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Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 10:10:48
Dana D. Kelley strikes again!
Stereotyping has gotten a bad rap. Dangerous criminals often give off characteristic warning signals in their lifestyles and mannerisms. Just because someone looks, scowls or even acts suspiciously doesn’t necessarily mean he really is a criminal, but instinctively steering clear of such a person isn’t bigoted intolerance; it’’s smart.
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/
That’s how the column ends, but it all builds up to that point. I’ve been reading this column over for a few days now, and I still come to the inescapable conclusion:
Dana D. Kelley’s latest column, “Put Trust in instinct” - discussing the murder of Georgia hiker Meredith Emerson - is yet another love song to good old -fashioned racism.
For decades now, there’’s been a concerted effort among the diversity dogmatists to demonize stereotyping as a sin.
It's wrong to generalize groups, we’’ve been told, because general characteristics of a group don’t apply to all specific individu . . . als within it. “Stereotyping leads to bigotry !” has been the cry of the politically correct priesthood.
The whiter-than-white columnist who writes a regular column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (and other papers) is regularly suspected of harboring racist tendencies. Rarely does a month go by when he does not write sneeringly of minorities, especially when it comes to crime and punishment.
Starting in the late 20th century, however, there began a movement to elevate the atrocity of certain politically incorrect infractions, including stereotyping. As long ago as 1988, in a piece about violent crime, The New York Times editorialized that “if fear creates victims, so does discrimination.” It was then, and is now, totally irresponsible to equate the “crime” of prejudice with what Hilton did to Emerson.
While I agree that the crime of racial prejudice does not nearly approach the magnitude of the murder of Ms. .Emerson, one can’t but wonder at how such satisfaction Comrade Kelley took in putting quotation marks around crime, when talking about prejudice, as if prejudice were not even worth talking about.
Today’s scarlet letter is “I,”with intolerance being the offense for which the PC puritans would love to bring back the pillory. Generations of children have now grown up being taught that people who fail to conform to traditional social norms should, nonetheless, be tolerated.
For the Dana D. Kelleys of the world, diversity is something to be afraid of, and to sneer at. For all too many - and, I suspect, the most avid readers of Kelley’s columns - putting trust in their instincts would be to cross the street when you see a black man walking towards you, especially if they are young, and not dressed in a business suit.
It would mean sending your son or daughter off to a re-education camp if they come out of the closet, or ransacking your kid’s bookbag, to make sure that not only are they not smoking the Devil’s Weed, but also are not checking the wrong kinds of books out of the library.
It would mean that you make damned sure that folks of certain ethnic or religious groups are watched at all times, by both the authorities, and by their neighbors. People who read that Koran thing, for example.
It’s one thing for a writer to be provocative, and controversial, but it’s quite another for the state’s only major daily newspaper to regularly feature a columnist who seems to regularly issue clarion calls to racism.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 09:43:09
So when did Jones TV decide to imitate TV Land?
Looking over the schedule for Jones TV - the Springdale based channel which makes sure that the general public doesn’t come in and run their grubby little hands all over their precious equipment - like they do at Community Access Television - one sees that they are doing something a little odd lately.
The station, which offers a great deal of educational programming, seems to be veering away from that strict format in recent months, offering movies on a regular basis.
But now the “non-profit” station is also showing programming which originally ran on commercial stations. A look at the schedule will reveal episodes of “Bonanza,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” The Andy Griffith Show,” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
This doesn’t seem to quite jibe with what their website has to say.
http://www.jonestv.org/venutest/?page_id=2
Jones Television is a non-profit, commercial-free station, which serves as an outlet for regional information. Established by the Harvey and Bernice Jones Trust in 1996, the station is operated by professionals with extensive broadcast and production experience. With generous support from Cox Communications, Jones Television operates on cable 24 hours a day. It airs on channel 22 throughout Northwest Arkansas including Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale.
So what gives?
It’s one thing to show “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” at Christmas (well, I guess somebody had to), but to totally turn split personality, and become a cross between PBS and TV Land is a little too much, don’t you think?
And is Cox still giving them “generous” support?
This silly move on the part of Jones TV just gives more ammunition to those who would like to see C.A.T. alongside Jones on the county-wide schedule- after all, for over 25 years, public access actually has been a regional arts, entertainment, public affairs, religious and what-have-you channel for everyone.
