So once again I found myself wanting to rant about the comments I found on the news articles I've been reading. I've kept from going onto any hard core rants because most of the idiotic comments are from people who don't really know any better. Nine times out of ten, the stupidest comments come from people who don't really have a clue about what is going on. I've read things ranging from complaints that there was no proof for invading Afghanistan (the commentator was probably high for most of September 2001) and about how we are losing the war in Afghanistan because the Taliban are digging in and "fending us off" (in which case the person doing the complaining is probably basing this off of the tactics he learned from Halo or Mario and envisions a Taliban castle atop a Afghan mountain that we have been attacking in the grandest Napoleonic style since the beginning of the war.)
These well-meaning people are fun to listen to and can usually contradicted with a sarcastic comment and will be sent on their way, but the people that really entertain me are the ones that know exactly what they are talking about, and just don't care.
Today I was reading an article that actually addressed one of my recent concerns: The fact that the media has been playing up an upcoming offensive, Operation Moshtarak (which means "together" in the language of the Afghans.)
I, like others I know, had been concerned that this large operation was being publicised an obnoxious amount, and the article basically said "Hey, we know. The generals are doing it on purpose. They said it's cool."
I still don't know if it's a good call, but its not the media being silly, at least not this time, so I was reassured in humanity just a little from reading the article.
Then I made the mistake of reading the comments posted on the article.
Faith in humanity took another kick to the face.
There was a long list of the usual comments about how everything is bad, the military is awful, and the strategy is horrid. Ok guys. Whatever you say. That's cool.
Then came a comment that really made me smile. I think I will quote it en mass just for effect.
JD writes...
"This entire story is absolute garbage, and pretty naive. Obviously CNN is doing its govenment mouth piece thing again. First of all using the media is part of the plan. Repeat. Using the media is part of the plan. Cultivate lines of communication and feed disinformation into it, and plan attacks based on the results. Propaganda. Perfect example: Desert Storm. They marketed the amphibious assault, Sadam focused his defenses to combat this. The US used the last battleship to make lots of noise with the big guns, When the Marines landed they were greated by news crews, while the real attack did a complete end-around flanking maneuver, attacking the enemy from behind. It was brilliant, but then someone went "wait a minute." They purposely fed the media disinformation, lies. An effective tactic learned from the Nazis I'd imagine. They did it prior and have been doing it ever since, even against the American people, to cultivate support for our only viable true export, war, war profiteering and the military/industial complex. It a huge war machine from top to bottom, and right now the leash is off. So CNN... please spare me the sheeple contrived context or pretext for this crap. Surely Goebbels would have done it with more tact?"
Mmmmm. Yeah.
Just soak that in.
So basically this guy is mad at the military because they're using strategy? That's the vibe I'm getting. I really have no reason to complain though, because I nearly forgot about the rule of war where we have to publish all of our operations plans on the internet. And before we start missions, we have to shoot flares, and shout over loudspeakers "WE ARE STARTING OUR ATTACK NOW!" in seventeen different languages.
My bad.
Fortunately for my sanity, the next poster was a super duper paratrooper, who ended his post with "All the way!"
ATW.
05 February 2010
11 January 2010
A Whole New World
So I'm pretty excited. It hasn't even been a whole week and I found something so unbelievably epic, I just can't help but spread this joy to the rest of the... well, anyone who happens to stumble upon this when they should be doing homework or something of value.
CNN.com is one of my favorite haunts recently, and an article caught my interest from the first words of the title: Audience Experiences 'Avatar' Blues.
To be honest, my favorite part of the title was the fact they used blue, and the Avatar people are blue, and that kind of horrid joke is my favorite kind of horrid.
The main point of this article is that someone watched the movie, and then realized that life here in the real world isn't as pretty. They now have suicidal thoughts.
I stifled my internal commentary on natural selection, and continued into the depths of this great piece of journalism.
A fan forum site mentioned in the article has been flooded with comments about how depressed people are getting, and the administrator and obviously great guy Philippe Baghdassarian expressed his understanding about people and their blue feelings.
He went on to express his sympathy saying, quote (usually, "quote" is used when speaking to tell someone you are quoting someone, and quotation marks usually suffice in written things, but I just wanted to emphasise the degree to which this quote is remarkable as being real), "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."
I don't think I'm grasping at air when I suggest the obvious implication is that without some fateful decision made by the evil somebodies, Earth would be like it is on "Pandora."
And why would I be? We all know that, without the evils of humanity, we could also be seven foot tall blue people. We would live in jungles, wear little to nothing, and have USB ports in our ponytails. That is pretty much common knowledge.
Too bad we missed that opportunity.
The most compelling argument is made by a 17 year old from Sweden. According to him, everything seemed like it had "lost its meaning." He clarified that "It just seems so... meaningless."
He made it very clear that he lives "in a dying world."
