What the actual fuck?
You’re born into one of the richest (maybe the richest) families in Vienna.
Bertrand Russell decides you are to be his heir apparent in philosophy.
You change the course of philosophy. Twice.
But now you’ve finally made it cuz you’re up on teh interwebz?
SF Signal plots all of NPR’s top 100 science fiction and fantasy books in a flowchart.
I am curious.
A bunch of rich fucks quibbling over taxes decide its worth sending men off to die. Yeah, I’m not a big fan.
The thing about war is you need to differentiate between types of war. There is a massive difference…
Nah, you can’t just categorize wars into “imperialist wars” and “wars of national liberation” as if (a) the two never overlap, (b) wars fall clearly into one camp or the other, (c) wars in one category or another are unambiguously good or bad, and (d) there are no wars that fall into neither category.
Specifically, the American Revolution was an uprising of colonial settlers (not all of them, probably not a majority, but a lot of them). For a bunch of those colonial settlers, the right to own slaves and the right to expel indigenous inhabitants was a big part of what they were fighting for. If the American Revolution was a war of national liberation, then so was the Boer War and so, for that matter, was the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Ian Smith’s white Rhodesian government in 1965.
And yeah, that’s not all the American Revolution was. But it was that, among other things.
CK, by the way, also seems to think that the Civil War was justified. That is to say, she appears to think that the South was justified in seceding and then fighting to defend its independence. So there’s that.
The median pay for a worker in the US in 2011 was clocked in at only $39,300 last year.
Only 254:1. Sheeyit, that isn’t even close to our own record.
“Another example at the international level of how skillfully they use this trickery was in the Congo. In the Congo, airplanes were dropping bombs on African villages. African villages don’t have a defense against bombs. And the pilot can’t tell who the bomb is being dropped upon. When a bomb hits a village, everything goes. And these pilots, flying planes filled with bombs, dropping these bombs on African villages, were destroying women, were destroying children, were destroying babies. You never heard any outcry over here about that.
And it had started way back in June. They would drop bombs on African villages that would blow that village apart and everything in it — man, woman, child, and baby. No outcry, no sympathy, no support, no concern, because the press didn’t project it in such a way that it would be designed to get your sympathy. They know how to put something so that you’ll sympathize with it, and they know how to put it so you’ll be against it. I’m telling you, they are masters at it. And if you don’t develop the analytical ability to read between the lines in what they’re saying, I’m telling you again — they’ll be building gas ovens, and before you wake up you’ll be in one of them, just like the Jews ended up in gas ovens over there in Germany. You’re in a society that’s just as capable of building gas ovens for Black people as Hitler’s society was.
This was mass murder in the Congo, of women and children and babies. But there was no outcry even from the white liberals, even from your “friends.” Why? Because they made it appear that it was a humanitarian project. They said that the planes were being flown by “American-trained anti-Castro Cuban pilots.” This is propaganda, too. Soon as you hear that it’s American-trained, you say, “Oh that’s all right, that’s us.” And the anti-Castro Cubans, “Oh that’s all right too, ‘cause if they’re against Castro, whoever else they’re against that’s good, ‘cause Castro is a monster.” But you see how step-by-step they grab your mind?
And these pilots are hired, their salaries are paid by the United States government. They’re called mercenaries, these pilots are. And a mercenary is not someone who kills you because he’s patriotic. He kills you for blood money, he’s a hired killer. This is what a mercenary means. And they’re able to take these hired killers, put them in American planes, with American bombs, and drop them on African villages, blowing to bits Black men, Black women, Black children, Black babies, and you Black people sitting over here cool like it doesn’t even involve you. You’re a fool. They’ll do it to them today, and do it to you tomorrow. Because you and I and they are all the same.
They call it a humanitarian project and that they’re doing it in the name of freedom. And all of this, these glorious terms, are used to pave the way in your mind for what they’re going to do.
Then they take Tshombe. You’ve heard of Tshombe. He’s the worst African that was ever born. The lowest type that was ever born. He’s a murderer himself. He’s the murderer of Lumumba, the former prime minister of — the first and only rightful prime minister of the Congo. He’s an international — he’s a murderer with an international stature as a murderer. Yet the United States government went and got Tshombe in Spain, and put him as the head of the Congolese government. This is criminal! Here’s a man who’s a murderer, so the United States takes him, puts him over the Congo, and supports his government with your tax dollars. Now — they hired him to occupy the position as head of state over the Congo — a killer! He is a hired killer himself! His salary’s paid by the United States government. And he turns — his first move is to bring in South Africans, who hate everything in sight. He hires those South Africans to come and kill his own Congolese people. And the United States, again, pays their salary.
You know, it’s something to think about. How do you think you would feel right now if some Congolese brothers walked up to you — and they look just like you, don’t think you don’t look Congolese. You look as much Congolese as a Congolese does. They got all kinds of Congolese over there. How would you feel if one of them walked up to you and asked you about what your government is doing in the Congo. I was asked that when I was over there. But they don’t have to come to me like that, ‘cause they know where I stand automatically. And for one time I’m thankful to the press, for letting everybody know where I stand. They — but you have no explanation. Your tongue stays in your mouth. And then you have to become — you have to go to the extreme to convince them that you don’t go along with what the United States government is doing in the Congo.
And they justify the usage of Tshombe as the present head of state by saying that he’s the only African who can unite — or bring unity to the Congo. Has he brought unity to the Congo? But, see, this is their game! And their real reason for wanting Tshombe there was so that Tshombe could invite them to come in. Now, what African head of state would have dared to invite outside powers? So they put Tshombe there, and as soon as Tshombe got there he invited them to bring paratroopers from Belgium in the United States’ transport planes to try and recapture Congo.
