Facism, War & Bumper stickers
I loved Chris Beck's article
on Fascism, though it might be old now.
It was being passed around our Yahoo list today. I have thought
we
are resembling a fascist society. I can't understand what
is wrong
with people ( I live in Texas) or why—with so many dead
in
Iraq, levees breaking because of funds diverted from the Corps
of
Engineers to pay for the war, and tax cuts—my neighbors
still
proudly display not one, but two Bush stickers on their gas-guzzling
SUVs ... alongside the Christian stickers of course.
I don't know much about your magazine, but if this article
is a
sample, I am planning to read it often!
~ Jill Martin
Texas
From a first-time reader
I have never read your magazine before. My good friend is the
sister of John Eklund. I loved his article
even if I didn't know any of the people he wrote about, I did
learn a lot about them and appreciate him for exposing me to
them.
I plan to visit your site again in the future.
~ Linda Juhasz
San Diego, CA
Short story a winner
I thoroughly enjoyed Marjorie Robertson's story
- it was so descriptive and
moving.
~ Um Burooj
Beck hits home on fascism
What we need in this country, right now, are more people
who are willing to speak straight and use the words that really
describe what Bush (and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice) is doing
to this country. They're fascists, and we can't be afraid to
say so. Thanks for this article.
~Cliff Garstang
Staunton, Virginia
Article on fascism flops
Thank you to Mr. Beck and kudos to your editors for running
this brave article.
It's a story that no one seems to be talking about: how some
people don't actually like "Our Leader". Though I
had heard whispers, I never thought I would see those attitudes
in print! My God, I can't imagine what your life will be like
in a few days when the attack dogs and secret policemen get
to you.
Oh, wait. That's a message I was going to send to someone living
in Cuba—a place where it actually takes bravery to dissent.
Did it ever occur to you that the fact that you're writing this
article without fear of being tortured negates most of what
you said?
Your penance shall be to repeat to yourself in the mirror 50
times every morning, "I am no Solzhenitsyn, I am no Solzhenitsyn,
I am no Solzhenitsyn ... "
~ Sam Kean
South Dakota
What killed the music video? Musicians
Regarding Dan
Tobin's article, the reason for the decline of music videos
is that in the beginning (the very early 1980s), the music video
was a director's medium. Russell Mulcahy was a true auteur,
as much as any film director.
Artist interviews from that period reveal that singers didn't
know anything about music videos, and so they placed themselves
in the hands of directors (who often had much TV commercial
experience), and these directors served the visuals,
that is, the music video itself, rather than trying
to promote the singer.
Later, as singers became comfortable with music videos, they
demanded more control, on the theory that it was "their"
video, their music, their image. Videos became less about the
art itself, and more about promoting the singer or band.
What directors understood was that not every music video requires
that the singer be depicted (e.g., The Alan Parson's Project's
"Don't Answer Me"). This is not something many ego-centric
singers can accept. Imagine a "Madonna video" without
Madonna.
To bring the art back to music videos, directors need to be
re-empowered at the expense of singers & bands, so they
may focus on creating the best music video, rather than the
best singer promo piece. I don't see this happening any time
soon.
~ Thomas M. Sipos
Managing Editor
The Hollywood Investigator
Democrats must choose to stand for something
I enjoyed your article, Call
911! Democrats Wounded, and appreciate how you have articulated
some rather murky issues. Since the 60's, I've harboured the
bitter conviction that a 'negative definition' can serve in
many uses, but not for a human being. As trippy and cool as
the hippies tried to be, the main part of the definition was
what they were not, and what they were opposed to. But when
it comes to walking the talk, to coming up with the goods, to
having the substance to give life to your style, they failed
spectacularly. I cherish Ken Wilber's recent work, Boomeritis,
for clearly spelling this out.
Certain expressions in common wisdom, (e.g. "The ends do
not justify the means") ... have always troubled me, in
that no one
seems to offer clarity as to when it does/does not apply. It
is holy writ
that we must "get our education" and "earn a
living", ends apparently
justified by the means. Another is that "We get the government
we deserve". I've always thought that that could only be
true if each person had their JFK-analog to vote for. But as
a Canadian observing this election, in the context of US foreign
affairs and policy, I must say that it is clear to me that someone
cannot simply be "not-Bush" and win. True, it seems
that almost anyone else could not be as bad, it doesn't get
out the votes.
