Shouting Street

Earlier today I came across this article earlier today on Yahoo. It brought up briefly in the news day the fact that US policies in Africa are actively hurting the fight against AIDS.

The US government will only fund AIDS programs that place the emphasis on abstinence rather than condom use. It doesn’t matter how many times over it is proven that these programs are vastly inferior at fighting AIDS than promoting condoms and teaching safe sex policies. Our conservative friends continue to value Religious morality over human lives. Certainly this is nothing new, but in the fight against a plague of biblical proportions it is particularly sickening.

The great myth of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is that the age of colonialism is over. The US is all over the world telling people how to live because we know best. Its bold faced racism of course. But that is how colonialism works, the white people come in with superior technology and decide that that makes them better equipped to make decisions for the natives.

We’re doing it in Iraq. We’re doing it in Africa. Heck, it is what Pat Robertson is really saying when he decides we should be assassinating Latin American heads of state.

That is what we are doing in Africa. Rather than teaching people what we have learned regarding halting the spread of AIDS, we are telling people how better to live their lives. And if they don’t listen. Oh well. Fewer people competing with us for resources.

Sad to think nothing has changed in hundreds of years.

Sorry this is a bit disjointed, I’m tired and cranky. If I have time I will write something a little more focused tomorrow. This is a subject that just makes me so angry…

I just finished Neuromancer the other night. Neuromancer, you probably already know, is generally considered the birth of cyberpunk. I have recently worked up a bit of an interested in that particular genre and thought it was about time I read the progenitor.

Going into it I expected something a bit different from what I found. I expected the book to be behind the technology curve, having been written in 1983. This was not the case. It is rare that a book does not date itself in any way and Neuromancer is just such a book. In a world where a computer three months old has very nearly become obsolete to have this volume read in such a prescient fashion is a remarkable achievement. The story he crafts feels very much like it is a future just over the horizon, a feeling I’m sure readers in ‘83 also had. With a little luck it will feel the same 25 years down the road. I say luck because the future describe within is not a very pretty one.

Gibson’s writing was also a major surprise for me. I expected a well written novel, but what I got was a work of computer age poetry. The fluidity of some of the more abstract scenes in the book was inspiring. I have never been a great defender of poetry but I deeply love the written word and the way Gibson bends and twists language to portray his futuristic vision is nothing short of verse. The entire book is not written in such a way, but every couple of chapters Gibson lets himself go and you get some very striking sequences that are hard to follow and beautiful to read at the same time. It is worth sitting down and reading for this use of language alone. There is no question it helped shape a generation of science fiction and fantasy writers, just as Bradbury and Tolkien had done before him.

The one problem with reading the book now is that the story doesn’t have the ring of originality that it should. Years of books like Snow Crash and films like the Matrix and Blade Runner have dulled the edge off Necromancer’s sword a bit. This is the fate of all books that spawn genres. If you do not read them first, you will have come across the story in other forms elsewhere. This is not to say there is anything wrong with the story, it is just that if you see the Matrix first, Neuromancer will not have the same impact it did when it first was published. This is not to dissuade you from reading it, just a warning of sorts.

In the end Neuromancer is Gibson’s vision of the not too distant future, and it is a powerful vision. It is the kind of book that will alter the way readers look at the world around them and the world to come. To my thinking there is no greater achievement in literature.

Pat Robertson wants to assassinate foreign heads of state. Just when I thought he couldn’t any worse than blaming hurricanes on homosexuality. Someone really needs to get this guy a WWJD bracelet, because he has completely lost even the most tenuous connection with reality.

It is almost hard to take in. Pat wants to assassinate a foreign head of state because it is cheaper than going to war against him. This man who considers himself a man of god endorses political assassination because it is the cost effective option. I realize thats repetitive but I think it bears repeating. I just can’t wrap my brain around it.

They’re holy when there cells, but once they reach uppity Latino stage its time for a bullet in the base of the skull eh Pat?

I was going to write about America’s evolving disdain of intelligence today and this potato head fruitcake crackpot just trumped everyone.

AND HE IS STILL GOING TO BE ON TELEVISION NEXT WEEK!

Oh god some days I just can’t take it.

THOU SHALT NOT KILL!
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR!

AUGH!

Rick Santorum can kiss my ass too by the way.

Today is Joe Strummer’s birthday. He would have been 53 if he hadn’t passed away suddenly December of ‘02.

Joe Strummer is one of those people who’s life has touched my own in such a way that I will always admire him. He is one of my personal heroes I would say. It is a pretty short list. My Dad, my Mom, Raul Wallenberg, Ryne Sandberg, a few others. Sure there are plenty of people to look up to in this work and back through history to admire, but for one reason or another some touch us more than others. Strummer is one of them for me.

