The bizarre logic of religion at work on cable news, as (presumably comfortably-sheltered) CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer awkwardly insists an Oklahoma woman “thank the Lord” after her home has just been destroyed by a devastating tornado:
Tag Archives | Media
The Term Conspiracy Theory is Officially Dead Language, Let’s Move On to Mind Control Facts
Let’s face it. Magick does in fact have a lot to do with the manipulation of linguistics and how those manipulations transform internal states of consciousness, at least how I practice it (friend me on Facebook for updates). It is funny though because in this day and age I sometimes feel almost dated as a writer, and admittedly that’s why I also create in a lot of other mediums. With the increasing intricacy of video game enchantments, mobile synthetic telepathy, and easily accessible drugs, sitting down and reading a book can seem sort of old school truthfully. Then I remember how nearly all of my thoughts are derivatively running through the operating system of the English language and the importance feels more profound than ever. When you get down to it a lot of meditational practices, like say transcendental meditation (which I still do near daily) involve little more than intentionally forcing your mind to redirect its traditional infrastructure or moreover, not thinking in words.… Read the rest
Bret Easton Ellis on the ‘Reign of the Gay Magical Elves’
Bret Easton Ellis, author of modern classics Less Than Zero and American Psycho, writes about the lionizing of celebrities who announce they are gay for OUT:
Was I the only gay man of a certain demo who experienced a flicker of annoyance in the way the media treated Jason Collins as some kind of baby panda who needed to be honored and praised and consoled and—yes—infantilized by his coming out on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Within the tyrannical homophobia of the sports world, that any man would come out as gay (let alone a black man) is not only an LGBT triumph but also a triumph for pranksters everywhere who thrilled to the idea that what should be considered just another neutral fact that is nobody’s business was instead a shock heard around the world, one that added another jolt of transparency to an increasingly transparent planet. It was an undeniable moment and also extremely cool.
How To Identify And Protect Yourself From Psychopaths
Vinny Eastwood and Thomas Sheridan together here, commiserating on the nature and tactics utilized by psychopaths and the best strategies for mitigation of this seemingly demonic or archontic force in human affairs.
Points raised include; “never try to out psychopath a psychopath”, the cumulative effects of government schooling (schule’ing) amounting to mass grooming for future enslavement to psychopaths, and how to elevate yourself beyond the games of those incapable of love. With 1-4% of the population considered to be psychopathic or sociopathic; and the far reaching devastation wrought on a global scale by their pernicious influence, it is critical that the average person not possessed by this decidedly reptilian world view become aware of these often abusive and predatory aberrations and how they might prepare, cope and recover from any potential interactions with psychopaths.
“Yahoo! Education” Declares Reporting a Dying Career, Suggests Becoming a PR Specialist Instead
First, consider how the name “Yahoo! Education” could be interpreted.
With that in mind, consider whether Terence Loose had a straight face when he wrote in the recent article Dying Careers You Should Avoid for “Yahoo! Education:”
Dying Career #2: Reporter
They say a species must adapt or die, and with the trend of the Internet replacing print journalism (you are reading this on the computer, after all), media folks who don’t adjust might not survive too much longer. In short, many reporters could be going the way of their typewriters soon.
Projected Decline: Reporter and correspondent positions are expected to decline by 8 percent from 51,900 jobs in 2010 to 48,000 in 2020, for a total of nearly 4,000 jobs lost, says the U.S. Department of Labor
Why It’s Dying: The Department of Labor says that because of the trend of consolidation of media companies and the decline in readership of newspapers, reporters will find there are fewer available jobs.
Is Following The News Bad For You?
As they say, the medium is the message, and the 24-hour breaking news cycle may be degrading your mind and your life. Via the Guardian, Rolf Dobelli argues thus:
News is bad for your health. It leads to fear and aggression, and hinders your creativity and ability to think deeply.
News misleads. News leads us to walk around with the completely wrong risk map in our heads. So terrorism is over-rated. Chronic stress is under-rated. Astronauts are over-rated. Nurses are under-rated.
News works like a drug. As stories develop, we want to know how they continue. With hundreds of arbitrary storylines in our heads, this craving is increasingly compelling and hard to ignore. The more news we consume, the more we exercise the neural circuits devoted to skimming and multitasking while ignoring those used for reading deeply and thinking with profound focus. The physical structure of the brain changes.
News makes us passive.
Debating The Global Media—in Kazakhstan
Astana, Kazakhstan: Most people wouldn’t bother going half way around the world for their fifteen seconds of fame. Ok, so maybe there was little fame to be found but, it was still worthwhile to spend two days flying back and forth to attend the two-day annual Eurasian Media Forum in Kazakhstan, a Central Asian nation that is actually the 9th largest country in the world, with ultra wealthy oil and gas fields.
It was also one of the few countries in the world that gave up its nuclear weapons. South Africa is another one.
Kazakhstan flickered briefly in our popular culture when the film Borat made fun of the place—it was shot in Romania, not there—and more recently, figured in the investigation into the terrifying actions of the Tsarnaev ‘Bomb Brothers’ in Boston responsible for doing so much vicious damage at the Marathon. It was reported that they had also lived here although local media disputes it. (Two Kazakh kids are said to be in jail now in the US for visa violations although it’s not clear how or if they are linked.)
The forum here deals with political and media issues and attracts top journalists and policymakers to hold forth on panels. I was on one with none other than Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor.… Read the rest
Koch Brothers Set To Buy Major Newspapers
Charles and David Koch, the billionaires who own companies like Georgia Pacific and bring you products like Brawny paper towels, are notorious for their singularly harsh vision for a more conservative America, with the Tea Party movement their most visible political mouthpiece. Both they and the Tea Party movement have been largely pigeon-holed as extreme and outside the mainstream by the media (Fox News excepted, of course), so now they are looking to buy the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun.
In case you’ve forgotten just how mean the Kochs’ vision for America is for the average American, check out the powerful documentary Koch Brothers Exposed. The New York Times has the story on the planned newspaper acquisitions:
Three years ago, Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists and supporters of libertarian causes, held a seminar of like-minded, wealthy political donors at the St.
Is Our Addiction To Tragedy On Social Media Inspiring Violence?
via Tech Crunch 
Anyone who uses social media has witnessed or been apart of this somewhat new phenomenon of being a part of an unfolding event that is so huge it will change how we operate. So many have an opinion this way or that. Others have theories, and others just want it to go away. Wellm, it may be really bad for everyone to be flinging around this information like a hot potato. It could be debasing all involved as well as giving those who did the deed just what they want and need.
If terrorism requires an audience, then the recent mainstream adoption of social media may be giving violent actors a bigger stage than ever before. There are many reasons people lash out at the world, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that becoming the center of the attention could be a factor pushing some to commit atrocities.
ExxonMobil Gets TV Stations To Pull “Exxon Hates Your Children” Ads
Corporations seem to be all about irreverent ads, yet get surprisingly sensitive when the joke is on them. Via the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
In the wake of a major pipeline spill in Mayflower, Arkansas, Exxon has launched a campaign to prevent Little Rock television stations from running a political ad titled, “Exxon Hates Your Children.” To try to keep it off the air, Exxon is circulating a memo to television stations claiming that the commercial is “defamatory toward ExxonMobil’s employees.”
The ads, which were paid for through crowdfunding, were scheduled to run on local ABC, NBC, and Fox stations this week, but were taken off the schedule when the stations got the memo. In February, Exxon pulled the same stunt when Comcast was set to air the ad during the president’s State of the Union address.