The liberal/Democrat bloc must come up with a stand _for_ something
that can equal, rival, balance and beat the others. Until then,
we have what we deserve. I'd also like to thank you for having
included the article
on Fascism ... another
of my favorite rants ... but don't get me started.
~ Chris Smolyk
Canada
Praise for John Eklund's "Don't
Point that Ad at Me"
Brilliant. I love this piece.
~ Jerry Bilek
Northfield, MN
---
The Eklund article
was so well written that I now have to read all of the books
about which he writes. I think I come to books in the myriad
way he writes of, but his article is also a way. Thanks.
~Shannon Gentry
Bainbridge Island, WA
Focus on the quagmire of violence?
Adbusters and the Baffler may be past their prime.
Who will carry the banner now? Inversion Magazine?
I love the writing, but I don't know where to place it on my
mind's magazine rack spectrum. The Bill
O'Reilly article and the campaign
trail piece were a good read, but that article about Kazakhstan...what
an arcane piece of fluff that was. Maybe it is time for Inversion
to grind plowshares into swords and breed more contempt for
current political climate that is Bush's America, where war
is started under the auspices of a just and moral cause but
quickly dissolves, after a period of months, into a quagmire
of violence--ultimately making the world a more dangerous place.
~ The Dirty Hippie Consortium
Venice, CA.
Riding bikes & playground fatalities?
Please contact me regarding your article on "The
importance of riding bikes." I'd like to speak with
you about that and how it relates to playground
fatalities.
Thanks.
~ Chris McKenzie, C.E.T.
Maintenance/Engineering Assistant
Procor Limited - Edmonton Service Center
Edmonton, Alberta
Bravo, Green Bazaar!
How refreshing to hear how others deem places like "The
Grove" as dead. A place where wind doesn't
soar, architecture doesn't speak, and bartering is 'bazaar'.
Sounds almost like a cave. Actually, it sounds more like a
prison, except instead of orange or blue jumpsuits, everyone
around you is wearing perfectly matched outfits taken off
of a mannequin from some overpriced funk-less store. I would
rather be surrounded by the breathing types, and where the
walls around me sometimes speak. Bravo Kazakhstan!
~ Brigita Slekys
spend-thrift in Seattle
The case for space: noble ideas or political
distraction?
Dear Editor:
Re: Neil Shea’s article, “The
Case for Space”: I'm convinced and agree.
Actually, I was pretty much already converted. Space exploration
is a worthwhile endeavour for many reasons, which Neil outlined
in the article.
Pushing the boundaries of what is possible is not unlike
a train: At the front is the engine, sometimes struggling,
always powered up, pulling the rest of the cars, including
the lowly caboose, along with it. Likewise, space exploration
and other endeavours pull the rest of the world along with
them. Sometimes it fails. Heck, not all train engines were
capable of pulling the same loads or conquering the same inclines.
Some engines were only designed to cart people up and down
city streets while others carry the fuel of our economy from
one ocean to another.
But there are also many successes. Over time trains have
developed and improved so that tasks, terrain and journeys
once extremely if not implausible are now common. Likewise
with endeavours such as space travel. It opens up our knowledge
of the universe and our own world. It makes once-difficult
or impossible tasks more plausible or common. It makes the
unfathomable known.
Especially relevant was Neil’s defence against the
criticism that dollars spent on space travel are dollars that
can’t be spent on things like food, clothing and shelter
for the poor. Firstly, could you ever afford to feed all the
poor at all and any times? Secondly, the same question about
whether space travel should be publicly funded applies to
feeding the poor – should it be publicly funded? That,
though, opens up a whole other discussion that will not be
solved here.
My biggest concern or worry about the renewed interest in
space exploration, particularly manned trips to the moon and
Mars, and this may please the critics against it, is how likely
it is. More specifically, I wonder how dedicated President
Bush really is to the idea.
The timing of his support for space exploration, after all,
comes at a particularly sensitive point – heading into
an election year. If Bush is weak on any issues it is the
involvement in Iraq and the economy. Even Bush Jr. surely
knows, “It’s the economy, dummy!” And if
he doesn’t, be sure Bush Sr. is letting him in on it.
One of the best tools in politics is diversion and distraction.
I worry that Bush supports space exploration not so much because
he truly believes in its value but because it is currently
politically expedient to do so. Don’t forget, any money
that has been approved already, or hinted at, is going to
be spent where it can maintain the bedrock of Bush’s
support – Texas and Florida.
