http://www.presidentplease.com/ (go here for video clips)
President Please is an organization that is trying to replace the “N-Word” with “President”. They are clearly experimenting with words during a post-Obama win and, more importantly, trying to get rid of a word that has a whole history of connotations.
I am not sure if I agree with what they are doing. There is something clearly taboo about replacing the “N-Word” with a word that describes the highest elected office in our country. Clearly it gets people to think, but I don’t know if its connecting two words that shouldn’t be connected.
Video taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROn_9302UHg
The LA Riots were a response to the verdicts rendered in a 1991 case involving Rodney King (an African-American male), the victim of a brutal beating at the hands of the LAPD. On April 29, 1992, the courts cleared three of the four LAPD officers of all charges and charged one with excessive force.
In response to this ruling, citizens rioted for days. Over four thousand were injured and fifty were killed. The city suffered one billion in property damage.
Many were outraged due to the obvious racial implications of the situation and, in addition, the fact that King suffered repeated beatings for simply leading police in a car chase after they attempted to stop him for speeding violations. To many in the African-American community, the tape of King was just proof of what people had been yelling for years–that racism and sexism was rampant in the LAPD. The riots also revealed deep racial tensions between all of the ethnic and racial groups in LA, including Black-Korean tensions in areas where Korean businesses seemed to be doing quite well.
The King case and the LA riots are a testament to the fact that often times, racial tensions lay far beneath the ground in our communities because people turn a blind eye until they are forced to watch. Often times systemic racism (such as the way it manifests in the police force) is hard to prove and the video tape of King literally shoved it in people’s faces. Do we have to have an event like this to believe that racism still exists? How can we probe and experiment with racial and gender relationships in a way that will reveal our unconscious (and often times naive and ignorant) prejudices even when they are not at the extreme level of a brutal beating?
hysteria a condition of extreme excitement characterized by emotional disturbance, sensory and motor derangement and sometimes the simulation of organic disorders. — hysterie, n. — hysteric, hysterical, adj.
Teenage fan hysteria is a phenomenon that occurs when teenagers are in the presence of an idol or a desired object. There have been numerous consistent riggers of hysteria throughout history, including appearances of Elvis, the Beatles and other music stars. The term conjures a generalized image of shrieking fangirls and roaring, moblike teenage crowds. The term is very much associated with fads and brief episodes of fame. Notably, however, in the twenty years of Elvis’ career, his fans aged with him.
The term has been expanded in recent years to accommodate irrational behavior around collection and consumption of Japanese consumer goods and popular books releases. The term gained ground with the reports of hundreds of Japanese children lining up outside toy stores to receive their first (or fifth) Tamagotchi. During the Pokemon craze, however, this became a global phenomenon affecting numerous media, including trading cards, costumes and toys. Such patterns of excessive purchase of brand-like lines of consumers goods have since been extended to books such as the Harry Potter series and to an extent the Twilight series.
Project Chanology is a widespread protest of the Church of Scientology by Anonymous, an internet collective based on 4chan. The protest is a spontaneous, loosely organized event that occurs outside various Scientology churches. The events are coordinated on the website 4chan through simple discussion and announcements of places and times for the protests. Protestors arrive wearing signature Guy Fawkes masks and hold signs with memes and catchphrases in protest of the church. The masks serve an additional purpose in protection from legal complaints by the Church.
Protests typically question the status of the Church of Scientology as a religion instead of a corporation and the ethics of information control. The latter is their primary grievance, as the Church of Scientology has a long history of controlling critical information about the organization in both video and textual information online and in print. Anonymous insists that information be free and accessible to all. Anonymous also engages in frequent denial of service attacks on Scientology websites. They also “bump” information and links about unethical Scientology behavior on Digg.com and in google results.
Be aware that you are taking a risk by protesting. Note a huge risk – this isn’t the Mafia, after all – but the danger is real. In the past, protesters have been followed, harassed, or assaulted. Scientology is dangerous; that’s why we’re protesting. But have a little courage, and follow these guidelines, and you’ll be fine.
