In the early part of this century, razor blade companies decided that they needed to double their market share by selling razor blades to women.
They used advertising to promote body hair as, 'dirty' and 'un feminine'.
Sexuality is a moving target, and beyond basic, observable health, people can easily be programmed to think of certain traits in humans as sexy or not.
If you like shaved legs and armpits on your women, then your psyche has been successfully molded by advertising.
It doesn't even have to do with what you see or what you consent to. Advertising affects us all, even if it happens indirectly.
Computers are designed in part to suck the life-energy out of you.
After playing a Star Wars RTS for half a day, I stood up and almost fell over. I felt disoriented and horrible, had a crazy head-ache and then surprised myself by actually vomiting.
I figured it was food poisoning or something, as I'd never had that reaction to a game before, and I'd played thousands of hours worth.
The next time it happened, however, I'd been eating well and only a couple of hours had passed. Same symptoms, same game.
Then it happened again, (with a different game), after barely an hour of exposure. This time I didn't throw up, probably because I backed off shortly after I felt the sickness and head-ache coming on. This was all over the course of a few months.
I don't play games at all now. I'd wanted to stop anyway because I didn't like the amount of time I was wasting at the computer being totally selfish and unproductive.
Open Source is one of Microsoft's biggest fears. So what do they do?
They electroshock their PR department awake and tell them, "Do some studies! Burn some mid-night oil at the library of Human Psychology! Figure out how to combat this Open Source thing! Get ON it!"
So they did, and this is what they came back with. . .
"Open Source is a big and real threat, but only if people believe that Open Source is a worthy thing. So we tried to shape public opinion on the matter. First we tried trivializing it, and that sort of worked for a while, but then people began to catch on. So then we tried vilifying it, and that also seemed to work for a while, but again, people began to catch on. So then we tried to own it, but our agents at SCO didn't perform up to our high standards. (And they will be sorely punished for their failure!)
"So now we've grudgingly come to realize that Open Source is here to stay. (Our head PR manager will be missed, but his final contribution to our department by writhing and gasping on the floor while holding his neck has been a great motivator!) --So, while whistling quietly as the ocean water rises in Vista's hold, we present to you, my Lord, the following bold plan. . .
"Knowing full well that people over time are increasingly going to choose Open Source as a major part of the code running on their machines, (drum roll, please. ..) we shall now pretend that Microsoft IS Open Source! Get it? We'll be all fake and similar like, see. We'll seed the idea into the average consumer's mind that we embrace good and happy things like sharing and cuddles, because we've discovered that the average consumer doesn't actually want Open Source software. No! Check it out. . .
What the average consumer truly wants is to be aligned with good ideals. --And they're even willing to pay for it! So we've coined the new 'Shared Source' phrase which our test groups indicate actually sounds friendlier and warmer than 'Open Source'".
Yes. Breathe deeply. It's all going to be okay. No need to panic. We're still on top of the game. Balloon Ball, Balloon Ball, Balloon Ball. . .
(Pardon me while I play point/counter-point with myself)
Are you suggesting violence? Well, that's stupid. It's a good way to create a lot of misery and chaos. --In particular, it's a good way to give the administration an excuse to let loose with its big guns and really enact a lock-down. Sorry, but you don't have enough fire-power to contest the government. Have you not read your Machiavelli? He described the very tactic; essentially, political judo with guns. You don't want to go there.
No, the way to go is to fight ignorance. If everybody, including the dupes in the police force and armed forces who are doing the Dark Side's bidding, (and I'm willing to bet it's only some of them), if those guys woke up, then who would remain to heil Bush?
Fight ignorance. If you can wake people up, then you can start to solve things; all the raw workings of the solution are built right into the American system. It just takes awareness and will to make things change.
The people of a nation collectively put together a pile of money in order to do useful things which everybody agrees they need. Right? Building roads and water supply systems, police agencies, hospitals etc.
But then. ..
Who gets elected? Why, the people who are cut-throat and unfair in their methods. The ones who lie the best. --The ones who are drawn to power!
Why do they win? Because they use all the normal tools to get elected which good people have, PLUS they also use lies and underhanded manipulations. They win over good-hearted people because good-hearted people limit themselves to only using above-board tactics. And so, with limited tool-boxes, the good guys tend to lose more often than the criminals, who arm themselves, not just with above-board tactics like posters and election promises, but also with wonky voting machines and hate-based propaganda about how they will punish, 'welfare moms'. (Which make up a microscopic fraction of the public spending in even the most socialist of nations). But Hate and Dark Side emotions are much easier to kindle in a voting public than rational thought. And anybody who is above hate will lose their vote anyway to a fixed voting machine. And if that doesn't work, the state-owned media will just lie about who won. Or they'll just kill the honest politicians in plane crashes. One way or another, the Dark Side wins time and again. The good guys don't stand a chance once the bad guys get in and own the game board!
