"Humanity is Overrated"

Pekka-Eric Auvinen has died in hospital after turning the gun on himself. He has become the latest suicidal, isolated, solipsistic little shit that has found a means of taking people down with him. Following the Columbine Massacre of 1999, made famous by Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, and The Virginia Tech Massacre last year, perpetrated by wannabe cult star, Question Mark, Pekka-Eric took inspiration and brought a handgun into school with one thing on his mind. We all know the details. One thing strikes me from the aforementioned; they all broadcast tapes of themselves prior to their respective killing-sprees. Now, with this in mind, isn't it somehow plausible that they wanted to be stopped; they wanted to be discovered and revealed in some way. Surely, if Cho Seung Hui (aka. Question Mark) wished to remain untraceable, he wouldn't have gone to the local television station with his homemade VCRs. Surely, if Pekka-Eric Auvinen wished to remain untraceable, he wouldn't have posted a video of himself brandishing a gun on YouTube one hour before letting loose. Stop me if I'm wrong. Granted, some will label these simply as the glorified suicide notes of disturbed adolescents, or maybe just trivialities - kids looking for their fifteen minutes; but, like the man who puts his head in an oven with a window open, or the man who jumps from a three story building, did they really want to go through with it? Due to the inaction of cathartic YouTube generation, they were all left with no choice, once again, they were forced to carry out their twisted ideas because no-one put up a their hand to stop them. It isn't uncommon for gentlemen at that age to pick up a copy of The Catcher in the Rye or Beyond Good and Evil and think they're the only ones who 'get it'. Doubtless, intelligent discussion will stir for a few days and then the whole incident will be forgotten and have little impact on any other potential psychopaths. Having said that, I did just sign up to 'UAlert' here at the University: a convenient little text message alert system for all students in case of emergencies. Safe and sound? Not yet.

A ReSounding Success

Two pieces of music news for you. Firstly, the results of Radiohead's distribution experiment seem to have paid off, regardless of what the print media has to say. (I'd be surprised if 40% of people paid for their newspaper if it was offered up gratis.) Still, Edward Hunter, an analyst from comScore, called it "a resounding success for Radiohead and music fans everywhere". I feel inclined to agree. All the details are here. Incidentally, if you're interested, Radiohead are broadcasting a live webcast on Friday, similar to those shown back in 2003. When it was initially announced that Radiohead would employ the "honesty box" method of distribution, people compared it to Prince's adopted technique back in 2006, when he handed his album out for free along with everyone's copy of The Mail on Sunday. Ironic so it seems that, today, news has surfaced of the contempt Prince has shown towards his hardcore, veteran fans who use his image and present his music as part of their fansites. It seems strange that Prince wishes to alienate those who have simply widened his audience by making his music more accessible. That's not to say they uploaded his music for free - they merely used his image and artwork, as any fansite would feel inclined to do. The prosecuted fansites have since formed a coalition to fight the threats of Prince and his record label. This somewhat makes me question their future longevity as fans. Well there we have it; the full spectrum of band-to-fan loyalty, and vice-versa.

Ganesha?

Not no more it seems...

'More Racist' as a result of Spite

Just as a brief side note; an anonymous survey of my race and ethnicity class today produced the statistic that 24% of my classmates had, in fact, become "more racist" as a result of the class. What's more, 40% claimed they had become "less colourblind" in terms of racial identity. That left only 36% who said they'd become "more anti-racist", among which I counted myself after being irritated by the James Watson debacle a couple of weeks ago. Although, it just goes to show, jaunty statistics and skewed, generalised trends won't positively resonate with someone's outlook, but rather, it can have the opposite, highly detrimental effect of agitating racial prejudice. This highlights the intimacy of people's prejudices. Statistics won't gain any ground on revolutionising contemporary thought, but closer-to-home experiences will.

Writer's Guild on Strike

This little strike all seems very jovial. The last time the Writer's Guild of America went on strike was in 1988, which lasted for 5 months and had the very predictable effect of causing TV stations to rerun archive episodes of classic programming. Personally, I don't see much wrong with that, however, I have a feeling, the American's aren't used to waiting, and they're certainly not used to anyone going on strike, so this will be cleared up quicker than expected. It seems as though the script writers believe themselves to hold a divine right to the exuberant profits of their shows, and I don't disagree. I'm going to watch this one with keen interest.

