Friday, June 22, 2001 :::
"...SOMEBODY TALKED!!!" I mentioned in an earlier post that I spent last weekend with family in Tennessee. Actually, it was Oak Ridge, TN. If you're not familiar with Oak Ridge - I wasn't - it has a very interesting history. In WWII, Oak Ridge built the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan - The Manhattan Project. I'm sure that someone will be along presently to correct my specifics, but for now, this is the story in the Reader's Digest Condensed version.
Someone in the military got the idea that the Germans were holed up in some wilderness chalet, chuckling over a schematic and shoving atoms at other atoms with the desired end result of building a weapon with unprecedented destruction capability. So, in true American fashion, we skittered around doing precisely the same thing with breakneck speed. Sometime in the 40's, the military acquired 59,000 or so acres of the barely-inhabited Tennessee hills for this purpose. Local farmers were given a short time to pack their shit up and get outta Dodge. So then, they built a town. The government built 2 or 3 big nuclear plants, houses, a few town buildings and off they went. When people were hired to work in these plants their hire letters said - We're pleased to offer you this unspecified job in this unspecified area of the country. Be on the train Tuesday and welcome aboard - well, not that exactly but you get my point. Suffice to say that living conditions were spartan - the town was not on any maps at all so a lot of companies wouldn't ship there and the townspeople seemed to be completely subsidized by the government. If grampa and grandma would go on their Sunday drive and happened on the town, the first thing they would be greeted with would be tall guard towers, a gate, and armed guards. (the towers are still there, it's kinda creepy)
There were 2 other research areas in the country - one was Los Alamos, the other I can't remember. As best as I can tell, not being very smart in the history department, one plant made the plutonium/uranium stuff, sent it to Oak Ridge to be made into explosive material, then sent the whole kit and kaboodle to Los Alamos for testing/bomb-making. While all this was going on, the fighting continued with America taking huge losses. There was the famous Trinity test and then in August of 1945, the bombs were dropped on Japan and the war was over in less than two weeks.
This is all leading up to my visit to the museum when I was in Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge is a beautiful town, nestled in the hills - not far from Knoxville...and the houses and barracks that were built in the 40's are still there and still lived in. A comment that Linda made some time ago has stuck with me because it blows my mind. "Every house in Oak Ridge was either built in the early '40s or the early 70s." When I asked her why, she told me that the town was not opened to the public for building until the early 70s!!!! Am I the only one who is blown away by this??? And it's true - I've seen the houses. The plants are still there, of course, but they're not making weapons anymore.
While there, I went to the museum that's in town. It's a hybrid between a cool science museum with lots of stuff for kids (and Cats) to play with and a town history center. I was really interested in the town history so I started at the beginning. I have to admit that I was steeling myself for lots of patriotic propaganda, designed to steer your brain away from the horrific destruction and loss of life. But I was remarkably surprised that the information was so well presented. It put the facts out there in a very clinical way and spent more effort focusing on the people behind the work and the life they led in Oak Ridge at the time. One fact that made me chuckle was that little girls who were in the Girl Scouts had to travel to Knoxville, where the nearest troop was. They had to be enrolled by first names only due to the secrecy of the project. Sheesh! ....with Girl Scouts, even!
What was even more interesting was the WWII propaganda that was peppered through the exhibit...the title of my blog is taken from one of the more heavy handed of them. The picture was of a choppy ocean, dark skies and a shadowy ship-type figure in the distance. In the foreground, a hand is emerging from the whitecapped ocean. Straining upward, the hand reaches for the rescue that will never come *insert dramatic music here*. The text reads in large scary letters, "Somebody talked!" There was another one that had a figure of everybody's favorite mother, receiving the telegram from the War Dept telling her that a loved one had been killed. Her sobbing face is turned toward the viewer and the text reads "Her son is dead because YOU talked!"