And they haven’t been reduced to running episodes of “The Beverly Hillbillies” to fill out their schedule.
Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 10:14:50
Give us your eccentrics, your marginally sane, your over-the-edge-fanatics!
I’m sort of unhappy that Steve Clark won’t be able to run for mayor of Fayetteville. Not that I was going to vote for him, but because we have had just way too many straight-arrow individuals running for public office in Fayetteville/Washington County over the last few ears. Part of me longs for the days of Springdale mayoral candidate Timothy Hill, who wanted to have gay men publicly spanked (on the bare buttocks) - and was willing to undergo it himself first, to assure folks that no lasting damage would follow.
Now, there was a leader!
I’ll post the interview I did with that troubled - yet oddly entertaining - individual one day.
Give us your eccentric, your marginally sane, your over-the-edge fanatics - we have a place for them on our ballot!
Back in 1992, after Fayetteville had rid itself of the city manager form of government, and held its first election for mayor/aldermen, there came upon us a woman who claimed kinship to a famous politician from out of the state’s past. I won’t tell you who - she might have returned to Fayetteville.
Anyway, she just always struck me as a little mean. Or maybe our personaliries didn’t mesh. Whatever. She was sort of entertaining in that her kinship to her dead statesman was always brought up, but never any actual knowledge of issues facing people in Fayetteville.
Voters tend to notice that sort of thing after a while.
We never got a chance to see how she would have fared in the race, however, because one night a police patrol car just happened to be patrolling behind a hardware store in Fayetteville, only to find that she and her husband were stealing wooden pallets that were stacked up behind the store, throwing them up on the back on their pickup truck.
Realizing the jig was up, they sped off, the police car in pursuit. Along the highway, our candidate was in the back of the pickup, throwing pallets into the road, trying to . . .
I give up. I still don’t know what she was trying to accomplish by that stupid stunt. Besides annoying the cop, she was endangering other drivers. I guess she slowed down the police pursuit, but I guess she forgot all about the license plate on the back of the truck.
Arriving at he house, the authorities found her hiding in a closet, I believe, though it would have provided a sort of nice Helter-Skelterish moment if she had been under the sink, ala Charlie Manson.
Thus ended her candidacy.
Somewhere out there, there must be some equally entertaining potential candidates.
******
The Republican War on Science
We used to know things. Now we are entering a world in which we learn what corporations and religious leaders want us to know. We are in danger of becoming a nation of burger flippers and missionaries, knowing that a lack of curiosity is next to Godliness.
Though religion often plays a part in the manipulation of modern science, another, uglier, factor often comes into play - the profit motive. In "The Republican War on Science," author Chris Mooney shows the reader how modern science has been under assault for the better part of two decades.
By whom you might ask?
Well, the title gives us a good clue.
*****
Quote of the Day
Everyone thinks (Aragorn) is the man for the job, because he has humility, concern with the consequences of his actions and words on others, and an interest in finding common ground
with other people. All are qualities which I wish there were more of in real life in our modern-day leaders. - Viggo Mortenson, (Aragorn): "Lord of the Rings"
****
Deadline Week
Ah - Deadline Week. Nose back to the grindstone!
Friday, March 21, 2008 - 09:51:28
Once again, media ignores Winter Soldiers
As always, the failure on the part of the news media to pay heed to the hidden truths that soldiers try to tell us is a national disgrace. This is a report from FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
As noted, Democracy Now has covered the story. Those living in the Fayetteville viewing area can watch DN on Community Access Television.
Why Are Winter Soldiers Not News?
Dozens of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars gathered in Silver Spring, Maryland last weekend for the Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan hearings (3/13/08-3/16/08), where they offered harrowing testimony about atrocities they had witnessed or participated in directly.
The BBC predicted that the event, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, "could be dominating the headlines around the world this week". The hearings were covered as far afield as the U.K. Yet there has been an almost complete media blackout on this historic news event in the
U.S. corporate media.
Despite being noted in the New York Times'’ Paris-based International Herald Tribune, Winter Soldier has yet to be mentioned in the New York Times itself.
No major U.S. newspaper has covered the hearings except as a story of local interest; the few stories major U.S. newspapers have published on the event have focused on the participation of local vets.
