Senses:// Re-engineered

Just when you think the Jade Goody fiasco is done and dusted, the general public of Great Britain is, yet again, bombarded with another round of media frenzy, having being ensnared into another guilt-trip trap designed to tug at their heart-strings! This time, the subject is a lot more subtle and discreetly packaged. In fact, it is so cleverly disguised that it is actually quite hard to detect the dark side behind the whole "Hairy Angel" episode. Having already captured the heart of millions across the world and her video clocking millions of views and topping the viral video chart, Susan Boyle is quickly rising to stardom after her appearance on "Britain's Got Talent". However, the key attraction to her success wasn't because she is really talented. It's because she is visually unappealing!

Let the truth be told: Boyle was presented to the viewer as an ogre. The editing of her clips was done especially to emphasise a particular angle. A teenager rolling her eyes, audience smirking when Boyle announced her ambition, right after a soundtrack was used to complement the impression that she is a clumsy oaf. I mean can't people not see how staged the whole clip was? And the aim of this was to make Boyle look like a complete retard and then turn around and say to the viewers: "Look at you for judging on poor Susan for her appearance! She is amazing!!! From now on, to make amends for your errors, you should support her and watch this show!".

With preliminary rounds of audition before actually being allowed to perform in front of the three judges. It is obvious that the producers of the show are fully aware of Boyle's talent and her persona. And yet her segment was made in such a way that it would manipulate the viewer's opinion to produce a "underdog wins" feel-good moment. All the while, the audience (including myself) are blissfully unaware of the dark-side of the whole fiasco.

After the three judges gave their praises and the audience offered their round of applause, it was time for the media to feast upon this spectacle. Article sprung up everywhere questioning how shallow the Britain public was for dismissing Boyle based on her appearance while the truth was that clip was edited to lure them into dismissing Boyle!

Britain has, yet again, been purged into another round of self-guilt! Personally, the only thing I feel bad for is having being led by the TV. I should have known better and be more wary, but I was engrossed by the experience and reacted in a way which the TV producers wanted me to react. At the end of the day, this is TV gold for ITV and hats off to them for playing the game so well! I suppose the TV company is just doing what they are suppose to do and the general public are yet again herded into another illusion. The motivation behind a lot of the praises also seemed a little patronising to me. Imagine having your boss said to you:

"Awwww, you are doing so well at your job! I can't believe you could have done so well because you are so fat and ugly! Wow! I can't believe I doubt you in the first place because I thought you were a buffoon... You really deserve to be commended!"

Honestly! Boyle is a very talent singer in her own right but there really was no need to emphasise how unattractive she is!!! In fact, if we have actually learned anything, we should actually just shut up about her appearance and stop treating her like a freak who can sing. The media is too good at feeding from our guilty conscience! Don't letting these leeches have their fix!!!

In comparison to the whole Jade Goody affair, the way in which Susan Boyle has been projected by the media has been relatively tamed but it was nevertheless very subversive. It is very disappointing to see the general public falling prey to another guilt-induced set-up formulated by the media, especially so soon after the Goody affair. I mean come on! Surely, the best way of not supporting the whole "good look" celebrity culture is to actually stop supporting the whole idol worshipping mentality (namely talent shows which offers hollow TV stardom)! Instead of sitting in front of a TV getting brain-wash all day, go out and practice an art-form, hobby or a sport, and get talented with something!

Israel has maintained a media blackout in the Gaza area to limit the world ability to witness the full extent of the civilian casualties sustained during their prolong attack on areas of high civilian populations. As the Israeli propaganda machine continues to produce white-wash version of their actions in the Gaza strip, the civilian death toll continue to rise in an alarming rate.

This is what the Israelis are trying to hide (distressing footage):



If you want to help their cause...

All articles cited are well worth reading in full for yourselves. If you don't have time, are not interested or simply can't be bothered to read, but if you want to help - please check the 2nd post I will put in this thread for information of what you can do. It's easy to feel helpless, but it's extremely important that we use any diplomatic and peaceful resources we have available to try to do a little bit to help those suffering.

For some of us it's difficult to smile whilst our news headlines have been dominated with the mass destruction and murder taking place in Gaza this past week. Compiled below is some very important information which has not reached many people clearly, due to an intentional and calculated public relations game by Israel.

The vicious and barbaric genocide being committed on the people of Gaza must stop immediately. Israel has calculated every move and manipulated the world into believing it is merely another act of self-defence when in reality it was they who broke the ceasefire in November when the rest of the world had their eyes turned to the US election.

