is rhetoric. To not realize this, to not study this, to not understand this; that is what creates the marionettes of the world, with no idea who controls the strings.
[tags] rhetoric, politics, movie, middle east, evil [/tags]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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Only traitors try to make us afraid of terrorists

By noemail@noemail.org (Cory Doctorow)

Cory Doctorow: In this mind-blowing, exhaustively researched Cato institute paper by Ohio State University’s John Mueller, the case against being afraid of terrorism is laid out in irrefutable logic, backed with credible, documented statistics about terrorism’s risks. From the number of fatalities produced by terrorism to the trends in terrorism death to the fact that almost no one has ever died from a military biological agent to the fact that poison gas and dirty bombs in the field do only minor damage — this paper is the most reassuring and infuriating piece of analysis I’ve read since September 11th, 2001.The bottom line is, terrorism doesn’t kill many people. Even in Israel, you’re four times more likely to die in a car wreck than as a result of a terrorist attack. In the USA, you need to be more worried about lightning strikes than terrorism. The point of terrorism is to create terror, and by cynically convincing us that our very countries are at risk from terrorism, our politicians have delivered utter victory to the terrorists: we are terrified.

The statistics are interesting, but I find this quote even more revealing.

“Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on
a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of
it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people
don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in
Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the
country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to
drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist
dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no
voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked,
and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the
country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
– Hermann Goering, second highest in command of the Third Reich

Sound like a familiar rhetorical strategy? Right or wrong, its important to recognize it.

[tags] rhetoric, terrorism, speech [/tags]

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Bah! What a pile of steaming shit those words were. “We just need respect” Its absurdity at the highest level. “Men” is nothing but de-evolved monkeys, flinging bullets at each other instead of shit. The problem is quite simple, too many monkeys, too close together. You can’t handle it. Your just territorial savages with delusions of self-importance. I used to try and teach you lessons through jest and trickery. I was revered and hated for these lessons, but their neccessity was understood. Now? Now I sit and laugh as you destroy each other, as you destroy the world you need and it in turn fights back. Perhaps, when their are less monkeys to contend with resources, some common sense may return to your species. Or, you’ll all simply die off.

Loki

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The Loom : A Nation of Neurotics? Blame the Puppet Masters?:

Toxoplasma gondii is an extraordinary creature, whose exploits I’ve chronicled in previous posts , an article in the New York Times and my book Parasite Rex. This single-celled organism has a life cycle that takes it from cats to other mammals and birds and back to cats again. Studies have shown that the parasite can alter the behavior of rats, robbing them of their normal fear of cats–and presumably making it easier for the parasites to get into their next host.

Truly these are the secret masters of our world, controlling our development. Schizophrenia is their way of trying to communicate with us in our primative language. You will see…

[tags] parasite, control, secret masters [/tags]

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EFF: DeepLinks:

Because of phone calls and letters from constituents like you, Senator Arlen Specter is feeling the heat. Having previously delayed a vote on his dangerous surveillance bill, he is now intent on moving it out of committee on Thursday. This sham “compromise” bill will help the government continue to break the law, vastly expanding the president’s power to spy on you without any meaningful oversight from Congress or the courts. If you haven’t already called and your Senator is on the Judiciary Committee, please use our Action Center and call your Senator immediately to stop this dangerous bill. Your friends and family could be constituents of Judiciary Committee members — spread the word and urge them to call Congress now. If you’re a blogger, post a “Stop the Surveillance Bills” button.

I dont have a big reader base, but thought I’d add this just in case. This is serious people.

[tags] Arlen Specter, freedoms, surveillance [/tags]

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The Smart Egg Tells You When It’s Cooked - Gizmodo:

The Smart Egg Tells You When It’s Cooked superegg.jpgThe folks at the British Egg Information Service (what the?) got tired of telling people how to properly cook an egg that they made a new self-timing egg that tells informs the “chef” when it’s done. The egg has heat-sensitive ink that displays only when the correct temperature is reached, meaning when your egg is done. The eggs come in hard-boiled, medium, or soft varieties, meaning you have to buy the kind you want or else the ink is useless—it’s not a three-in-one egg.

wow….just learn to cook people. feeding incompetency!

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Slashdot | Photograph the Police, Get Arrested:

“Last month a man was arrested in New Hampshire after presenting evidence of a police officer being verbally abusive that he had captured on his home security camera system. Now just recently in Philadelphia a 21 year old student was arrested on his property after he took a photo of the police who were in the process of arresting a drug dealer down the street.” From the article: “Cruz said that when he heard a commotion, he walked out of his back door with his cell phone to see what was happening. He said that when he saw the street lined with police cars, he decided to take a picture of the scene. ‘I opened (the phone) and took a shot,’ Cruz said. Moments later, Cruz said he got the shock of his life when an officer came to his back yard gate.”

This just in: Police now allowed to rape people with their nightsticks at random on the streets. Video is only allowed by other police, who put it online to raise money for retirement funds.

(note: article links to several other incidents such as this, power corrupts, absolute, yada yada)

Sigh….

[tags] 1984, injustice, american way [/tags]

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