Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Monday, October 31, 2005
Scare Tactics
Hey Mickey, I have to say I really enjoy the tactic of yesterday’s and today’s posts. I won’t walk away remembering the quotes necessarily, but I will have an overall impression. It’s like a volume thing, if that makes any sense. Also, you simply have a knack for aseembling a great collection of quotes.
But--may I criticize?--there’s something that disturbs me about the juxtoposition of the very serious and very chilling subject matter (and, in today’s case, the link you provide) with the frivolous animations and pictures. To be fair, in a way it’s quite honest, and kind of mirrors one’s experience just walking down the street (for example). Still, I think some of the images--animations in particular--take away more than they add. Only my 2 cents. You know I love your work (more, certainly, than the New York…
...times).
Posted by KBN on from The Hague 10/31 at 06:40 AMGood morning all...Back to yesterday’s comments. MUDGE, I would NEVER call you a Democrat. I like you. You are one of my favorite people on the planet. What I was trying, so inadequately to say, was that your position on homeschooling is identical to that of the Democrats. That is a fact. My main point was that homeschooling would be the lesser of the evils because it would be better to at least have some kids getting the facts straight. Also, there is the issue of government control vs parental control. You point out that some parents would indoctrinate their children. I agree with you, but I would rather have some (unknown percentage) children misinformed by their parents than almost ALL children misinformed by the government. Maybe there is also a regional geographical component here. Most home schooled kids that I know up here hold left wing, free thinking, anti-war views.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/31 at 08:31 AMMickey, Thanks for slipping in the Fisk photos. We will get them seen “by any means necessary”.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/31 at 08:37 AMI think school is the only place that we could have invented that is able to make kids NOT want to learn. Nursery Schools are great, I think. I’ve been able to watch my niece (now 5) go crazy over nursery school and then completely change in her attitude towards school in kindergarten. They have her doing dication...ever seen a nervous, under-pressure, five-year-old? It ain’t pretty.
I myself ran away from kindergarten, into the NYC streets and found my way back to nursery school where I played until my mother showed up.
Morning all. I pretty much “kept” to myself yesterday, Joe. Later.
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/31 at 08:40 AMThat’s “dictation,” not dication.
That picture of the girl with no foot is so horrible that I think that some light-hearted cartoons may be neccessary in order to not go completely insane.
I wonder what the effect would be if it was placed on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow morning? Perhaps many a breakfast would be seen again post-digestion and we would be out of Iraq by the end of the month. I must believe that or else…
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/31 at 08:57 AMI gotta say, I enjoyed most of my public school education. I did go to one of the wealthier public school districts in the country, as far as I know, but it wasn’t racially homogenous for one thing, and we did have a handful of left-leaning teachers in the high school. Sure, we recited the pledge and so on, but I remember writing--and being encouraged to write--a school newspaper article criticizing the propoganda of the first Gulf War. I was 14. I remember debating the death penalty and the legality of flag burning in class around the same time. I even remember “campaiging” for Mondale in my third grade class!
When I think back to those years of indoctrination in the 80’s and early 90’s, it was not the solid education in math, literature, history, creative writing, music, theater, and so on that were problems. I think it was the solidly “democratic” positions of my parents. Shit, they let me play with GI Joe figures and Matchbox cars, which I couldn’t imagine I would purchase for my children, if I had any.
Posted by KBN on from The Hague 10/31 at 09:06 AMI had more guns growing up than Charlton Heston...I had to learn on my own what they are capable in real life. GI Joe was an obsession...my parents, no doubt, didn’t like all of the gunplay, but it would have been pretty hard not to get us what we wanted. I don’t think I would change a thing from that aspect of my childhood because it all led me to where I am today.
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/31 at 09:23 AMOh right, and the guns! I forgot about the guns. The very real looking plastic cap guns. The army surplus camos. The flea-market weaponry (throwing stars, slingshots, knives and so on). There’s an episode of South Park that captures this reality perfectly. And yes, we did have a five-week class in PE on shooting rifles when I was 15. Funny how I purged that memory!
