TOTALITARIANISM TODAY
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
The pipeline to end all pipelines.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan just signed a framework agreement for a US $3.2 billion gas pipeline project that will pass through the three countries. Nothing like a little oil upon which to build a few friendship treaties. I wonder how Lukoil is greeting this news.
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
In acknowledgement of those who are still worthwhile when the stakes are high.
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
Why the economic prospects for NYC in 2003 aren't so pretty.
Heather MacDonald at her best.
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
An unnamed poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, written for Lou Andreas-Salome.
Put my eyes out: I can still see;
slam my ears shut: I can still hear,
walk without feet to where you were,
and, tongueless, speak you into being.
Snap off my arms: I'll hold you hard
in my heart's longing like a fist;
halt that, my brain will do its beating,
and if you set this mind of mine aflame,
then on my blood I'll carry you away.
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
The future of file-sharing in 2003.
Heaven and earth forbid that the ongoing Kazaa case in US courts should remove yet another file-sharing program! Last year, an appeals court in the Netherlands overturned a lower court ruling that held KaZaa liable for copyright infringement on the grounds that the parent company, Sharman Networks is not responsible for the illegal actions of people using its software. This was the first decision anywhere in the world to protect a file-swapping company against copyright liability.
Among potential precendents under consideration in this case are problems of jurisdiction, as Sharman Networks is located in Australia and maintains minimal business contact with the United States.
The Kazaa case itself may not lead to a sweeping legal precedent, however. Jurisdictional arguments rise and fall on whether a company has sufficient contact with United States residents to make it liable under U.S. law. However, in Sharman's case, the company itself has a contract with its peer-to-peer technology vendor, Blastoise, which says that disputes should be litigated in Los Angeles court, according to a record industry attorney.
Sharman attorney Rod Dorman said the earlier contract has been renegotiated so that any disputes would take place in the United Kingdom, not the United States. He says the company simply hasn't had enough business contact inside the United States to be sued there.
That doesn't mean the company is trying to avoid legal contact with the record labels or movie studios altogether. The copyright holders can come to the company's headquarters in Australia and sue it there, Dorman said.
"Sharman has not purposively availed itself of the privileges of doing business in California to a sufficient amount to establish jurisdiction," Dorman said.
Robert Menta notes that a US court ruled in early 2002 that foreign countries could not regulate the content that appears on Yahoo. This was in response to a German court ruling against Yahoo on the grounds that the company violated German law by allowing its citizens access to Nazi related material found on their auction site. The possession of Nazi memorabilia is illegal in Germany. Will the distinction affect the current KaZaa case? Probably not as much as the music industry's money-politics.
As for those of us who learned how to share in kindergarten, we will probably be searching for the next file-share site. Anyone care to suggest a few possible site-names for those who are considering becoming internet heroes?
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
Hitchens examines "evil".
If "Evil" exemplifies the kind of thoughtful analysis Hitchens might conduct in 2003, then I will be forced by dint of argument to put him back on my daily radar. The decision to describe something as "evil" is not as rational a decision as we might like to think. In fact, "evil" seems to be evoked most often viscerally-- a gut reaction to what we find personally morally repugnant. There is no cut-and-dry list of qualifications to merit "evil". As "evil" emerges the ideal equal-opportunity employer, I'm having less fun mocking Bush's "axis of evil".
Everybody knows that morality is indissoluble from the idea of conscience and that something innate in us will condemn murder and theft without having to have the lesson pedantically inculcated. Finding a full wallet on the back seat of a cab and deciding to hang onto it, most people would have to subject themselves to at least some rationalization and justification, even if they were sure that nobody had detected them. I myself can't decide if this inherent conscience is conferred upon us by evolutionary biology—in other words, whether it selects well for socialization and survival and thus comes to us as something possessing evident utility. That thought might be merely as comforting a reflection as a belief in altruism. However, I do know for sure that a certain number of people manage to be born, or perhaps raised, without this constraint. When confronted with the unblinking, conscienceless person we now say that he is a "psychopath," incapable of conceiving an interest other than his own and perhaps genuinely indifferent to the well-being of others.
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
The EU goes Greek.