To the eye of a girl who has never lived in a world where a whole town could be secret and young men volunteer to go to war, knowing that chances are good that they'll be KIA - these were laughable. But the power of propaganda is undeniable. It is the most effective tool that a government has...however they choose to use it. I think that as a society, though, we've decided that we're wayyyyy too smart to be taken in by it. But I'm not so sure we are... I'm interested in what would constitue propaganda today..and how it would be used. Since I went to that museum, I've paid just a little more attention to the news items that I watch, articles that I read, and the websites that I visit.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, propaganda sowed the seeds of nazi anti-semitism in Europe - posters showing olive-skinned, dark-haired men and women scuttling off into the woods with German babies that would, undoubtedly, be killed to make bread for passover. Leaflets, papers, newspaper articles spread these through the educated elite - who then spread it through those who couldn't read by word of mouth. To anyone who's ever played the childrens' game "Gossip" or read any of the Urban Legends books like The Choking Doberman know full well the power of word of mouth transmission. Is it even possible that here, in the twenty-first century, we are still as a whole susceptible to the ravages of made-up tales. And doesn't it seem weird that no one really knows how these things get started? If we were to be swayed by powerful groups with political agendas, how would they get to us?
I am of an age where I can still remember life before remote controls, microwave popcorn, and - yes - the internet. But I know that there are folks out there who have embraced the internet as the penultimate voice of truth, just as our parents embraced Walter Cronkite and later, Dan Rather, as that voice over that newer medium of television. Is the internet truly the last bastion of unclaimed, virgin minds? I think so, to a certain extent - but I also think that television out classes the internet as a propaganda vehicle. Note some fairly recent examples. When the Russian sub went down in shallow water, the news media continually repeated statements about the countries that had offered help - but were refused. Doesn't that smack painfully of the Cold War picture of the stoic Soviets, looking unfeelingly at the camera while their children and their pets froze, starved, or were shot to death? Then, do you remember the photos that were circulating of the one distraught mother being subdued by several huge, young, strapping men in uniforms (read: KGB) while being shot up with a hypodermic? To my shame, I was taken in by that and made loud comments to anyone who'd listen about how horrible it was. What about the recent arrest of the Bush-girls (I've wanted to call them that ever since that hoo-ha took office) for the unpardonable offense of underage drinking? How much you wanna bet that the next we hear of this is the girls taking their punishment 'just like any other girl'??? And don't even get me started about the US's pet barking dog over there in Iraq? Isn't it funny how often he barks when something else is going on at home, like ...maybeeee....could it be.....an impeachment trial??????
I would love to say that our government or other groups aren't trying to lead us in a blatant way like in Wag the Dog or Bob Roberts but I'm not sure that I would be telling the truth. I can say that I'm disturbed by how little control I have over the information given me. I am unable to accept that what TV station A tells me but I am equally unable to believe what station B tells me, either. In fact, I've got it in my head that the only way for me to find out what's going on in Croatia is for me to hop on a plane and go there! Either I'm really stupid or there are others like me out there. BUT - just in case you're lost on the mis-information highway - try this. These folks help sort through the muck...
::: posted by MetalCat at 2:06 PM
Monday, June 18, 2001 :::
I'm not usually a "double-poster" but a few things struck me today that I found noteworthy. 1. This month's Rolling Stone contains a multiple-page article on Dale Earnhardt Jr. Since when has NASCAR been fodder for the penultimate guide to pop culture??? And, for that matter, since when is NASCAR the only thing that NC is known for???? Oh yeah, I forgot hurricanes and pigs. *sigh* It was a good article, though. That kid swears more than I do. Fuckin' - A.
2. The cast of Starship Troopers all look like they were hired directly from the Abercrombie and Fitch ads. Tell me again how we're supposed to live in America and have a healthy self-image??? Evidently, only those with chisled features (or small and perky breasts), artfully tousled hair, and a six-pack can have one...
3. Last, but certainly not least - I saw the video for Weezer's cool song from their much anticipated new album, Hashpipe on MTV. It was censored. They erased "hash" from the audio and the little snip at the beginning and the end of the video that identifies what the hell you're watching says Weezer - H***pipe. That sucks.
The above rant has been brought to you by the letters "F" and "U". (I stole that from SNL - I'm not even that clever).
That is all.
::: posted by MetalCat at 8:18 PM
"Eastbound and down...." I have to mention my Smokey and the Bandit moment from this weekend's trip. I travelled to Tennessee with my sister-in-law and my nephew to visit her mother this past weekend. We drove 'cross-state in her Durango, which is properly outfitted with state o' the art radar detector and CB radio. On the way home, we were stuck in traffic jams no less than 3 times. The jams were due to construction and involved 4 and two lane highways merging to one lane for a short period of time. Having said that, I have to say that today's Punch in the Nose award goes to most highway drivers. At one jam, the left lane was merging in to the right and there was an exit about a mile and a half ahead of us. I can't tell you how many "4-wheelers" (that's trucker talk - we had the CB at channel 19 and were listening to the chatter) decided that it was an appropriate course of action to zip it over into the breakdown lane and cruise there for the couple of miles to the exit. Whereupon, aforementioned "4-wheelers" further decided that it was appropriate to motor up the exit and back onto the other side, thereby gaining a couple of dozen car lengths. Needless to say, I was filled with the outrage of the highway-innocent.
