Posts tagged as Paranoia
Be Careful, That Hummingbird's Bow Tie Is Really A Camera
When I think of a future filled with little robot hummingbirds flying around videotaping everything for the Defense Department, it makes me want to build myself a life-size robot ostrich mecha suit programmed to bury its head in the sand.
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters Is So Totally Antisemitic!
Here's part of the stage show that's gotten former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters in trouble with the Anti-Defamation League. "Of course Waters has every right to express his political views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through his music and stagecraft," said ADL head Abe Foxman in a statement. "However, the images he has chosen, when put together in the same sequence, cross a line into anti-Semitism." (To wit: "An animated scene has projected images of planes dropping bombs in the shape of Jewish stars of David, followed by dollar signs.") Foxman, of course, just has tons of credibility after his anti-Park 51 stance. But maybe he's got a point! What Foxman failed to mention is that the lyrics to the song "Goodbye Blue Sky" are deeply offensive as well, if you really listen to what he's saying. READ MORE
Imagine A Day When Your Medical History Could Be In One Secure Place, Easily Accessed By Your Doctors, Who Could Collaborate More Effectively And Embarrass You In Front Of An Auditorium Full Of Strangers
It took me a few times watching this G.E. commercial to realize that they were saying that an easily accessible database for sharing patients' medical history was a good thing. It's confusing. READ MORE
Worrying About 1984 Is So 1995
Fifteen years ago, when we were all more vigilant citizens, raging against the machine with Goodie Mob and Rage Against the Machine, ranting about the fact that there are so many surveillance cameras in New York City that anytime you can see the Empire State Building, you can also be sure that you are being filmed, an op-ed in the Times arguing for the governmental institution of a universal DNA databank would have seemed terrifyingly Orwellian. READ MORE
How Come No One Is Acting Like The Recession Is Over?
During a casual conversation with a small group of acquaintances this weekend I heard someone express the opinion that we were somewhere near the middle of a double-dip recession and that there was going to be a "white riot" when the second dip hit. This was more than a little troubling, since it certainly was not the first time I've come across that sentiment. I generally try to remind myself that due to the massive volume of political opinion I read, it's very easy to get caught up in whatever disaster scenarios people are trying to promote for political advantage, but I feel like this kind of fear-with its implicit helplessness and apathy-is becoming far more common. Maybe it's because people forgot what an actual recession is like, or didn't live through one in the first place. Maybe it's because there are no jobs and there seems to be little appetite to increase stimulus or regulation. Maybe it's because we live in an age where paranoia rules the day. READ MORE
Despite All His Rage, Billy Corgan Still Just Doesn't Make A Lick Of Sense
Pitchfork points to a doozy of a post Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan put up on his paranoid spiritualist website, Everything From Here To There. He is coming out as one among those who The Awl's Tom Scocca eloquently refers to as "degenerate idiots who deserve to get polio and live out their days in iron lungs while Child Protective Services takes away their children to be properly raised." Corgan writes: "I for one will not be taking the vaccine. I do not trust those who make the vaccines, or the apperatus behind it all to push it on us thru fear. This is not judgment; it is a personal decision based on research, intuition, conversations with my doctor and my 'family'. If the virus comes to take me Home, that is between me and the Lord." READ MORE
Richard Johnson Sad About Internet
Long-time Page Six editor Richard Johnson says in a new interview that he is sad that you youngs hate newspapers: "The younger people just never developed the habit. They have other habits: using computers and using cell phones. A lot of people grow up now never touching a newspaper. They're read the content, but they're getting it from these parasitical news aggregation sites." Of course we know that this is just another attack on Michael Wolff's website Newser!* *Idea only valid inside Michael Wolff's crazy brain.
