1. 100 dead (children, politicians, religious figures, civilians, reporters) in Iraq in response to the mosque bombings. The political parties in Iraq have abandoned unifying the country's government in response.
2. Christian youths have killed over 150 muslims and burned their bodies in the streets of Nigeria. "We are very happy that this thing is happening so that the north will learn their lesson."
3. 11 MILLION left with out food and water in parts of Africa, recently forcing people to resort to solely eating insects and squirls.
4. 120,000 Congo refugees have fled to floating islands, away from their homes where hundreds of women have been raped in past days, and even more murdered by the government military.
Not to be a downer, but this is important, and as awful are some headlines like the sale of the ports to a terroist funded company, its stuff that some of us may read but will forget by weeks end. So just be mindful.
well i think these headlines are much more important than the sale of some port operations to the UAE based company. But our fucking American media will just focus on issues that directly affect us, right....
sameold & SBd, please focus on all our in-ground pools, mcmansions, and SUV's, and lets leave this muss of running the world to people we can trust, elected politicians.
The american media focuses on the issues that the White House tells them to focus on. Remember the first person to even mention this as an issue was Bush. Who brought up this Google crap?
What about thousands of mobile homes sitting in Arkansas collecting dust?
What about the Bank of China pumping a billion dollars a day into our debt to cover our ass in Iraq?
You think that would money would be useful in Louisiana & Mississippi?
You think our military would be happy to know they are basically being paid by China and whomever else we are borrowing money from (like Saudi Arabia)?
And what ever happened to Osama Bin Laden? The guy (supposedly) who started this mess is not even on the radar.
It goes on and on.
What is Britney doing anyway? I'm sure she broke up with someone or something.
the killings in nigeria were not even covered by the new york times online today. i was appalled.
my coworker kept reading me headlines from yahoo news or msn or something. since when has yahoo news been more progressive than the frickin' times??
as well, lets not forget to mention the genocides in darfur, sudan which have been going on since feb 2003 in which over 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million civillians have been displaced.
(and pollen - britney was driving around town in her bentley last week with her infant in between her and the steering wheel while k-fed was in the recording studio working on his new hit single. did you not see the pics in us weekly?! duh!)
even just the local news here in LA is awful. it's always shootings, murders, hit and runs...
i'm getting the feeling that the world is increasing polarized into extremes in every direction with a decreasing number of people in the middle ground that are trying to hold things together. from the middle east to the "intelligent design" debacle it seems to be everywhere.
being only old enough to remember reagan as my first president, do any of you feel that this is a new trend? or has this factioning into extremes always been around?
afca - i'm not sure i understand what you're saying about polarization, but i do feel like our world is marked by so much more baseless hatred which ultimately results in the extermination of many many lives on a regular basis.
i remember talking to my parents about this a while ago, asking them if there was more tragedy in today's world than when they were my age. and i guess the answer from their perspective was that they felt the same way as i did when they were growing up, and its just that you suddenly graduate from college and become and adult and enter the real world and slowly become aware of the real world.
and its not that there was less tragedy or hatred when they were younger, but just that up until recently i was sheltered and thus unaffected and unaware. sad as it is.
8888 - I think the difference today from times as recent as 20-30 years past is that the media is so much faster today. We get information from around the world in no-time. The internet and cable news just puts it in our faces 24/7.
Then again, years ago I was driving late at night listening to the conspiracy theorists on the radio. One host called it "the quickening." Maybe things are coming to a head here. The end is nigh!
That conspiricist was Art Bell more than likely, who has a book called the Quickening. My uncle had a copy that I read whenever I was at his house. I was only 12 or 13 but I found it more interesting than terrifying, maybe because I wasn't old enough to grasp the consequences.
though I also agree a lot with CDW. there are more reporters all trying to make a buck, and fear sells. There is a PKD short story I can't recall the name of written in criticism of the cold war. Where an economy is based on purchasing and endless supply of quickly obsolete bunkers for fear of nuclear war.
Purpose of post not being to downplay tragedy, but comment on proliferation of information (degree of accuracy not withstanding).
Has the world, at any point of time, ever been free of large-scale misery? I think suffering is part of the human experience. We're just incredibly fortunate to have the lives we have.
i feel people are migrating to extremes more and more. it seems that issues are dealt with more and more in terms of black and white rather than shades. it's seems like "if you're not with us, you're against us" is the rallying cry globally.
religious fundamentalism seems to be prevailing especially. while protestant church going is down, evangelist churhces are seeing swells in membership. look at the danish cartoon violence. people don't want compromise, they want to fight for what they want and not for what is better for the whole.
I'm just returning here because this seems like a good thread to voice how unbelievable the world has become.
For example, I heard on NPR today that a Massachusetts national guard unit is suing the goverment because several guard soldiers paid for things like armor themselves - in the WAR, mind you - and were not reimbursed for it. There is a theory that this was done on purpose because the money was not in the budget.