The Washington Post published their account in the metro section.
In contrast, the paper published an article about pro-war demonstrators protesting the Winter Soldier hearings in the A section, despite the fact that they were, according to the Post, "small in number."
None of the major broadcast TV networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) have mentioned the hearings in their newscasts.
PBS has been silent as well.
But for a couple of exceptions (TIME, NPR), the hearings have been virtually ignored by all but the independent media (Democracy Now!, In These Times, Alternet, and military publications (Stars and Stripes, and the four Military Times news weeklies, in a pattern reminiscent of the near complete corporate media blackout on the first Winter Soldier hearings.
FAIR founder Jeff Cohen (Huffington Post), traces the beginning of his career as a media critic back to his experience of watching as "one of the rare mainstream camera crews showed up at Winter Soldier... and then abruptly packed up to leave in the middle of particularly gripping
testimony."
While the testimony of soldiers who had served multiple tours of duty was broadcast on Pacifica Radio's Free Speech TV, and the Real News network, the major broadcast networks and PBS instead devoted airtime to the pro-war assessments of Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain, both of whom have only made brief visits to Iraq (NBC Nightly News, ABC World News, CBS Evening News, PBS NewsHour,).
Given the common media rhetoric of "supporting the troops", to ignore these same troops when they speak out about the horrors of the war is unconscionable. On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, it is particularly important that the media reverse this silence, and include the voices of the vets who are speaking out about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan in national news coverage.
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 10:05:05
Look! Up in the Sky! It's the . . . Batsignal?
Enough of the seriousness! Others do that so well. Tomorrow I can be pretentious.
Let’s have some fun this morning. The new Batman film opens up this summer, so this look at the old TV show might amuse some. Though this originally ran in Grapevine, this is the rewritten version that ran in the OG, some years later. For an interesting look at the old TV series:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(TV_series)
Hey, when I was a kid in England, I even stopped watching “Doctor Who” because “Batman” was on another channel. Silly me . . .
I am the Night . . .
Bob Kane died this past week. For those who don't know him, Kane was the creator of the Batman, a "superhero" who had captured the hearts and imaginations of readers for almost 60 years. He has survived evil geniuses, camp, deathtraps, and the even the forces of Adam West and George Clooney.
Though others went on to helm the adventures of this most grim avenger, Kane set the tone with his dark, tortured hero, and bizarre villains. Batman was different from most heroes - no super powers, but a quick and agile mind. He also had a tendency to settle most disputes with his fists.
Who would you rather have arrest you? Superman, with his sense of fair play, even to lawbreakers, or a dark, brooding Dark Knight, who always seemed just this close to total psychosis?
In fact, there is a particularly awesome scene which for inexplicable reasons was cut from the first Batman film directed by Tim Burton.
A suburban couple and their young son are waylaid by thugs and robbed in one of Gotham City's dark alleys. The robbers retreat to the roof, where they count their ill-gotten gains. Suddenly, a dark figure comes from out of nowhere, and attacks the two hoodlums.
In the film version, one thug asks, "Who are you?" whereupon Michael Keaton replies, "I'm Batman."
In the original script, Batman tells the thug to tell all his friends about him, because there just won't be this sort of thing going on anymore in Gotham at night.
Despite his fear, the thug sneers. "You don't own the night," he tells the masked man.
Batman smiles - a cold, pitiless smile - and replies with a voice devoid of all humanity, "I am the Night."
And of course, now we have George Clooney. Still, Clooney wasn't the first to shrink inside the Batcowl. In the 1960s, we had the ABC series, "Batman." I was in a particularly cynical mood some time ago, when I happened upon one of the old Adam West adventures on video. I noticed a lot more this time around.
As in the films, the television Gotham City is apparently in the midst of an economic downturn. Surely a thriving city would not have had nearly the number of abandoned warehouses that Gotham appears to have. All with utilities turned on, no less.
A depressed city makes for a large number of underemployed citizens, which leads me to my next observation. Those hapless henchmen that the Joker, Catwoman, and Egghead, etc. employed were really not members of the criminal underclass at all, but men and women whose unemployment benefits had run out, and who had to settle for any work they could find.
The major employers just happened to be the so-called "super-villains." Hell, they probably had ongoing contracts with local temp agencies.
