Adventures in My Mind
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Jul 23, 2003
Yahoo! News - Coverage of Government Reported Declining
We didn't really need proof, but here it is. Celebrity gossip and scandal have long since replaced any type of responsible news coverage by our media. And if the FCC's new media ownership rules stand, it will only get worse.
Instead of finding out what our government is up to - a job the press used to hold sacred as a part of its First Amendment freedoms and responsibilities - we find out about Mat Leblanc's wedding or the latest on the Peterson murders or a non-existent increase in fucking shark attacks!
Thanks to our highest unemployment rate in nearly 20 years, I've been out of work for a while. As a result, Sami has had to go back to work to try make up the difference that my pitiful unemployment checks don't cover. During this time, I've not watched nearly as much television, especially news, as I used to. At first, I lamented that fact. But now, I'm kind of glad. I no longer have to sit through 25 minutes of infotainment to get my 5 minute daily ration of so-called real news.
What with all of the big media companies beholding to D.C. for some reason or another, none of them are going to put out any stories that will negatively impact their positions as unelected givers of the law.
Real news is dead.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:13 AM
Jul 18, 2003
Bureaucracy is an injury to the soul and a stain on upon human existence.
It is the implicit job of bureacracy to stamp out all that is original and unique. It thrives on the twin engines of complacency and uniformity, as if all of life's problems - regardless of their intricacies and differentiators - can be solved by following the manual. In fact, when individuals are treated like such; and not as account numbers, social security numbers, patient numbers, etc., the bureacracy begins to breakdown. This is why the individual is a constant threat to mindless bureacracy.
Like a poison, rules and regulations filter through the bureacratic body and wither all vestages of empathy, compassion, individuality, and even morality. All those who encounter these shambling beasts are robbed of all distinguishing characteristics and discernable traits. A regimeted one-size-fits-all philosophy forces square pegs into round holes, just as it is written in the procedure manual. So it is written, so shall it be down.
The bureaucratic system is so flawed that it doesn't even possess a means to reward those who follow its strictures word by word. The closest it comes is abscence. Do what is required by the procedure manual and you are left alone. Often one plays by the rules only to have other rules block the way to dignity - rules that would have been thankfully avoided had the original set of rules been circumvented in the first place.
Even the poor souls trapped into digging a wage from the fetid mud of a bureaucratic institution are victims of myriad indignities. It is only through stealing the human face of its employees can a bureacracy be capable of doing the same to its clientele. It is then all the easier to answer a plea for assistance with an emotionless "please call back" or "do you have the right form?"
But when the voice on the other side of the phone or security glass becomes empathetic and actually listens, they break from their role of automaton and become individuals who care about their clientele. This, of course, is strongly discouraged. Mostly for the expressed reason of efficiency, but mostly for the unarticuleted reason of fear. Fear that is embodied in the vibrancy and uniqueness of every individual. A fear that is compounded by unique solutions and creative thinking.
If all who come under the bureacratic umbrella were to be treated with the minimum respect that is required for their varied personalities, talents, fears, abilities, and situations, then the artifice of procedure would collapse under the weight of human compassion.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 7:27 PM
Jul 14, 2003
Patriot Act battle is fought locally
Can local government put Big Brother on the ropes? If it is to be, that is where it will start, on the local level. Only when Congress sees town after town and city after city passing resolutions and legislations that oppose the Patriot Act, will they pay attention.
Just like many of you, I've written letter after letter to my CongressCritters; and they only reply to tell me how wrong I am in believing that the Feds have anything but my best interests in mind, while treating every living being in this country as a potential criminal.
So, in addition to writing your CongressCritters, don't forget to write your state reps and senators, as well as your mayor and town/city council. Form a group. Get some imposing looking letterhead and force them to take you seriously. Tell them you want your privacy back. Congress will listen to an elected official long before a concerned citizen, especially if that elected official is the 10th he or she has heard from in a day.
Go ahead give it a try. You have nothing but your freedom to lose.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 11:24 PM
Jul 10, 2003
"... We are the dancing chimps for this industry."
Sue All The World Music Video (from the Napster Bad! Cartoon Series on Camp Chaos)
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 12:28 PM
Techno maven Cory Doctorow describes interface servitude and essence of right living in the digital age.
O'Reilly Network: Amish for QWERTY [Jul. 09, 2003]
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 12:22 PM
The Carroll Clan just got back from a week-long vacation to Savannah, GA. We were there for the Kinsey family reunion. It was Sami's dad's turn to host the biennial party cum hoe down. It was a good time. Maeve, Aidan, and I met many relatives of ours for the very first time. Quite a colorful bunch I would say. This brood from Nowhere, OK is a lively group of sharecropper sons and daughters.
We heard a lot of stories of humor and hardship from the Dustbowl days. Uncle Jim, a.k.a., Puddin' Head, kept all of our attentions with his firsthand stories of island hopping as a mortar bombadier in the Pacific Theater during WWII. His reports of the aftermath of Hiroshima left little to the imagination. I accompanied Uncle Barry on snare and brushes for the traditional sing a long.
The pig pickin' was a major highlight. Imagine all the fresh off the coals roasted pig that you can get your greasy little fingers on! Grover and company can roast a tastey pig. They also make some of the best sweet tea in the Low Country.
We swam. We fished (Aidan caught and was terrorized by his first fish. 5" Bluegill 1. Aidan 0.) We went to the beach. We took a trolley tour of Savannah. We saw alligators. But most of all, we had fun.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 12:12 PM
