My Last Pry: Vanity (Un)Fair

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Vanity (Un)Fair

As I glanced at the cover of Vanity Fair's, "Africa Issue," I did my usual furrowing of the brow. After all, what can one of my countenance do when confronted with the silliness, the stupidity and just plain full of crap chest thumping that mass media doles out? Truth is, crap has always been a staple. After all, over eighty years ago, what were the Dadaists and Surrealists rebelling against if not the mediocrity of ideas run rampant?

But this was pretty over the top big agency manufactured; 21 stars and otherwise notables, from Ali to Mandela to - god help us - George Dumbya Bush. Shot by no less than Annie Liebowitz.

What I find so annoying about this kind of patronizing - aside from the obvious pat-your-head unctuous-ness that goes along with patronizing - is the utter brazen-ness. I love the way white folks can just figure anything out, how their take is the take on a situation, from AIDS to terrorism.

Just right now I have endured the third viewing of the AmEx spam piece with Alicia Keyes, Cheryl Crow, and, Scorsese???

Caramba...

Much like the absent and sorely missed "Black Looks" blog piece that I posted a while ago, I think that the kind of patronizing our mass media conducts infantilizes the viewer/reader. Simply, they toss celebrity at huge problems, problems that require structural change, infra-structural change. I don't expect that they truly believe that they can help, but it makes me think of how in this modern age one goes to a Lakers game and walks into the Staples Center and is utterly bombarded by spam. Only now, with Vanity Fair and Africa, it's celebrity public relations spam. They're getting us to "buy in" to their "good-ness", no doubt the fruition of many an agent's connections.

FADE IN - BACKYARD, GEORGE TAKEI'S HOUSE - DUSK
A throng of celebs and power mongers imbibe under a BANNER which reads: "Happy B-DAY GEORGE". The CAMERA TRACKS IN to an AGENT and EDITOR - two of the many present.

Agent: I heard you're planning an "Africa Issue."
VF Editor: It's slated for June of '07.
A: Take your pick, you got the roster.
VFE: I dunno Jeremy....
A: Hey, I got you Ricky Martin that time.
VFE: That wasn't the "Africa Issue."
A: I still delivered, and he was white hot.
VFE: Like he didn't need us.
A: You know "People" woulda dropped trow for him then.
VFE: Depends on who was droppin' trow.
A: Ah, well. AFRICA! I like the sound of it...
VFE: You and every agent schmuck here.
A: Nevermind about my aspirations, let's talk cover.
VFE: (spritzes drink) OH LOOK whose balls have grown larger than his big mouth...
A: C'mon man.
VFE: It's gonna cost ya.
A: I got deep pockets. And then some.
VFE: Christ, you went to Yale Law School to ho around like this?
A: Hey, "Thaaaaat's poker." I mean, it's a living.

What is EM08?

We have to get ready.
We have to fight.
-Carol, The Walking Dead (S07E13)

Intro, September, 2012

The Econ Meltdown of 2008

It's been over 3.5 years since I got very curious about the historic welfare bailout triggered by the massive implosions of Bear, Lehman and the soon to be shotgun wedding bride, Merrill, to groom B of A.

With OUR money. I did say "welfare."

I tell anyone who'll listen that when I began researching EM08 in Q1 09, within a few weeks I knew we were in the midst of the biggest story ever. Bigger than any wars, atrocities and cruelties. It makes atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki look bush league. And I'm Japanese.

History has shown us the ebb and flow of empires past; Mongolia, Rome, England... but because of the limitations, the relative crudity of the technology of the times, empires past were limited to portions of the earth, their colonies.

Today is different. With a military base in every corner and a bazooka aimed at every citizen on earth, we exist in the era of the first true global empire. But here's something even more disturbing; our weapons of mass destruction come bathed in the glow of purity, but it's the purity of Walt White's blue meth.

Those wmds are what's destroying the EU right before our eyes. To those like Matt Taibbi, Goldman helping Greece rig its books in order to gain entrance into the EU is old hat and not even square one of EM08. But it illuminates the thesis; the EU crisis is an American one, with the fingerprints of American banks all over it. Pension funds, sovereign debt funds, hedge funds... you name it. All got taken in, or rather more accurately, just taken. The scope is staggering. All were suckered into the biggest con in history involving the entire world far beyond what any empire past or futurist could have possibly dreamed of.

Ultimately horrific and the most interesting story ever.

