I'm including a couple of very good articles about Barack Obama, simply because it's already shaping up that he'll become the next president of the USA. It makes for some scary reading because it looks like he's just cynically exploiting the voter base for his own ends (and those of his supporters). The writer makes some good points between Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King and how Obama is exploiting King's image and legacy while actually being against many of the core beliefs that King fought and died for. There's also a good commentary from John Pilger, a jounalist who has been there and done that - a man whose opinions should be taken seriously. I recommend tracking down his writings and documentaries. His most recent piece was about the continuing tragedy in Afghanistan.
What was once labelled in the past as healthy teenage rebellion, has now become a psychiatric disorder, treated with a range of psychotropic drugs. It makes me shudder to think that some of the behaviour that I displayed in my hormone-fuelled teenage days could have been simply shut down and repressed by the taking of a pill. I hope that I and most of my contemporaries who managed to get through our delinquencies without bringing about the end of society or going to prison - in fact becoming stable and productive members of society will serve as reminders that teenage rebellion is NORMAL and repressing it just likely does more damage, both physically and psychologically. Who knows what the long term effects of these drugs are...
The posting at GNN included a comment which quoted a book I read called "Amusing Ourselves To Death" by Neil Postman. It was written in the mid-eighties but its message still rings true today - very loudly and clearly if we just stop for a bit to listen to it:What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
To continue on from yesterday, Albertans have just as terrible taste in names as Georgians - or anyone else for that matter. For crying out loud: Sparrow?! Obisidian-Angel!?!?!? Those kids are going to need some major counselling when they hit school age... poor things.
And you think your job sucked... well.
And you think your job sucked... well.
