Screw Loose Change and Kim Jong-il


 


So how many of you have seen that Loose Change video that has been circulating around the 'net? Seen the 2nd Edition? Pretty slick isn't it. How many of you believe it? Do you actually believe that our government would stage something this grand and be able to keep it covered up? This isn't the Kennedy Assassination (another conspiracy that I don't believe). These guys are great at creating FUD (look it up on Wikipedia if you don't know what it means).

Well, here is something for all of you to watch. It's a video that takes the entire 2nd edition of Loose Change and examines it. The entire movie is close to 3 hours, so you might want to get comfortable. Instead of trying to watch it "online" I downloaded it so I can watch it later. Also it is a 2+GB file. So make sure you have the space on your hard drive. Most people will on a desktop computer. For those with laptops that are packed with software and stuff, it might be close. My 30GB HD has between 4-5GB free at any point so I was able to put it on there.

Before I go on, here is the link: Screw Loose Change It is in a format called Divx. I'm not an expert on Windows Media Player, so I don't know if it will play it. If not, it should be an easy search on Google to find a player.

I had recently been asked by a co-worker about it. The question was something like, "hey you are good at knowing stuff on the internet and looking it up, have you seen this Loose Change video?" To which my reply was, "It's all bunk." Now it had been a while since I had seen the 1st edition, and I had coincidentally just downloaded this debunking video just a few days earlier....hmmm...conspiracy alert! Yeah, someone from the Administration must have put a gun to my head to download it, yeah, that's it.

Anyway, she was asking me some questions to which I really didn't have the answer, which only helps to fuel conspiracies. Though I had just watched on YouTube a series of videos showing the creators of Loose Change trying to debate with editors from Popular Mechanics. Needless to say, the Loose Change guys acted like immature brats and resorted to name calling. Yeah, that's a real effective way to win an argument. Those tactics are used by people (no matter their political bent) who know they can't support their claims with nothing more than innuendo and hearsay.

So, anyway, I just finished with the video. The great thing about it is that it just doesn't throw up commentary saying, "Your Wrong" or "False" it also provides links to evidence to assist in the debunking. And that is how you do it. You just don't make claims and assume that is all you need to do. Many of the claims or evidence from the LC guys are from conspiracy theory sources, claims when there is nothing but confusion during the first few hours of 9/11, or people that are not experts in field being talked about. Or they use events/documents/claims, etc. that have no connection other than their implication that supposedly supports their claims.

So why post this? Well, I want people to watch it. I have of coursed already put into your heads that LC is bunk. And that might make you prejudicial towards it. So watch the actual video (go here for it Loose Change 2nd Edition), or watch the debunk video from above, or watch both. The LC guys do a great job at tugging on your heart strings. Great editing, powerful music, influential copy. Nice propaganda.

Now, what I believe out of all of this is that the government was grossly inept in putting the pieces together in preventing this tragedy. And I don't think that either Bush or Clinton can be solely blamed for this. I think it had been a growing problem starting with Clinton and continuing with Bush. And the Patriot Act is a knee jerk over-reaction to it.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like I don't think the government shouldn't have done something. I just have a hard time with 1st Amendment and Privacy restrictions imposed by a government. Notice I am not blaming a President. Congress needs to be included in all of this. Remember, Congress is where the laws are passed. We don't live in a dictatorship (though some people feel we do). The big question really is the balance between liberty and security (see this wikipedia article about Benjamin Franklin's supposed quote "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.") I feel that we have given up too much of our liberties.

Now on to North Korea.....You know, where does this little dicktator get off on rattling his sabers? Does he think the entire world is going to stand by and let him try to hold us hostage? Ok, well maybe a couple countries like Iran will. I wonder if he gets it? This won't be just the U.S. doing something about it. There will be other countries trying to be first to stop him (except maybe France - just had to get that dig in there). Absolutely no country near them will put up with it.

Including China. Ooops, did you think they would be happy with you guys? Hell no. They may be the most pissed about this next to Japan. Ok, so South Korea should be included with them. And the first one isn't enough. Just to show all of us that he is serious, he has the audacity to say he's gonna do another test. I'm just waiting for China to swat them like the little gnat they are. Wouldn't it be a bit of Irony if there was a coalition led by China, Japan, and the U.S. to overthrow this guy?

The days of the old school dictatorship are numbered. The rest of the world will not put up with them unless they keep their mouths shut. Haven't heard much out of Qaddafi recently. Castro? Yeah, he surfaces occasionally, but that's normally when he's sick. Venezuela? That guy is an idiot. The various Middle Eastern ones? When the oil runs out, what then? The only reason the world puts up with them is the oil. We don't hear a lot from the other ones, because they don't want us to notice or they don't have anything we want- like the genocide going on in Dafur.

Though maybe I should qualify the first sentence from above. It's not like in 10 years those dictators will be gone and all of us will be holding hands and singing happy songs. In 50 years I think there will be dramatically less dictatorships in the world. And much of that will be because the current dictator will be dead. I really feel that the modernization of the world, and the internet will help convince people in those countries to not allow a successor to be put in place. Though I don't necessarily think that a Democracy will be the default government either.

So back to Kim. ID10t. I just don't see his neighbors putting up with it. Worst case scenario in a conflict is that he has maybe one bomb and uses it against one of the countries. That's bad enough, but he will have "shot his wad" and then what? China alone could overrun the country, and the rest of the world would probably help. The aftermath might be a different story, but hey, one less dictator. Sounds like Iraq, right? Maybe we can let someone else do the dirty work instead for once? France, you ready?

OK, I guess enough of my rant.

L8r,

Marz

Posted: Tuesday - October 17, 2006 at 04:21 PM          
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