Strummer was born to an upper middle class family and spent a life time apologizing for it. I don’t believe he was ashamed of his roots, but in his line of work people often cited it as a knock against him. I have read a number of articles that were published about him and the Clash from the late seventies and early eighties that bring his heritage up. A lot of them spend a lot of time trying to tear him down of course, but they are the British music press for the most part and not really known for their gushing praise of artists. His song ‘Bankrobber’ begins with the line “Daddy was a bankrobber” and I have read about three or four articles that mention that Strummer’s father was not a bank robber. It is worth noting that you would have to be pretty dense or mean spirited to take the song as autobiographical. Not really noble or heroic to persevere through all that, but it does take a special talent to continue to create wonderful music in an environment bent on bringing you down.

He belongs in a special category of musicians that wanted to make things better. Bob Dylan, Victor Jara, Harry Chapin, Caetano Veloso, and Bono among others. People willing to go out and live by the ideals they song about. Strummer sang about rebellion and almost led one. The punk rock movement had a lot of warts but the ideals at its core were solid and considering its echos still linger today I would suggest they made a difference.

Strummer kept performing right up until the end. I have a bootleg of one of his final shows, a benefit for striking firemen at the Acton Town hall. It is perhaps one of the best rock and roll shows I have ever heard. He had as much power and presence at 50 as he did at 23 with the Clash. In a sort of celebration of his birthday I listened to some live shows of his from different periods of his performing career.

One song tends to stand out in the many performances and that is one that IS autobiographical, ‘White Man in Hammersmith Palais’. Whenever I listen to it I always wonder if it still meant as much to him later in life as it did during those first performances. My answer always comes from the fact that perhaps my favorite rendition comes from the Acton show mentioned above. It sounds as powerful and poignant as the early performances. For me that is the sign of a person who never lost the fire and passion that made him into someone worthy of admiration.

“Maybe I shouldn’t mention this,” he continued. “I saw a settler crying on television. But they’ve been settlers for what, 20 years? What about those who stayed refugees for 50 years? They are victims, and we are victims too.” - Suheil Abu al-Aaraj (taken from New York Times 8-18-2005)

Binyamin Netanyahu may believe that the Gaza strip will become a haven for terrorism once the pullout is complete, but I have to wonder about the the people being removed. Considering settlers like Baruch Goldstein and groups like Kahane Chai it is not a stretch to say that much of the terrorism is being taken out of the Strip. That of course is not to say the Hamas are perfectly OK. Terrorism is wrong from top to bottom, but I do think its important to remember from time to time (despite what most major media would like you to believe) that terrorism is not the sole auspice of radical Islam.

This is a conflict that can have no winners. A step forward is being made now with the pullout, but in typical Palestinian/Israeli tradition two steps back wards must be made first.

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I do not plan on turning this into Israel.blog. I plan on writing about what ever happens to be on my mind each day. These past few days the pullout has been much on my mind, hence the first couple of entries being about Israel.

Check out Devotchka ‘How It Ends’ - It is an amazing Cd. I picked it up because of a song on it playing in the trailer for ‘Everything is Illuminated’. It is one of those rare cd’s that runs the gauntlet from the heights of Joy to the depths of Sadness, all within a rich soundscape that changes from one song to the next.

I don’t watch TV often. I watch television news even less. The reason why was illustrated quite clearly for me once again last night.

I happened upon a news report regarding the Israeli pull out of the Gaza strip. This is a momentous occasion and I would have thought the coverage wouldn’t be too heavy handed. I was wrong.

The coverage focused entirely on the settlers who were refusing to leave. At one point the reporter said something to the effect of “The real story here is the destruction of a community”. He remarked that synagogues were being destroyed “In the face of 2000 years of history”. He interviewed an American born settler who spoke of her right to stay in her home.

Horrible.

Not once during the broadcast was the word “Palestinian” uttered. It was never mentioned that the settlers are part of an illegal occupation. Somehow the news failed to mention how settlements had running water, electricity, swimming pools, and the like while outside their barb wire fences people starved and lived in abject poverty.

I understand its tough being forced to leave your home. I understand that the Israel-Palestine conflict is a murky pool of right and wrong. However when you choose to make your home in illegally occupied territory, living there essentially so Israel can maintain a claim on the land, well, you get what you ask for sometimes.

None of this was mentioned on the “news”. I guess misleading broadcasts are nothing new, but it has been a while since it has been driven home so saliently for me.

Take a look at
Palestine and the Palestinians by Samih Farsoun and Christian Zacharia for a more balanced look at the conflict.

Also take a look at Sleeping on a Wire by David Grossman.

Just say no to television news.

Welcome to my new blog!

Everything is fine!

Have a nice day!