A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
I know I promised to post some election coverage at the end of Good economic news for election day. Later. Right now, I'm not up to writing those articles. Instead, I'm going to add another holiday to this blog's calendar, Guy Fawkes Day.* Take it away, Geek and Sundry! The Gunpowder Plot (ETA: Geek and Sundry has taken down that video sometime over the past five years, so I'm replacing it with Vox's Guy Fawkes Day: explained although I'm still retaining the description of the video along with Vox's.)
Geek and Sundry: Remember, remember, the Fifth of November. Kiriosity explores some explosive facts (and Fawkes) about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605; the attempted assasination against King James I of England by a group of English Catholics.
Vox: An abridged history of how Guy Fawkes day earned its namesake.
Of course, the adoption of Guy Fawkes (or at least his mask) as a symbol of Anonymous has added new meaning to the day, as explained by Russia Today in Million Mask March rallies sweep the globe.
The Million Mask March is spreading worldwide as demonstrators protest against austerity, mass surveillance and oppression.
It's a pity that Russia Today is the main news outlet covering this, as the channel has an agenda of promoting troublemakers in the U.S. and elsewhere. Their agenda of destabilizing Russia's rivals contaminates that of the protesters, which I generally support.
That's the score in one of the more unusual online political
disputes so far in what is already a very strange political year--and it
all began when the Oregon Tea Party decided to use the slogan of the
infamous Internet group Anonymous.
Join me over the fold for the story as it unfolded yesterday.
Today is the blackout to protest CISPA. As you can see, I haven't really been participating, as Earth Day takes priority on my blog. That written, I have an appropriate song to offer in support, Blackout by MUSE.
Finally, there are posts that were in the top ten between January 1st and March 21st, but which fell out by the time I compiled the list. That should take care of the series.
I suspect the largest political unit that is aware that it is managing contraction is the City of Detroit, where they can't avoid the realization. I blogged about it in THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF CRAZY EDDIE'S MOTIE NEWS. Of course, Detroit and its collapse and renewal are the subject of more than half the posts on my blog. The topic is, as Spock would say, "fascinating."
That's not very informative. I like my justification for using it better.
[I]t's not every day that the New York Times covers exactly those aspects of Detroit that I cover in this blog. Better yet, it was picked up by the Columbus Dispatch, which doesn't have the 20 article limit before hitting a paywall that the New York Times has. Also, a friend of mine in Columbus posted the link on my Facebook wall. Who am I to refuse a good story when it's dumped in my lap?
Who am I to refuse, indeed? It had plenty of readers. I can't say how many it had when it dropped out of the top ten, but it currently has 580 page views according to the alternative counter on my site, which overcounts the number of readers relative to the one I use for my official top ten. That's 234 more than Detroit as a travel destination? The New York Times, BBC, and Financial Times think so, which has 346 page views using the alternative method and which made the end of year top ten.
One of the many entries I posted about the GOP debatehere in Michigan also cracked the top ten, although briefly, during the primary season, as people Googled it after every debate: Video clips from last night's Republican debate. Unfortunately, the clip of Perry being unable to name a third federal department to eliminate got pulled down, but there is a funnier version still up in Rick Perry blowing his answer to the Jeopardy theme.
As I wrote back then, "Sorry, Governor, the correct answer was 'What is the Department of Energy?'"
The listing of the dozen most viewed entries at the end of the first year is now complete, but I'm not done yet. Follow over the jump for the ten most viewed posts from the first year that didn't make the official top ten after January 1, 2012, along with their dates of posting, current page views according to the alternative counter, and the image or video I think best represents each one.
I've seen this movie before. This is the sequel to Anonymous vs. Scientology and it's recycling the first film's plot, but with a bigger budget, more special effects, and a group of villains who are less comic, better known, and more dangerous. At this stage of the protests against Scientology, the long-time anti-Scientologist activists discovered Anonymous and found a way to jump in front of the movement. The same thing is happening here, with Michael Moore and others realizing that there is now a mob they can get in front of and (pretend to) lead. In reality, they're following from the front, which is the opposite of leading from behind.
As for how the first movie ended, it resulted in opening Scientology to reporters investigating the organization like it hadn't seen in a long time and tarnishing its reputation among the young. It also gave the members of Anonymous a taste of organizing and a realization that they can take on something bigger than themselves. Now they're ready for something bigger than a fringe cult that runs themselves like a business. Whether they're up to this task is another question.
As for how this installment of the franchise ends, stay tuned. They may be rehashing the plot so far, but there is no script.
One year later, the participants may no longer be camping out in Zuccotti Park, but they did turn economic inequality into a major subject of conversation, just like Operation Chanology exposed Scientology to public scrutiny. Also, I find it an appropriate coincidence that the 47% video, the highlight of which was Romney addressing the question of inequality in a very condescending way, was released on September 17th, the anniversary of the beginning of Occupy Wall Street.
Follow over the jump to read what Canada's Globe and Mail made of Occupy Wall Street's legacy.
