Link to "Thought Interrupted"

A good piece about the practical benefits of protesting.

I thrive on politics and I’m very dedicated to challenging established discourses. But I find protests to be a lot of work, for very little result, and, if I’m choosing between spending 2 hours marching in the cold and a 2 hours writing a letter to elected officials or a letter to editor or, hell, a blog entry, I’ll choose the latter form of action any time. If I’m further choosing between writing something and working towards someone good elected, again, I consider the latter to be the best use of my time.

Proximity

It's kinda early, and I was doing a lot of travelling and stuff so I'm a little tired. But my post for the day is to simply mention that politicians and other elites make these inexplicably fucked-up decisions often because of their proximity to the core of a system that is based on inhuman values. Obviously there is a selection process to see that (for instance) only vapid airheads like Chris Matthews get to become media elites, ... or that corporate shills like Stephen Harper or Paul Martin II become politicians, ... but even decent people, once they get into that vortex, become desensitized to how bizarre everything looks to outsiders.

They all start to talk to each other, read only their bogus reports and think-tank gurgles, attend nice dinner parties where everyone is working and everyone seems to have influence. They become brainwashed by the demands of their own bureaucracies. They don't see or hear much about their own failures, and when they do, a quick bit of bullshit rationalizations and a turn of the head and it's problem solved.

Is it Wrong for Me to Like These Bands?

First band: Mindless Self-Indulgence



"Panty Shot" -- They're older than I thought and they might be EMO, but I like their songs.

Second band: System of a Down



"Tentative" -- I'm travelling and the computer is slow, haven't seen the video. Love this song.

New Post For A Busy Day

I'm thinking of adding USian, Jonathan Schwarz to my blogroll. Because he's right down there in the belly of the beast and he's still immune to the nonsensical notion that efforts to elect Democrats are somehow meaningful.

I would rather see a decent candidate than a bad candidate prevail in the upcoming presidential elections, but I don' t care all that much. The system detroys people. It's not just bad individuals.

Obstruction of 9-11 Commission

Greenwald: (and i bet a quarter that nothing will come of this!)

David Swanson: Futile elections

Gary McHale's Legacy

I was talking with a Toronto acquaintance of mine about the stand-off in Caledonia and he offered me a perspective on Gary McHale that I hadn't really considered before. He said that McHale is a publicity hound above all else. I've always thought that McHale was first and foremost a racist moron, .... though I was prepared to concede that he might actually be a complete, total, empty-headed moron, who is genuinely incensed with the fact that the First Nations in Caledonia aren't currently receiving the full brunt of the law, while remaining totally ignorant of the fact that the First Nations in Canada tend to receive excessive, systemically harsher treatment from the law on an everyday basis. (This latter portrait; that of an empty-headed ignoramous, is one offered by a recent defender of his.) But I'd never really considered that McHale was concerned about fame. It makes sense though. McHale was, what before? An uncharismatic Christian preacher with a failing accounting or publishing business? Now he's famous across the province and across the country, ... a hero to white supremacists and other assorted assholes everywhere. In the future, Canadian school children might read about him the way they read about Bull Connor or the Klansmen who murdered Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in the USA.

Another aspect of McHale's racist movement: By harassing and insulting Fantino and the OPP, he might go a long way to improve relations and understanding between the OPP and First Nations in Ontario. Sharing an enemy always creates connections between people. So congrats on that level, McHale, ... you contemptible buffoon!

No New Year's Resolutions!

They're futile.

But a thought occurred to me this morning; That the high levels of stupidity exhibited by today's "conservative" movement is indicative of their overall intellectual bankruptcy in the face of now 21st-century realities. In centuries and decades past, as Western Civilization grew into democratic, advanced societies, conservatives could reasonably paint a picture of the world that made sense as so many of their traditions hadn't been repudiated and so many new ideas hadn't been tested.

But by 1980, these old ideas had mostly all been forced to reform themselves or die of obsolescence. Only the money and power of those elements with a vested interest in the perpetuation of these traditions gives them any place in the present day. This money and power is considerable of course. I fear the trauma of the future as both we, the sane, and they, the stupid bigoted blockheads, become frustrated with the continued failures of these idiotic delusions.