“They gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one”
Thank goodness don’t ask don’t tell was repealed.
(Source: perfectdaddies, via gayloveisgood)
Call 800-229-9460 now to record a message that will be delivered directly to Verizon executives.
Anonymous asked: are you planning to go see 'the beatles: the lost concert' film?
I actually never heard of it! But I’d like to go see it. :)
Watch out!
(Source: captainsocrates, via jasmine-blu)
“[It] is threatening the rights of people in America, and effectively rights everywhere, because what happens in America tends to affect people all over the world. Even though the Sopa and Pipa acts were stopped by huge public outcry, it’s staggering how quickly the US government has come back with a new, different, threat to the rights of its citizens.” — Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, expressed opposition to the bill stating,
US House Passes CISPA!! 248 to 168
“Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience, democracy does not exist.”
– US Historian Howard Zinn
When many people hear civil disobedience they think of either hippies or violent riots. But is this a correct assumption? Civil disobedience has been around since the beginning of organized civilizations and laws, but what is civil disobedience? Civil disobedience is commonly defined as the refusal to obey a law or follow a policy the patrons find unjust, they believe it to be their moral right and use a variety of ways to do this. Anything from passive resistance, to violent resistance. They believe that fighting for the right thing is more important than what the governing force’s say.
Many say civil disobedience is wrong, but if it wasn’t for civil disobedience we would still be under England’s rule. The Boston Tea Party was an act of civil disobedience, the citizens of the colony of Massachusetts broke the law by trespassing onto a British ship and throwing the tea from England overboard, but they did this with just cause, the colonist where being forced to pay taxes without representation to England. If it wasn’t for this small act of Civil Disobedience the movement leading to the War of Independence may have never happened. It was the abolition of slavery, the women’s suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, the Arab Spring, the introduction of labor laws and unions and environmental preservation that helped change our world, and they all involved acts of civil disobedience. (“The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy”)
There are several methods of civil disobedience protesters use, ranging from violent ones to nonviolent and peaceful ones. Many acts of protests though are peaceful and well calculated. Sit-ins, marches demonstrations, refusal to pay certain taxes or to occupy an area until the demands are met are common forms of nonviolent civil disobedience, one can not forget however about the violent methods of civil disobedience. For example, a black bloc which is sometimes violent but not always, and property destruction of the forces they are fighting against. Many participators do not believe in violent resistance however.
Civil disobedience is illegal, at least according the penal system and law enforcement. Because so much of civil disobedience is gathering in large groups, usually during a demonstration, though non-violent, can become police targets. What police usually do in order to crack down on a protest is to declare it ‘an unlawful assembly.’ An unlawful assembly is interpreted as conduct that poses a clear and present danger of imminent violence. What’s ironic is it’s usually not the protesters that are violent, but the police.
The government uses many methods to crack down on civil disobedience, anything from kicking in a persons door and raiding it, to fines, to arrest, and of course jail time, and that’s just to name a few. Why would the government crack down on this? Isn’t this what our country was founded on? Isn’t it our right to assembly? Well apparently it doesn’t apply if the government doesn’t like it, or thinks it may expose them. Think of the case of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange. He was charged with sexual misconduct allegation’s yet he was Put on Interpol’s ‘Most Wanted’ List, this was all before he even got news of his charges, neither him, or his lawyer received any written notice of the charges. Then the United States wanted extradite him to their country on espionage acts, but he didn’t spy on them, he simply received a leak and published it. Why are the governments going after him so extensively? Because he exposed their corruption. U.S. Army Private, Bradley Manning was accused of leaking documents to Wikileaks. Even though he has never been convicted of any crime, he has been detained. The conditions under which he is subjected are terrible, inhuman, and even considered torture. Manning is being locked in his cell for 23 hours a day. He has no history of being violent to other detainees or any of the prison guards, and yet he is forced to sit alone in his cell, not even aloud to exercise. He is denied even the most basic aspects of civilized imprisonment like sheets and a pillow and at one point they even made him sleep naked for ‘fear he would commit suicide’. He allegedly leaked some documents and most notable a video called ‘Collateral Murder’ which was shot through an Apache helicopter gun-sight. It shows Apache crew shooting at civilians. Two journalist where shot at by the crew and killed. Two children where also injured after being in a van that came up to try to help the journalist. Manning believed these practices to be wrong, unjust and immoral. Exposing a war crime is not a crime. So why was he arrested? Because he exposed them with an act of civil disobedience. (“Collateral Murder.”)