~ M.S.
Alberta, Canada
Howard Dean's rant, the Democratic primary
& NASCAR
A very enjoyable article
- from the looks of it, you've assembled some witty
writers. Stornanti certainly sums up the primary race accurately.
I particularly agree with the bridge-dweller analogy of Dean.
I was hoping that in casting a vote for Dean, I'd be casting
a vote against "yee-haw". guess not. I read another
article recently, claiming that Kerry's only a pair of platform
shoes and a black lunchbox away from becoming Herman Munster.
touché.
~ Ed Hebert
Fairhaven, MA
Howard Dean & the Mullet-wearing Wife-swappers
Good work Shane
Stornanti...a fun and entertaining article...I
think what made Dean's rant so legendary was in fact the squeal
at the end...that elevated it from bad move to bad news clip
that will be played on every cable news network over and over...but
I like the effort. Honestly, it's probably the most "spontaneous
emotion" that politics has seen since Clinton (obviously
Al Gore kissing his wife doesn't count since I'm fairly sure
they rehearsed several times that day in front of a mirror)
I have been watching the NH primaries for awhile (back when
Gary Hart was doing his 'Monkey Business') and I always associated
New Hampshire as being the gross, irreverent state that bucked
national trends and predicted Presidential hopefuls. And I
always attributed this to NH being some sort of a pseudo-intellectual
contrarian state with independent-minded soccer moms. So I'm
conflicted with the recent view you've given of NH being more
of a mullet-head wearing, NASCAR-watching, Dale Earnheart-loving,
wife-swapping, 'hicks of the northeast' kind of place. Any
thoughts ...?
I'll tell you why Lieberman is so bad that he's strangely
interesting to watch: the guy is so cluelessly optimistic.
The guy could be mathematically eliminated from the race and
he'd still be nasally intoning stuff like, "I'll tell
you there's something magical happening here and I can feel
that the voters are finally getting my message."
~ Sumit Kundu
Pensacola, FL
The DMV: Architectural Failure &
Blackhole of Despair
Once upon time i wrote a long response to your article on
Rage
and Architecture; I neither know where that is
nor wish to write it again... but i will sum up:
I have lived in five states and have observed many a DMV
building; there is something inherent in them that enlivens
the rage gland. The interiors of these buildings are volumonous,
immense, with a great proportion of this space located behind
the counter.
All this space is surely for the multitudes of workers there.
Likewise, notice how many service windows there are along
the long counter. So there you are standing in line, for a
long time, staring at those empty windows (two of which are
open and occupied by the Doppelgangers of the 3rd grade teacher
you were scared to death of) and all those empty desks, your
only hope is that those DMV workers are outside on a cigarette
break, or even smoking crack (I'd rather deal with a crackhead
DMV-ite than wait in this line), and that any second they
will return and the office will be bustling and the line will
skip along.
It is this hope that becomes your downfall--all that empty
space, there are no more workers, there never were, they aren't
understaffed they are overbuilt ... The hope leaves and rips
your soul out on the way, but before it goes and finds a chainsaw
for you.
Keep on rocking.
~ Bret LeBleu
Ithaca, NY
Inversion a vegetarian
conspiracy?
You guys sound like you're a bunch of vegetarian. Is this
true? If so, I have a joke I'd like to share:
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Meat.
Meat who?
Meat.
Thank you, thank you.
~Molly Ishiguro
Seattle, WA
Media blows, Iraq War sucks, NCAA
Basketball...now that's where it's at!
I love the fact that you added that conversation about Michael
Jackson and War. Very good stuff. Kind of like
cinema verite for journalists.
I was just thinking the other day...Iraq, war, etc. I was
thinking of how CBS is going to have to move their coverage
of NCAA collegiate basketball to MTV or TNN or some Viacom-related
channel so that CBS can provide news coverage of a possible
war to the masses.
And so I'm thinking about all those blue-collar blokes, kicking
back, tuning in to see war coverage, and I'm wondering, what
are they watching for exactly? What are they looking for?
What bit of news and kernel of truth will the news stations
divulge as they surf from ABC-NBC-CBS-MSNBC-FOX-CNBC? Which
station will get that first big new story? That's the station
we should tune into. Or maybe we should watch CNN because
Paula Zahn, Daryn Kagan, and Connie Chung make for a great
menage-a-quatre fantasy.