Obviously the only person CNN.com could reach for comment, the Swede responded via e mail and spoke quite poetically about his depression.
Sadly for those of us out of high school, it would appear that we have all missed our chance to become somebody in the world.
The article goes on to claim that the movie creates 'separation anxiety' whenever viewers leave the theater.
I don't think I need to expand on that.
I had gotten this far into the article and was kind of saddened, depressed maybe?, that the article of such tremendous commentary provoking potential was going to come to a close.
My worries were premature.
Evidently one of the actors was available for comment. Stephen Lang, who played the antagonist in the film, commented on the dream like quality and how fantastically the movie is done.
This seems to have shocked the author of the article as it was mentions that fans might find him "an unlikely sympathiser."
This is naturally because he portrays the enemy of all that is happy in the movie.
I'm not sure that the author is aware that Mr. Lang was doing what most people refer to as "acting."
Naturally, the proposed cure is video games and downloading soundtracks.
I still want to ride one of those freakin jungle horses.
Too bad the world is dying and polluted...
_____________
12JAN10-
I forgot about floating mountains, which we could also have.
CNN.com is one of my favorite haunts recently, and an article caught my interest from the first words of the title: Audience Experiences 'Avatar' Blues.
To be honest, my favorite part of the title was the fact they used blue, and the Avatar people are blue, and that kind of horrid joke is my favorite kind of horrid.
The main point of this article is that someone watched the movie, and then realized that life here in the real world isn't as pretty. They now have suicidal thoughts.
I stifled my internal commentary on natural selection, and continued into the depths of this great piece of journalism.
A fan forum site mentioned in the article has been flooded with comments about how depressed people are getting, and the administrator and obviously great guy Philippe Baghdassarian expressed his understanding about people and their blue feelings.
He went on to express his sympathy saying, quote (usually, "quote" is used when speaking to tell someone you are quoting someone, and quotation marks usually suffice in written things, but I just wanted to emphasise the degree to which this quote is remarkable as being real), "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."
I don't think I'm grasping at air when I suggest the obvious implication is that without some fateful decision made by the evil somebodies, Earth would be like it is on "Pandora."
And why would I be? We all know that, without the evils of humanity, we could also be seven foot tall blue people. We would live in jungles, wear little to nothing, and have USB ports in our ponytails. That is pretty much common knowledge.
Too bad we missed that opportunity.
The most compelling argument is made by a 17 year old from Sweden. According to him, everything seemed like it had "lost its meaning." He clarified that "It just seems so... meaningless."
He made it very clear that he lives "in a dying world."
Obviously the only person CNN.com could reach for comment, the Swede responded via e mail and spoke quite poetically about his depression.
Sadly for those of us out of high school, it would appear that we have all missed our chance to become somebody in the world.
The article goes on to claim that the movie creates 'separation anxiety' whenever viewers leave the theater.
I don't think I need to expand on that.
I had gotten this far into the article and was kind of saddened, depressed maybe?, that the article of such tremendous commentary provoking potential was going to come to a close.
My worries were premature.
Evidently one of the actors was available for comment. Stephen Lang, who played the antagonist in the film, commented on the dream like quality and how fantastically the movie is done.
This seems to have shocked the author of the article as it was mentions that fans might find him "an unlikely sympathiser."
This is naturally because he portrays the enemy of all that is happy in the movie.
I'm not sure that the author is aware that Mr. Lang was doing what most people refer to as "acting."
Naturally, the proposed cure is video games and downloading soundtracks.
I still want to ride one of those freakin jungle horses.
Too bad the world is dying and polluted...
_____________
12JAN10-
I forgot about floating mountains, which we could also have.
06 January 2010
Commentary on Commentary
This week at school has primarily been one of administrative type nonsense and other mundane activity, so there has been a lot of time for people of little responsibility, such as myself, to wander about the depths of the internets and familiarize oneself with the happenings of current times.
On a quest to kill some spare time and learn a little in the process, I've been spending a lot of time on the websites CNN.com and mylifeisaverage.com. Although these seem like rather unrelated websites, they are some of my favorites for some light reading, and they both allow commentary by regular people on the postings of the respective sites.
When I say "normal people" I must admit that I find myself wanting to cringe and hope against hope that these people aren't the standard by which normal is measured.
Yesterday, I found myself reading MLIA, and I realized that most of the more entertaining postings have a long tirade of comments sometimes related to the material of the post. One particular entry had a long following of comments that ranged from someone handing out mangos to everyone involved, so someone exercising cyber domination with whips and chains. Others, somewhat oblivious to the ambient bondage and citrus continued making statements somewhat related to the actual post. The end state was a slew of bitter, discontented and cynical ranting about how awful everyone is. Interjected amid the cynicism were grammar nazis who are morally obligated to point out every grammatical error they can find.