In modern times Civil Disobedience is still going strong and even bringing masses of people together for a cause. One of the most modern examples is the Occupy movement. It all started with Occupy Wall Street then steadily grew to places all over the world, Occupy London, Occupy Montréal, Occupy Boston, Occupy Hong Kong, Occupy Denver, Occupy San Francisco, Occupy Athens and so many more. People from all over the world are waking up and expressing their distain to their financial corruption with acts of civil disobedience. They are angry that the big bankers and their allies have destroyed our economy, as they put in The Declaration of Occupation, “They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.” (“Declaration of Occupation”) Wall Street and others like it have continued using illegal practices for their own gain and at the peril of other people, the government knows about it, yet they do nothing. The top 1% controls 42% of financial wealth in the U.S. yet they pay fewer taxes than the remaining 99%. They have billions to spend, yet they get tax breaks while many of us have been struggling just to make it by. The criminal scandals of Wall Street have impoverished millions and brought down the wealth of the world by trillions of dollars, yet none of them went to jail, except Bernie Madoff. Perhaps this was because Bernie Madoff’s victims were other rich and famous people.
“Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling.” (Taibbi, Matt) None of these people go to jail, yet there are hundreds of people protesting these disgusting practices going to jail.
Police brutality is getting more and more extensive even with non-violent protesters. At Occupy Wall Street the non-violent protesters are met with beatings and are sprayed with pepper spray and mace. When 23 protesters tried to close their bank accounts at CitiBank the security locked Citibank customers inside. One woman on the outside was also arrested while trying to contact lawyers for the ones stuck inside. They weren’t yelling inside, they were just trying to close their accounts. So, why are people being arrested for trying to close their banks accounts? Why where the police arresting them, when they didn’t do anything illegal? Protesters aren’t hurting anyone, except maybe bringing to light the corruption of Wall Street, which if probably the resin their met with such brutality. What’s ironic is, the police are all the 99%. Unless you’re a millionaire with a DC lobbyist in your pocket you’re a part of the 99%.
As time goes by and people get more comfortable in everyday life and start to forget how we got the freedoms we do now, by using civil disobedience. Men, Women, Children, Young and old, no matter the race or religion can make a change in their country through civil disobedience.
Resources (because many are asking about my sources):
“Collateral Murder.” Collateral Murder. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://www.collateralmurder.com/>.
Taibbi, Matt. “Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?.” Rolling Stone. N.p., 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216>.
“The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy.” Civil Liberties Monitoring Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://www.civilliberties.org/sum98role.html>
“Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News.” CNN.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. <http://www.cnn.com/>.
Torres, Joseph, and Juan Gonzalez. “A daily TV/radio news program.” Democracynow.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. <http://www.democracynow.org/>.
(Taken from http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/kony-2012-state-propaganda-for-a-new-generation/)
The overnight viral sensation KONY 2012 brought worldwide awareness to the African war criminal Joseph Kony. Beneath this commendable cause, lies however an elaborate agenda that is presented in the video in a very manipulative way. We’ll look at the agenda behind KONY 2012 and how it uses reverse psychology to not only justify a military operation in Africa, but to actually have people demand it.
KONY 2012 is a viral sensation that swept the entire world in less than 24 hours. Its main subject is the African rebel leader Joseph Kony, his war crimes and the clearly defined “movement” to stop him. Countless celebrities have endorsed the movement, news sources have reported it and social media is buzzing with it. While the problem of guerrilla warfare and child soldiers has plagued Africa for decades, and several documentaries have already been produced regarding the issue, this particular 29-minute video made managed to obtain mass exposure and support.