With Greece taking over the leadership of the EU today, there is reason to believe its regional status will increase. The Greek government released its main goals for the next six months, including its work to ensure the smooth signing in Athens, on 16 April, of the treaty that will formally welcome 10 new central and Eastern European states into the Union. Problems, while not expected, might emerge over the question of Cyprus, which is currently involved in peace talks intended to bring facilitate the accession of a unified island. According to Civitas, "Although the Turkish Foreign Ministry has refused to recognise the island's accession the possibility of a fully blown crisis over the issue, which loomed large under the previous Ecevit government, has apparently receded with the arrival of a new pro-EU administration in Turkey".
In a message given yesterday, Foreign Minister George A. Papandreou commented on EU accession, emphasizing the extent to which the European Union must encourage regional governments to make membership a worthy goal.
With this enlargement, the European Union must not throw up new barriers. We must continue our efforts toward the forging of stable ties with all the European countries with a potential future in the European Union – we must strengthen our relations with the other countries of “our neighbourhood” – the countries of the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, Russia – and lay the foundations for the making of our Europe.
Methinks the Greeks might prefer to bring other Orthodox countries into the predominantly Catholic, Protestant cuckold. Papandreou also referred to the collective action problem plaguing NATO by assuring fellow Europeans that Europe will stand on its own two feet in foreign policy. Lest anyone believe the EU intends to follow America's orders during the coming year, Papandreou makes it a point to suggest otherwise-- "We want a European Union with a powerful presence in international developments – with a role and a say – on an equal footing with our strategic partner, the United States." For a taste of Euro-enthusiasm, visit Athens' new site for the Greek leadership of the EU.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
"Sweet liberty" v. the Nutra-sweetened stuff.
At the end of "Two Towers", Frodo turns despairingly to Sam and asks him, "What are we holding on to, Sam?" Frodo sees little reason to continue-- the path is long and hard, and there is no reason to believe they will complete their quest. Quietly, Sam tells him that they are holding on to the hope that "there is some good in this world... something worth fighting for." And there is.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Seeing is believing.
Sean Spooky Suicide's successful alt-amateur porn attracts more than just the average middle-aged loser. His site, Suicide Girls, cornered a niche for emo, hard-core, punk, or just plain un-Barbie-fake lust. Of course, this comes as no surprise to free-marketers, who have long touted the ability of markets to tap into changes in consumer taste and demand. The market for pornography demonstrates its versatility and adaptability with sites catering to techno junkies, like Raverporn, straight-edge ladies at Friction USA, even models dressed as your favorite sci-fi stars at Supercult.
What distinguishes alt-am porn from previous trends, however, stems from the changes in how the porn-for-profit business runs. Sean Suicide uses innovative techniques and cooperative arrangements to make sure the models get what they want out of posing. What really fascinates me is the assumption under which Sean operates-- an assumption that his models validate-- namely, that women who pose naked might be looking for something besides money from the experience. In 19th century France, being an artist's model was a ticket to potential immortality. Hats off to the new generation.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
How much fun Tom had at his Mormon school.
Back in the shiny, happy days before Ritalin, little Tom Bradley, his head brimming with amino acids, would march off to his Mormon school, keen to challenge his teacher’s creationism. A savvy piece worth savoring.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Why Bush is not a Tolkien hero.
Leave it to self-righteous war-hungry loonies to misinterpret Tolkien's "Two Towers" as butressing the moral argument for a war against Iraq. In "Tolkien Picks Up A Few More Bits Of Cultural Baggage", Chris Mooney writes:
For supporters of the war on terrorism and war with Iraq, the relative moral clarity of its narrative is one of the chief attractions of "The Lord of the Rings." After all, in the conflict with al Qaeda or Saddam Hussein, we Americans may indeed be pitted against people who can justly be described as evil. It's a topical connection that Peter Jackson, the director of the cinematic version of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic, seems to be inviting. In "The Two Towers," Jackson improvises upon Tolkien's text by introducing an orc suicide bomber at the battle of Helm's Deep.
