American Life

1984? Your App is Ready.


Cover of "THX 1138 (The George Lucas Dire...

Cover via Amazon

Science fiction horror scenarios spring from the basic premise that too much technology will eventually enslave us as opposed to liberate or make us better people. The Dune universe was a direct result of a world where computers took over and subjected human beings. George Lucas‘s THX1138 envisioned a world of people in the thrall of television and consumerism that drove people to numb themselves with antidepressants.

And then there was Logan’s Run, where babies were chipped at birth and their every movement monitored until they reached the useless age of 30 and were dispatched for the amusement of others.

Today people willingly tag themselves with GPS enabled phones that they delude themselves into believing are helpful tools. They are aided and abetted in their fantasy by apps.

There’s an app for everything, and they make the loss of freedom and downtime feel okay.

But they are really just the first toehold on a slide that leads to  that proverbial glided cage.

And the scariest thing is the excitement. This guy thinks this nightmare of a world is an awesome leap forward for mankind. Personally, I think life as an uber-trained gerbil might push me into active anarchy.

But here’s what truly should frighten thinking people.

“… imagine what skilled game designers could do with this …”

Imagine that. If you have the stomach for it and don’t mind giving yourself nightmares from all the paranoid conspiracy theories that naturally flow from entertaining such notions.

And then imagine them selling this to your government – not the most ethical bunch of people on the planet – and worse, imagine what the business world will … is already in come instances … do with this.

Being a gerbil is fine, if you are born a gerbil, but human beings who aren’t allowed to think for themselves, and are expected to live on the equivalent of a Sisyphean treadmill, will be a scary bat-shit crazy bunch.

It looks though as if we’ve set the path for our children and theirs and the best we can do is hope that the Mayans were right. Or perhaps wish upon a solar flare to cause an emp to reset the clock and buy us time.

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If Only There was a God …


Sarah Palin t-shirt

Image via Wikipedia

…he could bless America today because she is going to need it over the next 15 months.

We don’t hear much about 9/11 up here except for the anti-Muslim stuff that is. Koran burning has made our news, and the mostly live and let live folk that Canadians are – it just reinforcing the opinion that Americans are not the freedom loving people they proclaim ala Hamlet’s mother to be.

So with the wingnuts roasting weiners around a book bonfire and Sarah Palin nipping about Obama’s presidential re-election hopes, those who perished at ground zero truly deserve better.

We all deserve better.

But we aren’t going to get it.

So, God? Bless America if you really have the power ‘cuz it’s about to get uglier.

Do I Have to Boycott Target?


I mean it will be fairly easy seeing that we don’t have Targets here in Alberta, but it’s my go-to store whenever I am in the States.

I love Target. The super-sized ones especially. One stop and a Starbucks to boot. What’s not to adore?

Apparently though the corporate arm of shopping nirvana decided to test out that whole “peoplehood” thing the Supreme Court granted companies a while back by donating $150,000 to the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Target is headquartered in Minneapolis and I am merely guessing, but I imagine that in spite of his stance against same-sex marriage, the candidate is pro business in a way that only Republicans can be.

So, the gay community – offended and rightly so – are calling for a boycott unless Target makes an equal contribution to some organization they support or that supports them.

I think there was probably a good reason why businesses have been forced to surreptitiously contribute to political campaigns in the past, don’t you? Betting Target would agree right about now.

Anyway, I was all set to back to school shop my little heart out in Great Falls next week because our trip to Yellowstone would have taken us that way, but Rob’s still reacting to one of his meds, and since we don’t know which one, we are scrubbing the whole summer vacation thing now.

I would have shopped Target anyway though. I understand the outrage, but think the “compromise” is a weeny cop-out.

You’ll boycott Target until you force them to make a second contribution to save face and void the first one?

How does an equal contribution to an entity or candidate who supports same-sex marriage cancel out the first one? The first $150,000 is out there already. Check cashed. Damage done. A second donation would be merely done to appease and lure you back.

Will you go back? Knowing that Target – despite its pro-gay worker and family practices in its company and at its stores – gave money to a Republican who hates gays only because they liked his stance on business?

Nothing will be any different after Target has been forced to capitulate. And they will cave. What’s $150,000 when billions are at stake? Money that will come out of your pocket and you’ll do it willingly then take home your goodies, spread them on the floor and roll around on them like an overheated pig in mud.

The same-sex marriage battle is nearly over now that it’s in the courts. The Supreme Court will either affirm the right (because they don’t really have any other legal choice) or they will kick it back to the states and we will have civil unions across the board. This has nothing to do with Target or idiot Republicans pandering for mid-term votes anymore.

Still, a person should do whatever helps them sleep best at night.