In response to an article "Why is it bad to smoke weed and OK to sell beer?" by David Sirota at Salon.com (2009-10-23) - I posted this comment :
Marijuana has had a bad reputation since a campaign in the 1930's by the American press. Randolph Hearst started publishing articles linking cannabis use with violent crime, Blacks and Mexicans. He renamed cannabis "marijuana", dissociating it from the hemp that for generations had been used as medicine, paper, oil, fabric and rope. The stories triggered the support of racist white organizations who wanted cannabis prohibited, and Hearst with his friend Harry Anslinger, the Director of the Bureau of Narcotics, managed to get "marijuana" made illegal in 1937. Prohibition of alcohol ended at the same time.
The advantage for Randolph was that once the hemp, rope and paper industries had been destroyed by this legislation, he was free to use his own pine plantations and paper mills. He also funded movies such as "Reefa Madness" which portrayed a negative image of cannabis related products.
The timing is interesting for other reasons.
Until then, hempseed oil was one of the most common oils used for lighting, lubrication, cooking and as an additive to paint and varnish. After 1935 virtually all of these oils and strong hemp fibre were replaced with petrochemicals and nylon made by Dupont.
Over the next 30 years marijuana was portrayed as a badge of rebellion in films, books and music, reaching cult status with the beatniks and the hippies. It still appears to be as popular as ever and as misunderstood. Nearly 50 years later it still is, but it has lost its 'cool' to the other mind altering substances that are a sign of the times.
All the academic and medical studies of its affects are inconclusive and there are no reports linking it to reckless, violent or dangerous behaviour. There is no evidence that it is a harmful drug. There is no objective analysis of the effects of its use compared to other drugs that are just as commonly available, like alcohol or tobacco.
Smoking marijuana is no longer the act defiance it once was. For $25 you can buy eniugh alcohol to put you in a serious coma or kill yourself. If you smoked $25 of dope, you would probably fall blissfully asleep in front of the TV with a half eaten chocolate bar in your hand.
We have adopted a set of double standards forced on us by past barons of media and industry. Marijuana smokers are hapless victims of the cultural obsession with the with the 'war' on drugs, violence, alcoholism and cancer. It's OK to get out of it, but it seems to matter to the authorities just what substance we abuse to do it. Our means of recreation and enlightenment seem to have to be sanctioned by our government nannies and then these issues will be swept from the public domain and open discussion in a pathetic display of acquiescing to minority opinion.
The continued debate about prohibition, legislation or decriminalization of marijuana highlights the gap between government policy and public perception. Maybe there is just not enough money to be made were its use be legitimized. But you can bet your last reefer, that as soon as the Australian government perfects a way to licence, grow, distribute sell and tax marijuana it will suddenly become legal. The news media will celebrate their victory for public values and the tobacco companies will be already in line for licences to grow, distribute and sell their very own patented version of Mary J.
"The lethal dose of cannabis is a two-kilo block dropped on your head from the 25th floor of a high-rise building." (Quote from a leading British health professional).
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Misadventures of an attention whore.
In response to an article "A nation of attention whores" by Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon.com (2009-10-16) - I posted this comment :
I wanna' be famous.
Yep, me too, just like you and everybody else. I want to be a popular celebrity and I have become obsessed with achieving that goal. This new addiction has overwhelmed me and I have succumbed to a new mantra of greed: "I want it now and I want it forever".
Andy Warhol's quote has inspired me. He said - "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" (he is often misquoted). Well Andy, it is the future and I now only have one option left available to me (I've tried everything else)! I'm going to join the worldwide web interchatnet community of Myspacefacebookskypetwittmessenger. Yep, that's for me. I'll join in a big way, everything, all of them now, right at this moment. Here we go, my personality will now become my aethernality.
But crikey, have I got some decisions to make before I present my new ego to the world. But first I am required to prove I am a person, not an animal, by verifying secret words. I need to register and validate, create and confirm. I must invent passwords and divulge personal information or choose to be anonymous and lie. So many choices, so little time. My own portrait photo or should I use a fake? An amusing profile if I'm looking for a date? How honest should I be in this pseudo digital text fest as I divulge and disguise information that is unsubstantiated and unconfidential?