Posted by KBN on from The Hague 10/31 at 10:18 AMHello all. JOS, you were missed yesterday...and this line is classic: “I myself ran away from kindergarten, into the NYC streets and found my way back to nursery school where I played until my mother showed up.”
RMJ: I’ll keep posting those images until we get “results.”
Keir: Thanks for the feedback. I understand and appreciate your point but, for me, this blog is very much satirical and thus reflective of the person who maintains it. I come out of the old photocopied zine generation (does anyone remember Factsheet Five?) and that was all about odd juxtapositions and co-opted images. Sort of watered-down situationism.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 10:19 AMMornin, Mickey & Rosemarie & Keir & Welcome Back, JOS -
I wondered, JOS, if you folks in PR had been effected by Hurricane Beta. I was going to check the world weather maps this morning… (Fortunately, I was wrong, eh?)
I sometimes have to take time away, as well - clear the mind and heart and take a deep breath.Mickey - Kermit just loves your front pages… he’s still celebrating them, right this minute!
Rosemarie, it’s been my personal experience, too, that most home-school families lean leftward. That said, my readings on the subject, as I was preparing to embark on the journey, said in no uncertain terms that most US home-schooling families keep their kids from school for “relegious” reasons. If this was not true, I fear home-schooling would be illegal…
Keir - Raising children is a whopper of an experience. Imagine all of the hurricanes and storm related madness in the US this year, combine them all, and call the resulting storm “Having Kids.” Now, imagine actually choosing to walk directly into this tremendous, this more than perfect storm, and saying to yourself, as you go: “OK, here I go. I know exactly what I’m going to do, and how I’m going to do it...”
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/31 at 10:45 AMKermit needs to spend some “time” in yoga class with JOS.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 11:10 AMKermit may need a couple months in rehab…
Man, that froggie is blasted!Mickey - check this out: “waiting”
Posted by joe on from the back burner 10/31 at 11:26 AMHey all, it’s hectic around my part of the world, sporadically checking all my traps.
RMJ, I take your point, although I still grimace at sharing Demublicrat POVs...but as Joe says, the vast, overwhelming majority of home-schoolers are religious right wingnuts in most of the country. THose on the coasts tend not to factor in Flyover Country’s deep and abiding hatred of all not themselves. Tolerance from ANY toward ANY is a rare commodity here.
Keir, my grandfather taught me to shoot with a .22 rifle when I was 6. I have rotten eyesight, so he took the gun away from me after I damn near killed someone on a deer hunt...his only comment was, “[Your cousin] woulda been no loss, but the sheriff wouldn’t see it our way.” Ah, les jadis...ou sont les neiges d’antan, except the Borderland last saw neiges in the 1920s and I ain’t that old.
Off to see if my paperwork has arrived via email, “peace” out
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/31 at 12:33 PMOh, Michael...meant to say “take note of Angus’s predicament” but then remembered you were kidding. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Joe, your kind words about friends and family are much valued. Back at’cha.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/31 at 01:09 PMOf all of the war photos I have ever seen, and I have seen many hundreds, the 3 photos of the little girl in pink, page 1, row 2, have had the greatest impact on me. To me, that photo more that any other, shows such humanity because the victim child’s face is photographed so clearly. At the same time, that photo shows the ultimate in man’s inhumanity. I am still searching for a way to get that photo up on billboards...maybe with the caption, “This is what your tax money is doing”, or “This is what the troops did”, or “US cluster bombs, The ultimate in child abuse”, or....any other ideas out there?
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/31 at 03:34 PMIt could be quite a coup, RMJ. An image like that with a simple question like: “How does this end terror?” or even simpler: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” I think going too hardcore would make it too easy for the billboard to be dismissed.
Back in the day, John and Yoko used to rent billboards...but they had unlimited capital. There’s always the option of DIY work.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 04:08 PMAnother bunch of great quotes and graphics, Mickey! I chuckled at your link between Rosa Parks and Condi Rice - but then you do make sense ..
And hello, KBN, RMJ, JOS, joe and Mudge - hope I have not forgotten anyone.
