I guess Dick Vitale is a little confused about how twitter works.
Karl Wallenda has been dead for 35 years.
Unfortunately twitter does not communicate with the dead. Otherwise my tweets would be a purple haze of @JimiHendrix.
“You’ve got me blowin, blowin my mind
Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?”
The Hong Kong Government issued a statement regarding Edward Snowden. The obvious first take is that Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong. The Guardian has reported that Snowden has moved on to Moscow and is possibly on his way to Ecuador or Iceland. An associate of Wikileaks may help Edward Snowden seek asylum in Iceland.
The second important point here is the Hong Kong Government feels there is insufficient evidence/reason for the US Government's request.
“If all printers were determined no to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”
Edward Snowden as you may (or may not) know leaked information regarding the NSA's secret spying program known as "PRISM". If you want fine details read Glenn Greenwald's columns from The Guardian. What I want to focus on here is the efforts large search engines to dissuade the public from acquire information related to this developing story.
The search engine BING's auto-fill for Edward Snowden does not mention anything like "NSA", "Leaks", or "PRISM".
Google is no better. In fact the first suggestion is "girlfriend". Is this what the people want to know about?
So what is really going on here?
It appears the large tech firms stand just as much to lose from the revelations that our government is spying on US Citizens and people around the world (but you won't here anyone mention that because "who cares, they're not Americans"). The government and the tech firms are attempting to control information.
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
We remember the birth of a nation. The birth of an idea. The idea a nation could be founded on equality, freedom, and reason. On July 4, 1776 a bunch of traitors (I mean
patriots
) signed the Declaration of Independence.
I know, you think I hate America or I want to fly around the world apologizing for our wars blah blah blah... No, I don't think "Merica" is a horrible place. I think that we have been fooling ourselves when it comes to "American Exceptionalism". We rank
;
; the United States is
even though we are the 6th
nation based on GDP per capita. The backbone of our economy was once the auto industry. It has made improvements in the last three or four years. But I should note that my Republican grand parents (who are incredibly conservative) drive a Japanese vehicle and I drive a Korean one. But at least we are
at something.
But, yet I feel conflicted when it comes to Patriotism. I understand owning a sense of pride when thinking about where you come from. The Olympics start in a couple of weeks and I'll root for the basketball team and our swimmers and the rest of
our team
. I enjoy watching the track and field events. Really though, I just want to see excellence. If someone from the USA wins the 100M by breaking Usain Bolt's World Record that would be AMAZING. But, yet I feel I am equally a citizen of the United States of America as I am a citizen of the world. So I would not feel any different if Usain Bolt broke his own record while slowing down for the final steps they way he did in Beijing.
We live in an era where we forget why we celebrate the 4th of July. I once heard someone I know refer to it as the day with the fireworks and that is all this person knew about Independence Day. We live in a politically charged climate where each side uses words of the founding fathers to prove their point of view is correct. I like using quotes just like anyone else. But does it really matter what some people 236 years ago thought? We have put these mortals onto a pedestal as though their words are the gospel. Let us not forget many of the founders of this nation owned slaves. Think about how grotesque it is, to own another human being. Listening to the
news
we constantly hear about how "the founding fathers are rolling in their graves" ad nauseum etc etc. If I had one wish I would seriously like to raise the founding fathers from the dead (not zombies or anything scary) and ask them what they really meant regarding the church and the constitution; their thoughts on social security and single payer health care. We are stuck as a society considering what people that died 200 years ago would think about a topic or question that did not even exist at that time. It is as though that we attempt to validate our opinions by inferring what Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or Thomas Paine (T-Paine) would say about an issue.
Freedom has become a punchline when we debate Healthcare, War, and Rhetoric. Yes, we have reached the point in our society where we have to actually debate rhetoric. One
can be convicted of terrorism while another is just a
. It seems that even being patriotic is a political position. Nationalism, Patriotism, Jingoism... its all for the birds. Yes, I am a citizen of the United States of America. But I am also a citizen of the World.
236 years ago a group of [white] men sat around birthed a new nation. One that was not affiliated with a church (no matter what your Christian friends would like you to believe), a nation that was not controlled by a Monarchy or an Oligarchy. A nation that outlawed titles of nobility so that all men (and in the future women) could have an opportunity to succeed. But these ideas, have become myths. We no longer have a meritocracy. Sure, we can all point to a few individuals that broke the odds and became successful. But those people have become the exception to the rule.
