Desperate times

This will book end my string of haphazards posts. I just have some burning questions to ask.
When someone gets murdered or killed in the District or the Metro area, why isn't there a stop-what-you're-doing, t.v. commercial-interruption, all-hands on deck to find out what went wrong and why newscasts and media reports? Why is it NOT everything anyone talks about for a few days? Why isn't it a colossal tragedy that hurts us all?

Why do the newspapers devote free print to the Redskins, I would argue whorish levels of print to the Redskins, and to sports in general as opposed to, say, another, more persistent feature of the Washington area: homelessness and poverty? How about a poverty section in the paper? On television. Devoted only to that? It's part of our community after all, and in growing numbers judging by Council of Government reports and say, a stroll by Martha's Table.

Why don't we see, aside from on PBS, pictures of people who die in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places where open and covert and proxy wars are being fought in the name of Americans? What is the aversion, aside from the obvious obscenity, to seeing the fruits of our tax dollars?

Not rhetorical. I am genuinely curious what people think the answers to these questions are, and how news directors and agenda-setters would answer these questions. I want to know what everyone seems to think is so obvious. What am I missing?

I'm not asking for 24-hour-a-day outrage at the injustices of the world. I am just trying understand this unflagging ability for people to sleep walk through their lives, as if none of this affects them directly. How long can so many people abide this tacit compliance to ignore and thereby endorse the status quo? How long before their souls start screaming out of the seams? Has it already happened?

I don't know. If you're in a hypnotic enough state where you can't see what's right before your eyes I suppose this will sound like a tantrum rather than what I believe it is. A hope that people, for lack of something less cliche, wake up.

Criminal

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98125240#email

Another classic

Thousands Of Astronauts Cling To Side Of India's First Moon Mission

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/91720

On motivation

I recently received an essay musing on the things that motivate humans. I can't pull it up right now, but the essay gives 10 single-word distillations of things that get us up in the morning, give us purpose and energy. People are motivated by about two or three of them, generally, it varies person to person, but usually there is a top motivator.
Here are some:
Communion
Expression
Exchange
Expansion
Security
Acceptance
Power
Freedom
Adventure

I think what's missing are some negative motivators. For instance, there is the powerful need for some to be pitied or felt-sorry for. I wonder if self-pity is learned or taught? Children, I think, scrape their knee, cry or pout and move on with their day. But adults tend to scrape their knee (figuratively or literally) and add that to their long list of injuries, go into work with a sigh and say "Sigh. Guess what happened to me." It becomes cumulative, a story, a psychological burden they choose to carry, whereas children, perhaps because they are so present, don't accumulate as much. Enviable.

It seems counterintuitive to think that such a thing could actually motivate or give energy, but I don't know, I think it does. I'll post the essay soon.

Update: And perhaps this need is just a perversion of Acceptance? Or Expression?

Ass-hole police officers in Houston, ass-hole Indians in Chicago, I heart Glenn Greenwald

An infuriating story about a Sikh family reporting a burglary in Houston and then roughed up by police and peppered with questions related to terrorism. With the visually distinctive turban and beard, they've been harassed more than most minority groups since Sept. 11 (and no doubt before that.)

The video is good except for the moderator whose delivery is annoying. Nonetheless mad points for such quick turnover. This is where video matters. I hope they jail these fuckers. Can you imagine being twice violated: once from an unknown party and the other time from the people who you not only invited into your home, but who are sworn to protect you?

I'm thinking the desi community down there is big enough to open up a can of whoopass on the Houston police department in the form of protests, and in-your-face accountability. I find it hard to believe these events are spurred by the psychology of rogue individuals. More likely, this type of behavior is institutional.


In other stories, Indians elsewhere fucking shit up. Way to bring down the Jackson family. The gall of these men is unbelievable, but again, you've got to imagine the human in them: they've had to have existed in an environment friendly to this sort of thing.

I know I've gone all-India all the time here, I'm not sure why. I'll try to throw some Bali or Luxembourg in the mix soon.

I have an inappropriate crush on Glenn Greenwald. He's at 02:44 into the clip about closing Gitmo. I wish he wasn't gay. I'm sure he doesn't wish that at all. End.

In Praise of Grandparents

A uniquely awesome aspect of Barack Obama's upcoming move to the White House: the fact that his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, might be moving in, too.
It will take more research than I have time for to figure out at what point in American history the nuclear family was elevated to most-desirable family system. I am guessing it has something to do with economics and the industrial revolution, but I don't know for sure. Either way, after spending years observing multigenerational families in India, I cannot help but think that we could benefit from modeling ourselves after those families. (Of course I'm not including the countless immigrant and African-American families and others who have already embraced this arrangement either out of choice or necessity.)

It seems to me we have unnecessarily shut ourselves off to a family structure that could provides countless benefits, including fill-in-the-gap child-rearing, social contact and a slew of other social and emotional safety nets. The prevailing pop-wisdom seems to associate such an arrangement with dependence rather than interdependence. I believe this is misguided. There are exceptions of course, but I would bet that they are just that: exceptions. And at some point before I have children and move them into my parents' basement, I'll back this up with empirical evidence.