The other big theme I asked in 2009; Why has no one gone to jail? The Obama administration, AG Eric Holder and the various regulators have done absolutely NOTHING amidst the Godzilla of crime scenes. In fact, they have arguably enabled the psychopathic banksters and associated thugs with a string of settlements that are sickening embarrassments.

I'm anything but an economist. These are my "everyperson" observations based upon what citizen journalism I can muster. Need I say it, this time is history being writ LARGE. My bullet point advice for the coming tsunamis ahead (yes, that's plural):

1. Get educated; there's no time like now to start learning about the way the American system of economics works. Even a cursory glance on a consistent basis at some of the analysts and blogs I cite (see sidebar links "EM08 Analysts to Trust" and "EM08 Blogs I Like") will begin to shed light if you really reflect and chew on the cud. Ironically, in a time of extreme unemployment, this is work.

2. WAKE UP - THE ENEMY HAS DECLARED WAR. The eCON elites have already made it abundantly clear that they do not care about and even look down on "the little people." It therefore makes sense to connect with others of like mind. You do yourself no favors by acting in isolation.

You are not a super hero and no god will save you from the wrath of the eCON elites when your number comes up. Ask the millions of taxpayers who were raped by "having to give" the largest socialist welfare theft in history to shithead bankers for their evil pre-2008 machinations so that they can dole out bubble era bonuses for 2009! Also be aware that as of February, 2010, these shitheads are doing the same things that got us in trouble before. In fact, because of even more welfare era conglomeration that created the super banks -- ironically in the face of "too big to fail" which, like so much of political speech, turns out to be empty rhetoric -- it can be persuasively argued that the bankers' position is stronger than ever. The lesson is that the eCON elites conglomerate and so should we. As the Ethiopian proverb says, A million spider webs can take down an elephant.

Note: Throwing your hands up and shrugging, feeling helpless, remaining uninformed, not even trying... essentially doing nothing, is the worst "strategy" of all. It plays right into your enemy's hands and is not just easy, it's lazy and weak. It makes you, in the con artist's playbook, a mark. Which in the fall of '08, became painfully clear we all were.

The bottom line: Your enemy is highly organized and powerful, they are relentless and they are coming. They are Skynet and the Death Star on super roids, the ultra Terminator that will not stop. This is not being alarmist, this is not hyperbole and this is not a screenplay. February, 2010: The biggest socialist welfare "mothers" in history, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMC CEO Jamie Dimon take BONUSES of $9mil and $17mil respectively, thanks to the welfare money they and uncle scam stole from us and while the world is on its knees. The national debt is over $12 TRILLION with interest counting fast. Does that sound like we're playing poker with a strong hand?

3. Organize strategically. In an era of unprecedented complexity, too much information, obfuscation, deflection, mis-direction, filibustering avoidance, mass media manipulation, and outright censorship, the ONLY answer is pragmatism based upon strategic insight. Take lessons from the analysts cited below, connect with others, form small, agile communities of support, and PLAN. Not to do so is to go to war armed with a Nerf ball.

NEED: A local, national and even international network of these small, agile communities so that they can share resources and support. Tall order, but the time to start is now simply because the eCON elites have such a tremendous head start and as of Q1/2010 EM08 is still in the beginning stages.

WATCH FOR: EGOS (include your own!) & BUREAUCRACY. Communities that hedge their bets by acting strategically, egalitarian and fair have the best shots. There is nothing wrong with good leaders, provided they are fair and do not succumb to the god complex. Remember, in insane times, sobriety and pragmatism should be your first rule. In other words, if times are hard, what would you rather have, a gold ingot or clean water?

Good luck to us. We need it.

For much, much more: CLICK HERE for EM08 Posts

lordonlow at gmail dot com

RZA

Piri Thomas

My father Juan, also known as Johnny, once gave me some advice in the art of survival, saying, "Listen, hijo, sometimes you don't look where you're going and you stumble into trouble. You must learn how to spot danger by learning to smell the ca-ca at least twenty miles away, for remember, son; that mierda not only walks on two feet, but it comes in all colors." I moved to exercise my powers of being able to smell ca-ca twenty miles away and to recognize the difference between ca-ca and flowers, when my father stopped me. "Por favor, son, before you start out to smell other people's ca-ca, smell your own first, otherwise you'll get so used to smelling everyone else's, you might forget you have quite a bit of your own." Punto!