Israel has barred all foreign media from entering and reporting on Gaza so they have almost monopolised what we, the rest of the world, get to see or hear about. Eight months ago they set up National Information Directorate which they believe has helped them win "broad international support in the media...thanks to its PR strategy...referring variously to information, spin, and propaganda.".

Speaking for the Israeli military, Major Avital Leibovich said;
"Quite a few outlets are very favourable to Israel, namely by showing [it] suffering ... I am sure it is a result of the new co-ordination."

"New media is a new war zone within the media - we are planning to be relevant there," said Leibovich.

Chris Hedges covered the Middle East for 7 years for the New York Times. As a highly educated and well informed Jew he writes;

"Our self-righteous celebration of ourselves and our supposed virtue is as false as that of Israel. We have become monsters, militarized bullies, heartless and savage. We are a party to human slaughter, a flagrant war crime, and do nothing. We forget that the innocents who suffer and die in Gaza are a reflection of ourselves, of how we might have been should fate and time and geography have made the circumstances of our birth different.

Privilege and power, especially military power, is a dangerous narcotic. Violence destroys those who bear the brunt of its force, but also those who try to use it to become gods."

- Full Article

Mark Steel, writing for The Independent mockingly states that the US and Israeli politicians must suffer from a "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder". He continues using various ridiculous metaphors to emphasis the extent of the misinformation being spouted from official Israeli sources;

"The gap between the might of Israel's F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians' catapulty thing is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equal sides requires the imagination of a children's story writer.

The reporter on News at Ten said the rockets "may be ineffective, but they ARE symbolic." So they might not have weapons but they have got symbolism, the canny brutes.

It's no wonder the Israeli Air Force had to demolish a few housing estates, otherwise Hamas might have tried to mock Israel through a performance of expressive dance."

[But] they prefer a direct approach, such as the statement from Ofer Schmerling, an Israeli Civil Defence official who said on al-Jazeera, "I shall play music and celebrate what the Israeli Air Force is doing."

- Full Article

Israeli lies

The manipulation and lies have extended from the "but they started it" argument, which if I remember correctly, was never an excuse for anything as a kid. That's what my teachers and parents taught me from a very young age. But if it is a blame game then the world needs to (at the very least get it right) - we have been led to believe that this savage attack is a response to Hamas rocket fire. What we have not been told is that Hamas did keep up their end of the bargain as set out by the terms of the most recent ceasefire. They did not initially fire any rockets into Israel.

Israel, however, having already not kept up their half of the bargain and relaxed their stranglehold on the Gaza strip, used the cover and distraction of the Obama election week to murder/assassinate (whichever you prefer) 6 Gazan residents and capturing 6 others.

- Source
- CNN's Rick Sanchez, "bursting Israel's PR campaign" with the truth over who really broke the ceasefire.

Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, during a visit to Paris yesterday that "there is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce". - The Independent, 2nd January 2009.

But

"After 18 months of a blockade of Gaza, constituting an illegal collective punishment under international humanitarian law, the bombing has left families facing critical shortages of food and fuel. Some 80% of the people in Gaza relied on food aid. Since 18 December the UN has suspended food aid distribution. What food is available in the shops has trebled in price - and lack of cooking gas means many people can't cook the basics.

Gaza's main power plant has closed for lack of fuel. Hospitals are reliant on back-up generators which will run out of fuel in a week or so if they don't collapse from overuse first. The water authority will run out of fuel and chlorine in a few days, while the majority of people in Gaza now only have water a few hours a week.

What is needed is an immediate and lasting ceasefire to end the appalling suffering, an end to the blockade and the resumption of efforts to start peace talks."

- Kirsty Hughes, Advocacy director, Oxfam


Attacking civilians or Hamas fighters?

The Israeli military says it bombed a lorry which Hamas fighters were loading with rockets on Monday.

But an Israeli human rights group says civilians were killed as they tried to protect their goods.

8 people were killed in the bombing, including his son.

- Video report

- BTselem, The Israeli information center for Human Rights.

- Al Jazeera, English.