Former Boston Herald columnist Don Feder went on record as saying that Tolkien's newfound popularity signified nothing less than a "ringing affirmation of a moral universe" -- where hobbits resemble New York City firefighters and Osama bin Laden has the cheekbones of Sauron. The cast does not agree with Feder. Viggo Mortensen, who plays the delicious Arargorn, said on "The Charlie Rose Show" that "I don't think that 'The Two Towers' or Tolkien's writing or Peter's work or our work has anything to do with the United States's foreign ventures at this time." Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo, backed Mortensen up, adding, "People say it's a pro-war movie, too, which I also have a problem with."
It's easy to allegorize fantasy fiction-- almost as easy as it is to mythologize World War II or the Cold War as a battle between good and evil. So what did Tolkien envision when he wrote this book? Mooney reminds us to take context into account before jumping to propagandized projections.
The analogy with the war on terrorism is hardly what Tolkien had in mind when he wrote his novel more than half a century ago. A veteran of World War I, Tolkien once wrote that "by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead." For all the moral purpose of his vision, there is also this constant drumbeat: "War is hell." His shocking description of an enemy catapult volley that rains severed heads in "The Return of the King" arouses disgust toward all military forays -- even if, at times, war may ultimately turn out to be the more humane alternative.
Readers have adapted Tolkien's trilogy to their own present circumstances ever since it was first published in the 1950s. The novel was written in part during World War II, and many readers instantly saw it as a commentary on that struggle. Its author, however, was quick to point out that his own psyche had been more deeply scarred by the battle against the Kaiser than the battle against Hitler. Had he been trying to allude to World War II, Tolkien wrote wryly, "The Ring would have been seized and used against [the Dark Lord] Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dûr [Sauron's fortress] would not have been destroyed but occupied."
On Mooney's view:
Tolkien would have been leery of the immense power currently wielded by the United States in international affairs. If he were alive and scouring the Earth for the bearer of the Ring of Power, he would need to look no further than George W. Bush. That isn't meant as a criticism of Bush. Rather, Tolkien simply believed that those possessing the most power are the most vulnerable to corruption -- sometimes through deceptive appeals to their best intentions. As the powerful wizard Gandalf explains to Frodo, "The way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me!" Tolkien would have been concerned by such a vast and technologically advanced superpower as the United States.
I stick by th guns of yesterday's post, where I noted that Sauron's war machine eclipses his ability to use anything except force and might in gaining followers. Bush and Corp. have harnessed the "spirit of war" to their own, oil-slickened ends in this new "war against evil". It might serve us well to remember the role that fear of Sauron played in making various rulers (not to mention Smeagol) act irrationally and unwisely. In the scene where the king of Rohan is released from the spell of Saroman, Gandalf tells him to "Breathe free air again". And what is "free air"? Nothing less than the freedom from witchery, trickery, sycophancy, spells, lies, deceit-- the whole gambit.
We have all been tempted by flattering Wormtongues. Courage is not always recognized by the amount of blood you shed. I would argue that courage is the ability to cover your ears and protect yourself from the seductions of power, the soft whispers of total war, the strength to cling to truth even in the face of electoral doom. Rather than succuumb to the sway of fears and insecurities, guard your integrity. Reason. Remember. And, by all means, resist.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Unintended consequences.
Richard Leiby draws our attention to the fallout of war in this article for The Washington Post. Typical during times of national crisis, such fallout comes at the expense of basic human freedoms and rights. Already, the Israeli Knesset is moving to bar Arab members, thereby further alienating and stigmatizing the Arab citizens of Israel.
At home and abroad, Bush's "war on terror" faces mounting criticism over fears that rights and liberties are being trampled or eroded. Commentators like Thomas Friedman of The New York Times have remarked that such retrenchment of democracy and liberalism is precisely what Osama seeks.
The United States is unique in its solid guarantee of human liberties and rights in its Constitution. Other countries lack this solid legal guarantee, so they tend to express their concern over loss of liberty by referring to a loss of human rights. Thus far, the International Declaration of Human Rights comes to closest to providing some of these stateless or authoritarian-ruled people with any claim to equal protection or individual justice. Libertarians should not confuse the increasing reference to "international human rights" with a demand for global government. More than anything, these references suggest an increasing agitation on the part of humans all over the world to be concieved as more than just tools of the nation-state or particular governments.
