Wall of Mouths

Opal mantra- you’ve asked the most intelligent question, so far. Such questions demand a detailed response but due to time constraints, I’ll try to be as concise as possible. But please dont think that I ‘want to be right at any cost.’ That’s not my purpose. Far from it, that’s not why i’m posting here. I havent been active here for a very very long time. If you have any questions, please free to ask.
As for the way i responded to that particular person- well you should have been here in the early days to understand. I’ve recieved the most verbal abuse from the hands of people on this message board. But let’s put that aside for now. I’ll respond to your queries, point by point.
You asked, ‘Where do you get your facts? TV, Newspapers, Books?’
Well a lot of people ask that question and indeed there’s no clearcut answer. There are many ways to go at it and it does take some effort, I admit.(as i mentioned in one of my previous posts)
In the US we have this act called the Freedom of Information Act- where Goverment Classified documents are made availabe to the public. These are precious documents that contain a lot of information- that is if anyone is looking. But basically no one is- why should we be? Arnt we supposed to be more concerned with the latest sitcoms, or the superbowl, or which latest actress got breast implants, or who slept with who etc and all that nonsense. There’s a substantial effort that goes into making sure that that’s how people ‘spend’ their time. (This is altogether a different topic- but i cant go into it here. I did a whole essay on this last semester- i could send it to you if you like.) So Goverment documents are an important source of information. For example the COINTELPRO gives details of FBI violence and initimadation of civil right leaders in our country, etc. (It is very worth reading.)
But you can ask, ‘If they are goverment documents, arent they be supposed to be full of lies?’ Not neccesarily. Most of these documents are accurate because the people in power (the elite) need to have an accurate picture of society and the world at large, in order to make decisions that would benefit their interest. So it is important that they understand the world. For example in 1945, Saudi Arabia was described as a ‘price treasure… that should be controlled thorougly because of it’s oil reserves.’ Anyone can figure out why. (I’ve already written about this.)
On the other hand, nothing from the State Deparment should be taken for it’s word. Most of those handouts are a bunch of lies- given to the media so that they know what to say. That is understanndable- for example why would the goverment give out information- that would harm it’s interest? No one would do that. One interesting to do is to cross check information using the Freedom Information Act. The facts shall come clearer.
Another thing one can do is to use basic logic. For example I’ll use the Kuwait example. The word was that, ‘we went to restore democracy in Kuwait.’ Ok one only has to look at the form of goverment in Kuwait, before and after the invasion to know that we didnt go to restore ‘democracy.’ How does one find information like this? Well you could go to the Kuwaiti embassy and ask for a brochure etc. It’s all in there. You could look at it’s Law’s etc and determine for yourself how they are compatible with human rights. You could then aks yourself, how come we keep deriding about human right abuses in North Korea, China, Cuba etc and mention nothing of Kuwait etc?
Let me give you another example. The bombings of Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998 were violations of International Law. Sudan was a blatant war crime. How does one figure out if it was a violation of International Law? Go to a library or whereever and get a book on International Law. So that’s another way.
So how can we expect other countries to comply with International Law, when we dont do it ourselves!
Most of the time it isnt the fact that the Goverment is lying etc but the fact that important news dont get reported in the media. Sometimes it does, but like one paragraph in the back of the sports page. (Once again,I wrote extensively about this in my essay- I’m not going to go into it here.) The media is by large owned by corporations (GE owns NBC, Walt Disney Owns ABC, etc). Even the Democrats and Republicans are two factions of the same (business)party. For example, the World Court criticized the US for ‘execessive use of force’ in Nicaragua. It didnt get reported in the mainstream media. Not even a word. So most people in the US dont know about it. One can easily obtain transcripts of the World Court and figure these things out oneself.
Another example. The World Court condemned George Bush for the invasion of Panama in 1989. Few people got to know about it. How does one find that out? Once again, follow the examples like i said above. You should always double check and cross check the information your receiving. Therefore it’s not my opinion that ‘George Bush was condemned before the World Court for exessive use of force’, but a fact.
Another example would be to read the newspapers of different countries and compare how differently they’re reporting the same news! One can always add and subtract and try to get to the facts. One reason i dont feel the need to write extensively about human right abuses in officially claimed ‘dictatorships’ like, North Korea, China etc is because the mainstream media in America does it quite accurately! But on the other hand they tend to not do the same for our Freinds. That’s why i’m interested in showing the other side of the picture. One can always read the newspapers from ‘enemy’ countries who go into detail describing ‘our crimes’ while neglecting to print thier own. It’s vice versa.
Plus there are many agencies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch who provide information that you wouldnt normally get to hear in the Mainstream.
IF your a student you can always go to libraries and try to gain access to original documents and do your own research.
At the moment- there’s a substantial resource of information on the Internet that once can try to use.
I use combinations of all these procedures and a whole lot more.
-‘Or do you work for an American Embassy in Baghdad?’
No I dont. I’m a recent sophomore drop out( looking foward to get back in next semseter!). I’m an artist (street musician) and i wash dishes.
- ‘I mean facts are facts and some facts are false.’
Yes facts are facts but no facts are false because if they were false, they would be lies to begin with, and not facts. So if facts are false, that means they are lies, and not facts.
- ‘And i dont like people who say ‘Bomb the hell out of Afghanistan either.’
Me niether!
- ‘Personally i’d like to bomb the whole fucking world.. ha ha.. but that’s just a personal sick opinion.’
Why?!
- ‘that’s the only way to get peace.’
Well there’s nothing like trying it out!
PEACE:)