I couldn't help but read on as the commentary continued in a very negative direction. Like a train wreck you can't help but being enthralled in, the comments still go on.
CNN.com is what kept me busy after breakfast this morning. An article about air marshals and the things they are doing to protect civilian air traffic is actually the article that prompted this little rant. Again, a long list of agitated commentary followed the article like a pack of junkyard dogs hoping for something edible to fall from the garbage truck.
I must pause here to mention that I haven't encountered any junkyard dogs, but that is the kind of behavior I would expect them to display.
Back to the bitter people, I can at least say that I was pleased to find that there was no discussion including whips, submission, or comments like "*hands everyone some of my delicious mango.*" The comments were still very entertaining, if nothing else. Many people were mad because of the statistics they had pulled from... somewhere. Since hijackings have never occurred on a plane with an air marshal aboard, they are obviously not doing their jobs, one great political mind explained. Another provided their vast knowledge about the real way to prevent terrorism: dogs that sniff people in the "crotch area."
From there, the commentary drifted farther and farther away from the actual topic of the article. It wasn't long before the article about air marshals had become a place to complain about everything negative related to airports.
Some people are mad because they have to wait in lines. Obviously airport security isn't necessary because no big terrorist attacks have taken place since all of the security was beefed up, another wise individual proclaimed.
My favorite commentator seems to have some affinity for the Soviet bloc, because they went on a verbal rampage about how awful it is that people can have their luggage searched. They went on to explain that the United States is no longer a world power because of this inconvenience, citing of course the most famous of the amendments to the constitution: the right to not be inconvenienced because your time is worth more than anyone else's life.
I would just like to close this morning's rant with my thought of the week: the best typos are Taliban typos.
As someone interested in the affairs of the world, I like to get as many perspectives as possible, and the Taliban has their own news, and it is very interesting to read about all of the things they say they are doing. Best quote ever... while ranting about how awful all of us are, they mentioned the "pro-war generals at the pentagram." It made me laugh, at least.
On a quest to kill some spare time and learn a little in the process, I've been spending a lot of time on the websites CNN.com and mylifeisaverage.com. Although these seem like rather unrelated websites, they are some of my favorites for some light reading, and they both allow commentary by regular people on the postings of the respective sites.
When I say "normal people" I must admit that I find myself wanting to cringe and hope against hope that these people aren't the standard by which normal is measured.
Yesterday, I found myself reading MLIA, and I realized that most of the more entertaining postings have a long tirade of comments sometimes related to the material of the post. One particular entry had a long following of comments that ranged from someone handing out mangos to everyone involved, so someone exercising cyber domination with whips and chains. Others, somewhat oblivious to the ambient bondage and citrus continued making statements somewhat related to the actual post. The end state was a slew of bitter, discontented and cynical ranting about how awful everyone is. Interjected amid the cynicism were grammar nazis who are morally obligated to point out every grammatical error they can find.
I couldn't help but read on as the commentary continued in a very negative direction. Like a train wreck you can't help but being enthralled in, the comments still go on.
CNN.com is what kept me busy after breakfast this morning. An article about air marshals and the things they are doing to protect civilian air traffic is actually the article that prompted this little rant. Again, a long list of agitated commentary followed the article like a pack of junkyard dogs hoping for something edible to fall from the garbage truck.
I must pause here to mention that I haven't encountered any junkyard dogs, but that is the kind of behavior I would expect them to display.
Back to the bitter people, I can at least say that I was pleased to find that there was no discussion including whips, submission, or comments like "*hands everyone some of my delicious mango.*" The comments were still very entertaining, if nothing else. Many people were mad because of the statistics they had pulled from... somewhere. Since hijackings have never occurred on a plane with an air marshal aboard, they are obviously not doing their jobs, one great political mind explained. Another provided their vast knowledge about the real way to prevent terrorism: dogs that sniff people in the "crotch area."
From there, the commentary drifted farther and farther away from the actual topic of the article. It wasn't long before the article about air marshals had become a place to complain about everything negative related to airports.
Some people are mad because they have to wait in lines. Obviously airport security isn't necessary because no big terrorist attacks have taken place since all of the security was beefed up, another wise individual proclaimed.
My favorite commentator seems to have some affinity for the Soviet bloc, because they went on a verbal rampage about how awful it is that people can have their luggage searched. They went on to explain that the United States is no longer a world power because of this inconvenience, citing of course the most famous of the amendments to the constitution: the right to not be inconvenienced because your time is worth more than anyone else's life.
I would just like to close this morning's rant with my thought of the week: the best typos are Taliban typos.
As someone interested in the affairs of the world, I like to get as many perspectives as possible, and the Taliban has their own news, and it is very interesting to read about all of the things they say they are doing. Best quote ever... while ranting about how awful all of us are, they mentioned the "pro-war generals at the pentagram." It made me laugh, at least.
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