So these greedy, morally bankrupt politicians and their industry-owning friends realize, "Hey! Check it out. With my brother-in-law in office, I can get all kinds of policies passed which entitle me to a big slice of that nice juicy public cash pie without my actually having to earn it! People are plenty stupid, they'll believe any old lie, and we just have to organize it so that the state has all the guns. Keen! I can live high and never have to put in a real day of work ever again!"
And so it goes.
But. ..
Because the greedy are greedy, they never feel like they have enough, and so the taxes rise, and the hidden taxes, (such as oil and energy), rise. And they cut away at the actual things a nation would probably want, like education funds and medical care. (You just trick the people through massive propaganda into believing that such things are bad for them. Sounds insane, but look around you.) With social spending cut, there's more money for the greedy politician and his friends and family.
But somehow. . , even with the billions flowing into the politician's family coffers, it's still not enough. This is because greed is NOT good. Greed is a disease! --And so the greedy looked around to find new ways to make even more money, and they realized that it was advantageous to them if the other nations of the world never achieved first-world status. Cheep, 1-cent an hour labor is a great way to get and stay rich! --So they use the secret-service agencies to subvert and de-stabalize nations on the brink of industrial success. This is done through funding coups of legitimate foriegn leaders and channeling heavy narcotics trade through those nations. Drug corridor nations quickly become user nations. (The Opium War in China was a good example of how drugs were used to destroy a nation's growth momentum.)
But high taxes and hidden taxes and entire slave nations are still are not enough for the greedy. Nope. --So they start wars, filling the people with fear, all to ensure that the people are too afraid to think rationally and otherwise recognize that they are being abused by their own government. --Plus, the weapons sales are another excellent way to cut into that nice juicy public cash pie!
So what percentage of your tax dollars do you think are being spent on things the collective public actually wanted in the first place? 30 percent? 20 percent? I'm willing to bet it's even less.
I spent a long time hoping for a fully functioning "NukeAnything". I even emailed the creator of the extension with my requests and mailed him a set of my favorite books by way of thanks (for making such a cool extension). Anyway, when I last upgraded, everything seemed to smooth out nicely.
I'm currently using. . .
NukeAnything Enhanced.53 Flashblock 1.5 on top of Firefox/1.5.0.1
I have no trouble Nuking flash banners. Maybe you can get some use out of that. . .
Here's a famous quote which I find helpful to re-read every now and again.
"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine 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 to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
~~~Hermann Goering at the Nurenberg trials.
And as long as I'm quoting Nazis, I would be remiss in leaving out Hitler's views on the mechanics of why telling big lies to the public works so effectively. You may have read this before, but read it again with full attention. . .
"The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, because the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad.
The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them more easy victims of a big lie than a small one, because they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell big ones.
Such a form of lying would never enter their heads. They would never credit others with the possibility of such great impudence as the complete reversal of facts. Even explanations would long leave them in doubt and hesitation, and any trifling reason would dispose them to accept a thing as true.
Something therefore always remains and sticks from the most imprudent of lies, a fact which all bodies and individuals concerned in the art of lying in this world know only too well, and therefore they stop at nothing to achieve this end."
~~~ Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
Just some notes for thought. Is the Neo-Con gang smart enough to recognize the basic principals described above? Of course they are.
It may come as a surprise to you, but a vast majority of people value safety above the "freedom" of writing bullshit on the web or the "freedom" of not having their phone conversations monitored.
The vast majority, eh? Is that your way of saying, "I have no rational argument for holding my views so I point instead to consensus beliefs as a way of validation"?
Nice job. The vast majority of people are also Christians. --Or do you subscribe to broken religions which demand no question-asking and lots of subservience?
Privacy might be an illusion, but there are many other freedoms which are being systematically removed. --Like being able to have free and democratic elections. --And the freedom to wear a tee-shirt which says, "Impeach Bush" at public events without being harassed by cops. And the freedom to fair trials before an impartial jury, because right now, if you are suspected of being an 'enemy combatant' you can be put in a secret prison forever without being charged or your family knowing where you are. These are not theoretical possibilities. They are events which have happened and will happen with increasing regularity if the Neo-Cons are not removed from office.
This is what the poster was complaining about, and you should be as well.
Imagine, a Republican administration using laws created by Bill Clinton's Democrat administration to monitor international phone calls of known terrorists.
Oh, give it a rest already.
Bush is a psychopath who started two insane wars which have done ZERO good and have created massive misery, chaos and damage on every level imaginable, and he is now angling to start a third, (with Iran.) He did it through endless lies and manipulations, and now he's engaging in massive spying operations on American citizens.
The correct response is: "Yikes! Pull him and his people from office and put them in prison!"
The incorrect response is: "I don't have to feel guilty for voting for Bush because really, Clinton is to blame. So there."
News Flash: Democrat and Republican are two masks of the same face. The U.S. Government is evil. Good Cop, Bad Cop is a game. Stop playing.
Out of curiosity, what policies of Bush's have prevented the individual from fighting abuse by a corporate body?
How about Bush's "Give Up Your Rights To Fight Phantom Terrorists" policy which has the big media and telecommunications companies to lying to and spying on citizens without the individual being able to report it to police and have people arrested for it. While this is nothing new, under the Bush regime the engine of fascism is no longer just idling. The throttle is being pulled out.
