media: March 2006 Archives

Mark Crispin Miller gave an impassioned, persuasive, and deeply unsettling keynote address at the Communication in Crisis conference held at UMass-Amherst today.

He focused on the findings contained in his new book, Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and Why They'll Steal the Next One Too. I followed some of the controversy as it was covered by Tom Atlee of The Co-Intelligence Institute. Miller presents a compelling array of "copious evidence" that touchscreen voting is a major culprit of vote fraud, and discusses the fear and denial driving major political figures and the media in general to avoid this most crucial fact of our times.

Anuj parachuted in just in time to wave at Don before the movie began. (I received the clandestine codes: spongecell and backpack. shhh)

"There's something hidden in the long, static closing shot of Cache—a clue, an answer, a red herring, an epiphany. It's embedded deep, somewhere back in the shadows—or, perhaps, it's right up front, hiding in plain sight. It vastly alters everything that preceded it, demanding a total reevaluation of the film—or it just further complicates this already profoundly inscrutable mystery. It is a conclusion both languidly drawn out and violently abrupt, stunning in its simplicity, infuriating in its opacity."

It kept me tense, that's for sure. Was the entire movie made for one scene? And who made the videos? Why does it matter who made the videos? Majid is dead. Is he dead because of the videos or for another reason? Why now? Re-traumatization after he obviously had managed to make a life for himself? or is the point what hell wreaks itself upon a guilty conscience? Is it better to whet one's soul on the sharp edge of guilt or pass let it pass disinterested into the maw of forgotten memory?

What was hidden, besides a guilty conscience? A possibly illicit attraction? A nation's neglect of an immigrant population?

I wondered about the boy whose house Pierrot winds up at overnight, unannounced. I thought it was him (Francois?) engaged in animated conversation with Pierrot on the school steps in the final scene but apparently it was Majid's son: "The last shot in the film is of his son and the son of Moroccan man who once lived with the protagonist as a child." Did they plot together? A younger generation in cross-ethnic alliance against the deeply-buried sins of their parents?

To cap the undecidable weirdness of the evening, as we walked to the car afterwards, a young man with wild hair and clothing strikingly akin to Pierrot's strolled by in the cool spring-ish night air. We had just been talking about ghosts . . .

The news filters through, maybe, if one actually listens to or watches the local or national news. There might be a quick quip on the morning radio during rush hour. Independent journalists in Belarus have been arrested, at best.

"... Argentineans have overwhelmingly rejected violence and demonstrated a commitment to peaceful solutions."

A student in my Mass Media class at UNH, Kirk will be presenting on alternative media in class soon. The excerpt above comes from Left Turn: Notes from the Global Intifada.

I'm curious about the history of the press's name, when, why and how did they choose intifada?

Right in time for the Censure hearings this Friday, some mass media outlets finally change their tune.

"White House Memo" Drives a Stake into the Heart of White House Lies

Bob Fertik writes, "Something remarkable happened Monday: the Corporate Media finally got sick of Bush's endless lies about Iraq, and started to tell the truth. The immediate cause was a front-page New York Times story about the "White House Memo," which proved Bush was determined to invade Iraq no matter what. Now we have reached a turning point in our "long march" for Truth. Everyone in the world knows in their heart that Bush lied. Soon everyone will say it out loud: Bush Lied. When millions of Americans say those two simple words - and the media finally joins us - Bush's reign of fear will come to a crashing halt. Let's make that happen now."

Truth Seeping Through Media After Ten Months
David Swanson writes, "There is something about this week that feels better than the average one for bringing a child into the world. I have hope that others will have hope, and that this will let them press hard for action. And there is something about bringing a child into the world that makes me want to push harder for a full measure of truth, and not be satisfied with the thrill of seeing bits of truth squeeze through. Someone said: He not busy being born, is busy dying. That certainly goes for democracies."

My state gets into the action and other news follows:

My main exposure to theatre is from running the lights for a few high school plays and musicals. This one is priced out of my league, but sure sounds intriguing, at least as described in this NY Times review.

