OK, Now it's Personal

We all know America is pretty screwed. If you don't, read on.

The interchangeable republican candidates are hateful, intolerant, ignorant idiots - whose campaign videos actually attack each other for any outward sign of education. But I am confident (read:hopeful) that when the eventual presidential candidate is chosen and he opens his mouth on the voting stage, his own idiocy will be loud enough to discount him from enough of the voting slips.

The religious fanatics (who often comprise much the same group) work hard to erase the trail of social development, scientific discovery, technology and knowledge if the subject matter goes against their holy books. Welfare systems lose backing, black people are barred, women are excluded from debates about contraception, clinics are burned and doctors are threatened with their life, children are kicked out of church, the dead have their lives desecrated, and their public school system is under attack from politically and religiously motivated re-imaginings of how things are, and how things work. I certainly wouldn't want to be a parent over there, but - selfishly, I know - it works out well for my lineage because the more indoctrinated creationists and other such woo-peddlers there are, the more openings there will be for people who have actually learned something useful, available to my kids.

Their police are out of control maniacs who heroically swarm round their massively outnumbered and outgunned target and assault them to within an inch of their life, or sometimes kill them. And then actively impede any attempts to file complaints with intimidation and threats. But I am out of their jurisdiction, so my life is relatively safe from their hot lead justice.

Many of the most powerful companies are massively corrupt institutions that avoid taxes, and avoid responsibility for their actions, and certain ones are lobbying with the mostly right-wing representatives in congress for much tighter control over people with the ACTA and SOPA acts. But they are being exposed for their ignorance of the consequences of those bills and it looks like for now, they will not make it into law.

However, their news people - those who are tasked more than anyone else to describe the world to the average American on a daily basis - affect the lives of everyone beyond on a daily basis also, coloring opinion with their own brushes and simplifying reality to make the guided choices of the masses easier to make; and lets just say the quality and impartiality varies.

I get to see snippets of this sort of thing daily thanks to the wonder of RSS feeds. Today however, I found this and it made my jaw drop, somehow also managing to leave my teeth clenched and gnashing together:

I..what?

I just don't understand. Has America really lowered itself to such a level that this can happen? Does a particular demographic of the American people actually entertain these views? Actually sit there, dribbling in front of their screens nodding their heads along to this?

News debates need standpoints to discuss and promote debate. Wheeling on three people whose opinions barely differ is not news, and NOT DEBATE! It's just a fat old man's club, whose patrons sit squarely in their comfort zones and bitching about stuff they clearly don't understand and have no desire to try. Both films are adaptations of stories written decades ago. Both of which have had several other adaptations in the past. They are suddenly a threat to the kiddywinks now? Gaah!

That they've said this about some films with an environmental bent is.. well even I didn't think that a mainstream channel could puke out such a massively ignorant viewpoint? Attacking the president because he wants everyone to have a fair shot? Criticizing a film because it has themes about protecting the environment? Suggesting that you go see the movie and throw popcorn everywhere before storming out? Somehow - somehow - tying all this to the Occupy movement?!

But all this I could handle, because it's America, and they have people as stupid as that over there. (Demonstrably, 1, 2, 3, 4...). But when you have a go at Arrietty, Lou, and for such massively stupid reasons.. well, you have just crossed a line, m'illaddo.

I am watching you, Lou. I don't want to, because every stupid, ill-informed, distrustful, intolerant, paranoid, bigoted, ass-hatted word from your purdy mouth makes me want to punch my computer repeatedly until my hands bleed. But it's clear that you personify all that is wrong with your fine nation, and my eyes are drawn to you and the effect you have on the world like a slow-motion multiple car pile-up.

Please, America. Stop this. Stop this now. It used to be funny from a distance, now it's as batshit scary as the nutters you are apparently fighting against in the name of freedom.

A Short Occupy Post

The Occupy movement has not gone unnoticed. People around the world have sacrificed so much to stand up and protest. Since October, Rich people have moaned, students have been assaulted by police and thousands have gathered in tents in the freezing night air to show their support, wary that their health or life could be in danger, often due to attacks by their so-called 'public servants' for standing up for what is right, when others have become bored of the rage du jour, and have moved onto other frivolous or disturbing subjects.

For such a massive effort co-ordinated by social media, it's remarkable that so little of it has spilled into violence or crime, and it shames those of the August riots who claimed to be working to the same ends.

And shame on those who walked past the scruffy piles of tents and told the inhabitants to 'get a job' or similar. Your passive ignorance of the gravity of the situation, and the symbolism of the protests will help ensure the continuation of the problem for years to come.

I've Done This

And so have quite a few others, to my surprise. I think I shall do it again, after hearing this guy list the reasons.

How many times has a wad of junk mail dropped through your letter box, asking you AGAIN whether you'd like a loan, or offering a free shiny pen set for signing your life away? Plenty, I would guess. I confess that after a particularly stressful time at work, one such establishment received retribution in the form of their business reply envelope being stuffed with other junk mail (with identifying data carefully removed of course), and just in case they were a bit hungry, last nights potato peelings, topped off with a few application forms filled in entirely with swear words.

It turns out I revert to a teenager's mentality when sufficiently annoyed.

But it seems, give or take a cuss-word, that I am not alone, and the tactic can be modified to allow us armchair Occupy activists to do our bit. Give a bit of much needed cash to the Post Office, make (some) use of all that paper, have a bit of a dig at the banks, and keep them busy at their own expense.