so today i was reading up on the recent passing of UN resolution 1737 imposing sanctions on iran for enriching uranium … something that totally perplexed me as iran is party to the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty and according to the IAEA have not broken any rules with the research they are conducting.
but as far as the general public is concerned, this isn’t important.
according to mainstream media, we have the following re-definition:
uranium = nuclear weapons
enrichment = weaponization
and that’s it, that’s all that matters.
and that’s what i’m getting at with respect to “credibility” and “cult-of-the-word” as the title of this post, we seem to be living in a culture where PR governs the usage of words and phrases to the point that they lose all meaning (see WMDs/insurgency/terroristm/etc… re: iraq) or undergo a re-definition more suitable for public approval of reactionary measures … like an impending attack on iran.
take, for instance, this article i stumbled across from the telegraph. i’m not sure if this is an editorial or what, but the shoddiness with which it’s written barely qualifies it as a blog entry. although various things stood out as oddly out of place for a serious discussion of iran’s position on the weaponization of nuclear capabilities, i finally had enough and decided to research the validity of some claims after reading this 2nd to last paragraph:
Reports from Iran say that Massoud Osanlou, the leader of the bus drivers’ union, was arrested at his home by members of the Basij, the pro-regime militia, and had part of his tongue cut out as a warning to be quiet.
“reports from iran say”!!!!!!! are you kidding me? when did we start taking for granted that ambiguity in citing sources is suitable only for a high school book report by someone who didn’t actually read the book?
so … i decided to research the validity of this claim that the leader of the bus drivers’ union had his tongue snipped, and by research, i mean i used google:
- a check on news.google.com returned ZERO results.
- and a general google search returned a bunch of sites with very little credibility the majority of which contained a cut and pasted snippet from this the title of which alone is enough to make you realize how useless the above claim by the telegraph is.
newsflash: it’s KU klux klan, not kLu klux klan!!!
people, please please please, stop taking for granted that journalism isn’t absolute, that because things are written by people who are paid to write doesn’t automatically assure its factuality or credibility.
for the past however many years, i’ve always sort of taken for granted the insanity that is my family; an insanity that manifests itself a select number of times per year when attendance is almost mandatory and whose intensity is directly proportional to the number of parts of the whole are present. i’ve always been able to realize that i’m a part of it by virtue of it being my lot in life, but simultaneously, though reluctantly, wondered how other families celebrate or mourn or just gather.
this year though, something a little monumental (at least through my perception of things) happened: an outsider CHOSE to be a part of it all. it’s not exactly fair to call it a “choice” though, as it’s motivated by a commitment to someone already part of the raucous club.
but still, it never dawned on me that at some point in your life, if you’re lucky enough, you get to choose whether you want an all-access pass into that segment of another person’s life with the potential to reveal more than any other shared experience up to that point through an awkwardness so extreme that it borders on serenity.
i’ve never been asked to make that choice and i’ve never come close to meeting anybody, with the exception of maybe one person, i could envision asking to make that choice.
maybe (hopefully) one day …
prepare yourself for the greatest ideological shift in your life, ever:
mary’s boy child, oh my lord
and i quote:
people shouted, “let everyone know! there is hope for all to find peace.”
powerful?
no comment.
i’ll get back to posting my best albums of 2006 (probably) later (i just realized i should add the TV on the radio album ‘return to cookie mountain’), but now, because it’s christmas, for those of you lucky enough to frequent this blog, i’ve provided the greatest collection of christmas songs by a single group ever.
a boney m christmas! merry christmas:
christmas medley
jingle bells
oh christmas tree
feliz navidad
hark the herald angels sing
when a child is born
zion’s daughter
little drummer boy
the first noel
mary’s boy child, oh my lord
oh come all ye faithful
auld lang syne
petit papa noel
darkness is falling
joy to the world
white christmas
so far:
lil wayne + dj drama – dedication 2
the album leaf – into the blue again
the roots – game theory
jose gonzalez – stay in the shade (EP released in US 2006)
beirut – gulag orkestar
tool – 10,000 days
juana molina – son
the knife – silent shout
tbc..
the production on this track alone makes it one of the top hip-hop tracks of 2006:
ghostface killah – street opera feat. sun god
“it’s good, but it’s no {black on both sides|reflection eternal|illmatic|things fall apart|ressurection|etc…}”
it’s a little irritating when a qualitative analysis of an artist’s work is almost entirely a function of past output; setting up an idealized “golden era,” a reproduction of which is impossible. that being said, when mos def puts out a new album, i think i might suffer from a different kind of interpretive ailment: my loyalty to his art leaves it unquestioned. i take each album as a masterpiece unto itself.
still though, i never stop looking for the next “umi says,” a song which will go down as one of my all time faves (i’d put it on a backtomine or latenighttales compilation if i ever get commissioned to make one). on his latest album, i think i found something that makes me feel the same way ‘umi says’ does, here it is:
forever is only a lifetime
