Truth Like The Dark

Lyrics from this ad version of the Violent Femmes‘ classic “Blister in the Sun”:

When I’m a walkin’
I strut my stuff
And I’m so hung out
I fly like a kite
I just might
stop to check you out

That’s a freaking crime. I won’t be drinking a milliliter of Foster’s anytime soon, that’s for sure.

This is a very good blog post, about why atheists get angry at the world around them. I’m an agnostic, but any non-believer faces prejudice in this world.

Via: VideoSift

From the WSJ:

Cartoon Network Chief Quits Over Boston Marketing Incident
By BROOKS BARNES
February 9, 2007 3:02 p.m.

The president and general manager of Cartoon Network resigned under pressure Friday following a botched ad campaign that resulted in a widespread bomb scare in Boston.

Jim Samples, who has spent 13 years at Cartoon Network, a unit of Time Warner Inc.’s Turner Broadcasting, will leave his position immediately. Until a successor is named, Turner said animation senior team members will report directly to Mark Lazarus, Entertainment Group president. “I deeply regret the negative publicity and expense caused to our company as a result of this campaign,”

Here’s a guy presiding over a world of AJAX Anti-Gravity Boots and Sponges that wear pants, and he’s got the leadership cajones to step aside, regardless of the ridiculousness of this whole Boston Terrorist Lite Brite Scare. Bravo, I say. Not that I think there needed to be a resignation (outside of Boston government), just that I think this is what a good leader does in a bad situation for his organization.

Would that Bush, Rumsfeld, would ever used words like those of Mr. Samples:

Mr. Samples wrote in an email to Cartoon Network employees. “I feel compelled to step down .. in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my watch.”

Or that any single senior member of the civilian leadership had this kind of self-sacrificing integrity, over, say, little things… like Abu Ghraib.

Sometimes I really wish I lived in Cartoon Land. And not just because Anti-Gravity Boots would be cool.

Newsflash: the trouble in the “Celebrity” Big Brother house, which is now international news isn’t about race, it’s about class.

It’s about people who have a defiant lack of class trying to relate to people with some measure of refined class.

It’s about the sad inability of the classier party to relate to people who are from a completely separate class from her.

Ms. Shetty must appear to be a princess to people like Jade. She has some measure of poise, and in Britain, people from Jade’s class wear their lack of poise like a crown.

And Jade must appear like a racist bully to Ms. Shetty. It’s the only way she can get her head around her defiant crudity. She simple can’t relate to people from such a different class.

Jade and her mother, and the cronies they gathered in the house, are of a crude class of people (and I don’t mean that to sound as insulting as it does). They aren’t being racists. They’re just handling there inability to understand someone different incredibly crudely.

And as for bullying, I’m not even sure I know what that is. It usually requires violence. Sure, rudeness amongst school children can be a kind of violence. But amongst adults, rudeness and crudeness just makes someone an asshole, not a bully. All the people in the BB house are able adults, including Ms. Shetty. Until someone hits her, I assume she can take care of herself.

There’s another difference of class here as well. Jade is of the freakshow class of celebrities. She has no talent, and claims to have none. Jade is famous for being a fat idiot on TV.

I have not seen Ms. Shetty’s acting, but I hear that she is an actress, a person who at least has some talent-based claim to celebrity. That’s a whole other class.

I’ve got to say: this whole thing would be less likely to occur in America, where there is less general separation of classes.

And it’s interesting that there is no American equivalent to Jade that I can think of. Sincerely.

I think Jade’s lower working class status is part of what makes her a public clown. That reflects a far worse prejudice in British society than the current Big Brother “racist” fiasco, IMHO.

If a Jade-equivalent did exist in America, it would be seen as rude to laugh at someone because they are an idiot from a crude class of people. Rude enough for an outcry

BTW, these comments are made based on news reports (which I scoured in an attempt to get a clear understanding).
I would never watch a low class show like Big Brother.

You can’t make this stuff up: Sport and Swimwear for the modern Muslim Female.

I’ve just got to say it: all religious commandments (and similar) that tell people they’ve got to wear funny hats (or any particular clothing) are a step backwards, towards a more limiting, less thoughtful society.

… to “Thing”

Via: VideoSift

If you’ve got an intellectual hour to spare, I strongly recommend watching this great interview with Edward O. Wilson, a fellow Birminghamian, and graduate of my Alma Mater. He talks about attacks on socio-biology, the crap that is intelligent design, and even how his background as a Southern Baptist has effected the extreme productivity of his scientific life.

Today BoingBoing has a quote from a Zadie Smith interview. I have to re-quote it here, just to give the full impact:

But the problem with readers, the idea we’re given of reading is that the model of a reader is the person watching a film, or watching television. So the greatest principle is, “I should sit here and I should be entertained.” And the more classical model, which has been completely taken away, is the idea of a reader as an amateur musician. An amateur musician who sits at the piano, has a piece of music, which is the work, made by somebody they don’t know, who they probably couldn’t comprehend entirely, and they have to use their skills to play this piece of music. The greater the skill, the greater the gift that you give the artist and that the artist gives you. That’s the incredibly unfashionable idea of reading. And yet when you practice reading, and you work at a text, it can only give you what you put into it. It’s an old moral, but it’s completely true.

Is there anything more offensive than an artist talking about the attitude their audience should bring to their work? Especially if that artist casts their audience in the role of “students” playing music by someone they probably couldn’t comprehend entirely!?! Note the ultra pretentious unsplit infinitive.

It’s doubly offensive, given that artist is the ultimate example of what’s wrong with publishing these days. There’s a reason Zadie Smith’s name is always as big as the title on her books. She’s the marketable product: a writer that looks good in book supplements. Otherwise, her amateurish work would never see print.

I managed to make it through the intellectually toothless White Teeth, but I really wish I had those few hours back.

To quote Marshall McLuhan:

Anyone who claims to know the difference between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either

I just went to CNN and turned to an article entitled “Bush: Students, teachers must ‘never fear for their safety’”, thinking that maybe The “President” had something to say on the GOP Sexual Predator Scandal.

Silly me, he was just blathering on about guns in schools (he said his administration “will do what it can”, which means nothing), and The No Child Left Behind act (a horribly unsuccessful program that is shockingly anti-conservative as well).

On a lighter note, I hear Foley wanted to call it the “No Child’s Behind Left” act.

From the timeline of the GOP Sexual Predator Scandal:

2001: A Republican staff member tells congressional pages to “watch out” for Foley, according to ABC News.

If a GOP staff member knew enough to tell the pages, the GOP knew exactly what was up, five years ago. Period.

Surprise: they are lying hypocrites. So, if all the horror of the W years hasn’t been enough, if the horror of the years since Nixon haven’t been enough, this should be enough. Please, let’s all get out there and purge this party of corruption from our halls of government!