[. ..] There are plenty of good corporations out there, and there are plenty of horrible people out there. Similarity to a psychopath should not affect how the law treats an entity(group or individual). I will concur that a trust is different than a person and should be treated differently, but not because they're somehow inherently psychotic, and thus, not deserving of being treated the same.
Corporations are NOT people. The laws which allow them to be treated as such are flawed, and it took a lot of dedicated work by a lot of evil lawyers to bend the law so that they have the same rights as people. So now that they ARE seen as people, they should be treated as such; meaning, when they display signs of mental illness, appropriate steps should be taken.
When you say that similarity to a psychopath should not affect how the law treats a person or group, I have to disagree. --Because actually, the law should and does. Mental illness is a state recognized by the law, and it generally results in rights and powers being restricted according to the severity of the illness. Psychopaths, if you can even catch the slippery monsters, are locked up forever.
As an ex-Narus employee, this is a load of FUD. How many systems do you think it would take to capture the entire internet backbone every second? How much storage do you think it would take? Do you even consider what it would take, CPU horsepower wise, to capture maintain session state, filter and report on EVERY single communication protocol thread passing through the entire internet?
Probably about the same amount as used by systems like Echelon, of which this is probably an integrated or at the very least, a related piece.
And no, I really don't want to hear from the tree hugging, long hair hippy freaks who want to espouse their "Orwellian" big brother theories.
It's weird how people who make such a stink about 'liberals', (which as far as I can make out, are an illusory beast which only truly inhabit the skulls of bottom-rank neo-con rabble), often tend to include huge doses of emotionally charged name-calling among their various modes of 'argument'.
The only other group I know of which is so consistent in their use of jock-strap idioms, volume and general schoolyard childishness are indeed schoolyard children.
I find this consistency automatically validating as it means I am by contrast the more mature thinker and by extension, probably right most of the time whenever I disagree with a neo-con. Mature thinkers like to work through data thoroughly rather than jump to conclusions based on emotions and ego.
The people here who are saying that Wired is upholding free speech, wouldn't feel that way if it was their day in court. They are circumventing standard operating procedures.
You appear to assume two things which I strongly disagree with. . .
1. That "standard operating procedures" are not heavily fixed, (see recent appointments to the supreme court), so that Bush's morally defunct policies are upheld, (ie., the individual cannot fight abuse by the coroporate body),
2. That there is some semblance of similarity between a person and a giant corporation like AT&T. --Corporations have been demonstrated countless times to function without social conscience, without moral grounding, and with reckless disregard for others, among a whole host of other elements which give them all the basic behavioral traits as those held by psychopaths. The people here who are applauding Wired's actions are probably NOT psychopaths. The law SHOULDN'T give the same benefits and considerations to corporations as they do to individuals.
But the laws being used by the NSA, etc., were created by an illegitimate administration. --One which forged two elections through, (among several different means), the use of Diebold's voting machines, which have been demonstrated numerous times to be faulty with a conservative bias.
It seems to me that Wired has decided not to respect fraudulent law makers, which is what the voice of a conscientious people should be doing. I certainly hope that the people's voice when it contests fascism avoids being crushed into silence. I applaud those who have the guts and nobility to push back against criminals where others are too cowardly or ignorant to stand up.
Must be their free speech and completely free market. Must be their unfiltered internet, or their steadfast platform of NOT intentionally hoarding other contries' currencies in an effort to dilute its value and encourage their own advantageous trade surplus. Or perhaps its their very strict labor laws that make sure citizens are paid a wage that they can live on, or their internationally-acclaimed judicial system.
Give me a break. You can make very similar accusations about the U.S. And worse.
I'm not saying that China is free of corrupt government, but what nation is? What I AM saying is that focusing the media and popular attention on one such nation is a deliberate attempt by the powers that be to start another dumb and totally unnecessary war.
Ooooh. "Hackers" in China and Taiwan are "Sophisticated". Oooh. Fear.
I'm getting sick of this bullshit.
It's growing increasingly obvious with every slanderous remark about the 'evil' Chinese that the West is trying to create a new 'Evil Empire' to scare us all with. Probably, (among other things), to fuel the endless weapons industry and keep the public too distracted to get down to the much-needed task of hanging all the president's men.
If the Chinese media weren't busy doing the same thing to their own populace, I'd be slightly less worried, but the fact of the matter is that 'somebody' wants us all fearing and hating one another. What a load of crap!
When you can watch unfolding such a deliberate effort to herd the world's population into specific (stupid and self-destructive) thought patterns, it seems very obvious that there's already a One World Government nestled in place, pulling all the strings, and generally being vile and nasty in their total disregard for compassion and decency.
Every time you see a story about the 'Evil Chinese' remember this: You are being manipulated.
But also remember, it is your choice as to whether or not you go along with it. I very much hope there is somebody saying the same things in Mandarin.