Here’s the ‘official’ site of my hometown again:
http://travelvictoria.com.au/daylesford/ where summer has broken out recently although it only begins on 1 December, according to the calendar.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/31 at 04:58 PMJoe, we lost electricity at work today, but no, we were not hit by Beta at all. In PR we appreciate our electricity when we have it. Be back in a couple hours…
Posted by JOS on from Home 10/31 at 06:27 PMmickey - the more u read about john and yoko the less u think of them. trust me on this one.
all this gun shit is weird. when i was in canada and the US (for about an hour - niagara border thing) i spoke to several people and told them that not even the police are allowed to carry guns here. people can’t have them- neither can the cops. so many people just point blank refused to believe me.
for the record… there r three countries in the world where police don’t routinely carry guns - UK, iceland and norway. it is something that i regard as one of the (few) redeeming features of this country. it is however being stripped away at slowly. the papers r full of why it is times for the police to be armed so they can repress us more. the propaganda forces are in full flow trying to make this happen. the public reaction against this is one ‘thing’ that gives me a bit more faith.
i understand just how off the planet this seems to people who come from gun cultures
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/31 at 07:47 PMYeah, I guess I’ve written more than usual about John & Yoko in this “space” lately...but fear not, Michael. I’m the skeptical sort. They’re not my heroes, but aspects of their lives do interest me.
Let me ask you something about the gun issues in the UK. How was it that the London cops all had guns to shot that poor Brazilian guy? Was that purely an “anti-terror” squad?
Hi Helga. Dayleford looks very calm and peaceful compared to what I’m used to.
JOS: Glad to hear Beta didn’t get you. Reminded me of the Beta-Max. Anyone remember that?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 07:53 PMmickey, your general point is correct. i am trying to say that they r slipping it to us thru the back door. there r special groups of cops that r allowed to carry guns but they r the exception and not the rule. there is a propaganda effort to normalise it at the moment but in this society it is not normal and despite the propaganda it is still not wanted.
it was supposed to b the anti-terror squad but it was just after the london bombs so whoever did it felt that they had free reign to do whatever. there was a reasonably heartening public reaction against it but no actual action taken.
the public debate that should have happened but didnt was over this ‘shoot to kill’ policy that had supposedly been authorised.
noone on mainstream sources asked the questions “ok, so if its shoot to kill, who said that that was allowed from now on”
no one
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/31 at 08:04 PMThat would make for an interesting article: A society that’s used to the idea of cops without guns suddenly dealing with a “shoot to kill” edict.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 08:15 PMit would make a good article. i will try and think about it when its nots 1.30am. off to bed, will pick up any points 2moro.
helga - daylesford looks idyylic in places.
i would be surprised if anyone still listens to anything that i am ‘saying’
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/31 at 08:28 PMDarwin Award nominee: http://tinyurl.com/afdkn
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 08:44 PMok so i am still here for 10 minutes. he is a definite nominee. the one i mentioned a couple of days ago that killed himself and his wife by hammering in a nail with a loaded gun (for this to work she must have been standing behind him or something). i ust couldn’t get over the picturing the funeral. a speaker gets up.....
“he was an intelligent man”
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/31 at 09:03 PMHi Mickey, Michael, JOS & Helga -
Daylesford does look very nice, Helga. Thanks for the glimpse. Hey - I understand that, when you write to us, you’re writing from our tomorrow. If that’s true, perhaps you can keep us informed about the future so we’ll be less likely to screw up… ( The winning lottery numbers might be nice, too, if you can get tomorrow’s US newspapers. )
Michael, yeah, that guy is an award winner for sure. Sad, though, eh?
Did you see that war film, “The Thin Red Line?” Woody Harrelson reaches behind him and pulls at something, and then stares for a second at a little piece of metal in his hand. He seems staggered. You think to yourself, as you watch -"What the hell is he so upset about?”
Then he says: “Aw, shit - I reached for a grenade and pulled it by the pin. I’ve got the pin right here in my hand! Jesus, now I’m dead!” A second or so later, he blew up, and died a few minutes later…Fortunately, I don’t carry grenades on my belt, or I’d have been dead a long time ago.
