Category Archives: Allegory

Disclaiming Kimveer Gill

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 Gill and his gun

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.

Super Columbine Massacre

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

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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.

keep rocking, Lebanon!

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In a followup to this post of mine, Ahmad over at Cold Desert has posted a couple more liquor ads. It’s amazing how patriotic a good marketing company can make getting pissed, eh? We saw it here first, but these guys just don’t stop! They may be hungover, but they’re still on the ball; still, there goes the sales in Southern Florida.

Check out the latest Absolut ads in Beirut:

absolut return

and

absolut determination

Rebuilding a country is thirsty work. Man, I could really use a drink right now…

the liquor freedom indicator: bellwether of liberty

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Is that a gun in your pocket...oh, it is. 

I think we can abolish CSIS, MI6 and the CIA now. We have the Liquor Freedom Indicator to take and transmit the temperature of any geopolitical hotspots.

Imagine the savings: total cost = the bar tab for a double Johnny Walker Black on the rocks in a bar in the capital of each nation. Compare that to an estimated $30 billion for the CIA alone, $200 million for CSIS, and £776 million for MI6. Hmmm…

I shall get to work on the travel grant application immediately.

Americans need to know who their friends are and now. That’s been a tall order since long before Archie Bunker wondered what trick Nixon had up his sleeve pretending to make peace with the ChiComs. Our own State Department is standing proof that you can spend seven years at Georgetown, ace the Foreign Service Exam, and still not know your Assyrians from your asshole.

Today, the world’s a ball of confusion, right? War Churchill by Karshin Iraq, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Timor, Somalia, Gaza, Backwaterstan, and Toledo. The quickly shifting sands of foreign relations have increased the complexity of the U.S.’s ties, alliances, and uneasy truces from “merely knotty” to “what the hell are we doing?” If war is God’s way of teaching Americans geography, are asymmetrical, urban, guerrilla conflicts with non-state actors God’s way of making geography irrelevant?

Average Americans consistently demonstrate no understanding of expected return, octane ratings, and what the hell their legislators voted for last session. They’re never going to get ahead of the foreign policy learning curve unless someone can simplify the process. That’s why I try to distill all analysis of a foreign country’s structure, culture, and prospects for success down to booze.

So without further ado, I give you the liquor freedom indicator.

There follows an dryly exhaustive analysis of Pakistan, Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Beirut, Northern Lebanon, Southern Lebanon, and Iraq. So to speak.

Still no word on Salt Lake City.

sexy Star Trek slashtube: Closer

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Every love story is better with a little Nine Inch Nails, right?

Or is that just mine…? Don’t answer that.

From Defamer.