I am not sure how one can take another's comments with anything larger than a grain of salt when said person inserts personal insults into every paragraph.
There's a difference between insulting somebody and stating the obvious. If you don't like the obvious being stated about you, you might try changing yourself.
So we got a look inside the Defense Department's paranoia, but it's a harmless paranoia and implies no harmful side effects, corollaries, slippery slopes, or other cliches.
Yeah, except when you run another hundred random FUD stories about the Chinese, mix in a couple hundred million ignorant Americans, what do you get?
The next enemy of the moment.
And when the Chinese government is doing the same thing, you get a nice, consentual cold/warm war to make everybody's lives that much lamer.
I've met people who have held up bottles of pills and said stuff like, "Wow! These are great anti-biotics. They made me better so fast! I'm going to save the rest of these because they're so good. I want to have them around for when I get sick again. --Which I probably will in a few weeks. I hate the cold season."
And similar.
In that particular case, I sat the individual down and explained how anti-biotics work and the importance of finishing ALL the medication. He nodded and seemed to understand, and then said, "Yeah, well, I'm going to save the rest of these pills for when I get sick again in a few weeks. I hate the cold season."
It's at times like those when I feel strongly compelled to get on a rocket ship and nuke the planet from orbit.
I must have touched a nerve for you to take this personal and attempt to insult me, insinuate that I was a Nazi, and claim that I am either stupid/evil. I do not have a problem with the development of medical science, what I do have a problem is with allowing persons who should have died in childhood to be allowed to spread their seeds.
First of all, I don't "take this personal" (Nice grammar btw. What are you? A hillbilly Nazi?)
Secondly, yes actually, you damned bone-head; Nazi eugenics theory was formed on exactly the same dumb ideas you espouse, so I don't see any inaccuracies on my part.
Third, I didn't see you contest that you defeated infection as a child through the use of anti-biotics. If you did, it means that YOU used medical science to overcome 'Nature', and probably should, by your own terms, have been cleansed from this Earth by fever, strep throat, the common cold, or whatever. Except. . , let me re-read your half-baked little response. . , you do think that medical science is a good idea. So what then? Only when it applies to you and not the third world? I guess you can't see the inconsistencies in your own logic. No surprise there.
If we allowed nature to run it's course, eventually we would have weeded out all children who are susceptible to this form of disease and we would remain with a healthier population in general.
That's right. You wouldn't be here. But we didn't let 'nature run its course'. We gave you a chance to live and experience life in this world because this world is capable of sustaining you, there's no reason not to let you stick around, hillbilly grammar and cold-blooded ignorance and all. --However, if things tighten up, I'm sure you'll find yourself dying quietly somewhere. Nature can take its course without any pre-emptive help from the damned Nazis.
Is it fair for society to have to absorb the costs of another un-fit, unproductive citizen? Whether you like it or not, every sick person who is not producing something, drains society.
You mean like your grandparents?
Newsflash: There's plenty of healthy people draining society far more effectively than those who are not 'producing something'. --We've got Bush and his cronies along with the a-holes at Enron and similar jack-asses doing infinitely more damage to society and the world than your ailing mother, (who I'm sure you'd be happy to put down for the good of mankind).
Yes? Then somebody's thrown in a monkey wrench and much to our collective chagrin, you survived. --And all with the aid of people helping weak people like you who nature would have otherwise killed off. --And come to think of it, guys like Stephen Hawking, (a far smarter and more useful man than you), also survived because some people felt that using the brains given to us by nature was probably a good idea.
Heck, two hundred years back, most newborns died before reaching maturity. Perhaps we shouldn't have bothered with all this foolish developing of medical science?
So-called champions of evolutionary theory who think that human activity is somehow beyond the scope of nature, (that it's even possible to throw in a monkey wrench), are a combination of myopic, blithely thoughtless, and generally ignorant. --The very same thinking which once lead to eugenics and gas chambers.
So either you're stupid or you're evil.
Take your pick. And then please do make an effort to grow your mind beyond the boundaries of high school philosophy. We saved your pathetic life, after all. You owe us.
And where pray tell, is all this oil we are stealing? Is it helping us at the gas pump? No? Oh, thats also caused by those "oil men" being so greedy, eh?
When automotive gas goes up in price, it means somebody is making a lot of extra money. That's where the oil men get rich from a war which raises supply costs. How much does a barrel of oil cost today versus before the Iraq war?
In any case, it's far, far more complex than simple oil. If I were you, I'd put your emotions and biases on hold and do some solid reading. It's a scary truth, but if you're as brave as you seem to portray, it shouldn't be a problem for you.
Where was this alleged gas station? Give us an address, or a Google Maps link. I live in Alexandria about two miles from the Pentagon, and during 2001 I regularly commuted along Washington Blvd, right where the plane hit. I know of no gas station anywhere near nor along the flight path that would have shown anything.
i dont know how conspiracy theorists explain the fireball and dead americans on that flight (what an insult to them and their families this shit is). That fireball was obviously from fuel. I dont think you can pack that much on a predator.