- Haaretz, for an insight into the more liberal of the Israeli media and a great recent article which addresses the Jewish community who feel they can't speak out against Israel;

"There is, though, a third stream of Jews - perhaps not the widest one, but I believe quite significant - who have more complex and uncomfortable feelings on the matter. They care deeply for Israel and understand even why its government felt compelled to launch the devastating Operation Cast Lead, but they are extremely disturbed and hurt by the level of civilian deaths and destruction that almost seems part and parcel of the action. Surely, they say, there must, there has to be another way of doing this. And they live with those doubts, often unexpressed, even among families and close friends because the worst thing they find is that others around them don't seem to discern between the different nuances, and can't find in themselves compassion for the dead and wounded on the other side. They begin asking themselves very awkward questions: Are they surrounded by latent racists, or is something wrong with them that denies the feelings of certainty of those around them? Or does everyone have similar doubts but are simply afraid to express them?

I feel so alone because no one seems to understand how torn I feel about this. I understand Israel's position very well and to a degree identify with the reasons for launching the operation, but why are none of them saddened by children dying? They don't even seem to see these reports."


Some more useful links for further reading

- BTselem, The Israel information center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
- The Guardian, Israel & The Palestinians - loads of background and current information, pictures, videos and interactive maps.
- The Independent, at the bottom of the page you can "click here to explore further".
- World Vision UK, Violence Against Children, information on the devastating effects of the conflict on the Children of Gaza.


International pressure was what ultimately ended the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Please pass the following details to anyone who might want to help and tell them to make sure they get their voices heard. Post any responses in this thread if you wish.

- Click this link and you can find letters already prepared to the BBC, Fox News and to CNN. It is just a matter of copying and pasting these letters to the corresponding links provided and clicking send. Please take just a few minutes of your time to do this.

- Call the BBC on 0370 010 0222 - (ordinary landline rates apply). Insist that it was not Hamas who broke the ceasefire and ask them to report only evidenced truth.

- Email the Israeli Embassy in London and demand that they stop the bombardment of Gaza and allow humanitarian aid in immediately.



You can call or email any or all of the following, including members of the Israeli Government and demand that they:

- Immediately STOP attacking the civilian population of Gaza
- STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
- Demand that they allow the international media into Gaza in order to provide us with independent reporting from the region.


Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it. pmo.gov.il

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod. gov.il

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy at:
+ 972 5 781 86248


You can also write to your politic representative. Their contact details can be located using WriteToThem.

Decided to throw in the towel with the iBook (after a HD change and several reboots) and gone for the new Alu Macbook. Did the whole printer and iPod rebate as well as the education discount. Managed to push the cost down to around £800 in the end for a baseline Alu model with maxed out 4gb RAM. It would have been 1050 with the RAM bump so not too bad. The Macbook is unbelievable.

I know it's silly to compare it with my experience with the iBook but everything just blaze through! Even when I threw some of the more demanding stuff at it, it hardly flinched! Got VMWare Fusion, running Google Sketchup while doing some thermal exchange anlysis on XP plus doing loooooads of other stuff like Office, iTune, BT, FF back in OS X and there was virtually no lag. Was a good call to choose the new Alu Macbook with its new graphics card because a friend has complained about white Macbook's inability to handle 3D geometry. Since I will be doing plenty of that this year then I think it would be wise to invest in something which can perform when the need arises.

The HD heat issue has been resolved completely and you can hardly feel a thing! Went in Second Life to try out the graphic card and it was only then, under max graphic settings, the Macbook got a bit flush in the face (could also feel a little heat building up). Going to try and DL CoD4 now and really give the MB a good work out!

The battery is unbelievable! Worked for 2hrs off the hook and it was still on 50% before I decided to burn a CD which drained the battery down to 15%. No idea how to the glossy screen is going to behave in bright light but it is really really bright! If you are on low ambient light in a dark room and you max out the brightness quickly, your retinas will sting before you could adjust to the brightness properly, it likes staring right into a fluorescent light as you come out of a dark room! The ambient light sensor is pretty annoying at times when the light source is behind you and you end up casting a shadow on it so the sensor will mistaken that for a change of environment and adjust the brightness. You can be leaning over to grab a drink and the brightness will go up and down which kind of irritates. The one-piece alu case is solid, no flexing, no creaking, just solid!

Got to know a lot more about the UNIX core because of the project I am working on and its insane! There are actually loooads of codex built into it as standard! I am using Python to code a dataflow management program and you can literally get into its shell from the terminal. And I am more than impress with Fusion! The degree of control is just sweet! Its kind of annoying having to run XP because of one small add-on but its nice to know it will be in the "naughty" corner where I can control its network usage whenever I want.