The Dictator observations thread.

Politics and other such topical creams.
Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:11pm
The time between the two planes was so weird because at first I thought "man, the pilot and co-pilot BOTH blacked out?"
For the longest time, I've had my computer scheduled to fire up five minutes before I get up so that I can quickly scan the news before heading downstairs to feed the cats. I saw the story that a plane had reportedly hit the WTC and thought it was some Cessna or something like that. The Empire State Building had been hit before—during WWII, a US bomber got lost in the fog and hit it—so I really didn't think much of it. I can't remember whether I had the tv on when the second plane hit, but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure a friend phoned me to talk about what the hell was happening. I know the tv was definitely on when the buildings came down. Again, my memory is fuzzy, but I think my mind was racing thru the implications of what the hell was happening that seeing these massive buildings coming down didn't overly register. You know, it was "oh, this is happening. Huh" because I was thinking about what might yet happen (total forest for the trees behaviour on my part).
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:26pm
Kory wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:11pm
The time between the two planes was so weird because at first I thought "man, the pilot and co-pilot BOTH blacked out?"
For the longest time, I've had my computer scheduled to fire up five minutes before I get up so that I can quickly scan the news before heading downstairs to feed the cats. I saw the story that a plane had reportedly hit the WTC and thought it was some Cessna or something like that. The Empire State Building had been hit before—during WWII, a US bomber got lost in the fog and hit it—so I really didn't think much of it. I can't remember whether I had the tv on when the second plane hit, but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure a friend phoned me to talk about what the hell was happening. I know the tv was definitely on when the buildings came down. Again, my memory is fuzzy, but I think my mind was racing thru the implications of what the hell was happening that seeing these massive buildings coming down didn't overly register. You know, it was "oh, this is happening. Huh" because I was thinking about what might yet happen (total forest for the trees behaviour on my part).
It was a couple days before I started college after high school and my girlfriend's mom came in to wake us up so we had the news on shortly after the first plane. But yeah, I remember feeling kind of detached from it. A lifetime of TV news performing its magic, I guess.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:34pm
It was a couple days before I started college after high school and my girlfriend's mom came in to wake us up so we had the news on shortly after the first plane. But yeah, I remember feeling kind of detached from it. A lifetime of TV news performing its magic, I guess.
Ha, maybe so. I've shared this before, but it pertains. Throughout my adolescence, when news was still dominated by the networks (CNN existed but was still in its infancy), on the rare occasion that there'd be a "special bulletin" that interrupts regular programming, my gut told me that it was an announcement that nuclear missiles were in the air and we were all going to die in a half hour. I almost always had to pushing back the impulse to vomit when I heard that special bulletin interruption. But cable news with its constant breaking news—and it's so much worse now than in 2001—had numbed me to it sufficiently that when an insanely surreal scene of death and destruction was shown to me, I wasn't able to truly process the here and now.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:40pm
Kory wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:34pm
It was a couple days before I started college after high school and my girlfriend's mom came in to wake us up so we had the news on shortly after the first plane. But yeah, I remember feeling kind of detached from it. A lifetime of TV news performing its magic, I guess.
Ha, maybe so. I've shared this before, but it pertains. Throughout my adolescence, when news was still dominated by the networks (CNN existed but was still in its infancy), on the rare occasion that there'd be a "special bulletin" that interrupts regular programming, my gut told me that it was an announcement that nuclear missiles were in the air and we were all going to die in a half hour. I almost always had to pushing back the impulse to vomit when I heard that special bulletin interruption. But cable news with its constant breaking news—and it's so much worse now than in 2001—had numbed me to it sufficiently that when an insanely surreal scene of death and destruction was shown to me, I wasn't able to truly process the here and now.
Of course that was much more of a threat for you than it was for me growing up, so I can't even imagine it (well, I can NOW). I used to have nightmares that led to my belief that you REALLY know you're in trouble when the news anchors die on screen from the thing they're reporting.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22252
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:40pm
Kory wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 2:34pm
It was a couple days before I started college after high school and my girlfriend's mom came in to wake us up so we had the news on shortly after the first plane. But yeah, I remember feeling kind of detached from it. A lifetime of TV news performing its magic, I guess.
Ha, maybe so. I've shared this before, but it pertains. Throughout my adolescence, when news was still dominated by the networks (CNN existed but was still in its infancy), on the rare occasion that there'd be a "special bulletin" that interrupts regular programming, my gut told me that it was an announcement that nuclear missiles were in the air and we were all going to die in a half hour. I almost always had to pushing back the impulse to vomit when I heard that special bulletin interruption. But cable news with its constant breaking news—and it's so much worse now than in 2001—had numbed me to it sufficiently that when an insanely surreal scene of death and destruction was shown to me, I wasn't able to truly process the here and now.
I would get that same feeling. Maybe not automatically jumping to globalthermonuclear war (but many times I did - thanks, "The Day After!"), but at least an assasination or something. That ended on 9-11.

