holy roller
January 27, 2009
For some of us, the ex-Cat Stevens represents a bit of nostalgia, or at the very least, something from the past. The guy wrote and sang a lot of music in the 60′s and since then. But he’s largely viewed as one of those from days past. This is partly because of his conversion to Islam, and partly because he walked away from the public light.
He’s found his place. In watching some newer videos of him performing and speaking, he emanates an aura of peacefulness. This is what I think about when I think about Islam. Not all that terrorist garble. That’s not about Islam, it’s about Islamism in the same way that Christianity is not about Christianism. Or the other way around. But it seems to me that Americans view themselves through the sort of “Christian” lens and we view the Arab world through an Islamist lens. But that isn’t fair is it? Let’s set aside the fact that we shouldn’t even be viewing ourselves through a religious or pseudo-religious lens and focus on the root of the problem: we see the best in ourselves, but the worst in others.
It’s my opinion that this phenomena is merely a part of the exceptionalist agenda, and most of us are mere sheep in the ideological crossfire. And by ideological, of course I mean economic. To the powers that be on ‘our’ side, anyhow, the only reason to have values and beliefs is to shore up our dominance and wealth.
Like lambs to the slaughter.
whopper > facebook
January 18, 2009
Via Slate:
Burger King has infiltrated Facebook with a new application that asks you to sacrifice your friendships for a free Whopper.
I am not a Burger King fan, in fact I haven’t eaten at one in years, partly because i have a vegetarian diet, and also because I just don’t like fast food all-too-much. We have Culver’s here. Much tastier.
Although, on balance this is a very clever marketing campaign. Is it just me or did Burger King try targeting the “urban” demographic not long ago? Facebook is, in and of itself, made up of more affluent young people, which means Burger King is trying to up their quality. A recent move to cage-free chicken and eggs mirrors this generationally-sensitized marketing stratagem. It works, I think.
debate
January 17, 2009
Today I sat and critiqued debate rounds at a high school tournament where the most coherent argument for a 2040 government mandate that vehicles must be altern-energy was that we’re going to run out of oil.
I was underwhelmed to say the least. I did hear an underdeveloped argument over economic theory and philosophy. The con (anti-mandate) team claimed that the United States is a capitalist country, and therefore we should let the market decide. I won’t even delve into how wrong and more importantly, misinformed that claim is, but the aff (pro-mandate) team did a decent job of explaining and presenting some evidence pointing to the fact that the market is deceiving because of oil subsidies and other government regulations, not to mention the monopoly/collusion that oil companies hold over the energy sector.
It was nice to hear, but unfortunately the girls who argued this didn’t advance to nationals because they used a laptop in a prior round which is prohibited. But they didn’t know that. I looked for them after the awards ceremony to tell them how much I enjoyed watching them in action, but to no avail.
Somehow I think they know they are great. Aren’t all high school debaters?
insight
January 11, 2009
Behold, the new Honda Insight. Will it beat the Prius? I doubt it.
chat rooms
January 8, 2009
I miss chat rooms. When I was younger, I met a lot of cool and interesting people in chat rooms. People from all over the world, and even some close to home.
Last night I ventured into one of those storied room to seek out a chat partner. But to no avail. The only things left in chat rooms are bots (“HeY seXy wanna see mE naKeD on CAM?”) and really lame people.
I struck out.
