Michael Mon Mar 24 00:17:41 2003
Shock and awe
Well, I have to apologize to you all. I haven't even visited Toonbots in quite some time, due to a kind of pre-shock-and-awe effect. Frankly, the impending creation of lots of dead children just kind of obsessed me and I have become news-addicted to an extent that's just ... dysfunctional, really. They say the first step is to admit you have a problem, and I really have a problem.
Anyway, I've been barely able to function, and what functional ability I've had, has been directed towards making it look like I'm still working. I wrote a Toonbots episode a while back which I will post soon. I hope.
But I'm really depressed. Have you ever been depressed to the point where you sometimes feel it's just too much effort to take another breath? This is how I've been feeling lately. Literally I will notice that my lungs have been deflated for a few seconds, and I should, you know, fill them or something. Whatever. It's starting to scare me a little, actually.
What is the fricking point? Just what is the point? When evil of this magnitude walks the world, what is the point of going on, of doing anything constructive at all? Somebody will just bomb it, or take it from you, or make it illegal to own it or something.
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mouse Mon Mar 24 18:21:32 2003
Re: Shock and awe
well, i'm shocked by current events, but not too awed. and most of the shock (even though i should know better) has to do with the people on the home front - the ones who say "we've got to join hands and support the president now; any criticism is unpatriotic". wonder how many iraqis have said that about saddam? how can these people be so out of touch with history, let alone reality? as always, i find the stock market wildly amusing. news that the war was impending sent it on an 8-day run of increases, the longest streak in about 5 years. today it crumpled again, on the realization that the war would take longer than a day or two. doesn't _anyone_ have the sense to think this stuff through?
HOWEVER - i wasn't going to go into all that. (eventually, i will, of course - but i'll hold off for the moment). keep up hope, michael - it's the only chance we've got to change things. and remember, a lot of us feel the way you do.
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Michael Tue Mar 25 11:10:41 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> "we've got to join hands and support
> the president now; any criticism is unpatriotic".
Yes, our Glorious Leader cannot be wrong. Sieg heil. (Hail victory, for you monolingual types.) I've heard it said that the neoconservative Cold Warriors fought the Soviet Union they all developed a sort of collective Stockholm Syndrome, so that now they all want to be Stalinists. It's as plausible a theory as any as to why America's powerful are all so very unAmerican.
> doesn't _anyone_ have the sense to think this stuff through?
No.
Although in defense of the stock market, people are reacting, not to events, but to WHAT THEY THINK THE STOCK MARKET'S REACTION WILL BE. It's quite an echo chamber. One of the more interesting experiments in social dynamics ever created, although a society which ties its well-being to such an experiment must be a society of morons.
> and remember, a lot of us feel
> the way you do.
Yeah. Unfortunately, that set of people largely does not intersect with the set of people owning the weapons of mass destruction and the money.
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mouse Tue Mar 25 15:43:51 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> I've heard it said that the neoconservative Cold
> Warriors fought the Soviet Union they all developed a sort of collective
> Stockholm Syndrome, so that now they all want to be Stalinists. It's as
> plausible a theory as any as to why America's powerful are all so very
> unAmerican.
well, they sure seem to like his style.....and they've probably heard that a lot of older russians sorta miss Uncle Joe.
of course, those are the ones who managed to survive him.
> Yeah. Unfortunately, that set of people largely does not intersect with
> the set of people owning the weapons of mass destruction and the money.
'the money' is the really scary part - just read a column that says the majority of the pro-war rallies are sponsered by Clear Channel Communications, which controls over 1200 radio stations - and has strong ties with the Bushies. but hey - those are all just a spontaneous expression of good old american patriotism, right? no attempt to use the vast wealth channelled to them by the bush tax cuts to tamper with public opinion _here_.
it's almost enough to make one a conspiracy theorist.
so to conclude: ignore all radio broadcasts! survive uncle george, so we can miss him in our dotage!
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Emsworth Tue Mar 25 17:00:38 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> so to conclude: ignore all radio broadcasts!
With the exception of KNX 1070 Los Angeles' "Drama Hour," of course. Viva Jack Benny and Gunsmoke, almost invariably an anodyne for anxiety!