Should I be concerned that privacy is no longer sacrosanct and the invasion of privacy has become a peculiar perversion. Miss-confidential is slowly being undressed before our very eyes. Sharing has become daring and everybody wants to know and watch. Quick, I must do, share or say something right now, someone might notice. Hey, look at me - I'm important!
I wanna' be a celebrity - I can hardly wait.
Wow, look at how many friends I have. That was quick. See, all these people like me already. And look at the access I have to places and things and people all over the world and everybody wants to know me. Me, me! Now I can truly connect with all those other people who are already celebrities. Now I can make all those witty little comments and have a cool bio and some pics to share and a list of my favourites. I can check in with Britney, share recipes with Martha and catch all the goss, choose my hottest person, make connections, do my stuff and get noticed.
Now look what's happened. I can't believe it, oh wow! Tom Anderson is now my friend and he's sharing his celeb pals and gals with me. And look, now I've got followers and friends and some of them want to share details with me. They all seem very friendly and quite willing to get to know me better and one of them has sent me a picture. She's a nice girl and she has a sister and they were wondering if I might like to join them there in the spa with that bottle of baby oil and.......just hang on a minute! What is going on here? She shouldn't be doing that! Not on camera in front of the world and on my screen right in my face! Oh no, this is not good. Now I'm over excited about my new friends and I'm just going to have to click here and move that over there until.......oh no, what was that? Woops! That shouldn't have happened. She is such a naughty girl and I'm a little bit distracted here. She can't do that! Oh no, I can't do that! Not here, not now, not with the videocam still on, gimme a break!!
Oh my gosh, now I really am famous - how cool is that?
Look at the screen. My god, what a mess. It probably wasn't exactly what Andy had in mind but it certainly worked for me. Do you feel like a cigarette after that?
Damn the infernal eternal world wide netweb! In 15 minutes I'm famous, but not as the type of celebrity I had in mind. I have just been seduced like a bee to pollen and have just managed to splash my ego and all it's digital glory all over the world.
I'm famous now, but for all the wrong reasons. Good on ya Martha. Up yours Britney. Get a life Tom!
Welcome fame. Here it is. There it was.
Certainly can't edit that. Nup, there is no 'delete' button for that one. No 'undo' will fix that. To hell with 'refresh', once was enough thank you! Worse than hitting 'reply' or 'send to all'. Hello you idiot, are you sure you want to f****n save this? Yes, I am certainly a d******d sending that into the eternal digital library.
I shoulda' thought about that, definitely not cool! Forever available for viewing, imprinted in the aethernet for anyone and everyone to see anytime, anywhere, forever. My 15 minutes of fame complete with all the glorious consequences.
It's hard not to be famous when you are no longer anonymous.
( In 1968, Andy Warhol became bored with his famous line. He changed it to : "In 15 minutes everybody will be famous".)
The Scottish artist, Momus, said it another way : "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people".
Personally, I think it's all a wank.
(This is an edited version of an original comment by goblinono on Salon.com)
I wanna' be famous.
Yep, me too, just like you and everybody else. I want to be a popular celebrity and I have become obsessed with achieving that goal. This new addiction has overwhelmed me and I have succumbed to a new mantra of greed: "I want it now and I want it forever".
Andy Warhol's quote has inspired me. He said - "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" (he is often misquoted). Well Andy, it is the future and I now only have one option left available to me (I've tried everything else)! I'm going to join the worldwide web interchatnet community of Myspacefacebookskypetwittmessenger. Yep, that's for me. I'll join in a big way, everything, all of them now, right at this moment. Here we go, my personality will now become my aethernality.
But crikey, have I got some decisions to make before I present my new ego to the world. But first I am required to prove I am a person, not an animal, by verifying secret words. I need to register and validate, create and confirm. I must invent passwords and divulge personal information or choose to be anonymous and lie. So many choices, so little time. My own portrait photo or should I use a fake? An amusing profile if I'm looking for a date? How honest should I be in this pseudo digital text fest as I divulge and disguise information that is unsubstantiated and unconfidential?
