A Few Get It

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Mining for Gold

For the past few weeks I have diligently avoided reading/watching anything (beyond the bare "facts" of the headlines) concerned with recent events in Chile.

It's not that I wasn't interested and/or concerned. I was. I am.

I am interested in the facts of this story. I'm interested in the stories of the individuals who were trapped in that mine. I'm interested in the stories of people who know these guys. I'm interested in the events that led to them being trapped underground. I'm interested in the details of how exactly they were rescued. I'm interested in pretty much anything remotely connected to this story.

So, why didn't I watch on TV, read the papers, etc.? I'll tell you why.

I've had it up to here [makes generally recognized gesture] with media that wants both to manipulate my understanding of events and to dictate how I should feel about events.

Here's what I know: there was an accident, some guys got trapped underground for a couple of months, they were all eventually rescued. Beyond that basic data, I don't trust the media we currently have for anything else.

I honestly don't know what mineral the miners in Chile were digging for. I have no doubt what our media are mining. Hollywood won't be far behind them, and soon we'll all be sitting in theaters crying tears of joy in one big recreational group therapy session. Calling the movie "Trapped" will destroy irony forever. [Oh, wait, 9/11 did that, didn't it? Sorry.]

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Speaking of "irony" (or at least comedy), I read a funny thing somewhere (maybe on Twitter): somebody suggested it would be a good gag if, when the first miners came out of the ground, everyone was costumed like Planet of the Apes. I laughed out loud when I read it. I mean, this was a joke made after a happy outcome. Why not laugh about it? But the same day, sitting around with some ex-pats, I re-told the gag. There were a couple of people who seemed genuinely appalled that I could crack a joke on such a joyous occasion...

You keep using that word...

... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Maybe it's time for English-speaking media pundits to stop using the word kabuki.

A Gentle Reminder

Re: all the hubbub over this recent New Yorker cover.

From Wikipedia:

[...] Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humor in itself so much as an attack on something of which the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit.

Have we got that straight now?

The Scoop

Every doubt I've ever had about American mainstream media has been confirmed. This is an actual headline from an actual American TV network's website:

Hillary At White House on 'Stained Blue Dress' Day

Way to fucking go, guys. Wow. You really got to the bottom of things this time, didn't you?
Fucking assholes.

Japan and Canada...

...join hands against South Korea... This kinda jumped off the page at me. According to the article, from the Bahrain News Agency, "Japan and Canada agreed on joining efforts to help halt South Korea's nuclear and missile development programme."
[This headline will probably be fixed by the time anyone reads this post, but I swear, that's what it said...]