The playwright, David Hare, says, "How powerless intelligence is against cunning really is one of the themes of the play." Which reminds of V for Vendetta, the movie adaptation of which I saw - and very much enjoyed - with Viera and her son last night. In it, cunning based on raw political power meets cunning of a more intuitive sort: "There are no coincidences," asserts V.

I am no doubt attracted as well to the revolutionary message of resisting corrupt and/or oppressive government, and appreciate the mediated re-creation of The Gunpowder Plot as an homage to the idealism of Guy Fawkes rather than ideological patriotism of saving the King.

I love her work. She's the only SF author I've read who had humanity lose to aliens. Our Achilles' heel? The instinct for hierarchy.

Muslim women challenging conservative Islam by engaging in activities traditionally reserved for men; and simultaneously challenging conservative North American ethnocentrism by wearing the veil.

Is the hajib only/always about ideology?

Themes: freedom (what to wear, when, how), gender, and identity. The feeling isn't against 'the West', but it is about cultural imperialism: when the West tries to assert that it is a 'neutral' culture.

Perhaps parody? I'm still trying to sort these out. This new old-style animated show might be an excellent site for learning these distinctions. Minoriteam is styled (at least aesthetically) after my own favorite comic book author, Jack Kirby. I so loved the Fantastic Four, Captain America and the Falcon, the X-Men, and others. More a Marvel gal than a DC fan, I was.

"Many physicists today say the waves that symbolize quantum possibilities are so fragile they collapse with the slightest encounter with their environment."

This is the central point of a fairly scathing critique of What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, the successor to the first badly made, overly proselytizing What the Bleep film about quantum physics and consciousness.

The point is that connections (a.k.a. dialectics?), as shown more in "I heart Huckabees" are the roots of structure, rather than any configuration of disparate elements. I would argue, though, that fragility in and of itself doesn't rule out the possibility of intentional change. It does rule out the possibility of controlled or directed change: outcomes might be probable but they are never, ever certain, most especially in human affairs.

A study on this show where "blacks" and "whites" trade places would be fascinating.

Which side will you be on? Since the successes of the New Deal - when all of the US safety nets were put in place to protect people from abject poverty and unions secured benefits for workers - management, owners, and stockholders have worked to dismantle the laws that structure these mechanisms which enable the vaunted individual "pursuit of happiness".

The assault on worker's rights has gathered momentum since the 1980s. When will the tide turn? Now, according to the NY Times, labor leaders are being equated to some of the worst political characters in history through the commercial battleground of advertising.

Dr. Wafa Sultan is an inspiration. I hope she is right about having "walked the first and hardest 10 miles."

I admit, I was elated when Crash won the Best Picture Oscar. Some colleagues and I discussed it, with readings ranging from "most conservative" to "inspiring". It was interesting to hear one of the recipients thank the Academy for honoring this "movie about tolerance".

This New York Times article credits the setting (Los Angeles) and the independence of the Academy for Crash's surprise win. What struck me, is it was the only nominated film about contemporary times. While themes from the other Best Picture candidates resonate today - homophobia, McCarthyesque repression, addiction, terrorism - only Crash located itself in our era. While this may or may not have been a factor in the way votes were cast, it pleases me that current affairs were chosen over historical reenactments.

I'm not the only one who noticed: "And This Year's Oscar Goes to ... a Movie That Takes a Stand."

We were again a more subdued group of rapscallions last night at La Guarida, taking in Johnny Cash and June Carter's story via the Oscar-nominated Walk the Line. Did we like it? I'd say the general mood was, 'it was ok', but perhaps that's just my take? Not being familiar with Cash's music, I was introduced to him and his music at the same time. Talk about moody! His affinity with the criminals in Folsom Prison was a bit disconcerting - not because of his recognition of their humanity, but because he seemed to enjoy a vicarious violence through association. Not that he came across as a particularly gentle guy...

La Guarida's head honcho took a significant risk leaving seven of us untended in his lair. No doubt he was relieved to find his easel still standing. Celebration was in the air as someone passed her comps!!!! I wouldn't say anyone was eager to leave afterwards, although when it became common knowledge that the witching hour had been passed there was a concerted effort at departure.

Next week...a comedy?