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I'm still reading this book, and have just finished the epilogue, although two appendixes remain. In regard to the alcohol issue that Wil brought up before: Stannard makes the following point on page 257 of the book: And then there is an end-note related to the above passage: This note...

Napoleon Dynamite is a quintessentially American film about desperate and angst-filled living within the void that is suburban America. Yes, the film is dumb and also to a large extent pointless, but life as a teenager within suburban America is also dumb and pointless. Yet both are not...

Just finished watching Full Metal Jacket, which I had seen once or twice before, but years ago. A damn powerful movie. The character of Gomer Pyle/Leonard Lawrence always stands out for me in the first half of the movie, which is I guess what he's supposed to do, but this time in particular I...

I saw W. It was mediocre, but I did like the way that most of the administration was caricatured. I actually found Rice's caricature particularly amusing, and Dubya himself was portrayed as such a clueless and manipulated tool that I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

YouTube - Auto-Tune the News #2: pirates. drugs. gay marriage. :D

Rastaman Vibration War Until the philosophy which holds one race Superior and another inferior Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned Everywhere is war, me say war That until there is no longer first class And second class citizens of any nation Until the colour of a man's...

I never payed any attention to the man, but just read an article about him by Johann Hari, which quotes this line from one of Ballard's books: "The human race sleepwalked to oblivion, thinking only about the corporate logos on its shroud." That's a nice, concise sentence of solid social...

Here ya go, wil: YouTube - The Real Be Prepared

I've read a bit of history, too, and I am aware of the context that you are placing the discussion in. Stannard actually addresses the same context that you bring up here in the book. You may have noted that I also mentioned context in my OP, although my intention in contextualizing the topic...

Yet the extirpation of thousands of cultures spread over two continents is certainly a unique and unusual occurrence in world history, and exceptional even in the context of the violence of European history. Furthermore, to attribute the genocide of the Americas to the annals of "European...

As far as the diseases being unintentional, that's not really the point, and I think that old argument is kinda disingenuous and callous, considering the magnitude of what was lost. I'm not interested in apologetics for the horrors of history. What's particular tragic about the topic addressed...

Thanks for reminding me of this, Jamarz. I had seen an ad for it in my local library--and now an ad is at the top of this page--but then it had slipped my mind. I may tune in tonight, as PBS is about the only channel that I get.

This is a book that I picked up a half-year ago and knew that I wanted to read, although I also knew that I didn't want to read it, because I knew it would make me feel mad and blue, and so for a long time I just let it sit on a shelf with a bunch of other books that I am planning on reading...

Anyone else seen the "What a goatee?" ad? The goatee template? It pops up in the wot do u look and smell like thread a lot. Hopefully it will start popping up here now, too.

Wow... my preconceptions have once more been dashed. Excellent. :)

Check it out: the politics forum thread count is 666 as I am posting this. Please leave comments and conspiracy theories in this thread. :D

That's true.

Yeah, it hit a little close to home for me as well. I imagine a lot of people can relate to Alexander Supertramp in some way. His take on material culture and the "sick society" is much like my own. His finding his own family, outside of his biological one, and discovering through...

Watched Into the Wild last night. Ouch. Beautiful movie, but heartbreaking.

Glad to see Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald get some time on Bill Moyers' show. I'd never heard of I.F. Stone before. I like Amy Goodman's take on what journalism is and should be; she's absolutely right. Like Greenwald said in the interview and Tao pointed out in his disgruntled post, too...