We have a society where money equals speech. Logically, some individuals are born millionaires while others are born poor. Does that mean the rich have more freedom than my children? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Noble titles are not used but rather we have a class system in which there are the wealthy; those that think they are part of the near wealthy; and the poor. America has de facto nobility which is cloaked in the aire of opportunity. Breads and Circuses reign supreme to silence our minds. It is easy to eat a hamburger and drink a beer today while forgetting that we possess a false hope. One that makes us believe we are a lucky break away from joining the elite.
So what does the 4th of July mean to me? We have ruined an ideal of freedom with the perils of money. The summer holiday equates to sales on mattresses and colorful explosions. We can think about the soldiers that have lost their lives and limbs fighting for our ______. We can think about the Revolutionary War. But, why not think about what you can do for your fellow citizen. Whether he or she lives in Indiana or India; Arizona or Iraq; Wisconsin or Germany; or anyplace on this planet. Because America is not a country it is an idea. It is an idea that has been mangled; it has been kicked around and laughed at but it is not dead. The idea is not some myth about striking it rich; the idea of America is the ability to think and say what you feel. The idea of America is no child should be hungry and everyone has a chance to be educated and enlightened.
Possibly one day we can reach that apex of excellence or at least strive for what made us great... whatever that is/was for you.
I was reading some of the good doctor's (thats Dr Gonzo [Hunter S. Thompson] to the uninitiated or square) correspondence letters from Fear and Loathing in America. Anyone could wax about his sharp style or critiques of America socially, politically, etc. But, I really began to think about how that period the 1960's and 1970's (up through the early/mid nineties) was the last era of meaningful communication.
The letter is an arcane artform. It is so slow... With the time it would take a letter to reach Ben Franklin in Paris and his reply to Washington, D.C. the contents better be important, thought provoking, and forward thinking. Even email today is to slow and static; and has evolved into Facebook and Twitter which moved email from a (mostly) private conversation to a semi-public forum. On the surface this sounds revolutionary. There is a constant flow of data and breaking news stories. We see what are friends and associates are eating, watching, or doing. The instant gratification of a response to a blog, tweet, or status update lures us in. What do people think of my ideas and links to other websites? Please like this photo of the Grand Canyon... RT
snarky comment
#hashtag basketball music and general bullshit.
We share links from spotify or videos from youtube to show what we are listening to at the moment. Google offers us the option of hanging out with our friends without leaving our home!!! We meet new people and talk to the ones we knew only to realize we have nothing in common except we went to the same high school We yearn to connect via common interest with our friends and strangers. The masses are really searching for validation. Validation in their thoughts and feelings. The cows graze the field like the masses consume and regurgitate information, pictures, video, and philosophical musings. You are oh so original with the memes and tweets during NBA games. Information moves through our wi-fi connections and from our phones so we are always connected. In the car, on the train, waiting in line or on the john we are always connected to something. The speed has increased to the point that substantive arguments and information is put to the side for the trite as we all become micro-blog comedians.
We think that we are searching for the truth when we watch cable news (FoxNews and MSNBC) but really we are not viewing for information, we are seeking affirmation. Ah Ha President Obama is a secret Muslim that went to a radical Christian Church in Chicago and controls gas prices (when they go up).
All we are left with is a trite stream of talking points and half-cocked jokes. Twitter is either a great news source and stream of unfettered consciousness or unfiltered bullshit. I am going with the latter. And I am not immune to this criticism. I am a felony offender. I check my twitter feed all through the day and for what? There are some mildly amusing jokes; people commenting on the NBA playoffs; even breaking news. But how does me reading about a landslide in Myanmar, a serial killer in New York, or a tiger attacking a tourist in Mumbai (which is surrounded by a jungle full of tigers; bet you didn't know that) really effect my life. By the way I said tourist because why the hell would anyone care if some poor Indian was mauled by a
. Even the events in Syria are shocking but, lets get real I am doing anything about it.
Yesterday Ron-Ron-Ron aka Metta World Peace took heat because he didn't know it was Memorial Day. Evidently, he thought it was Labor Day or something (who cares). People got on their high-horses about the troops... really, what the hell were you doing yesterday? huh? Unless you were volunteering at the VA; honoring your grandfather that served by playing cards with his friends at the VFW; or anything at all I dont want to hear it. My guess is that 90% of the people shaking their iPhones at Metta just grilled chicken, drank some beer, and updated their Facebook status with something about how "Freedom isn't Free" or "Remember our troops". Sorry to burst your bubble but supporting the troops isn't changing your profile picture to a flag waving in the air.
Maybe we should listen to
and David Lynch