According to the latest Newsweek Poll- that number has dropped to 65%. Maybe ideas are getting across. Maybe there is a chance:) Woooooooo! We cant stop now! Peace.

Ha i knew you many would say that! People can get way with saying ‘bomb afghanistan to the stong age,’ and those ‘igonrant cunts from afghnistan,’ but yet get offended by what i said.
I dont want to be right at any cost! Not at all.
If someone has an argument- it need’s to be backed up. Or otherwise it’s not an argument. IF you keep parroting everything you hear on Tv etc and type it here- it’s not really an argument.
The only reason i even responded was because i feel strongly about it. In America the atmpsphere is beyond believe. According to the polls (i’m not sure they can be trusted or not) we have something like a 90%+ people who want to go to war. That is amazing. You wont even find that kind of conformity in a totalitarian country. That shows the type of society we live in. ( if the polls can be believed, that is.)
You can go the normal person on the street here and ask them why saddam should be punished- and they’ll tell you, ‘because he’s a dictator and yadda yadda.’ You can ask them why we went to war in kuwait and they’ll tell you ‘because we had to restore freedom and so on.’
Ok let’s look at Kuwait before the invasion- it was a dictatorship (women had as much rights as blacks had here during slavery.) Let’s look at it after the invasion- same thing, if not worse. So we definately didnt go to restore freedom. This isnt an opinion- it’s a fact. You just have to look at the goverment in kuwait. It isnt any kind of conspiracy theory.
It’s all so obvious.
If someone has something to say- then please back it up. If i’m wrong- please enlighten me.
And there’s so much that we can all do. If your in college- organize a peace rally. Let the powers that be know- we wont support your war! Iya Basta! Enough already!
If i want people to listen to what i say- i have to make them see other side of the picture. Not by emotion but by facts. Not by lies but by the truth. After that, it’s all up to them.
As for whether i live up to my ‘name’ or not- i dont know about that. I dont think about it. It’s not a issue. I’d rather talk about raising awareness than answer a question like that. Peace.

You have nothing to argue about because your fucking ignorant. This isnt about ‘opinions’ but about the way things are, about reality- about how human affairs really are like. It’s about having the guts to look at things they way they are instead of looking at them the way you’ve been told to( by the powers that be).
NOTHING i said is made up. It’s all out there. Go do some reasearch (it will however take some effort- opposed to parroting everything you hear on Tv or the history books in school). Saddam’s worst crimes were commited before the Gulf War when he was our buddy. Saddam was a dictator back then too like he is proclaimed to be now. This is getting so easy. *yawn*
Any twelve year old can see we have nothing against dictator’s as long as they work for us. Any twelve year old can see we are there for oil. You dont have to be a genius to figure these things out.
People who say stuff like that dont have the capacity to answer arguments. Idiots.

I’ve noticed that about quite a few Therapy? songs. But who isnt influenced?:)