Videoblog about the view out the window while I was in Lisbon. I try to explain some factoids and generally show you what a magical place it is. This is the last of my March 06 vlogs about Portugal, thanks for all the fantastic feedback.
Author Archives: bicyclemark
Colonialism in North America
As I tend to stay up most of the night working on all kinds of blog reading, article seeking, audio collecting, and video editing – sometimes my eyes play tricks on me. Sometimes I think I see things wrong or I must be way too sleepy. That’s the feeling I had when I saw the headline yesterday that citizens of the US island of Puerto Rico were denied the right to vote in presidential elections.
Puerto Rico, the commonwealth of the United States for almost 100 years. Who’s people are citizens of the United States. People who were drafted to fight in all the wars the country has waged since the 1st world war. Good enough to die for the country, but not qualified to vote for the so-called democratically elected leader of the free world. Doesn’t seem so free if you’re sitting in Puerto Rico. Probably seems ironic if you’re walking the streets of Baghdad peering around every corner to avoid being shot or blown up, and you’ve got an American flag sewn onto your arm, and you salute sir-yes-sir to some commanding officer from a state that can actually vote. Maybe when the Iraqi army is ready they can go liberate Puerto Rico. Until recently, the military used to test weapons of mass destruction in Puerto Rico. Good enough to test bombs, fight in the wars, pay some taxes, and salute the flag… but still not good enough to vote for president.
Freedom is clearly on the march. Colonialism is thriving too.
bm114 Freud, Luntz, and the longterm effects of political manipulation
There’s lots of talk about how the Bush Admin’s policies are a distaster, and how the approval ratings are at an alltime low, and it is almost assumed that there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a u-turn in policy and representation.
But is that really true? Do these policies and worldviews stop with the downfall of one person or one administration? I rehash Freud’s views on people’s irrationality and place them alongside the theories of Bush’s prized pollster Frank Luntz, who crafted the lexicon for making people believe in the invasion of Iraq and the government plan.
AudioCommunique #114 (mp3)Music:
REM – World Leader Pretend
Immortal Technique – Industrial Revolution
Phil Ochs – The War is Over
The Slackers – Power
Vashti Bunyan – Here Before
Much of the audio courtesy of ABC radio national.
Essential Insight on Manipulating Citizens
Riding my bike past the zoo (artis) and towards the economics faculty of the U of Amsterdam, with visions of baklava in my head, I was listening to my usual lineup of podcasts. Australia’s Radio National has long been a source of great journalism for me, but what I heard today was much more important than their usual reports. Therefore I had to write this up.
Lots of people probably feel bamboozled, confused, frustrated or lost when it comes to the actions of the American government and generally speaking, how many actually supported them (this government, this party, etc) in the past. It is no doubt not a simple thing to break down or grasp, which explains why lots of people will just tune it out, or just be bitter in their own silent way. But I strongly suggest, hell, I demand you listen to this latest Background Briefing program on the psychological strategy and reasoning that advisors told the Bush administration to use in order to get public support for attacking and invading Iraq. You will hear it directly from the very people who developed the theories and this report is actually the key to understanding what has happenned that has so scarred American and world politics for probably the next 50 years. Go listen, learn, understand.
Seeking Belarus Sources
Alexander Lukashenko is pretty well known as the last dictator of Europe, that is if you don’t count Tony Blair. His ability to remain in power while most of the continent, especially Eastern Europe, moved towards a more open and liberal-democratic system, is pretty impressive. Despite the mixed results in the Ukraine, where the orange revolution seems to have gone sour somehow, it seems likely that the people of Belarus want change, beginning with the president.
Or at least that’s what it seemed before these latest results came out. Though the opposition claims fraud, no clear evidence of fraud has been presented, which means it is quite likely that his 82.6% of the vote is legit. BBC says even if the election were redone, it is very likely that Lukashenko would win easily.
So what to make of all this? I’m going to read up on Belarus bloggers and see if I can’t learn something and get a guest for the podcast this week. Could it be that he’s not an evil dictator that I’ve so often heard about? Maybe things in Belarus are going great? Or is it that culturally, perhaps people aren’t so into the idea of changing horses; instead they prefer to stay with the same president for as long as he lives. Or maybe it’s just well executed corruption. Hard to tell right now.
Straight Outta Compton
Inappropriate Brian works in the television biz, here’s how our conversation started today:
Inappropriate Brian: so guess who was on the show… well u would never guess…
bicyclemark: who who?
Inappropriate Brian: Ice Cube and guess what i played him.
bicyclemark: what what?
Inappropriate Brian: Nina Gordon’s Straight outta Compton.
bicyclemark: hahah had he heard it?
Inappropriate Brian: no.
bicyclemark: holy shit where has he been; what did he say?
Inappropriate Brian: he looked at me and said: white girls with guitars can do anything.
bicyclemark: hahahaha
Inappropriate Brian: im like I KNOW! he laughed and left. dont think he took her name. he didnt ask come to think of it.