Mumbai Part II

I'm glad to hear there have been concerted attempts by politicians, West and East, to ratchet down rhetoric about Pakistan v. India. It would be ludicrous to start a war over this, particularly since that is apparently the intent of the attacks, at least partly. I've seen a few interviews with Pakistan's foreign minister, and he's saying all the right conciliatory things while pointing out the global scourge that is this type of terrorism. And yeah, to be clear, I'm on board with calling it terrorism.

Words That Should Never Be Used

The first in an occasional series

"Normative."–adjective
1. of or pertaining to a norm, esp. an assumed norm regarded as the standard of correctness in behavior, speech, writing, etc. (dictionary.com)

This is one of those words academics like to spooge all over people, and the vulnerable ones lap it up and spit it back out all too eagerly.

I've been seeing this word everywhere, lately. An example: "Heteronormative dating" -- which means that which is considered standard dating procedure for heterosexuals. You know: how straight people do.

I understand how the word "normative" might be necessary for slogging doctorate dissertations or psychological manuals. But in conversation? In normative inter-communal banter?

When ideas that pertain to the masses use the vocabulary of a select few, it seems to be an exercise in self-love, posturing and general lameness. I won't use the term douchey, or douchebaggery, because these are ugly words, but you get my meaning. Narcissism, however, is besides the point: it does a disservice to whatever the idea was in the first place. Words and ideas should be accessible to people. All people. As in, Homosapien Normative people.

Things That Aren't Being Said

This is in relation to the attacks on Mumbai this week.

Despite the burden of a bloody history with India, the civilian government of Pakistan has made significant public gestures of friendship and peace toward India of late. Some claim they are merely rhetorical gestures. Whether or not this is true, these gestures must be documented. In fact, any voices of peace and conciliation should not (nor ever) be ignored, particularly at this time. Pakistan President Zardari, remember, lost his wife last year to an assassination.

The Pakistanis have formally condemned the attack and are in a mad scramble to urge calm.

Muslims, in addition to Hindus, Christians, Jews and likely people of other faiths too, died in the attack and people of all faiths are protesting the attack.

More of what's not being said or shown:

By implication: all deaths like this are tragic. There is no quantifying one person's death as more important or more relevant. You wouldn't know this by watching the Western press. Its coverage of these attacks has been brazen in its omission of the following:

1)mostly Indians died in this attack;
2)people died in the train station and other places, too. Most coverage might lead one to believe all of this went down at the hotels.
3) A coordinated bomb attack on an Indian train in Mumbai in 2006 killed more than 200 Indians. Much less press devotion to that story (as opposed to, say, deep coverage of the similar Madrid train attacks and to the current story), but more disturbing, barely any mention of it in current coverage...to provide context. The theater of this attack lit it up globally, but despite the horror of it, nobody will convince me it rates as more horrible than 2006. How does one manage to compare such things?
Last, but not least, one month ago, there were coordinated bomb attacks in Assam, an eastern state in India. At least 70 people died. Barely any coverage. Rajasthan's attacks got some play in the west. Delhi was bombed recently, too. To say nothing of a mind-blowingly devastating Pakistan earthquake in 2005 that killed more than 73,000 and disappeared from our radar not three days after it happened. And who knew, without tracking BBC religiously, that an earthquake hit Pakistan and killed at least 170 people last month.

More on this in the coming days. (Meaning, I will attempt to counter arguments that say it's impossible to write about this stuff thoroughly in Western news coverage. A well-fed lie.)

It is November 28th

A lot has happened since my last post. Barack Obama, establishment Democrat extraordinaire, was elected president of the United States. Crowds spilled out into streets all across the land and in many other parts of a gladder, radder world. I watched it unfold, in disbelief, on television. It was awesome.

Most recently and tragically, however - and ongoing as I write this - a series of bombings and shootings in Bombay has killed more than 150 people, including at least 15 foreigners. The horror has been documented in endless repeat-loop reels run by the Foreign News Media Machine, most notably CNN. They - in all understatement - have done a terrible job of covering the story. But I won't belabor that complaint in this post. I'm just saddened by the tragedy that has killed so many innocent people including, but not limited to, Hindus, Jews, Christians AND Muslims. I worry about what this tragedy might be used to justify but it's a bit much to cling to knowing conclusions right away. So, for now, with a prayer, I'll move on.

I urge readers to turn off the television, put away all else and immediately download Duran Duran's greatest hits, including "New Moon On Monday" and "Save A Prayer." Then shut your eyes, move your mouth into the overbite position and get down with your bad selves. If you follow these instructions, I predict 20 percent growth in your Happiness GDP.

On B1 Bombers

Eugene Jarecki, whose documentary "Why We Fight" about the military-industrial-complex was the subject of my first-ever blog post, continues his analysis of how political mandates are manufactured. This thing about the B1 Bomber you're about to read is as brilliant as it is twisted. He then tells us what to do about it.