Are you a Troll trying to get people to explain things in public forum for the benefit of the readers, or are you just ignorant?
Open Source doesn't necessarily have to be thought of as a giant, deliberate movement. Really, it's just people enjoying their spare time by using their skills in fun & creative ways. Like painting or hiking.
Of course, the Big Software Corps don't like this, because when those people employ their computer skills for fun, the resulting code collects and aggregates and grows into free versions of things which are sold for big bucks by the Big Corps. Horrors!
The funny thing is that the home computer was originally invented and sold by hobbyists for hobbyists. --It was only later that the big corps came along and provided well-made software, --and we paid them big money for it.
But then came along the internet and Hobbyists began to network. Networking is incredibly powerful, and the internet is a great place to organize and assemble big code projects. --Like a cool hobby convention which is run 24/7, and only a few mouse clicks away. How fantastic!
And just look at how much fire and hot air has been spent by the Big Corps in an effort to quash the people who enjoy coding together. It'd be like if, through some strange twist of economics and social science, a shoe company, like Nike, somehow decided that non-professional basket ball players were a threat to their revenue and started vilifying free sports.
But guess what? There will always be jobs for coders. Free things aren't going to kill the job place. There's always going to be people who need coders to help make their computers go. Games don't code themselves. Every new piece of hardware with a chip in it needs a team of people to make it work. There's always going to be work out there, so the fear factor is totally unnecessary.
Unless, of course, you happen to be Microsoft, which only through a fluke, became as big and powerful as they did. Remember the days when operating systems were on chips and came built into your computer? It's only through a severe perversion of rationality that the world slipped away from the old model of doing things and a couple of guys in Redmond became billionaires.
Things balance out in the end, and we'll all have fun doing it.
It's amazing how it can take seventy years before people figure out that false assumptions were made about big, news-shaping events like the Hindenburg disaster. --Even more amazing is that now, when the data is freely available, nobody cares enough to restructure their belief systems. It's like the mythology of an event becomes more important than reality. Or maybe people are just un-curious. I don't know.
I wonder what other big, recent disasters might have been given a false spin with the general public. . ? It's easy enough to do. People like to be told simple answers which fit easily with their current beliefs, no matter how flawed or limited those beliefs might happen to be.
Slashdot Mirror
They used advertising to promote body hair as, 'dirty' and 'un feminine'.
Sexuality is a moving target, and beyond basic, observable health, people can easily be programmed to think of certain traits in humans as sexy or not.
If you like shaved legs and armpits on your women, then your psyche has been successfully molded by advertising.
It doesn't even have to do with what you see or what you consent to. Advertising affects us all, even if it happens indirectly.
-FL
After playing a Star Wars RTS for half a day, I stood up and almost fell over. I felt disoriented and horrible, had a crazy head-ache and then surprised myself by actually vomiting.
I figured it was food poisoning or something, as I'd never had that reaction to a game before, and I'd played thousands of hours worth.
The next time it happened, however, I'd been eating well and only a couple of hours had passed. Same symptoms, same game.
Then it happened again, (with a different game), after barely an hour of exposure. This time I didn't throw up, probably because I backed off shortly after I felt the sickness and head-ache coming on. This was all over the course of a few months.
I don't play games at all now. I'd wanted to stop anyway because I didn't like the amount of time I was wasting at the computer being totally selfish and unproductive.
-FL
They electroshock their PR department awake and tell them, "Do some studies! Burn some mid-night oil at the library of Human Psychology! Figure out how to combat this Open Source thing! Get ON it!"
So they did, and this is what they came back with. . .
"Open Source is a big and real threat, but only if people believe that Open Source is a worthy thing. So we tried to shape public opinion on the matter. First we tried trivializing it, and that sort of worked for a while, but then people began to catch on. So then we tried vilifying it, and that also seemed to work for a while, but again, people began to catch on. So then we tried to own it, but our agents at SCO didn't perform up to our high standards. (And they will be sorely punished for their failure!)
"So now we've grudgingly come to realize that Open Source is here to stay. (Our head PR manager will be missed, but his final contribution to our department by writhing and gasping on the floor while holding his neck has been a great motivator!) --So, while whistling quietly as the ocean water rises in Vista's hold, we present to you, my Lord, the following bold plan. . .
"Knowing full well that people over time are increasingly going to choose Open Source as a major part of the code running on their machines, (drum roll, please. .
What the average consumer truly wants is to be aligned with good ideals. --And they're even willing to pay for it! So we've coined the new 'Shared Source' phrase which our test groups indicate actually sounds friendlier and warmer than 'Open Source'".
Yes. Breathe deeply. It's all going to be okay. No need to panic. We're still on top of the game. Balloon Ball, Balloon Ball, Balloon Ball. . .
-FL
(Pardon me while I play point/counter-point with myself)
Are you suggesting violence? Well, that's stupid. It's a good way to create a lot of misery and chaos. --In particular, it's a good way to give the administration an excuse to let loose with its big guns and really enact a lock-down. Sorry, but you don't have enough fire-power to contest the government. Have you not read your Machiavelli? He described the very tactic; essentially, political judo with guns. You don't want to go there.