A guy I grew up with in Denver, but moved to Israel before high school, was killed on flight 11. Ironically, he developed some algorythm that changed the way the Internat ran (don't ask me what it was, I am woefully ignorant when it comes to computer stuff). So he was basically the reason we were able to get information so quickly that day.
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 3:01pm
I used to have nightmares that led to my belief that you REALLY know you're in trouble when the news anchors die on screen from the thing they're reporting.
Stay with us, Brokaw, you're our only hope!
JennyB wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 3:08pm
I would get that same feeling. Maybe not automatically jumping to globalthermonuclear war (but many times I did - thanks, "The Day After!"), but at least an assasination or something. That ended on 9-11.
Weirdly, it was watching The Day After that elevated Reagan's interest in ending the Cold War and getting rid of nuclear weapons.
A guy I grew up with in Denver, but moved to Israel before high school, was killed on flight 11. Ironically, he developed some algorythm that changed the way the Internat ran (don't ask me what it was, I am woefully ignorant when it comes to computer stuff). So he was basically the reason we were able to get information so quickly that day.
You're one or two degrees of separation from a lot of sensational American history.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22252
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 3:19pm

You're one or two degrees of separation from a lot of sensational American history.
I'm like the Zelig of mediocrity. So, basically, I'm Forrest Gump.
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

JennyB wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 4:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 3:19pm

You're one or two degrees of separation from a lot of sensational American history.
I'm like the Zelig of mediocrity. So, basically, I'm Forrest Gump.
:lol: And there is a Jen-nay in that story …
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22252
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 4:31pm
JennyB wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 4:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 3:19pm

You're one or two degrees of separation from a lot of sensational American history.
I'm like the Zelig of mediocrity. So, basically, I'm Forrest Gump.
:lol: And there is a Jen-nay in that story …
Ugh, that fucking movie. The evil ex (the PA guy) used to call me that. I'd ask him to stop because it was annoying and offensive (because the movie was so terrible) and he persisted. One of the many reasons he sucked. The only Gump related thing I approve of is the Weird Al song.
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

JennyB wrote:
10 Jan 2018, 4:33pm
Ugh, that fucking movie. The evil ex (the PA guy) used to call me that. I'd ask him to stop because it was annoying and offensive (because the movie was so terrible) and he persisted. One of the many reasons he sucked. The only Gump related thing I approve of is the Weird Al song.
It was on over Christmas and I watched maybe a half hour of it (I honestly don't know if I've seen it fully since it was in the theatre). The thing that struck me was that it carried such a risk of trapping Tom Hanks as Gump forever, yet he avoided it.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

eumaas
User avatar
Klezmer Shogun
Posts: 23579
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 8:10pm
Location: deep in your Id

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by eumaas »

I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
12 Jan 2018, 12:06pm
http://www.latimes.com/politics/95641832-132.html
Boomer mentality
There is no fucking way that the 60s would have sustained the degree of rebellion and radicalism and demand for addressing grievances if not for a still-strong economy and solid career prospects, even with moderate formal education. Kids could rebel because it was feasible. Is it just a coincidence that into the 1970s, after Fordism was replaced by neoliberalism, real wages stagnated, and the educational demands grew (and grew more expensive yet), that fewer people were willing to be ardent activists? The irony of the Boomer rebellion in the 60s was that it was nourished by the material comfort and opportunity that they ostensibly rejected, but could—and did—fall back on. Sorry, Joe, but the system you support and has made you successful doesn't allow for that kind of rebellion. It's either try to avoid drowning or full-on rejection, and you should be glad most people choose the former or else you might be hung up by your intestines.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Having taken a break from my research on brainwashing in the 1950s to write lectures, I got back to it today and came across a wonderful new twist to the whole story. Officially, brainwashing was a Chinese Communist technique that was exposed during the Korean War, used against American POWs. Scared a lot of people, including the CIA, which initiated its own research into brainwashing (the infamous MK-ULTRA experiments). But here's the thing …



… there was no Communist brainwashing program in Korea. It was a CIA propaganda invention from the start to justify greater powers and a more aggressive military posture towards Russia and China. The guy who popularized the term was a CIA operative and so-called Commie brainwashing was run-of-the-mill torture. But—and this is where it gets better—the CIA came to believe its own propaganda and fretted that the Communists had discovered the secrets of mind control and urgently sought to catch up. In essence, the CIA conditioned itself to believe in brainwashing. It's an MC Escher sketch played out with real people.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

BostonBeaneater
User avatar
Autonomous Insect Cyborg Sentinel
Posts: 11944
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 7:24pm
Location: Between the moon and New York City

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by BostonBeaneater »

Image

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115978
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 67676.html
Gee, that's a helluva act. What do you call it?
The Aristocrats!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Post Reply