Today, the B1 Bomber has a piece of it made in every single U.S. state. This simple fact offers a window into a heinous defense industry practice called "political engineering" -- a strategy for the grotesque misuse of taxpayer dollars. Simply put, a loose alliance of actors from the military, industry, and Congress (what Eisenhower first called the "military-industrial-congressional-complex" before removing the word "congressional") work together to ensure that the contracts and subcontracts to produce a given weapons system are distributed as widely as possible across congressional districts. This way, if the program ever comes up for reevaluation, there's a built-in constituency in Congress for its continuation.

He implores all of us who are blowing our collective wads over Democratic nominee Barack Obama to keep him and the Democrats honest as they face this formidable phenomenon known as political engineering. No president -- no matter how inspiring -- can do squat against these mandates without some counterbalance from us, the public.

Aside from ill-conceived comparisons to dieting (you'll have to read the full article for that), his calls for organizing for social change make perfect sense and, more importantly, offer hope. Real hope.

"...[M]ake civic engagement an extension of what you already do for work or play. And the second is to break out of the isolation and individuation that so many of us experience in our television, cell-phone, and computer-dominated existence.

...No matter what our individual vocation, we must follow Margaret Mead's timeless wisdom about the power of small groups of organized people to change the world. In an interconnected age more than ever, we must not toil in isolation but join forces with others to build groupings of pressure-groups - not shadowy think tanks on K street - but everyday organizations in small towns and big towns that fix their attention on a needed area of social change and work tirelessly for it...Just to give an example, if 1,000 people in all 435 congressional districts committed themselves to spend 5 hours a month acting as a watchdog on congressional waste and corruption, making that information public, and demanding transparency and accountability, just think of the impact those 2,175,000 man-hours could have on our system."

Government of the people, right?

It's October 2008. Children of the future, take note

A recap of the year so far. (the latter half, at least.)

The Orioles, sadly, didn't come close.

The global economy has swerved into a credit freeze disaster because of an excess of unwise investments and a shortage of trusting lenders or investors. My parents' retirement account has been cut in half. The bogeymen in all this? Subprime loans turned to mortgage-backed securities, known as complex financial instrument, sometimes known as derivatives. Dress up like THAT for Halloween.

Barack Obama has everyone's hopes awful high.

And, finally, gratifyingly, a woman from Alaska has electrified and united not just the Republican base, but EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD. An electorate stands in rapt, fearsome attention, reminiscent of the days of -- never. Sputtering comedy careers have found new life.

Yesterday, Frontline fabulously profiled both Obama -- the community organizer who early on in his career inspired many with the stolen Cesar Chavez labor slogan: Yes We Can! -- and John McCain, the prisoner of war and former hottie who stumbled into a beer heiress and an impressive political career. It's a historic election, no doubt.

But I propose that it is not too early (and not a jinx) to bring up the long-term prospects of an Obama win. Glenn Greenwald does it well:

Nonetheless, it's worth underscoring -- in fact, it's vital to keep in mind -- that the option of politically empowering Democrats is the opposite of a panacea. The Democratic Party structure in Washington, and particularly its leadership in Congress, is more corrupted and destructive than anything else there is -- with the exception of the right-wing faction that has been running the country for the last eight years. Contrary to the inane conventional Beltway wisdom that bipartisanship is oh-so-tragically scarce, Democrats as an entity have, over and over, passively acquiesced to, and frequently actively enabled and participated in, many of the worst abuses of the last eight years. Their leadership in Congress is corrupt and craven to the bone in many of the same ways the GOP leadership has been -- and they're about to be far more entrenched and their power far less checked.

Not to be negative or anything.

Hope is a dangerous thing, particularly where the Orioles are concerned

Tonight, a 27-year-old named Chris Waters made his major league debut by shutting out the best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Angels, giving up just one hit in eight innings, winning 3-0 and giving me a glimmer of Oriole hope I haven't felt in an awful long time. Waters' pitching was beautiful. He fielded masterfully and had the kind of quiet poise on the mound that normally belongs to a veteran.
He was so smooth. In the post-game interview he said it was the Lord that did it, not him.
Well thank you, Christ. Because this felt like the beginning of something. Sure, they're last in the league. But I'm thinking maybe the Lord is mixin it up this year. You heard it here first, folks. I don't think it's premature. I am predicting the Baltimore Orioles go all the way this year. Not on the shoulders of this guy alone because, for Christ's sake, have you seen our numbers?

Resurrection

It was a musty, caloric hiatus but, my friends, Porcupine has returned from the thrilling arcades of the old country and has taken up residence in cyberland. Now unemployed (and loving it!) Porcupine plans to sit on various beds and couches across the land and shape a less murky future. P also wants to earn money.
In the meantime, here's hoping you enjoy the acid rants and bilious pontification and occasional loving tribute to a pop icon. As well as photographs and videos. Please comment only with criticism and relentless mocking.

By the way, I am currently watching television with my parents, two aunts and an uncle from India, and of course -- of course -- there's a pharmaceutical advertisement that closes with rapid fire warnings of breast tenderness, sexual dysfunction and other awful things to hear while you're sitting with your parents and relatives from India.