KONY 2012 is less of a documentary than it is a highly efficient infomercial that is tailor-made for the Facebook generation, using state-of-the-art marketing techniques to make its point. Young people like “underground movements” and want to feel like they are changing the world. KONY 2012 taps into these needs to bring about something that is not “hip” or “underground” at all: A military operation in Uganda. Not only that, it urges the participants of the movement to order stuff, to wear bracelets that are associated with an online profile and to record their actions in social media. This makes KONY 2012 the first artificially created movement that is fully track-able, monitor-able and quantifiable by those who engendered it. In other words, what appears to be a movement “from the people” is actually a new way for the elite to advance its agenda.
The video begins with an interesting statement: “The next 27 minutes are an experiment. But in order for it to work, you have to pay attention”. It is an experiment as it tests a new, groundbreaking way to get an agenda accepted by the Facebook generation. In the past, when the government needed to justify the invasion of a country, the President would sit in front of the camera and tell the public why war should be declared in this area of the world. In the case of KONY, the military agenda is disguised as grassroots activism, where the US army entering Uganda would be perceived as a “victory of the people”, effectively reversing the communications model.
Towards the end of the video, an image is displayed explaining how decisions (and messages) start from the top of the pyramid (the elite) and are communicated to the masses through mass media and such.
Due to the advent of social media, the above diagram has become a lot less effective to get a message across to the young generation. It is not CNN reports and the President addressing the nation anymore, it is about “liking” Facebook pages and viral YouTube videos. This is where messages now come across. Always studying, analyzing and exploiting the most effective ways to persuade public opinion, KONY 2012 appears to be an attempt to test out the effectiveness of a “viral” propaganda campaign. By creating this “movement” and making young people actually DEMAND the U.S. government intervene in Africa, the masterminds behind this campaign would manage the impossible: Reversing the propaganda model in order to make it emanate from the people. By doing so, the elite’s agenda is not only accepted by the masses, it is perceived as a victory by them.
“We are living in a new world” indeed. The KONY 2012 logo aptly represents how a viral video and social media can reverse the propaganda model. Don’t be fooled however. Power is still not in the hands of the base of the pyramid … far from it. It is all about appearances.
When the war on Iraq was declared, a great portion of young Americans opposed the war. How is it they are now begging the government to send troops to Africa? A simple video, specifically conceived for the Facebook generation did the trick. As it is the case in most campaigns to justify a war, the first goal was to identify a bad guy.
By associating Kony with Bin Laden and Hitler in this poster, KONY 2012 is promoting war.
I have absolutely no intention of defending Joseph Kony or to say “he’s not that bad”. He, along with many other guerrilla factions across Africa, has committed despicable atrocities. However, the problem of child soldiers has existed for decades and there are literally hundreds of Joseph Konys across the African continent. In some cases, some of the armies are actually funded by Western countries. If we would truly go to the root of the issue, we’d discover that Africa has been plagued with the problem of warring factions and rebel guerrillas ever since Western forces “liberated” their colonies and divided the continent of Africa according to Western interests. Indeed, instead of setting the boundaries of each country according to the geographic location of the ethnic groups and tribes that live there, countries were created according to the economic needs of colonizing forces such as Great Britain, France and others. The net result is: A bunch of artificial countries that each contain several tribes, ethnic groups, languages and religions. When one group takes power, the others are repressed, which leads to violence and rebellion. Add to the mix extreme poverty due to resources being siphoned out of Africa by Western countries and you’ve got a breeding ground for merciless warlords. As long as this problem exists, Joseph Konys will continue to emerge in Africa.
But the video mentions none of this. All it says is that arresting Kony would “make the world better”. KONY 2012 is all about identifying a bad guy, “making him famous” and have people demand his death by U.S. forces. Fixing the true cause of problems in the third world has never been on the Agenda. But picking out a “bad guy” to justify military action has always been part of it. If in the case of Saddam Hussein, “facts” (that ultimately proved false) were given to justify the invasion of Iraq. A different technique is being used with Kony, one that originates from advertising.
Any marketing specialist will tell you: “Facts don’t sell, emotions do”. The first part of KONY 2012 solely addresses emotions. It is about making the filmmaker likeable, showing gut-wrenching images of African kids in pain, in misery and in despair. Then, the turning point: Joseph Kony is the cause of all of this. Not centuries of exploitation and devastation by Western forces in Africa that lead to chaos, lawlessness and poverty. No, it’s Kony. That bastard. George Clooney is really mad at him right now. He even tweeted about it.