No, the way to go is to fight ignorance. If everybody, including the dupes in the police force and armed forces who are doing the Dark Side's bidding, (and I'm willing to bet it's only some of them), if those guys woke up, then who would remain to heil Bush?
Fight ignorance. If you can wake people up, then you can start to solve things; all the raw workings of the solution are built right into the American system. It just takes awareness and will to make things change.
Enlightened people need not be abused.
-FL
The idea is this:
.
.
The people of a nation collectively put together a pile of money in order to do useful things which everybody agrees they need. Right? Building roads and water supply systems, police agencies, hospitals etc.
But then. .
Who gets elected? Why, the people who are cut-throat and unfair in their methods. The ones who lie the best. --The ones who are drawn to power!
Why do they win? Because they use all the normal tools to get elected which good people have, PLUS they also use lies and underhanded manipulations. They win over good-hearted people because good-hearted people limit themselves to only using above-board tactics. And so, with limited tool-boxes, the good guys tend to lose more often than the criminals, who arm themselves, not just with above-board tactics like posters and election promises, but also with wonky voting machines and hate-based propaganda about how they will punish, 'welfare moms'. (Which make up a microscopic fraction of the public spending in even the most socialist of nations). But Hate and Dark Side emotions are much easier to kindle in a voting public than rational thought. And anybody who is above hate will lose their vote anyway to a fixed voting machine. And if that doesn't work, the state-owned media will just lie about who won. Or they'll just kill the honest politicians in plane crashes. One way or another, the Dark Side wins time and again. The good guys don't stand a chance once the bad guys get in and own the game board!
So these greedy, morally bankrupt politicians and their industry-owning friends realize, "Hey! Check it out. With my brother-in-law in office, I can get all kinds of policies passed which entitle me to a big slice of that nice juicy public cash pie without my actually having to earn it! People are plenty stupid, they'll believe any old lie, and we just have to organize it so that the state has all the guns. Keen! I can live high and never have to put in a real day of work ever again!"
And so it goes.
But. .
Because the greedy are greedy, they never feel like they have enough, and so the taxes rise, and the hidden taxes, (such as oil and energy), rise. And they cut away at the actual things a nation would probably want, like education funds and medical care. (You just trick the people through massive propaganda into believing that such things are bad for them. Sounds insane, but look around you.) With social spending cut, there's more money for the greedy politician and his friends and family.
But somehow. . , even with the billions flowing into the politician's family coffers, it's still not enough. This is because greed is NOT good. Greed is a disease! --And so the greedy looked around to find new ways to make even more money, and they realized that it was advantageous to them if the other nations of the world never achieved first-world status. Cheep, 1-cent an hour labor is a great way to get and stay rich! --So they use the secret-service agencies to subvert and de-stabalize nations on the brink of industrial success. This is done through funding coups of legitimate foriegn leaders and channeling heavy narcotics trade through those nations. Drug corridor nations quickly become user nations. (The Opium War in China was a good example of how drugs were used to destroy a nation's growth momentum.)
But high taxes and hidden taxes and entire slave nations are still are not enough for the greedy. Nope. --So they start wars, filling the people with fear, all to ensure that the people are too afraid to think rationally and otherwise recognize that they are being abused by their own government. --Plus, the weapons sales are another excellent way to cut into that nice juicy public cash pie!
So what percentage of your tax dollars do you think are being spent on things the collective public actually wanted in the first place? 30 percent? 20 percent? I'm willing to bet it's even less.
So what do you do about it?
Well, you can't
I'm currently using. . .
NukeAnything Enhanced
Flashblock 1.5
on top of Firefox/1.5.0.1
I have no trouble Nuking flash banners. Maybe you can get some use out of that. . .
Cheers!
-FL
And as long as I'm quoting Nazis, I would be remiss in leaving out Hitler's views on the mechanics of why telling big lies to the public works so effectively. You may have read this before, but read it again with full attention. . .
The vast majority, eh? Is that your way of saying, "I have no rational argument for holding my views so I point instead to consensus beliefs as a way of validation"?
Nice job. The vast majority of people are also Christians. --Or do you subscribe to broken religions which demand no question-asking and lots of subservience?
Privacy might be an illusion, but there are many other freedoms which are being systematically removed. --Like being able to have free and democratic elections. --And the freedom to wear a tee-shirt which says, "Impeach Bush" at public events without being harassed by cops. And the freedom to fair trials before an impartial jury, because right now, if you are suspected of being an 'enemy combatant' you can be put in a secret prison forever without being charged or your family knowing where you are. These are not theoretical possibilities. They are events which have happened and will happen with increasing regularity if the Neo-Cons are not removed from office.
This is what the poster was complaining about, and you should be as well.
-FL
Oh, give it a rest already.
Bush is a psychopath who started two insane wars which have done ZERO good and have created massive misery, chaos and damage on every level imaginable, and he is now angling to start a third, (with Iran.) He did it through endless lies and manipulations, and now he's engaging in massive spying operations on American citizens.