Should I be concerned that privacy is no longer sacrosanct and the invasion of privacy has become a peculiar perversion. Miss-confidential is slowly being undressed before our very eyes. Sharing has become daring and everybody wants to know and watch. Quick, I must do, share or say something right now, someone might notice. Hey, look at me - I'm important!
I wanna' be a celebrity - I can hardly wait.
Wow, look at how many friends I have. That was quick. See, all these people like me already. And look at the access I have to places and things and people all over the world and everybody wants to know me. Me, me! Now I can truly connect with all those other people who are already celebrities. Now I can make all those witty little comments and have a cool bio and some pics to share and a list of my favourites. I can check in with Britney, share recipes with Martha and catch all the goss, choose my hottest person, make connections, do my stuff and get noticed.
Now look what's happened. I can't believe it, oh wow! Tom Anderson is now my friend and he's sharing his celeb pals and gals with me. And look, now I've got followers and friends and some of them want to share details with me. They all seem very friendly and quite willing to get to know me better and one of them has sent me a picture. She's a nice girl and she has a sister and they were wondering if I might like to join them there in the spa with that bottle of baby oil and.......just hang on a minute! What is going on here? She shouldn't be doing that! Not on camera in front of the world and on my screen right in my face! Oh no, this is not good. Now I'm over excited about my new friends and I'm just going to have to click here and move that over there until.......oh no, what was that? Woops! That shouldn't have happened. She is such a naughty girl and I'm a little bit distracted here. She can't do that! Oh no, I can't do that! Not here, not now, not with the videocam still on, gimme a break!!
Oh my gosh, now I really am famous - how cool is that?
Look at the screen. My god, what a mess. It probably wasn't exactly what Andy had in mind but it certainly worked for me. Do you feel like a cigarette after that?
Damn the infernal eternal world wide netweb! In 15 minutes I'm famous, but not as the type of celebrity I had in mind. I have just been seduced like a bee to pollen and have just managed to splash my ego and all it's digital glory all over the world.
I'm famous now, but for all the wrong reasons. Good on ya Martha. Up yours Britney. Get a life Tom!
Welcome fame. Here it is. There it was.
Certainly can't edit that. Nup, there is no 'delete' button for that one. No 'undo' will fix that. To hell with 'refresh', once was enough thank you! Worse than hitting 'reply' or 'send to all'. Hello you idiot, are you sure you want to f****n save this? Yes, I am certainly a d******d sending that into the eternal digital library.
I shoulda' thought about that, definitely not cool! Forever available for viewing, imprinted in the aethernet for anyone and everyone to see anytime, anywhere, forever. My 15 minutes of fame complete with all the glorious consequences.
It's hard not to be famous when you are no longer anonymous.
( In 1968, Andy Warhol became bored with his famous line. He changed it to : "In 15 minutes everybody will be famous".)
The Scottish artist, Momus, said it another way : "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people".
Personally, I think it's all a wank.
(This is an edited version of an original comment by goblinono on Salon.com)
No, but it certainly made men miserable.
In response to an article "Did feminism make women miserable?" by Barbara Ehrenreich at Salon.com (2009-19-15) - I posted this comment :
Oh no, please don't place that bait in front of me. How can I possibly resist a chance to speak on behalf of many men who think they were conned. How much longer was the feminist movement going to continue deluding itself that they were actually all about equal rights. Damn, the bitches had a good thing going when they were barefoot and pregnant and devoted to domestic duties. Hey girls, you were on a roll, why did you have to go and mess it all up!
No wonder men think women lack credibility. Why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good arrangement? Men have dicks. We grunt and we groan and take out the garbage, we conquer and build and dominate - that's what we do, it's a dick thing.You wanna be like us, go and grow a dick. Face it, you aren't us and you can't deceive us any more. You pretty yourself and mask your true intentions and use your sex as a lure, but you won't admit it. You moan and bitch and carry on about how hard it is to be female, what with mother nature's regular reminders of your need to breed; and you spend almost a quarter of your lives bitching and another two quarters preparing to bitch. Hell, that's one week out of four when you're relatively sane - and we gotta live with you! Cut the crap! All that the burning your bras' said was "hey, now they hang just like your balls". Idiots. Who did you think was setting your agenda? Are you sure you were not manipulated by a powerful, vocal minority?
