vicarious Meta-experience

We may be on the verge of a war with Iraq. Again. But this time, in place of the elite military forces, Billy Bob, Bubba, Boudreaux, Thibodeaux and Cooter from the bayous of Louisiana are being sent in with the following info:

• There is no limit.
• The season opened last weekend.
• They taste just like chicken.
• They don't like beer, pickup trucks, crawfish, country music or Jesus.
• Some are queer.
• They don't like barbeque.
• They were responsible for Dale Earnhardt's death.

War should be over in about a week.

The Saudi Ambassador to the UN has just finished giving a speech, and walks out into the lobby where he meets President Bush.

They shake hands and the Saudi says, "You know, I have just one question about what I have seen in America."

President Bush says, "Well your Excellency, anything I can do to help you, I will do."

The Saudi whispers, "My son watches this show 'Star Trek' and in it there are Russians, Blacks, and Asians, but never any Arabs. He is very upset. He doesn't understand why there are never any Arabs in Star Trek."

President Bush laughs and leans toward the Saudi and whispers back, "It's because it takes place in the future.

The liberal-conservative spectrum has been giving me problems lately. Frankly, I think it's obsolete, (e.g. where do you place libertarians?) but I'll be darned if I can think of something to replace it with. For some reason I was assuming "neoliberal" was a post-modern way of saying beyond liberal, or outside the spectrum, but it turns out it's actually a near pejorative reserved for people who are outside the spectrum in a bad way, like corporate welfare, trickle down Reaganites.

People give me a hard time for (on rare occasions) misusing words. Yesyes, laugh at the journalism student who's just trying to expand his already formidable vocabulary. I'm not trying to show it off, either, I've known people who blatantly show off their vocabulary and they usually end up going to Stanford.

Nevertheless, when I apply a label to myself, rest assured that I am applying it in a tounge-in-cheek, "I don't really expect you to understand me and that's okay" kinda way.

In the world as it is, independent reporting is intermixed with psychodynamics, domination, sadism and submissiveness, because there is no realm of human behavior that is entirely free from the affects of childhood.

This article puts the pieces together and explains exactly why our media is so ethically disappointing.