The correct response is: "Yikes! Pull him and his people from office and put them in prison!"
The incorrect response is: "I don't have to feel guilty for voting for Bush because really, Clinton is to blame. So there."
News Flash: Democrat and Republican are two masks of the same face. The U.S. Government is evil. Good Cop, Bad Cop is a game. Stop playing.
-FL
How about Bush's "Give Up Your Rights To Fight Phantom Terrorists" policy which has the big media and telecommunications companies to lying to and spying on citizens without the individual being able to report it to police and have people arrested for it. While this is nothing new, under the Bush regime the engine of fascism is no longer just idling. The throttle is being pulled out.
[. .
Corporations are NOT people. The laws which allow them to be treated as such are flawed, and it took a lot of dedicated work by a lot of evil lawyers to bend the law so that they have the same rights as people. So now that they ARE seen as people, they should be treated as such; meaning, when they display signs of mental illness, appropriate steps should be taken.
When you say that similarity to a psychopath should not affect how the law treats a person or group, I have to disagree. --Because actually, the law should and does. Mental illness is a state recognized by the law, and it generally results in rights and powers being restricted according to the severity of the illness. Psychopaths, if you can even catch the slippery monsters, are locked up forever.
-FL
Probably about the same amount as used by systems like Echelon, of which this is probably an integrated or at the very least, a related piece.
And no, I really don't want to hear from the tree hugging, long hair hippy freaks who want to espouse their "Orwellian" big brother theories.
It's weird how people who make such a stink about 'liberals', (which as far as I can make out, are an illusory beast which only truly inhabit the skulls of bottom-rank neo-con rabble), often tend to include huge doses of emotionally charged name-calling among their various modes of 'argument'.
The only other group I know of which is so consistent in their use of jock-strap idioms, volume and general schoolyard childishness are indeed schoolyard children.
I find this consistency automatically validating as it means I am by contrast the more mature thinker and by extension, probably right most of the time whenever I disagree with a neo-con. Mature thinkers like to work through data thoroughly rather than jump to conclusions based on emotions and ego.
-FL
You appear to assume two things which I strongly disagree with. . .
1. That "standard operating procedures" are not heavily fixed, (see recent appointments to the supreme court), so that Bush's morally defunct policies are upheld, (ie., the individual cannot fight abuse by the coroporate body),
2. That there is some semblance of similarity between a person and a giant corporation like AT&T. --Corporations have been demonstrated countless times to function without social conscience, without moral grounding, and with reckless disregard for others, among a whole host of other elements which give them all the basic behavioral traits as those held by psychopaths. The people here who are applauding Wired's actions are probably NOT psychopaths. The law SHOULDN'T give the same benefits and considerations to corporations as they do to individuals.
-FL
It seems to me that Wired has decided not to respect fraudulent law makers, which is what the voice of a conscientious people should be doing. I certainly hope that the people's voice when it contests fascism avoids being crushed into silence. I applaud those who have the guts and nobility to push back against criminals where others are too cowardly or ignorant to stand up.
-FL
Must be their free speech and completely free market. Must be their unfiltered internet, or their steadfast platform of NOT intentionally hoarding other contries' currencies in an effort to dilute its value and encourage their own advantageous trade surplus. Or perhaps its their very strict labor laws that make sure citizens are paid a wage that they can live on, or their internationally-acclaimed judicial system.
Give me a break. You can make very similar accusations about the U.S. And worse.
I'm not saying that China is free of corrupt government, but what nation is? What I AM saying is that focusing the media and popular attention on one such nation is a deliberate attempt by the powers that be to start another dumb and totally unnecessary war.
-FL
I'm getting sick of this bullshit.
It's growing increasingly obvious with every slanderous remark about the 'evil' Chinese that the West is trying to create a new 'Evil Empire' to scare us all with. Probably, (among other things), to fuel the endless weapons industry and keep the public too distracted to get down to the much-needed task of hanging all the president's men.
If the Chinese media weren't busy doing the same thing to their own populace, I'd be slightly less worried, but the fact of the matter is that 'somebody' wants us all fearing and hating one another. What a load of crap!
When you can watch unfolding such a deliberate effort to herd the world's population into specific (stupid and self-destructive) thought patterns, it seems very obvious that there's already a One World Government nestled in place, pulling all the strings, and generally being vile and nasty in their total disregard for compassion and decency.
Every time you see a story about the 'Evil Chinese' remember this: You are being manipulated.
But also remember, it is your choice as to whether or not you go along with it. I very much hope there is somebody saying the same things in Mandarin.
-FL
There's a difference between insulting somebody and stating the obvious. If you don't like the obvious being stated about you, you might try changing yourself.
-FL
Yeah, except when you run another hundred random FUD stories about the Chinese, mix in a couple hundred million ignorant Americans, what do you get?
The next enemy of the moment.
And when the Chinese government is doing the same thing, you get a nice, consentual cold/warm war to make everybody's lives that much lamer.
I can't stand this stuff.