In over thirty years of seeking workplace equality you still have not managed to break through that glass ceiling. There is no equality in the workplace, you are still under-represented in top jobs and income. The only equality you have is your sheer abundance in the workplace. You have taken over large meaningless employment sectors like banks, fast food, call centers, receptionists, marketing consultants, assistants and pole dancers. Wow, great achievement. And if I ever hear one of you tell me again - "I will terminate this phone call if you do not alter your tone of voice" - I will jam my negotiating skills down your freakin' throat!
Do you realize what you did to the economy by demanding equal rights? You managed to force real wages down and boosted unemployment! You took all the menial jobs that blokes had and because you weren't experienced or didn't have the strength or guts to do the real dirty work, you were paid less. All wages went down to create a level playing field and male management saw the advantage in introducing you to other employment sectors. No more overtime, less working hours, the capacity to employ two people for the price of one. You managed to take over management of the pornography industry and then complained that men were degrading women when in fact you encouraged that exploitation because it was a way for your to make more money from our vulnerabilities. You weren't at home bringing up our kids, teaching them decency and morality. No, you wanted to work so that you could have everything men had and become independent. Who the hell is going to bring up our kids when you want a career? You keep behaving like this and sooner or later there is going to be a backlash from men - and it won't be a little flick with the leather whip either dear.
Leave us alone you charlatans, witches and harlots, go and be a natural woman, stop trying to be a man, stop trying to find ways to get through life easy by marrying money. Hey, no wonder we die early and leave you with our fortune. No wonder I'll pay you zillions in a settlement - just to get you the hell outa' my life! Stop making millions from a divorce, eg- you never taught Greg Norman to play golf. Stop blaming me for all your troubles and stop hating me for being preoccupied with sex. And wake up and look at the damage your have already done. I'm sick of hearing you complain that you can't find a good man and you don't know where they are. Do you want to know where they are and why you can't find 'em? The good men, the real men, aren't hanging out in bars waiting to pick you up - no, the real men are at home, living on a meager wage, paying off your debts, watching you rip off a third of their earnings and trying to bring up the kids you so badly wanted but left behind because you wanted a career and equality. You won't find a good man where you are looking because he's too busy fixing up the mess you left when you deserted because you didn't get what you wanted - you poor little thing. He's the man staying home at night, passing the time, dreaming, hoping, self medicating and trying to keep his life on track while loving his kids he hardly ever sees because you say he's not a fit father - go f**k yourself. No you won't find him where you are looking because he doesn't want to be found. He's had enough of women and their demands for equality. He's trying to build a better life for himself, alone, coz' he's sick of spending his life fixing up your problems and being bribed with your sex. Yeah, I know; I can already hear all the females talking about me as another man with issues - "get over it"! Nup, not this little black duck nor lot's of others whose spirit has been broken.
I have a problem with why you want to need to be liberated. Hey, I can repair a machine but all I can ever do is lubricate a woman - there is no repair manual, it's a bloke thing. Stop giving me so much criticism and condemnation and don't even think of getting me started on any other issues of sex, inequality, taboos or deviance coz' i'm done with feminism. I'm over it, it's sorted, I'm liberated. You deal with it. Not tonight dear, I've got a headache.
(Oh, and I am sorry to all those lovely women I have just insulted. They know they do not fit in the category that suits my ignorant, middle aged, jaded, bigoted, dysfunctional, sexist, homophobic, politically incorrect maleness. God bless you - you are beautiful.)
It's such a shame that some of you ruined it for all.
(This is an edited version of an original comment posted by goblinono on Salon.com).
Oh no, please don't place that bait in front of me. How can I possibly resist a chance to speak on behalf of many men who think they were conned. How much longer was the feminist movement going to continue deluding itself that they were actually all about equal rights. Damn, the bitches had a good thing going when they were barefoot and pregnant and devoted to domestic duties. Hey girls, you were on a roll, why did you have to go and mess it all up!