Stay calm. Don’t let yourself be baited into anger. Just relax. You have nothing to gain by screaming, and everything to gain by staying calm.
Cover your face. A Guy Fawkes mask is preferred (see section below on masks) but the important thing is just to conceal your identity. We’re called Anonymous for a reason.
Cooperate with law enforcement and city officials. If you’re new, someone else will probably be notifying city officials of the protest, you don’t need to worry about that. But if a police officer tells you to do something, comply as best you can. Anonymous has a good relationship with law enforcement as a general rule; let’s keep it that way.
No violence or weapons. This goes for fake weapons too.
Don’t do anything stupid. This includes drinking alcohol (before or during), violence, vandalism, obscenities, hate speech, messing with cops, and going into the Scientology building.
Never be alone. Strength in numbers.
Think about what you’ll wear. Generally there is no dress code for protests, but dressing more formally (as in a suit and tie) does make the public – and Scientologists – take you more seriously. Also consider bringing a change of clothes so as to throw off pursuit once the protest ends.
Bring water.
Know how to contact law enforcement if necessary. For many protests, police officers will be standing nearby. It’s also a good idea to have the local police on speed-dial.
When you leave, watch for pursuit. Scientologists do sometimes follow protesters back to their cars. If you think you are being followed, do not go to your car. Notify law enforcement.
From the Encyclopedia Dramatica:
Anonymous is devoid of humanity, morality, pity, and mercy.
Anonymous works as one, because none of us are as cruel as all of us.
Anonymous cannot be harmed, no matter how many Anonymous may fall in battle.
Anonymous is not a person, nor is it a group, movement or cause: Anonymous is a collective of people with too much time on their hands, a commune of human thought and useless imagery. A gathering of sheep and fools, assholes and trolls, and normal everyday netizens. An anonymous collective, left to its own devices, quickly builds its own society out of rage and hate. Anonymous can be anyone from well-meaning college kids with highly idiosyncratic senses of humor trying to save people from Scientology, to devious nihilist hackers, to thirteen year old boys who speak entirely in in-jokes on an endless quest for porn.
Anonymous is not so much unlike other web communities, it has in-jokes, culture, extended debates, etc, just like everyone else. Well, anyone stupid enough to join a web community. The difference, and the reason they visit other communities is that Anonymous have a need to be harassed by “nannying” moderators. They hate being denied late night sleepovers. Here, there isn’t anyone to do that – yet long and productive edit wars spring up at about the rate you’d never tolerate elsewhere, on topics you’d never believe. They have no leader, no pretentious douchebag president or group thereof to set in stone what Anonymous is and is not about. This makes them impossible to control or organize. Not really a collective at all – more like a stampede of coked-up lemmings. They don’t dare to lead for will but rather break the “bridge” instead. And since it’s all made out of Legos, fuck it.
Starting as an in-joke itself, “Anonymous” is the name assigned to a poster who does not enter text in the [Name] field on chan imageboards. Anonymous is not a single person, but rather, represents the collective whole of the internet.
As individuals, they can be intelligent, rational, emotional and empathetic. As a mass, a group, they are devoid of humanity and mercy. Never before in the history of humanity has there once been such a morass, a terrible network of the peer-pressure that forces people to become one, become evil. Welcome to the soulless mass of blunt immorality known only as the Internet.
It was a political and religious cult called the Peoples Temple that was started by Jim Jones. Jim Jones was first an active KKK-member, then turned completely and began a struggle against racism. He met Father Divine (a legendary black pastor from Philadelphia) and was very inspired by his preaching as well as his control over the congregation. JJ founded the Peoples Temple in 1965 in Indianapolis. Later the church moved to San Francisco.
The church had from the start very positive engagements, such as working against segregation and racism, and they also did a lot of humanitarian work (soupkitchens, helping orphanage children). They were well respected in the community – as late as 1978, the year of the massacre, the famous politician Harvey Milk articulated his support for Jones – but ended up committing collective suicide costing 918 lives after moving to Guyana, South America.