Fast forward...(the following comments are paraphrased but rendered as faithfully as I can remember)
Durango: "Break 1-9. Hey Eastbound Warner back there"
Warner: "Come back, driver."
Durango: "How 'bout running some interference with these Eastbound 4-wheeler yahoos - need you to back me up if I get hung out to dry"
Warner: "You got it, driver. 10-4"
So, I proceeded to ride half in and half out of the breakdown lane, causing quite a commotion behind me to the many folks who were denied their illegal activity and their dozen or so car lengths. I think that was the closest I'd ever come to becoming a victim of road rage.
That sound you hear is me, still chuckling. Good buddy.
::: posted by MetalCat at 12:37 PM
Saturday, June 16, 2001 :::
There is a very beautiful movie that has a line that goes some thing like this" I've seen things you people wouldn't believe" and today I feel I can say the same thing. For the first time today I attended a "SCI-FI expo" and saw some of the best examples of what I like to call the socially retarded. These would people that run on the faster end of the IQ highway but could make an 80 year old nun tell them to " shut the fuck up and get a life " in the the first five minutes of knowing them.
I in no way mean to imply that I am the measure of cooness that all beings should be messaured by ( I did pay hard american currency to get in to the place after all), but I do think I manage to keep my inner geek in check. and I would like to share some wisdom to any of those unluckly souls who stumble into this site.
1. For christ sake by some tee shirts that don't have some sort of licensed character on them.
2.Threre is one day of the year you can dress up in some costume from your favorite movie, that would be Oct. 31 any other time it's scary/sad.
3. Two words bath regularly. I'm not being mean but my girlfriend had to walk away from a sales table due to this problem.
4. Lastly this piece of advice could be used by more and more Americans every day. The Triple meat and chesse at Wendy's is more of a yearly indulgence than say a viable diet plan for eveyday life.
And to wrap this up I like to say I know making fun of these people is like shooting fish in a barell ( who by the way shoots fish? stupid things that get stuck in the lexicon)
and I am at heart one of them, and were not any bigger losers than people who put NASCAR stickers on there car for free. There called sponsers for a reason people.
::: posted by Anonymous at 6:30 AM
Wednesday, June 13, 2001 :::
Well, it looks like I have the daunting task of starting this one off. I skip around on the weblog lawn every once in a while - I'm always interested in how other people's blogs look and feel. The title and page are a good indication of the kinds of things you might see there.... In the case of Societal Nosebleed, I'm thinking that this might be a good place to be extrospective (is that even a word?) for once. To begin. Thought for the day. How many people are walking around right now with the capacity for thinking/doing something completely outside the realm of what society considers acceptable? I know that not a day goes by that I don't relish the thought of going buck-wild and alienating myself - like pretending that the drive home is actually a demolition derby and clipping as many cars as I can. But does that mean that I'm in my own little world? Are there others like me out there? Is there anybody in there? Helloooooo - hellooooooo...
It's the phenomenon that I call "The Dateline Effect" and its recent resurgence in the wake of the media circus that was the execution of Timothy McVeigh that's prompted me to consider those around me and how many of their thoughts are original. The Dateline Effect is best illustrated by this: All of the ladies in the office troop home on Thursday night to watch Dateline, who informs them that the FDA allows .02344% of rat feces in their hot dogs. Whereupon all the ladies reel back into work the next day and screech and yowl, "OMIGOD, it's HORRIBLE!!! I'm never going to eat hot dogs again!!!!!", forgetting that they've been eating the same freakin' hot dogs their whole lives with no ill effects. So now, all of the aforementioned ladies (and gentlemen, too) are chittering madly about the world going to hell in a handbasket and that this McVeigh guy is driving the thing. They have elevated McVeigh to this extreme level of psychopath that is far outside the realm of normal human thought. Admittedly, the guy committed a horrible terrorist act and his ideas were very extreme- no one disputes that. But, in my mind, the only thing that makes him radically different than most other people is that he had the balls to carry out what he, in the extremity of his thoughts, decided what was the appropriate course of action.
::: posted by MetalCat at 1:42 PM