But, really, what information is ABC-CBS-NBC-FOX-MTV providing
that is so earth-shattering that people have to tune in and
watch? What, is it, some fuzzy infrared vision of Bagdad being
bombed while Christiane Amanpour tells us what she's hearing?
Is FOX going to keep a scorecard in the lower right hand corner
that has the casualty list (American Flag: 0, Evil: 323,345).
Is Aaron Brown on CNN going to provide us with some modern-day
Hamlet soliloquy that ponders humanity in our times?
What will people watch when they see war coverage? Ten or
fifteen years ago war coverage was a novelty. Amanpour was
daring, CNN was ahead of the curve, and we at home had yet
to be exposed to OJ, Wacko-Jacko, High School Shootings, and
Clinton depositions. I submit we've seen it all (well more
or less), because it's all basically the same thing. News
coverage is like a screenplay. It's a story. There's a beginning,
a plot point, a second act with further complications, and
then an underwhelming and anti-climactic resolution. Throw
in a mix of heroes, bad guys, funny supporting characters,
witty dialogue, a deeper message, and there you have it.
What, then, will these news stations show that is SO important?
What will the average American do while they are watching?
Here's the ugly question: how many will get off on the saturated
war coverage? How many will be hooked for hours and days to
hear the same information over and over again? How many secretly
enjoyed the 9/11 coverage the same way we had a thrill watching
OJ's Ford Bronco, hoping he was makin' a run for the border?
How many will be excited to watch war coverage? How many will
enjoy learning about the military's new toys? How many will
be enamored with CNN's panoramic floor map as the anchors
walk over it and into Kuwait? How many will tremble with anticipation
as they hear, "all right, this just in..."? Well
these may be the same people who actually care about Michael
Jackson's personal life; which would be a lot of bored and
uninspired individuals.
My whole point gets to something you touched on in your dialogue
with on Michael Jackson & War: the whole idea of "ok,
so the war affects people how, exactly?" As in, people
care about the war why, exactly? Yeah, I see they're watching
it on the news, and they're educated about some of the issues
at stake, but past the point of proving what a great prognosticator
they are, what interest do they really have?
What am I willing to do about war with Iraq? Well I have
always taken a Humphrey Bogart-esque circa "Casablanca"
view: try not to get too emotionally involved and act like
I'm above it all until "she walks into the door...".
I would rather not do anything unless I know it has some real
significance. Well, what's real significance? Should I broker
a peace agreement between the parties involved? Should I transfer
funds in support of the creation of a Palestinian state? Should
I run guns and ammo to an Indian Paramilitary Organizations?
I could stand in a line with a poster, protesting the war,
and feel like I'm stickin' it to the man (I have done that
before, but that was actually hip during the grunge era).
I'll let the teenagers and MTV crowd do that (that MTV crowd
should have voted if they cared so much). But I think the
real point as far as I'm concerned is, no, I really don't
care about the war.
First (semantics), war implies there is another side providing
serious resistance; otherwise it's just working out at the
gym. Second (boys will be boys), I don't believe our cultures
are evolved to where peace is ever a serious option. Too many
egos, too many stupid people in upper government, and too
much money involved. Third (2004), I think this conflict is
a diversionary tactic designed to get Bush re-elected. Fourth
(chess), I appreciate the tactical threat of war as a diplomatic
device. But whether or not I take the war seriously, I can't
deny that it could create a volatile backlash. I can make
tons of excuses for not caring, but at the end of the day
I'm taking a calculated gamble that my indifference won't
result in me being the victim of a massive radiation fallout
from a dirty bomb.
Will innocent people die for no good reason? Well, that's
the whole tragedy of it all. I could sit here and make an
Ayn Rand argument that in capital terms the life of one American
actually is worth more in utility than the life of one or
two or three Iraqi's. But a human life is a human life. Noted
motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, would say that people
won't make a change in their life until they're so fed up
with failure that they're no longer willing to accept their
old pattern of behavior. Most people will never care enough
to do much of anything. That's why they lead lives of quiet
desperation...
I suggest we channel our war energy into betting on college
basketball games. This way we'll have actual winners and losers,
we keep the adrenaline rush, we make some real money (hopefully)
and we increase the funding of many colleges circa TV revenue.
In addition, while we're watching the games, during the promos
for the next episode of "The Real World/Las Vegas",
we will find ourselves actually caring about who wins, and
we'll feel good that we actually did something about it.
~ Sumit Kundu
Pensacola, FL
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