More Opium for the Masses

Danish cartoons… Danish cartoons... Danish cartoons.

I bet Denmark never felt so important as they do right now. Apparently it’s the new center of the universe.

Lots of blogs will be writing about it. Newspapers certainly won’t shut up about it. And unemployed, poor, angry, irrational, passionate, religious people have been driven to violence over it.

Danish Cartoons.

Thing is, it’s not the cartoon I want to comment about. It’s not how we should intepret the Koran or what free speech is either.

What disappoints me, besides the fact that, sorry my Danish readers, Danmark isn’t the spokescountry for me or the rest of Europe. Nevermind that. But when I look at how passionate, how driven, and how in-a-frenzy many people are over these comics, which depicted a religious figure in an offensive way… and then I think about how the American public barely reacted, when their government lied to them about going to war, planted a spy at the new york times to promote their policies, outed a CIA agent.. all using the media…

Part of me wishes the West had such energy, such passion. Instead of the misplaced anger and hatred always revolving around religion and images… I wish people took to the streets in overwhelming numbers in the US.. and stayed there, boycotting, marching, refusing to get back to life-as-usual. But no. Instead… it’s not in the US. It’s in the middle east and amongst certain muslim populations. And it’s not about life and death and lies and manipulation. It’s about cartoons and religious images. DANISH cartoons. ho-hum.

ps – If it were charicatures of figures from the Jewish religion they’d be declared an anti-semetic newspaper. If it were Catholic’s being maid fun of, an apology would have been issued before you can say Pope Benedict. Every religion is chock full of angry idiots, the double standard just makes it worse.

bm101 Still They Ride

The co-producer and co-director of the documentary Still We Ride joins me to discuss the history of the critical mass movement and in particular, the Republican National Convention 2004 in New York City where cyclists have become the target of a police campaign.

AudioCommunique #101 (mp3)

Discussed:

Emmanuel from Off the Hook’s experience at RNC 2004, audio
The events of the weekend of demonstrations around the convention
Andrew Lynn, Still We Ride the movie.
The Bicycle Defence Fund and the court cases cyclists still face
The past, present and future of Critical Mass

Music:

The Strokes – NYC Cops
Jurassic 5 – the game
The Smiths – This Charming Man

February Feedbag

It has been awhile since I last gave some credit to the great and dedicated comment leavers on this weblog. And naturally there are plenty of gems that I’m going to repost here and share will all of you… specially since I’m exhausted from 3 days of non-stop guiding 30 or so American exchange students through their first few days in Amsterdam. Oh the questions…. the neverending questions… I forget what a confusing place Amsterdam could be to some. Anyway, here come the comment highlights:

Ectropy on the Democrats present at the State of the Union address:

Yeah like they should’ve worn a t-shirt that says “2245 Dead. How many more?” Under their suits and then opened their jackets when they got into the speech. Oh wait, they would’ve been arrested. What a coincidence that the police dropped charges. Guess Bushie got his wish of having Sheehan out of the SOTU.

Aaron W, on the Saddam trial:

About Saddam, International courts are just a glorified conduit for victors justice. There are plenty of people who deserve to be taken to court for committing the same types of crimes as those Saddam is no doubt guilty of.
I’m a big fan of Romanian style “overthrow the dictator, drag him out of the palace to a waiting ‘court’, where you can instantly sentance and execute him.” It is impossible to fairly judge a head of state through any type of “process”, if you are going to have a puppet court you might as well make it quick and efficient and get on with it.

LeMarie on the electoral success of Hamas:

Thanks for pointing out the hypocracy that erupted after the Hamas victory. It seems as if some people do not understand what democracy means. The Palestinian people voted for the party they wanted and they won. That’s how the voting thing works. Doesn’t matter if you(non-Palestinians) don’t like the party, it’s what the people want. The world is acting like democracy is only ok when the “right” people win. I say, good for you Palestinians! I wish you the best with everything you do, because we(the West) should not be allowed to impose our ideologies on you.

The great Sarah on what deserves a Wikipedia entry:

i still want to know– how much buzz does a person need to get into wikipedia?

Of course there are plenty more, but these are my choices for tonight, naturally i love you all and you certainly don’t have to agree with me.. .ever. And here’s a videoblog of my bedroom coverage of the State of the Union address.

His Eyes Are Blood Thirsty

After wrapping up show 100 last night, since it was 3am anyway, I decided to catch some of the state of the union address. Course I could neither stomach or stay awake to watch more than 20 minutes of it, but I still had enough time to catch the war-criminal-in-chief’s Iran segment. And thought I was drowsy, it really hit home….

The man wants to invade Iran. The man wants to bomb Iran into the stoneage. I could see it, for some reason, this look I hadn’t noticed before. This dillusional rich-boy-turned-world leader actually believes it is an option to use war to get Iran to behave the way he thinks they should. And with the potential backing of the EU, China, and Russia, it suddenly occurred to me – he’s crazy, disconnected, and careless enough to order it. What difference does it make to him how many innocent Iranians would die, how many more soldiers would die, and all the remifications of invading a country as strong and proud as Iran.

I usually am not surprised by revelations in the realm of politics and conflict, you can usually see them coming, no matter how bad. But this one is a particularly tough one for me to swallow. I’m already thinking up actions that a podjournalist and an activist can take, to try and expose the stupidity and futility of using large scale violence to subjigate yet another nation in the name of “freedom”.

bm100: State of the World Address

A train wreck? Maybe. But its my 100th show and as an alternative to the state of the union address which says almost nothing year after year, this is my State of the World address.

AudioCommunique #100 ! (mp3)

Too many podcasters mentioned to link in this post… they are all in my blogroll (list to your left).
Beyond that, I jump from continent to continent, thanking those who have inspired me and pointing to issues that illustrate the state of things in 2006.

Music:
Clash – Guns on the Roof
Waldemar Bastos – Paz, Pao, Amor
Dresden Dolls – Coin Operated Boy
Talib Kweli – Rush
Billy Bragg – In Between the Wars
Bloc Party – Blue Light

Unemployed, in Greenland

Is it our attention span? Is it the sheer magnitude of a problem that effects an entire planet regardless of who you are, where you live, or how much money you have? Is it that this dam LOST SEASON 1 box set is so dam addictive? Today I’ve been wondering and reading the results of the UK government study that says very clearly, unless something significant is done to cut greenhouse gases, the greenland ice sheet will melt, and the oceans will rise in a big way; some of your favorite cities, including my dear Amsterdam, will become the new Atlantis.

I’ve been wondering why so little is done. While some governments make a token commitment like the kyoto thing, some governments like the US, Australia, and their new buddies in the Canadian government, refuse to do a dam thing in the name of economic growth. Hope that economic growth makes some floating cities and one of those machines that lets you recycle urine into drinking water like in that crappy Costner film… cause that’s the future.

But it doesn’t feel like it.. does it? I mean, sure it feels like spring in New York City right now. And it snowed for the first time in who knows how long in much of Portugal yesterday. And study after study comes out. While information is supressed. All this, helping to make the FACT that global warming is an undeniable and severe threat to everyone on this planet… somehow not a priority in our minds and for our elected officials.

One day, when this civilization is but a memory, a more intellegent species will study humankind and be completely baffled at how we purposely persued our own extinction.