No wonder men think women lack credibility. Why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good arrangement? Men have dicks. We grunt and we groan and take out the garbage, we conquer and build and dominate - that's what we do, it's a dick thing.You wanna be like us, go and grow a dick. Face it, you aren't us and you can't deceive us any more. You pretty yourself and mask your true intentions and use your sex as a lure, but you won't admit it. You moan and bitch and carry on about how hard it is to be female, what with mother nature's regular reminders of your need to breed; and you spend almost a quarter of your lives bitching and another two quarters preparing to bitch. Hell, that's one week out of four when you're relatively sane - and we gotta live with you! Cut the crap! All that the burning your bras' said was "hey, now they hang just like your balls". Idiots. Who did you think was setting your agenda? Are you sure you were not manipulated by a powerful, vocal minority?
In over thirty years of seeking workplace equality you still have not managed to break through that glass ceiling. There is no equality in the workplace, you are still under-represented in top jobs and income. The only equality you have is your sheer abundance in the workplace. You have taken over large meaningless employment sectors like banks, fast food, call centers, receptionists, marketing consultants, assistants and pole dancers. Wow, great achievement. And if I ever hear one of you tell me again - "I will terminate this phone call if you do not alter your tone of voice" - I will jam my negotiating skills down your freakin' throat!
Do you realize what you did to the economy by demanding equal rights? You managed to force real wages down and boosted unemployment! You took all the menial jobs that blokes had and because you weren't experienced or didn't have the strength or guts to do the real dirty work, you were paid less. All wages went down to create a level playing field and male management saw the advantage in introducing you to other employment sectors. No more overtime, less working hours, the capacity to employ two people for the price of one. You managed to take over management of the pornography industry and then complained that men were degrading women when in fact you encouraged that exploitation because it was a way for your to make more money from our vulnerabilities. You weren't at home bringing up our kids, teaching them decency and morality. No, you wanted to work so that you could have everything men had and become independent. Who the hell is going to bring up our kids when you want a career? You keep behaving like this and sooner or later there is going to be a backlash from men - and it won't be a little flick with the leather whip either dear.
Leave us alone you charlatans, witches and harlots, go and be a natural woman, stop trying to be a man, stop trying to find ways to get through life easy by marrying money. Hey, no wonder we die early and leave you with our fortune. No wonder I'll pay you zillions in a settlement - just to get you the hell outa' my life! Stop making millions from a divorce, eg- you never taught Greg Norman to play golf. Stop blaming me for all your troubles and stop hating me for being preoccupied with sex. And wake up and look at the damage your have already done. I'm sick of hearing you complain that you can't find a good man and you don't know where they are. Do you want to know where they are and why you can't find 'em? The good men, the real men, aren't hanging out in bars waiting to pick you up - no, the real men are at home, living on a meager wage, paying off your debts, watching you rip off a third of their earnings and trying to bring up the kids you so badly wanted but left behind because you wanted a career and equality. You won't find a good man where you are looking because he's too busy fixing up the mess you left when you deserted because you didn't get what you wanted - you poor little thing. He's the man staying home at night, passing the time, dreaming, hoping, self medicating and trying to keep his life on track while loving his kids he hardly ever sees because you say he's not a fit father - go f**k yourself. No you won't find him where you are looking because he doesn't want to be found. He's had enough of women and their demands for equality. He's trying to build a better life for himself, alone, coz' he's sick of spending his life fixing up your problems and being bribed with your sex. Yeah, I know; I can already hear all the females talking about me as another man with issues - "get over it"! Nup, not this little black duck nor lot's of others whose spirit has been broken.
I have a problem with why you want to need to be liberated. Hey, I can repair a machine but all I can ever do is lubricate a woman - there is no repair manual, it's a bloke thing. Stop giving me so much criticism and condemnation and don't even think of getting me started on any other issues of sex, inequality, taboos or deviance coz' i'm done with feminism. I'm over it, it's sorted, I'm liberated. You deal with it. Not tonight dear, I've got a headache.
(Oh, and I am sorry to all those lovely women I have just insulted. They know they do not fit in the category that suits my ignorant, middle aged, jaded, bigoted, dysfunctional, sexist, homophobic, politically incorrect maleness. God bless you - you are beautiful.)
It's such a shame that some of you ruined it for all.
(This is an edited version of an original comment posted by goblinono on Salon.com).
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