Another marketing strategy is to appeal to the lowest common denominator. In other words, to get a message across, one must address the audience as if it was made of kids. KONY 2012 does exactly this by ridiculously oversimplifying the problem and explaining it to an actual child – who represents the viewers. This is not surprising though, as this is how the masses are perceived by the higher ups.
Here’s what this scene implies: “Look, dumb-ass, even this little kid gets it. So you better get it.”
Once the viewers had their emotions stirred, got infantilized and had the problem spelled out to them as if they were in kindergarten, the table is set for the true goal of the video: Defining the agenda.
KONY 2012 is a movement backed by some of the world’s most powerful entities and has precise goals. As the movie’s intro states, it is an experiment. It is an opportunity to create a movement that can be fully trackable, quantifiable and manageable through social media whose culmination is a U.S. military intervention in Uganda. The carrying out of this mission will not only be perceived as a victory, it will restore young people’s faith in democracy. What the members of this movement might not realize is that they are helping the advancement of the elite’s agenda towards a New World Order.
This poster aptly summarizes how the Illuminati works. Political parties are irrelevant as both work towards the same Agenda.
The second part of the movie let’s go of emotions and describes to the viewers what the elite expects from them. U.S. troops are already in Uganda, but, according to the movie, Kony “changed his tactics”… Damnit Kony, you and your sneaky tactics. Apparently, high tech satellites, unmanned drones and all kinds of radars are not enough to catch this guy. Nope, in order to catch him, a complicated plan, involving the purchase of an “Action Kit” and the registering an ID bracelet on a website is required. Makes sense.
Those who want to “Stop Kony” are required to wear a bracelet bearing a unique code which needs to be registered at a website. Of course, personal information is requested.
Once the bracelet is registered, members can associate it with their Facebook account, which will keep track of all KONY-related actions. The end result is: every single member of KONY 2012 will be known, identified and easily tracked – with constantly updated information. All of this data will of course be collected, scrutinized and stored by those in charge.
Furthermore, members are asked to contribute a “few dollars a month” to TRI, an organization whose ultimate goal is American military intervention in Uganda.
TRI’s logo is an inverted “Peace” sign. In symbolism, an inverted sign means that it stands for the opposite of the regular sign. In other words, TRI is about war. Peace does not involve “equipping” and “training” government forces to fight rebel factions. As the novel 1984 states, WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
To support the cause and to make it popular, a bunch of elite-sponsored artists and politicians have been enlisted, including Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Oprah, George Clooney, Bono, etc. While some of them might be genuinely concerned about problems in Africa, most of them are pawns of the elite that are used to promote its agenda.
Am I seeing warmongering George W. Bush in here? The dude that lied to the whole country in order to attack Iraq for its oil and stuff? Hmm. Weird.
After going past the celebrities and the emotions, the end result of this campaign is simple and steeped in real politik: Since the fall of rival superpower USSR, Western forces have sought to bring down and to control regional powers around the world, mostly in third countries. Uganda is part of that plan. The same way the spectre of Bin Laden was used to invade Afghanistan, Kony is being used to enter Uganda.
The video clearly shows what is the goal of this “movement”: U.S. troops taking charge of the Ugandan army, the same way it took charge of the Iraqi, Libyan and other armies in the past few years.
KONY 2012 is a cleverly orchestrated campaign specifically aimed at today’s youth, the future citizens of the world. Using state-of-the-art techniques and new technologies, the campaign is a first attempt at “reverse propaganda”, where the agenda APPEARS to emanate from the people. By using emotions, irrational thoughts and superficial explanations, KONY 2012 attempts to trick well-meaning people, who desire to make a positive change in the world, to instead fuel a gigantic war machine that is controlled by the world’s elite.
Is KONY 2012 trying to eradicate child-soldiers or is it attempting to create a new kind of child-soldiers?
…Right.
Some of the sex-ed blogs on tumblr scare me.
I would suggest that if you have a question about sex or sex-ed you direct it towards http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ or http://www.scarleteen.com/ instead of a tumblr that can be run by just about anybody.