Thursday, February 25, 2010

Um, does anyone remember there's a war going on?

Something somewhat disturbing happened when I moved from San Francisco to Ft. Wayne ... I started watching television. No big surprise, there ... I moved into a motel and all motels (except the seedy SRO's for the homeless in San Francisco) come standard with TV and cable. Even though an apartment would be cheaper, I never bothered to find one because frankly my references suck and renting by the month suits me -- it discourages hoarding (the bane of my existence in SF), comes with no-fuss furniture and utilities, and I can leave whenever I want to. Unfortunately, it encourages an insidiously bad habit -- watching TV.

My entire adult life has passed without ever having cable, except when I lived in motels. I wouldn't own a TV, either, if it meant I had to buy one. But when you live in a motel, it's right there, front and center, remote control and everything ... and so while I con myself into thinking I have nothing better to do, I flip through the channels and the next thing you know I'm addicted to American Idol, Ghost Hunters and Moonlight marathons. Watching TV re-arranges your frame of what's important and what isn't, and it's pretty obvious in the United States, the "wars" we're supposed to be engaged in are on the very back burners of pop consciousness.

I mean, if you could take someone from 1943 or even 1967 to visit us here in 2010, and then informed them "you know, we're actually involved in two different wars ..." what do you suppose they'd think?? Because, you know, we sure don't act like we're "at war." Yes, we are making sacrifices, but they seem to all be sacrifices of personal liberty, economic oversight, sovereignty ... and they are being exacted so expertly that no one seems to notice too much. It's not like we're being asked to follow rations. We just can't afford to buy the things we need.

No one seems to give a rip about the soldiers overseas, or the people whose land they're occupying. Not on TV, anyway. I hardly ever hear anyone talk about the fact that we're supposed to be at war. Doesn't this seem strange to you? It does to me.

Related Articles:

Thursday, February 11, 2010

9-11 bloopers

The BBC reported that WTC 7 (the 3rd building that collapsed on 9-11 -- which wasn't hit by a plane, BTW) collapsed a full 23 minutes before it actually did. You can see it clearly in the live feed behind the anchorwoman's head!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJidW9_AhXE

Bush says he saw the *first* plane hit the *first* tower on TV: "That must have been a terrible pilot!" What channel was he watching???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCtb9nlV_20

Rumsfeld slips up and acknowledges that Flight 93 (the one over Pennsylvania) was "shot down":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Xoxaf1Al0

Many of the 9-11 hijackers were alive after 9-11:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ixuf236Dk

We're still involved in two very expensive and immoral occupations because of the lies of Sept. 11, 2001. Let's find out what really happened and hold the criminals accountable!
https://truthaction.org/?q=node/5

Monday, February 8, 2010