Also, I feel as if I am walking around in upside-down-land....because China is now making efforts to push for smaller, more fuel efficient cars, they are offering incentives to use them, and they are spending money to develop technologies to provide gas-alternatives. It's official; a 1.3 billion person Communist country is more progressive than my own.
Good thing Shrub is giving India information on our nuclear technology though, that will help things.....
seems bushie did know of the grave danger that lay ahead with the levees even though he told us all that no one could have predicted it, and when he was told of the impending doom, our president did not ask one damn question. not one. wtf?
Watch Lord of War, that movie pretty much sums up humanity for me. I often wonder if these causes of war are all just fronts, that God, country, resources, class, race, all these factors are just an excuse, and that the real cause is that deep down we just wanna kill each other. Nothing can stop the endless hate of this species, all peace is but a fantasy. The real reality could very well be absolute, total, war.
perhaps we could combine our thirst for blood with e's post, and solve all international disputes with a nipple cripple contest.
which could be more entertaining than you would think, because generally the leaders of the world (rich,fat men) are desperately trying to conceal some fairly ample breasts.
OOhhh, Woe is me....typical cliche architect/arch student/artist personalities in this thread. Feign enlightnment by proclaiming how tragic the world is. 'If only Bush and the rest of the world would listen to us.....then the world would be kittens and gum drops.'
Here's a challenge for the hoards of quasi-informed, Monday morning politicians on archinect: Find the beauty in the world, talk about that as much as you do the obvious tragedies around all of us. QUIT BEING SO BLEAK, IT'S BORING AND ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING!
ps - Thanks for bringing up Titus, that was a good flick.
Oh so many problems...
All within the last couple days:
1. 100 dead (children, politicians, religious figures, civilians, reporters) in Iraq in response to the mosque bombings. The political parties in Iraq have abandoned unifying the country's government in response.
2. Christian youths have killed over 150 muslims and burned their bodies in the streets of Nigeria. "We are very happy that this thing is happening so that the north will learn their lesson."
3. 11 MILLION left with out food and water in parts of Africa, recently forcing people to resort to solely eating insects and squirls.
4. 120,000 Congo refugees have fled to floating islands, away from their homes where hundreds of women have been raped in past days, and even more murdered by the government military.
Not to be a downer, but this is important, and as awful are some headlines like the sale of the ports to a terroist funded company, its stuff that some of us may read but will forget by weeks end. So just be mindful.
well i think these headlines are much more important than the sale of some port operations to the UAE based company. But our fucking American media will just focus on issues that directly affect us, right....
YES!!! Thank you...
the world is overpopulated
sameold & SBd, please focus on all our in-ground pools, mcmansions, and SUV's, and lets leave this muss of running the world to people we can trust, elected politicians.
hey..it is important knowing what Britney is up to these days
i was being cynical, guys....
Very sad world we live in- no wonder other intelligent creatures are staying away from our planet.
…Looking at the heading it fortifies my believe that, religion separates rather than unites people.
The american media focuses on the issues that the White House tells them to focus on. Remember the first person to even mention this as an issue was Bush. Who brought up this Google crap?
What about thousands of mobile homes sitting in Arkansas collecting dust?
What about the Bank of China pumping a billion dollars a day into our debt to cover our ass in Iraq?
You think that would money would be useful in Louisiana & Mississippi?
You think our military would be happy to know they are basically being paid by China and whomever else we are borrowing money from (like Saudi Arabia)?
And what ever happened to Osama Bin Laden? The guy (supposedly) who started this mess is not even on the radar.
It goes on and on.
What is Britney doing anyway? I'm sure she broke up with someone or something.
the killings in nigeria were not even covered by the new york times online today. i was appalled.
my coworker kept reading me headlines from yahoo news or msn or something. since when has yahoo news been more progressive than the frickin' times??
as well, lets not forget to mention the genocides in darfur, sudan which have been going on since feb 2003 in which over 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million civillians have been displaced.
(and pollen - britney was driving around town in her bentley last week with her infant in between her and the steering wheel while k-fed was in the recording studio working on his new hit single. did you not see the pics in us weekly?! duh!)
look the times finally picked up the news today.
the news is really really depressing.
even just the local news here in LA is awful. it's always shootings, murders, hit and runs...
i'm getting the feeling that the world is increasing polarized into extremes in every direction with a decreasing number of people in the middle ground that are trying to hold things together. from the middle east to the "intelligent design" debacle it seems to be everywhere.
being only old enough to remember reagan as my first president, do any of you feel that this is a new trend? or has this factioning into extremes always been around?
Oh yeah, this is what's happening this weekend in my city:
"A dynamic one-day conference addressing, understanding and preventing homosexuality."