There are many interesting and horrifying aspects of this cult.
- it wanted to do good to begin with. Had a visionary leader that seemed very generous and good. Jim Jones also had very good connections with respected politicians. He was well known and very appreciated. - Interesting mix of beliefs: Christianity & socialism. - Had control over so many (7500 people at one time) - Goes so far. They´re prepared to kill other people and themselves for a cause- socialism- nothing promising on the other side.
I believe it is a myth that only weak, confused people end up in cults. It is a process of socialization that happens gradually. The signs aren’t noticeable in the beginning. In the case of Jonestown the good deeds, the fellowship, and a charismatic leader. Even the leader has probably good intentions to begin with.
The reaction of society towards a radical group can in fact strengthen the tendencies to fanaticism. When threatened and encountering external critique the group grows tighter and is strengthened in their beliefs.
No faith, dogma, or political ideology is safe from ending up fanatic and can all go this far. The conclusion is usually that we need stricter laws and more control to prevent this from happening. But that could in extension mean making society more “sectarian” in not allowing anything that deviates from the norm. No system can guarantee absolute soundness. Does that mean that it is ultimately up to the individual?
Snakehanding belongs to a wider religious phenomena which involves taking high risks in the framework of religion.
Exists mostly in the United States, particularly in the Appalachian mountains.
While extreme, snakehandling is part of a more bodily, ecstatic form of religion. This type of religiosity tends to be more associated with the less economically well-of classes. In the west, physical and emotional expressions are often seen as crude, and upper-class religiosity is generally more intellectual and focused on dogma.
Here are links to two studies of Street Gangs, one sociological that identifies the reason for joining gangs as: Identity, Recognition, Belonging, Discipline, Love, Money. The other from a military, strategic point of view that poses street gangs as a threat to the nation, as existing in direct opposition to the government. Really interesting to think of gangs through the lens of non-governmental politics. Both make reference to what is probably the most popularly known gang war, that between the L.A. centered Bloods and Crips.
Improv Everywhere (often IE) is a comedic performance art group based in New York City, formed in 2001 by Charlie Todd. Its slogan is “We Cause Scenes.”The group carries out non-threatening pranks, which they call “missions” in public places. The stated goal of these missions is to cause scenes of “chaos and joy.” Some of the group’s events are similar to flash mobs, but the group’s website insists that they have nothing to do with flash mobbing and that IE was created years before flash mobbing gained popularity.IE claims the missions are benevolent, aiming to give the observers a laugh and an experience.
Unidentified flying object (commonly abbreviated UFO) is a term used to refer to any aerial phenomenon whose cause can not be easily or immediately determined.
How IT All Started:
The first reports and official investigations of UFOs began during World War II with sightings of so-called foo fighters by Alliedairplane crews, and with widespread sightings of European “ghost rockets” in 1946. UFO reports became more common after the first widely publicized US sighting – reported by private pilot Kenneth Arnold in 1947 – which gave rise to the popular terms “flying saucer” and “flying disc”. Since then, millions of people believe that they have seen UFOs, and tens of thousands of such reports have been catalogued.
To account for unsolved UFO cases, several hypotheses have been proposed.
The Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), defined by Edward U. Condon in the 1968 Condon Report as “The idea that some UFOs may be spacecraft sent to Earth from another civilization, or on a planet associated with a more distant star”, further attributing the popularity of the idea to Donald Keyhoe‘s UFO book from 1950, though the idea clearly predated Keyhoe, appearing in newspapers and various government documents (see immediately below). This is probably the most popular theory among Ufologists.
The Paranormal/Occult Hypothesis; A variant of the Interdimensional Hypothesis, invoked to explain so-called paranormal aspects sometimes associated with UFO reports
That UFOs are time machines or vehicles from a future Earth, perhaps made by our descendants.
The Psychosocial Hypothesis, that what people report as UFO experiences is the result of psychological misperception mechanisms and is strongly influenced by popular culture.
That UFOs represent poorly understood or still unknown natural phenomena, such as ball lightning or sprites.
