Sometimes Goth is exactly the right thing, and for this week, this is exactly the right song.
Daily Archives: September 16, 2006
How to win friends and influence people on VampireFreaks.com
Looks like Kimveer Gill‘s Friends page at VampireFreaks has changed since two days ago. If I’m not mistaken, he has more friends now.
Charming.
I wish I could say this surprised me, but from what I know about fans it does not, not even slightly.
Disclaiming Kimveer Gill
Every site that Kimveer Gill‘s been associated with has posted a disclaimer of one kind or another. VampireFreaks.com blame the whole thing on the mainstream media and insist that there is no Goth on the planet who is the slightest bit violent or hurtful. Whatever. And Gothmetal.net says their whole site is down until the police are finished with it. But among the disingenuous and the bland, there is a disclaimer that is actually somewhat inspirational, and it comes from the strangest source.
Gill‘s favorite videogame was Super Columbine Massacre, and the creator of the site has naturally been inundated by curious and/or worried surfers looking for clues into the mind of a murderer. Did the game cause this? Did the game feed the rage or bleed it off? Who would create a game that relives one of the most infamous crimes of the last fifty years, and why? Let’s look at his answers and draw our own conclusions rather than look for confirmation of our assumptions.
To the Public:
I am, like most, saddened by the news of the recent shooting at Dawson College. I extend my condolences to those affected by this painful event. Please refer to the artist’s statement for the game’s intent. For further questions, please contact me here.
In the press I’ve been getting lately, I have tried to articulate very clearly that Columbine was a “wake up call” not just for our society but for ME in particular as I was once headed down a similar road. I found other outlets such as filmmaking and theater… unfortunately those like Harris, Klebold, and apparently Gill did not.
To Forum Posters:
This site is NOT a place to spread hatred or to cheer on the death of innocent people (quite the opposite, actually). Please be aware of the sensitive nature of Montreal right now and of those who were affected by this shooting. Videogames are important. They’re now under much scrutiny here. Own your words and mean them. If you want a world where freedom of expression prevails, please understand that with it comes an inherent responsibility to be thoughtful and mature about your expression.
-Danny Ledonne
“Columbin”
SCMRPG Creator
doublespeak and TWAT
from Timothy Lynch of the Cato Institute, who actually called it “Doublespeak and the War on Terrorism.”
The abstract:
Five years have passed since the catastrophic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Those attacks ushered in the war on terror. Since some high-ranking government officials and pundits are now referring to the war on terror as the “Long War” or “World War III,” because its duration is not clear, now is an appropriate time to take a few steps back and examine the disturbing new vocabulary that has emerged from this conflict.
One of the central insights of George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four concerned the manipulative use of language, which he called “newspeak” and “doublethink,” and which we now call “doublespeak” and “Orwellian.” Orwell was alarmed by government propaganda and the seemingly rampant use of euphemisms and halftruths— and he conveyed his discomfort with such tactics to generations of readers by using vivid examples in his novel. Despite our general awareness of the tactic, government officials routinely use doublespeak to expand, or at least maintain, their power.
The purpose of this paper is not to criticize any particular policy initiative. Reasonable people can honestly disagree about what needs to be done to combat the terrorists who are bent on killing Americans. However, a conscientious discussion of our policy options must begin with a clear understanding of what our government is actually doing and what it is really proposing to do next. The aim here is to enhance the understanding of both policymakers and the interested lay public by exposing doublespeak.
and the full report as PDF here.
dial m for moron
It seems somebody’s been watching too much late-night Hitchcock: Mr. Michael James Kuhnhausen is accused of hiring an incompetent hitman to off his wife. The wife was slightly injured; the hitman was strangled by the intended victim. And Mr. Kuhnhausen had better pray he remains in custody, particularly if he watched either Dial M for Murder or A Perfect Murder all the way to the end.
The AP has the full report:
Detectives said he helped disarm the security alarm at his wife’s home on Sept. 6 and let Edward Haffey in. Haffey, armed with a claw hammer, then waited for Susan Kuhnhausen to arrive home from her nursing job.
Haffey struck her several times in the head, but Kuhnhausen managed to take the hammer away, according to a court affidavit obtained by The Oregonian newspaper. Kuhnhausen lost her grip on the weapon, and wrestled with Haffey. The intruder bit Kuhnhausen several times, and she bit back.
Finally, the 51-year-old woman was able to get on top of Haffey, and place him in a choke hold. She eventually choked the life out of him…
Detectives checked Haffey‘s background, discovering his lengthy prison terms for conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, and convictions for robbery and burglary. They also learned that he had worked as a custodian for the Fantasy Adult Video stores. Detectives talked to the company and found out that Michael Kuhnhausen was the supervisor for custodians, and had hired Haffey.
And not only is the bitch tough enough to strangle an intruder 
to death with her bare hands and composedly finger her husband once the cops arrived, but she’s got her spiel all Oprah-ready. A nurse with lethal weapons for hands and a flack’s silvery tongue is a woman who is poised to conquer: next stop the White House?
Susan Kuhnhausen, who has been out of town attending a national Emergency Nurses Association conference, left the following message on her home voice mail:
“I’m not able to answer all the calls that I’ve received. I’m being comforted by your concern and your support. I want you to know that our lives are all at risk for random acts, but more likely random acts of love will come your way than random acts of violence.”
raincoaster 