Maybe it will keep the redneck population down at Mardi Gras.
Scary.
aww
humbug
the world has always been a miserable place..there are just more reporters nowadays
afca - i'm not sure i understand what you're saying about polarization, but i do feel like our world is marked by so much more baseless hatred which ultimately results in the extermination of many many lives on a regular basis.
i remember talking to my parents about this a while ago, asking them if there was more tragedy in today's world than when they were my age. and i guess the answer from their perspective was that they felt the same way as i did when they were growing up, and its just that you suddenly graduate from college and become and adult and enter the real world and slowly become aware of the real world.
and its not that there was less tragedy or hatred when they were younger, but just that up until recently i was sheltered and thus unaffected and unaware. sad as it is.
8888 - I think the difference today from times as recent as 20-30 years past is that the media is so much faster today. We get information from around the world in no-time. The internet and cable news just puts it in our faces 24/7.
Then again, years ago I was driving late at night listening to the conspiracy theorists on the radio. One host called it "the quickening." Maybe things are coming to a head here. The end is nigh!
That conspiricist was Art Bell more than likely, who has a book called the Quickening. My uncle had a copy that I read whenever I was at his house. I was only 12 or 13 but I found it more interesting than terrifying, maybe because I wasn't old enough to grasp the consequences.
though I also agree a lot with CDW. there are more reporters all trying to make a buck, and fear sells. There is a PKD short story I can't recall the name of written in criticism of the cold war. Where an economy is based on purchasing and endless supply of quickly obsolete bunkers for fear of nuclear war.
Purpose of post not being to downplay tragedy, but comment on proliferation of information (degree of accuracy not withstanding).
Has the world, at any point of time, ever been free of large-scale misery? I think suffering is part of the human experience. We're just incredibly fortunate to have the lives we have.
8888-
i feel people are migrating to extremes more and more. it seems that issues are dealt with more and more in terms of black and white rather than shades. it's seems like "if you're not with us, you're against us" is the rallying cry globally.
religious fundamentalism seems to be prevailing especially. while protestant church going is down, evangelist churhces are seeing swells in membership. look at the danish cartoon violence. people don't want compromise, they want to fight for what they want and not for what is better for the whole.
brilliant!
plus journalism naturally focuses on the negative and/or the exception. it's not measuring the average condition, it's highlighting the extremes.
I'm just returning here because this seems like a good thread to voice how unbelievable the world has become.
For example, I heard on NPR today that a Massachusetts national guard unit is suing the goverment because several guard soldiers paid for things like armor themselves - in the WAR, mind you - and were not reimbursed for it. There is a theory that this was done on purpose because the money was not in the budget.
Also, I feel as if I am walking around in upside-down-land....because China is now making efforts to push for smaller, more fuel efficient cars, they are offering incentives to use them, and they are spending money to develop technologies to provide gas-alternatives. It's official; a 1.3 billion person Communist country is more progressive than my own.
Good thing Shrub is giving India information on our nuclear technology though, that will help things.....
this is my addition for the day: bush caught on tape
seems bushie did know of the grave danger that lay ahead with the levees even though he told us all that no one could have predicted it, and when he was told of the impending doom, our president did not ask one damn question. not one. wtf?
welcome to upside-down land Wonder K.
okay, one more. this one is too funny. our twisted little world.
Nipple Pincher Gets Juvenile Detention
I didn't even catch that. How funny. You have a land, upside down. Tee hee.
Watch Lord of War, that movie pretty much sums up humanity for me. I often wonder if these causes of war are all just fronts, that God, country, resources, class, race, all these factors are just an excuse, and that the real cause is that deep down we just wanna kill each other. Nothing can stop the endless hate of this species, all peace is but a fantasy. The real reality could very well be absolute, total, war.
perhaps we could combine our thirst for blood with e's post, and solve all international disputes with a nipple cripple contest.
which could be more entertaining than you would think, because generally the leaders of the world (rich,fat men) are desperately trying to conceal some fairly ample breasts.
ever see TITUS? or read the original shakespaeare?
horror as poetry. but sadly believable. humans have been doing nasty things to each other for so long...
movie is amazing, btw.
OOhhh, Woe is me....typical cliche architect/arch student/artist personalities in this thread. Feign enlightnment by proclaiming how tragic the world is. 'If only Bush and the rest of the world would listen to us.....then the world would be kittens and gum drops.'
Here's a challenge for the hoards of quasi-informed, Monday morning politicians on archinect: Find the beauty in the world, talk about that as much as you do the obvious tragedies around all of us. QUIT BEING SO BLEAK, IT'S BORING AND ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING!
ps - Thanks for bringing up Titus, that was a good flick.
Cup of Starbucks for Galford. I'll buy.
yes, lets see more of the joys of quail hunting, please.
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