And what was the first thing that they made their new employees do? They made them wear silly outfits, even worse than those foisted off upon fast food workers. Catwoman made her men wear plastic hats and furry ears, while the Penguin called his crew by bird names. Is it any wonder that Batman and Robin were able to defeat whole gangs so easily? Their essential human dignity had already been stripped away, making them easy prey.
They probably wanted to be knocked out.
And what about those escape-proof death traps? I can easily imagine Bruce Wayne owning Deathtraps R Us, a company specializing in contraptions designed to rid the world of Batman once and for all. Since he designed, sold, and probably serviced them, getting out of the contrivances would have been child's play.
Haven't you ever wondered why the most reliable death trap, 18 guys with assault rifles, never seemed to be an option? "No, Batman, simply killing you is too easy. First I'll humiliate you with this solar powered nut cracker."
Would it really be worth it, living in a city inhabited by vigilantes in long underwear? Imagine the eventual effect on your property values, having, Batman, Flash, or the Hulk (there goes the neighborhood - literally) running amuck, demolishing your neighborhoods, just to stop a few nut cases with equally bad dress sense?
Yes, Batman might stop a few muggings and the odd megalomaniac or two, but there are more practical thoughts to consider here. How would you like to be driving behind the Batmobile and all of a sudden this idiot yells, "Robin! Release the Batbrakes!" Instantly this parachute comes whistling out of their vehicle and covers your windshield.
Allstate probably wouldn't even bother setting up a Gotham City branch office.
And what about all that nuclear waste from the Batnuclear reactor? You know, the one that Alfred was always dusting? "I'll be right there with your tea, Master Bruce."
Tea, indeed.
Thank you, Bob Kane.
Ozark Gazette, November 16, 1998
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 10:40:09
Iraq: Why do newscasters only talk about the number of Americans who have died?
Why do we never discuss this aspect of the war? From:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In U.S. War On Iraq - 1,189,173
It seems as though newscasters are loathe to discuss the actual number of Iraqis killed since the beginning of our glorious military adventure. It isn’t just the almost 4,000 officially acknowledged American dead that we should remember, but the over one million men, women and children who have lost their lives since this senseless war began.
How nice it would be to see Charlie Gibson talk about that number one night.
Any night at all, Charlie.
******
Quote of the Day
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law it it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics. - Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction writer
*****
Hail and farewwell, Arthur C. Clarke
Throughout my Junior High and High School years, no matter where we lived, or what emotional upheavals I was going through, I had a small group of close friends to keep me company - friends like Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov. They wrote of better tomorrow (most of the time), where people of intellect tried to make a difference.
I’m just really bummed out today, knowing that Clarke is no longer with us. The BBC has a good obituary on this science fiction giant.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2358011.stm
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - 09:49:17
Fayetteville's Big Dig - A Public Nuisance?
Another day, another set of interviews with the “developers” of the empty pit that might one day be known as Renaissance Towers. When? Oh, 2010 they now reckon. Here’s the deal:
How many people in Fayetteville actually believe Richard Alexander and John Nock whenever they make these announcements anymore? You can’t just can’t keep going to the well too often with this sort of thing. They long-ago passed the stage where many folks were rolling their eyes at their pronouncements; no doubt open laughter will erupt at some time in the future, when these statements are made.
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch, you gotta wonder what sort of swimming pool it resembles this week, with the heavy rains.
In a very serious sense, the Big Dig is a Public Nuisance, in that a lot of people believe that it is actually driving business away from the downtown area. We don’t look like a thriving downtown, with that empty hole, the buildings looking like the set of a science fiction movie, and an unused crane.
Until - and unless - something actually starts happening - the downtown just looks like it is close to death.
What if the Hole-in-the-Ground-Gang can’t deliver on their tentative promise promise to have something in place by 2010, and just leaves us with this god awful whole in the ground? Can we charge them financial penalties? Over and above the monthly fees they are paying now, for having that crane out there?
******
Quote of the Day
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. - George Carlin
The price of keeping papers on the street
Will the UA be passing out Stupid Pills just before this lecture?
All I want is nice glass of water . . .
Wake me up when it's Election Day
The Silent Majority rears its head once more - or does it?
Fayetteville: the "affordable housing" no one wants to talk about
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