Liberal Serving

Sick, Sad... Vapid World

Bush: One Of the Worst Disasters To Hit The U.S.

Wow, accurate reporting hype for once!  Wonkette's got all the good goods.

In Other News... Tom Tomorrow's Lost It

Can you blame him?  This is about how absurd TV news is to me every time I tune it.  It only appears normal when you watch every day... otherwise, it is just a bunch of talking aliens... with frosted hair, too much make up and bizarre syntax.  Click it for the full strip.

Viral Marketing Works: Rage at "Normalcy"

Amanda (of pandagon) delivers a laugh out loud rant on  liberal avenger in response to some sexist BS about how repulsive the images Dove is using in their recent campaign (kudos to the viral marketers on that one) because they are "chunky."

I'll admit, it makes this porn liberal's right eye twitch with nervousness to read stuff like this where someone pretty much all but comes out and says if you're not a heartbeat away from death from anorexia, you are un-fuckable. That's a pretty tough thing for the porn liberal to swallow--never eat again or never fuck again, young lady. Your choice. And while I know it's man-hating to say so, frankly, I have to admit, if the choice is starving or celibate, I'll have to pick celibate.

I find the images compelling mostly because the images themselves are so different (in addition to the models).  They use natural poses (not contrived to skinny-fy) and the photo retouchers restrained themselves from removing every wrinkle and crease (though they are retouched to portray an unnaturally perfect complexion, which would be impossible for any human to attain, no matter how much dove product they slather on their body).

Quick, Force-Feed That Model A Burger (veggie, natch)

Another link nabbed from Feministe, this Guardian item details an Israeli initiative to enforce a minimum BMI for models:

This Sunday, a committee of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, will decide whether to proceed with a bill to compel model agencies to monitor the health and body mass index (the ratio of height to weight) of models. Models would have to undergo regular medical tests to ensure their body mass index (BMI) is 19 or above. The most serious anorexics can have a BMI as low as seven.

If the Knesset passes the bill, [Israeli photographer] Barkan hopes the effect will be two-fold. First, agencies will be forced to confront a problem they have for long ignored and, second, only “healthy” models will be seen on television, in magazines and on billboards.

Surprisingly simple solution to what is really an absurd addiction the media has to images of anorexic women (and increasingly, men too)  Hey, if they have to certify porn model's ages, why not fashion model's BMI's?

Adorable AND Safer than The News At 11 Would Have You Believe

Amanda @ Pandagon quotes from a Salon article that details disturbing new technology that enables paranoid parents to monitor their kids 24/7 for kidnapping.  Funny thing that the facts of kidnapping don't line up with the line late-night news feeds parents day after day:

The short spin cycle of cable TV may anoint a new child victim every week, but the actual numbers are far less grim: of the 800,000 kids that go missing each year in America, only 150 cases involve what the Justice Department calls "stereotypical kidnappings," in which a child is taken by a stranger and either held for ransom, abused or killed. Scores more "missing children" are teenage runaways or "throwaways," abandoned by their parents. "Truly, the real news story of the last 10 years has been the astonishing decline in crime," says Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld, a New York City child psychologist. "But we are assaulted by a media that is more interested in scaring people, so it is almost impossible for parents to assess the real level of risk. And of course, there is no shortage of people willing to sell products based on those fears."

The most interesting thing I learned in J school was that local television news has the highest profit margin of all television programming.  And guess what?  You can increase that margin if you cut back on actual reporting of facts, reality or news, and you can compound it if you increase viewership with a salacious hook: Mindlessly Criminal Brown Men in the City Are Gonna Get You (do you check under your car before you get in at the mall?!), Businesses Are Out to Screw You (oooh - better yet, send a camera crew out to exact revenging harassment upon the cheaters!) and of course, Are Your Children Safe?!?! (NO THEY AREN'T!!!)

14 Characteristics of Fascism

Eric Blumberg's posted a bombastic video (click the title image above for the link) in the spirit of Michael Moore, which unfortunately bludgeons the viewer with images (some wildly out of context) that demonstrate some valid concern about the USA's march towards fascism.  I agree with the ideas - as I do with Michael Moore - but the patronizing and manipulative video is a messenger that detracts from the message.  How can these concerns be taken seriously by the on-the-fence American looking for real political ideas?  Presentation matters, and this comes off as pure propaganda - even if most of it is alarmingly on-target.

The obligatory Bush-as-Nazi fakeout is particularly irritating.  Woo Hoo, it's a visual pun that he looks like a Nazi - saw the same thing for Kerry during the election, and Hillary, and Reagan.  None of them are or have been Nazis - they're just waving and well all know that.  That kind of vitriol - which most of us are all guilty of - is counterproductive and distracts from real issues.

Rant aside, the video does visually demonstrate that the US mostly fulfills Lawrence Britt's characteristics of a fascist state, and taken with a grain of salt, is thought provoking and engaging.

via towleroad

Sober.p: Hate Spam

Spam is a modern headache that I usually just delete without thinking twice, but this weekend I did take note of the massive German spam chocking my inbox.  Thanks to the AP's translation via yahoo news,  I'm now privy to the hate speech therein.  The 21st century is a brave new world, isn't it?  Now the hateful can write viruses that replicate that hate speech and foist it upon millions of inboxes.  From the AP story:

Among the many messages was one with the German subject line "60 Years of Freedom: Who's Celebrating?" referencing the end of World War II. Another read: "Honorable Action" and contained a link to the Web site of the NPD, Germany's right-wing nationalist political party. One in English carried the subject: "Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously," referring to the Allied attack on the German city during World War II.

Can't wait for the gay basing american fundy version.  Nice that the only truly rabid scapegoating 21st century America can muster that compares to Nazi propaganda is homophobia.  Even Muslim-bashing is restrained in comparison.  At least the German stuff focuses on nationalism instead of hate - for now.  I've read about the Microsoft-bashing viruses in the past, but this may be a troubling taste of hate to come.

Blogging Blog Ethics

I've found myself in an interesting comments section conversation today at liberal avenger about the ethics of blogging.  A great comment from another reader got my mind turning:

One of blogging's charms is the express amount of responsibility it places upon the reader to sort out soap-box fist-shaking, from enlightened but slanted commentary, from regurgitation of fact, from... etc... To me, it's refreshing to be self-consciously AND admittedly, *expressly* subjective

I really like the idea of blog as 18th century pamphlet, metaphorically mimeographed thousands of times by the internets.  You as a reader are responsible for filtering through what I say to determine what you value  Just like real life.  If I'm a crackpot, you dismiss me and throw away my pamphlet.  If you like what I say, you think about it, and maybe pass my pamphlet on to your friends. 

Stop Me Before I Vote Again

First there was Al Gore, then there was John Kerry, now Scott Savol.  Apparantly, my vote is the kiss of death.  Props to jesus.