A Sad Event

As the news recounts this morning, a woman refused blood following childbirth on the grounds that her religion forbids it, and, consequently, she died. Now, I don't know the ins-and-outs of witnessing Jehovah, but I presume her steadfastness was grounded on sacred texts, and her wish not to sin. If only one of the nurses had the presence of mind to ignore her beliefs and give her the blood anyway; that way, her motherless twins would grow up with the integral maternal bonds we all cherish. I couldn't help guffawing at the statements of her friend: "we can't believe [it] happening in this day and age". Perhaps her unfounded psychological delusion has no place in this day and age too. In today's Western society, on the back of a technological evolution, this event is a travesty. If she would rather have died than be administered with blood, that's her choice, but the innocent individuals here without a choice are her children. Needless to say, they would doubtless have been brought up to be Jehovah's Witnesses also, which, if I were to adopt my pseudo-Dawkinsian guise, is worse than having no mother at all.

Eat Your Greens

I am a self-confessed global-warming agnostic, one of those irritating fence-sitters with hardly any consequential opinions about one of the world's most pressing issues. Having said that, Bryan brings us food-for-thought in this morning's Sunday Times. He himself has admitted to being an agnostic also; but with the true facts at hand, he presents us with the fundamental information we ought to know. He explains why we, as the general population, pinpoint green rhetoric in politics as a good thing, yet we're reluctant to make changes within our daily lives, and similarly explains why the green movement has lost political credibility by arguing amongst itself. What struck me in this highly informed article was the amount of plausible, CO2 reducing solutions being tried and tested right now. So it's strange we never get to hear about them in the public forum. Perhaps activists, such as George Monbiot and Al Gore, enjoy scare-mongering - whipping us into a frenzy of fear for their own, self-aggrandizing, self-promoting, I-told-you-so means.

Gender and Paedophilia

The news arrived today of Claire Lyte's light sentence - she was found guilty of four accounts of sexual child-abuse, and of lying to a court. How long did she get in the slammer? Three years. Now, by no means do I wish to advocate the acts committed by pederasts worldwide, quite the opposite, in fact. Why is it that this woman receives a three year sentence, when a similar case involving a man and a thirteen year-old boy would receive a much more stringent sentence? Is this an attempt to appease the overall public discontent? Surely theses examples should be brought into line. You may recall some time ago the story of a schoolteacher, aged 37, having sexual relations with a boy in her class, aged 15. Whether or not the boy was quoted as saying, "I was a bit of a legend", does not detract from the worrying conclusion: she got a 14 month suspended jail sentence. Statistics have shown that, more often than not, paedophiles will re-offend. Statistics have also shown that re-offence seldom occurs after a four year stint in jail. And so, I propose a minimum sentence of four years for acts of child-molestation et al. Of course, this may impose even greater pressure on her majesty's bulging prison service as it stands, but my case remains.

A Racist Comment

This supposed racial slur from ex-footballer, come cult-pundit, Ian Wright, reminds us all that it is not only the white population who perpetrate active racism: a fact that my race lecturer is all too happy to ignore. And that's the reason I felt justified in applauding a self-professed, Canadian, conservative heckeler who berated her single-minded, self-righteous preachings yesterday. I was glad to hear that I was by no means the only individual in agreement; a fact that filled me with renewed hope regarding American intelligence.

Did I mention about posting more often?

Whilst thinking of something to post about today, I trawled through the usual links and found nothing but talking point after talking point after talking point to do with sport. So I did what all great thinkers do and go for a walk, gathering my thoughts and opinions as I went. It seems that my inflated ego and general assumptions led me to a point where I realised the inconsequence of other people's outlook and the importance of my own. Therefore, the post today comes courtesy of my self-indulgent musings while wandering the symmetrical streets of Tucson. Since I've been at this university, I've made it my duty to ingratiate myself with the local culture and, in doing so, try and read the campus newspaper every day. It has a fairly decent circulation amongst the 38,000 students, and it's very well-rounded, with articles and viewpoints ranging from the obscene to the obtrusive, but all arranged in a pithy, friendly, top-and-tail kind of way. So far I haven't been compelled to right into the paper myself, even when I was bombarded by creationist drivel one day, and anti-Semitic cartoons the next - my surprisingly articulate and well-educated classmates have done that for me. What has struck me though, is the emphasis toward free-speech (a well known American value, as the internet paedophile absurdity will reveal), yet when the Danish cartoon uproar began, or the publication of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses was again reviled as blasphemy, both in 2006, the emphasis remained on religious tolerance and respect, or, as the case may be, intolerance. We must tread carefully...