Posts by Kracklite
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Not only does the devil have the best tunes, it seems that he has the best credit cards and labels as well. Hmmm, I'm on a rather diabolical theme this morning.
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What it was almost like was those other countries... We're not like that at all.
Tussock, the road to Hell, I believe, is paved not with good intentions, but cognitive dissonance and you've just given a nice potted summary of how it works.
Now, if you leak a few cherry-picked quotes taken out of context to smear everyone, stir with some demands that everyone publically dissociate themselves from the insinuated sins unless they be collectively tarred with the terrorist brush (is that a show trial by media or an auto da fe?) and then... you'd have a horribly mixed metaphor. Sorry.
There was an editorial in that well-known supporter of terrorism, The Economist a while back arguing forcefully civil liberties, the right to fair trials, the right to dissent and all that liberal stuff were all the more important and the risk of carnage (remember, The Economist is based in London and they made explicit references to the Blitz and the IRA and tube bombings) had to be borne because the alternative was both worse and its promise of safety an illusion.
It worries me greatly how damned easy it is to go running down the above mixed metaphor lane. At the risk of raising the spectre of Godwin, unfortunately authoritarian governments have all too often been populist and popular. It would drive me to drink if I didn't live there already.
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And of course he fought on the side of good.
Thomas Tallis never bore any malice
Except for an organist named Ken,
who played badly now and then. -
Was that his pornstar name?
No, he was a superhero. Most of them have initials that repeat or sound similar - Clark Kent, Peter Parker that sort of thing.
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You're just old.
Well, I've definitely a liking for music of the 80s - Thomas Tallis wrote some great motets, such as Spem in Alium around about 1580.
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Seriously, there's something disturbingly cultic about people who let ideology act as a substitute for thought
So often when (rarely) observing debates on blogs and staged, self-cancelling "from the left and from the right" discussions, I'm reminded of early scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey with the australopithicenes hooting and screaming at each other over the water hole. There's a strong element of ritual collective display there... and then of course, one picks up a bone...
Damnit, Craig, whatever you've got, it's catching.
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Goodness. One of the TV channels (I was flipping between them and can't remember which) pretty clearly identified who the person trying to buy a pistol and silencer was. The person is an activist and one of the pacifists whose supporters insisted 'would never have held a gun in their life'. How interesting
I'd take that with a grain of salt.
Because terrorism offences were not on the search warrants and no terrorism charges can be laid, those arrested were charged with what the police could put on the warrants - that is, firearms charges. This is irrespective of where or how many firearms were actually found. I note that bail was not opposed by the police, suggesting that either they were not concerned or were not confident that they could prevent bail. The news station would only have what is a leak filtered through their own interpretation.
And there you have trial by media in action.
Who watches the watchers of the watchers? The viewers.
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My heart just sank. Like, to the depths of my bowels. I didn't need a fortune teller to tell me that these guys were going to have issues with their public image.
I'm afraid so. Unfortunately, as a correspondent observed earlier on (sorry, I forget who), a lot are cynical about how their stories end up being packaged in the media, no matter what they have to say.
Admittedly I avoid demos myself - I have a horror of crowds - but I've seen plenty of news reports of demos and then heard the first-hand accounts and seen the bruises and found little correspondence between the TV and newspaper version and what I see and hear.
Certainly they have an all to narrow view of how to engage with the media and they are not at all organised as an overall community of activists to that they can have an effective media strategy.
As for John Minto, well I'm glad to say that I've never had the misfortune of meeting him.
Anyway, I've long given up on broadcast TV news anyway. I've had warnings about my blood pressure, and my liver.
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I've actually been a bit shocked at the state of some of the people posting to Indymedia
I must admit that I have long, close contacts with some individuals, not involvment in organised groups (I'm too bougeois) - I'm motivated by those friendships and that's why I've been offended by the insunuations that have been flying. I avoid the extremists on both sides, so I've not been exposed to what goes on in Indymedia - like Craig, I squirm often.
As you might guess from my nom de plume, I'm an overweight paper architect and academic with an admiration for Boullee and a tendency towards carnivorism - not really the Indy sort.
Anyway, Kracklite, thanks for coming by. I think you've been a valuable correspondent. And not at all emo ...
Thanks. Actually, I've always thought that goths had more class than emos - more sensuality, a more refined exuberance.
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I do get the impression that some of the 17 were guilty of no more than an association with others
And that really is what trial by media does. The strategy by the various activist groups may well change now that the leaks have occurred. I believe that it's already been said somwhere...
Another of the reasons why some/most groups have been largely silent on the specific accusations/insinuations of terrorism was an appreciation of the practical utility of the supression of sub judice evidence and the avoidance of making any statement that might be prejudicial to a fair trial.