-FL
And similar.
In that particular case, I sat the individual down and explained how anti-biotics work and the importance of finishing ALL the medication. He nodded and seemed to understand, and then said, "Yeah, well, I'm going to save the rest of these pills for when I get sick again in a few weeks. I hate the cold season."
It's at times like those when I feel strongly compelled to get on a rocket ship and nuke the planet from orbit.
-FL
First of all, I don't "take this personal" (Nice grammar btw. What are you? A hillbilly Nazi?)
Secondly, yes actually, you damned bone-head; Nazi eugenics theory was formed on exactly the same dumb ideas you espouse, so I don't see any inaccuracies on my part.
Third, I didn't see you contest that you defeated infection as a child through the use of anti-biotics. If you did, it means that YOU used medical science to overcome 'Nature', and probably should, by your own terms, have been cleansed from this Earth by fever, strep throat, the common cold, or whatever. Except. . , let me re-read your half-baked little response. . , you do think that medical science is a good idea. So what then? Only when it applies to you and not the third world? I guess you can't see the inconsistencies in your own logic. No surprise there.
If we allowed nature to run it's course, eventually we would have weeded out all children who are susceptible to this form of disease and we would remain with a healthier population in general.
That's right. You wouldn't be here. But we didn't let 'nature run its course'. We gave you a chance to live and experience life in this world because this world is capable of sustaining you, there's no reason not to let you stick around, hillbilly grammar and cold-blooded ignorance and all. --However, if things tighten up, I'm sure you'll find yourself dying quietly somewhere. Nature can take its course without any pre-emptive help from the damned Nazis.
Is it fair for society to have to absorb the costs of another un-fit, unproductive citizen? Whether you like it or not, every sick person who is not producing something, drains society.
You mean like your grandparents?
Newsflash: There's plenty of healthy people draining society far more effectively than those who are not 'producing something'. --We've got Bush and his cronies along with the a-holes at Enron and similar jack-asses doing infinitely more damage to society and the world than your ailing mother, (who I'm sure you'd be happy to put down for the good of mankind).
Your thinking is overly-simple and deeply flawed.
-FL
Heck, two hundred years back, most newborns died before reaching maturity. Perhaps we shouldn't have bothered with all this foolish developing of medical science?
So-called champions of evolutionary theory who think that human activity is somehow beyond the scope of nature, (that it's even possible to throw in a monkey wrench), are a combination of myopic, blithely thoughtless, and generally ignorant. --The very same thinking which once lead to eugenics and gas chambers.
So either you're stupid or you're evil.
Take your pick. And then please do make an effort to grow your mind beyond the boundaries of high school philosophy. We saved your pathetic life, after all. You owe us.
-FL
When automotive gas goes up in price, it means somebody is making a lot of extra money. That's where the oil men get rich from a war which raises supply costs. How much does a barrel of oil cost today versus before the Iraq war?
In any case, it's far, far more complex than simple oil. If I were you, I'd put your emotions and biases on hold and do some solid reading. It's a scary truth, but if you're as brave as you seem to portray, it shouldn't be a problem for you.
-Fl
Here's a picture of the gas station
And here's a story in National Geographic about the gas station and the owner and the Fed's actions on that day.
-FL
Are you a Troll trying to get people to explain things in public forum for the benefit of the readers, or are you just ignorant?
-FL
Of course, the Big Software Corps don't like this, because when those people employ their computer skills for fun, the resulting code collects and aggregates and grows into free versions of things which are sold for big bucks by the Big Corps. Horrors!
The funny thing is that the home computer was originally invented and sold by hobbyists for hobbyists. --It was only later that the big corps came along and provided well-made software, --and we paid them big money for it.
But then came along the internet and Hobbyists began to network. Networking is incredibly powerful, and the internet is a great place to organize and assemble big code projects. --Like a cool hobby convention which is run 24/7, and only a few mouse clicks away. How fantastic!
And just look at how much fire and hot air has been spent by the Big Corps in an effort to quash the people who enjoy coding together. It'd be like if, through some strange twist of economics and social science, a shoe company, like Nike, somehow decided that non-professional basket ball players were a threat to their revenue and started vilifying free sports.
But guess what? There will always be jobs for coders. Free things aren't going to kill the job place. There's always going to be people who need coders to help make their computers go. Games don't code themselves. Every new piece of hardware with a chip in it needs a team of people to make it work. There's always going to be work out there, so the fear factor is totally unnecessary.
Unless, of course, you happen to be Microsoft, which only through a fluke, became as big and powerful as they did. Remember the days when operating systems were on chips and came built into your computer? It's only through a severe perversion of rationality that the world slipped away from the old model of doing things and a couple of guys in Redmond became billionaires.
Things balance out in the end, and we'll all have fun doing it.
Cheers, and have a great day!
-FL
I wonder what other big, recent disasters might have been given a false spin with the general public. . ? It's easy enough to do. People like to be told simple answers which fit easily with their current beliefs, no matter how flawed or limited those beliefs might happen to be.
-FL