This is all a cold-blooded act on the part of your Western powers, namely the Western powers here in the United States — interests in the United States, in England, and France, and Belgium and so forth. They want the wealth of the Congo, plus its strategic geographic position.
The step-by-step process that was used by the press: First they fanned the flame in such a manner to create hysteria in the mind of the public. And then they shift gears and fan the flame in a manner designed to get the sympathy of the public. And once they go from hysteria to sympathy, their next step is to get the public to support them in whatever act they’re getting ready to go down with. You’re dealing with a cold calculating international machine, that’s so criminal in its objectives and motives that it has the seeds of its own destruction, right within. They use the press to emphasize that white hostages are being held by [inaudible] — imagine that — or white priests, white missionaries, white nuns — they don’t say nuns: white nuns. You know what the paper said right here in Detroit: white missionaries, not just a missionary; a white nun — as if there’s a difference between a white nun and a black nun; or a white priest and a black priest; or if the light that’s in a white skin is more valuable than a light within a black skin. This is what they’re implying! And the press — look at the press when this thing was going on — and you will see what I’m talking about. They’re vicious in their whiteness.
But still, I wouldn’t judge them just ‘cause they’re white, or they’d call me a racist. [I’m] judging by their deeds, by their conscious behavior — and you know how they’ve been consciously behaving in the Congo, and how they consciously behave in Vietnam, and how they consciously behave right now in Alabama and Mississippi. So you and I got to get conscious, and start behaving in a way that we can offset this thing before it’s too late — and this is what they don’t want to hear.”
| Malcolm X (February 14th, 1965 in Detroit)
yall need to
because listen
all them thugs with them fitteds on that u think are “men”
are really ladies at night honey…
and I mean ladies….
Best GIF ever!
Judith Slaying Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi, 1611-12
Is this Artemisia’s way of saying, “Fuck with me and I will cut you”?
[Ms. Crip informs me that the head of Holofernes here is based on the face of her rapist, so I guess so.]
These are my questions to answer from the last post. Any of my followers can look and tell me their answers, I’m quite interested. Tag me in your answer post :)
Rule 1: Post the rules
Rule 2: Answer my questions and then create 11 new ones.
Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to your post.
Rule 4: Let them know you tagged them.
I’ve been tagged! OK, to my questions:
1. what do you remember your first favorite band to be? This is shameful. The Carpenters. Now I go to wear the cone of shame.
2. Favorite wall in your room? That would be the wall o’ books. (Which we’re packing up now, but that’s another story).
3. Favorite thing in your room? Is a person a thing? Because then we’d be talking about Ms. Crip. If not, then whichever book I’m most engrossed in at the moment.
4. something that made you laugh today? Shit. I don’t think I’ve laughed today. And that’s unusual. [Late update - I just laughed when Ms. Crip told me to google for an image of Canada’s Supreme Court, referring to them as “the nine Santas”.]
5. Something that made you sad? Eh, tried to slowly titrate off of my antidepressants, which was going okay until Sunday. Still recovering.
6. favorite character from fav book/movie/show? Hard to say. Maybe Claire from Six Feet Under.
7.favorite food? A really good grilled prime bone-in rib-eye steak.
8. Thing you do when your sad? Er, I think that would be Tumblr.
9. best friends name? Ms. Crip, of course.
10. How did you meet them? Online.
11.wanna be friends? You betcha.
Now to tag eleven people. Here you are:
http://stealthbananas.tumblr.com/
http://humanformat.tumblr.com/
http://e-schatology.tumblr.com/
http://revolutionaryhopes.tumblr.com/
http://bestatspace.tumblr.com/
http://artificialdawn.tumblr.com/
http://perseidbadger.tumblr.com/
http://chimasessions.tumblr.com/
http://figmentthehoodedman.tumblr.com/
And here are the questions for those who’ve been tagged:
1. When did you figure out that you had been assigned to the wrong species?
2. When did you find someone in a similar predicament?
3. What’s the last book that made you wanna holler and throw up both your hands?
4. Did the last question make you think of Marvin Gaye or Gil Scott-Heron?
5. Whose music do you listen to when you’re convinced that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and there’s not a fucking thing you or anyone else can do about it?
6. And what chemicals do you ingest while you’re listening to it?
7. The one time you thought everything was going to turn out alright - what fostered this illusion?
8. When did you decide that capitalism had to go?
9. Where do you hurt?
10. What do you want?
11. What price are you willing to pay?
Kane would have had a much better life if this is what he was thinking about when he uttered the word, “Rosebud”.
Many adults are put off when youngsters pose scientific questions. Children ask why the sun is yellow, or what a dream is, or how deep you can dig a hole, or when is the world’s birthday, or why we have toes. Too many teachers and parents answer with irritation or ridicule, or quickly move on to something else. Why adults should pretend to omniscience before a five-year-old, I can’t for the life of me understand. What’s wrong with admitting that you don’t know? Children soon recognize that somehow this kind of question annoys many adults. A few more experiences like this, and another child has been lost to science.
There are many better responses. If we have an idea of the answer, we could try to explain. If we don’t, we could go to the encyclopedia or the library. Or we might say to the child: “I don’t know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be the first to find out.”
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as the Candle in The Dark (via ironfleet)
I should have this tattooed on my brain for those times when Monkey asks a question I can’t answer right away.
RIAA Sues Defunct Music Downloading Service ‘LimeWire’ For $72 Trillion
i feel like the RIAA put different amounts in a hat and picked one out without looking on some Dr. Evil shit