One of my students tipped me off to this story. She asked if I knew anything about it. I told her I had no idea, but since she was going to one of the meetings described below, could she please report back to me about it. Only after that did articles and videos about the subject begin to appear in my news feed. Speaking of which, here they are.
Two weeks ago, Cornel West, Princeton professor and activist, showed up at a tent city erected by Occupy Wall Street protesters across the street from the Federal Reserve building in Boston. As he finished delivering an impromptu speech, a man who had been standing off to the side leaned in and gave him a hug. He was in his mid-thirties, with gray-dusted hair, a round face and dimples. Most people who witnessed this moment probably didn't think anything of it -- but then, most people aren't familiar with the faces of the online movement known Anonymous.
The man was Gregg Housh, an Internet technology consultant and one of the few people associated with Anonymous whose real name is known to the public. Housh occupies a special place in Anonymous lore. In 2008, he was among a small group of "Anons" who came up with the idea of releasing a video that declared war on the Church of Scientology, which in turn led to thousands of people protesting outside of Scientology centers around the world and heralded the moment when Anonymous first coalesced into something resembling a political movement.
Back then, Housh couldn't have been less interested in political or social change. Scientologists had provoked Anons by removing an embarrassing and, to the Anons, hilarious video of Tom Cruise from the Internet, and the Anons thought it would be funny to get back at them by standing around outside their centers wearing masks and shouting insults.
... Housh is one of many participants in the Occupy Wall Street protests who trace their roots in the movement to the constellation of online networks and chat rooms that make up the Anonymous universe.
I told you so. I should know; I was a supporter of the protests and a hanger-on in their main forum, which back then was called "Enturbulation" and is now "WhyWeProtest." The high point of my involvement was driving past a protest across the street from the Detroit area headquarters of Scientology, seeing a sign held by one of the protesters, and asking, "So, does your sign mean L. Ron Hubbard is PedoBear?" The protesters roared in approval that someone got it. Here's to those protesters being all grown up and supporting an effort against something that really matters.
Mark your calendars. Bank Transfer Day is November 5. That is the day when consumers are encouraged to close their accounts at big corporate banks and take their funds to credit unions.
Previously, when paying by debit card, 44 cents would go to banks. The Durbin amendment cut those fees in half. This upset large corporate banks. They vowed to make back the fees somehow.
Some banks such as Bank of America are doing so by hitting ATM card users with new monthly fees. Customers such as Kristen Christian are outraged.
Christian has declared November 5 shall be Bank Transfer Day. Will it be enough to get the attention of big banks?
My wife and I are ahead of the curve on this one. As soon as Bank of America announced the $5/month fee for debit card users, we opened two accounts at a local credit union, then closed two of our three accounts at Bank of America, something we'd been meaning to do for almost two years. We'll close our remaining account at BofA ahead of Guy Fawkes Day.
In Occupy Wall Street is sequel to Anonymous vs Scientology, I pointed out that I had 'seen this movie before' and recognized the signs of Anonymous's involvement, as well as how other activists were recognizing the protests' significance and were starting to jump on board. I'm not the only one to observe the hand of Anonymous. Next Media Animation did, too.
Where did Occupy Wall Street start? Up north! Canada's AdBusters made the initial call for protesters to converge on Wall Street and demand campaign finance reforms.
However, the movement failed to catch fire until the hacker group Anonymous took notice.
The protests gained momentum, attracting some unlikely bedfellows in the process.
In the past, liberal activists focused on clearly defined causes. Occupy Wall Street's muddled approach could compromise the movement's effectiveness.
The rallying cry for the movement is "We are the 99%". But compared to most of the world, the protesters are still very privileged.
Nevertheless, the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to gather steam. Will it become the Tea Party of the left?
The Tea Party of the Left? Brad Hicks has other historical comparisons in mind.
Anonymous are the new Wobblies, I think. I think that when a cop sees you in that Guy Fawkes mask, as far as he's concerned, you've shown up in an Official Terrorist Uniform. You might as well have handed him a signed, notarized release form giving him permission to gas you and beat the crap out of you.
Brad also stated that "Anonymous terrifies the DHS." I commented on both of those highlighted sentences.
I know you don't intend these statements that way, but I have a feeling that more than a few Anonymous would get off on them. I think you're intending them as statements of fact or implied warnings, but they'd take them as things to boast about.
Brad's response:
I actually mean them as both: as admiration, and as a warning. If you're willing to make your points, knowing this, by going out wearing that mask, I have great admiration for your courage. But I don't recommend you do so unless you mean to volunteer to accept the risk of being a martyr for the cause, because somebody, maybe multiple somebodies, wearing that mask are going end up jailed for life on trumped up charges if they're lucky, and beaten to death or gunned down in cold blood as likely as not.
As you can see, Brad has a very dark take on things. Speaking of which, I recommend reading the rest of his post. While he's generally pessimistic, he does allow glimmers of hope to shine through, and he does have some practical advice. In particular, he suggests that people in the satellite protests should start collecting money and supplies and sending them to the protesters on Wall Street (and I'd add Washington DC) to keep them going once winter sets in. There is an Occupy Detroit movement, and it's starting tomorrow. I think I'll join them and see if they're amenable to that idea.
