Security State Part III: Propaganda Fresh from The Oven (Microwave, That Is)

Nuke your television before it nukes you

One of the most difficult things for some people to accept is that propaganda is easy to do. Your humble not so mild mannered amateur journalist will prove it. It is time to put away silly things. Gillian Anderson, while she portrayed a strong professional female which was a positive image, she unfortunately, and perhaps unwittingly, cemented in the public's mind, once and for all, the classic state approved myths about how the world really works. The FBI, NSA, CIA, DOD, and the rest of that whole brood of creepy alphabet agencies, have been trying to do that since the Kennedy assassination and they had been failing. Well, it's time to put those myths back in the closet, but rather than addressing each one, I will simply expose how easy it is to get away with dirty deeds without a peep and with thunderous applause even.

Security State Part II: On the Street, Under Your Skin, Inside Your Head

Like hearing your in-laws in your sleep

Propaganda hides among the ordinary everyday things we take for granted. It especially likes to live where we feel most comfortable. Sometimes it is subtle and not easily noticed. Other times it tries to mimic its surroundings. Mesa, AZ has a wonderful installation of statues every year called, In the Streets. Dozens of exhibits are installed right where people walk through town. Each year, more and more pieces are added to the permanent collection. And they are all there in the street for people to enjoy. It's a great diverse collection of works. Unfortunately one piece recently installed simply does not belong.

Security State Part I: Discernment, Your First Line of Defense against Bullshit

Too much information

It's never a good sign to see statues and images of authority figures appearing more frequently in and around your community. But it gets dangerous when signs with messages are replaced with signs with images. When unrealistic situations are depicted you have a public hypersensitized to a particular message. It is the ability to recognize these extra details in works of art that prevents us from being manipulated. A message on a sign, such as those for the release of Canadian Marc Emery, suggests that some thought went into deciding what policies you will support. An image, as in the case of Serbian nationalists supporting Radovan Karadzic, says you're going to give that individual a blank check. Some of Marc Emery's supporters do use his face on posters, but in a less forceful manner.

Engage: Reference Bombs

To be useful your news site has to be a resource

Real quick, I want to propose a way news magazines on the net can be information providers and not just eyeball chasers. We need to fund this renaissance as well so that it can survive conditions that threaten well established media, aside from the fact that fewer people trust these sources. The main problem is that we need to become primary sources and we need to provide readers with not just stories and our view on the news, but also the means to create their own news promotions. First, we need to stop chasing whatever wild goose the mainstream media is reporting on. Even veteran alternative news sites still are only a few days forward of news on television and in print. To have a foothold and make real gains we need to define the topics that count and how long they are relevant.

Monday Edition: Security State Embeds Itself

This ain't your daddy's police state

You'd have to be living in a cave not to be disturbed by the last decade of politics, economic implosions, and general descent from anything that could be called a high point in sanity. America and most developed countries have gone off the cliff. Each is a post modern police state, an authoritarian circus, a limited in context but much more vicious paradigm, if you happen to be a useful victim or in their way. It isn't a police state in the usual sense. This is the birth of a security state. The old tactics get new life in far more focused attacks on liberty which may not even be directed at people. Rather their enemy is an idea or at least your association or participation in anything related to it.

Centrifuge: The Mechanics of Propaganda

Hocus pocus information focus

Propaganda does not come without the right packaging. It has to anger the general population, radicalize the activist, mesmerize the well meaning public, and satisfy the prejudices of the professional skeptic. It must take center stage quickly, be presented simply enough that it has viral distribution and complicated enough that it gets by both the public and the skeptics, and it must also exit the stage quickly so as its residual concerns can perpetuate the original intent. Residual concerns are the thoughts and feelings we have as we try to comprehend a disaster or the threat of a disaster or the possibility of restoring what was lost or even exacting justice. Once these take the stage the original spark can exit. As long as it is no longer available to be studied and analyzed the intent and purpose of it marches on. Fortunately, we all have a slight ability to discern whether we are being fed imitation reality, but it is a skill many people don't exercise nor do they put it into practice.

Engage: Mastering pointers in C

Careful with that stick

Most computer languages, not derived from C, won't allow you to touch the memory of the computer directly. They don't just prevent you from doing it. They won't even give you the language construct everybody either loves or hates, pointers. Pointers hold the address of the information you want. Naturally, you need operations that allow you to set and retrieve the information. Where it gets slightly hairy is when you want to use a pointer to do simple things like assign a variable. Where it gets ugly is that the syntax you use when declaring a pointer to a variable is the same as you use when working with the pointer to the variable. The point of this article is to give you a background model that you can compare against. The trouble with pointers is that they make more sense at the bare metal assembly language than trying to create them on top of the language core.

How to Break the Procrastination Cycle

Get things done!

Seems obvious, no? There's two parts to getting out of unhealthy habits, why it happens and how it happens. Dealing with the why means dealing with it moment to moment. Thinking about the why also creates the illusion that the moment before caused you to make a decision now. Looking and rationalizing the why ignores both the straw that broke the camel's back and the feedback mechanism that collects information in ways that allow us free will. There are various techniques for dealing with the why. They involve admitting the problem, recognizing when you are about to go into your usual habits, and practicing to at least have the reflex or tendency to think of productive things to do when you are about to procrastinate. This last part is a key principle because it is the fundamental issue in dealing with the how. The main thing to remember the reasons that you choose to procrastinate are different from the reasons you end up procrastinating. Why we procrastinate is personal and has nothing to do with getting things done. It is mostly made of issues that are all in your head.