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mouse Wed Mar 26 16:15:31 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> With the exception of KNX 1070 Los Angeles' "Drama Hour," of
> course. Viva Jack Benny and Gunsmoke, almost invariably an anodyne for
> anxiety!
my local pbs station used to broadcast a lot of radio stories - not so much the classic stuff, but 'hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy' and jack flanders ... now i can't even figure out where they've put 'selected shorts' :(
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Michael Wed Mar 26 22:01:58 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> 'the money' is the really scary part - just read a column that says the
> majority of the pro-war rallies are sponsered by Clear Channel
> Communications, which controls over 1200 radio stations - and has strong
> ties with the Bushies. but hey - those are all just a spontaneous
> expression of good old american patriotism, right? no attempt to use the
> vast wealth channelled to them by the bush tax cuts to tamper with public
> opinion _here_.
Clear Channel also distributes Rush Limbaugh. Rush is one of the problems. I've been doing something about it: http://transcripts.myguard.net -- volunteer opportunity for those of you who are patriotic.
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mouse Thu Mar 27 14:35:33 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> Clear Channel also distributes Rush Limbaugh. Rush is one of the problems.
> I've been doing something about it: http://transcripts.myguard.net --
> volunteer opportunity for those of you who are patriotic.
wow - you're really asking for sacrifices! my hat is off to your volunteers - i caught part of one of his tv shows years ago, and found the underlying thought processes so stupid i've barely been able to cope with even hearing his name since.
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Michael Thu Mar 27 15:57:36 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> wow - you're really asking for sacrifices! my hat is off to your
> volunteers - i caught part of one of his tv shows years ago, and found the
> underlying thought processes so stupid i've barely been able to cope with
> even hearing his name since.
If I listen to more than about twenty seconds' worth at once, my blood starts to boil. But one phrase at a time, it's bearable.
If you know anybody willing to help out, we need more transcribers, big time.
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Michael Thu Mar 27 16:00:52 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> If you know anybody willing to help out, we need more transcribers, big
> time.
It suddenly occurs to me that I have a new source of humor.....
Boy, am I glad I stopped reading news. I've been so much more balanced and productive this week.
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mouse Fri Mar 28 15:51:54 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> Boy, am I glad I stopped reading news. I've been so much more balanced and
> productive this week.
it's probably a good idea. my clock-radio is tuned to pbs, and "morning edition" is on when i get up (or more precisely, when i lay in bed half awake trying to persuade myself i should get up). now i feel like bush has given dozens of speeches, all saying exactly the same thing.
oh wait - that's actually what's been happening......
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Emsworth Thu Mar 27 19:50:31 2003
Re: Shock and awe
> Clear Channel also distributes Rush Limbaugh. Rush is one of the problems.
> I've been doing something about it: http://transcripts.myguard.net --
> volunteer opportunity for those of you who are patriotic.
Also proof that teh true founder of radio in its current form was not Jack Benny, Norman Corwin, Orson Welles, Benny Goodman, the Lone Ranger, and so forth, but Father Charles Coughlin, a man who, following a disagreement with CBS over censorship of his vitriol (and I think this was *before* he began his anti-Semitic campaign), bought time on numerous stations across the country. (Years later, he was referenced in TV's MASH as, appropriately enough, Frank Burns' hero.)
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mouse Fri Mar 28 16:07:57 2003
Re: Shock and awe
::sings:: everything old is new again.
yesterday i sat in on a discussion of the book "ashes to ashes"; it's a history of the tobacco industry in the u.s. turns out they've been using the same type of advertising, the same business strategy, for about 100 years. they continue to do so, of course, because it works - just like hate radio.
it's kind of depressing how little we seem to learn over time. and i mean we the people - the ones who listen to father coughlin, and rush, and others, and follow the lies so quickly, because they appeal to our deepest prejudices. one keeps thinking perhaps the human race is improving, just a bit - how many people would have objected to this war 100 years ago? - and then one discovers that the mass of people seem locked into the same self-centered, visceral responses they have always used instead of thought.
still - at least we have a few forward thinkers to bet on. (although it wouldn't hurt if the lone ranger showed up, too)
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