On a related note:
A few years ago, back in upstate NY, there was a big bank robbery in Albany. The police got the guy’s picture from the security cameras, and showed them around. People kept saying: “Yeah, I’ve seen that guy. He’s around here all the time!” Finally, they showed it to a lady who said: “Oh, yes, I know him. He lives right over there.” She points to an apartment on the third floor - two floors up from the bank that was just robbed.
Our boy lived just upstairs!There’s an award waiting there, somewhere, Michael.
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/31 at 10:02 PMSpeaking of Malick, Joe, he hasn’t “made” many films, but has one due very soon: http://tinyurl.com/9h53f.
On that note, I’ll see you all tomorrow. How’s tomorrow looking so far, Helga?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/31 at 10:10 PMLooks very good, Mickey… thanks for the pointer!
By the way, it looks as if Mr. Malick is Mudge’s neighbor. Is Mr. Malick perhaps moonlighting as - “Punkin?!”G`Night, Mickey Z.
Posted by joe on from Oregon 11/01 at 12:26 AMTerence Malick AIN’T no twenty-three, nossirree bob.
Punkin got The Talk this past Saturday. It’s just too weird to “date” someone half one’s age. Didn’t take it well, honestly nor did I, but it is now done. He vows he has not yet begun to fight, and I did get flowers this morning at 8:30 (I dislike flowers, strike six), so perhaps he wasn’t kidding.
Paperwork filed. A breather afforded me, I hope. Yeeks!
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 11/01 at 01:00 AMI got a story about Terence Malick, sortof. Actually I got two seeing as I didn´t write one Saturday. Malick had a large hiatus in his career, he had a brother studying guitar in Spain with Segovia, a great guitarist but rather rigid perfectionist who claims to have put in 100,000-hours-plus practice, under whom Malick´s brother was having a tough time coping and grew depressed enough for their father to call Terence and ask him to bring him back to the USA. He was busy working with a film and said no, so when he did go to Spain it was to bring his brothers´ body back, his brother had broken his own hands too. Second is a photographer friend of mine, Dick, worked as an extra on Days Of Heaven and being Chinese-Canadian with long plaited hair and long gnarled beard he was distinctivelooking enough to be the only extra the crew knew by name. He said they made his hometown look much nicer than it was and thought that Malick did a great job of translating his personal quirks and mannerisms to the screen. One scene the villagers had to dance in a ring around a tall fire, out of which an enormous log fell out so they continued around skipping over it, and Dick tripped and landed in the fire. He jumped off and smothered his hand in his clothes, thinking it was on fire but it was just blistered badly. The producer Bert Schneider drove him topspeed to the hospital in his Ferrarri. Dick is a keen mechanic too and funds his photo trips by fixing people´s cars along the way (also says he is as far as he knows the inventor of “exhaust manifold cooking” where you lash a can of soup or beans to the manifold and drive 75 to 100 miles per hour), said twas the only time he was in one of those cars and he couldn´t enjoy it. Though the producers were worried he was going to sue he´s not interested in that kind of thing - anyway from then on they completely ignored him so he left the film thinking they were a bunch of phoneys.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 11/01 at 05:35 AMSorry to hear of your break-up, Mudge.
The Malick stories remind me of how single-minded (read:selfish) many of these artistic “geniuses” are. I truly believe I could have been a far more successful writer if I was more of an asshole but it’s a trade-off I couldn’t stomach.
Time to post something for Tuesday.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/01 at 05:41 AMHi Mickey, I read your article. I love the idea of a day to honor veterans of the antiwar movement. What a great statement that would be. I think it should be on a different day though, such as maybe the day US troops withdrew from Vietnam (or some other signficant victory for the peace movement).
Posted by Charlotte Thistle on from 11/04 at 07:10 PMGreat idea, Charlotte. Maybe Feb. 15...to mark the big peace rallies of 2003.
Btw, I went to your site. Good luck with the guitar. Please stop by again and keep us up to date.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/04 at 07:38 PM
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