How the Mighty have Fallen

Once upon a time (before global warming) the insightfull, intrepid and incestuous(politically speaking) ruled the land. Back then the leader smote the serfs as he saw fit. This was no problem as he had clever minions who "shaded" the "facts". All of them were fond of nature and some were specifically fond of dasies. Sadly, not one amongst this cabal was capable of an original thought. Lo they rained (sp. intended) over the land...but all empires fall.

The monarch grew aged and his principle (or is that principal?) general...he the keeper of the purse..... became restless. As always it did not end well. The kingdom was fractured and the "wise' chose their sides. He of the purse became King. He swung it like he owned it....to ill effect.

Into the kingdom came a warrior from the west with a ragtag band of men and woymen (3). It must be stated here that the Westerns were never fond of womyn.... unless they could pull the plough (3).

After much hyperbole....including theoretical warriors in the streets....the western hoarde prevailed. A calm came over the land. He of Shawinnigan was vanquished (except for his pending international acclaim.)..he of the purse was invisible or opaque at best.

Many changes were visited upon the land...yet an uneasy cloud hung ominously in the east. What of the Wizard of Kool...he of the gospel of punk. For this was the true power behind the empire.

Being unjustly ripped from the halls of power the Wizard of Kool or WK (as I will refer to him for the sake of expediency) became wrathfull.

Lo upon the land he proclaimed something like this:


Bloggers will continue to believe they are supplanting the mainstream media, when - in fact - the data will show that the growth and influence of blogs is waning

It came to pass that WK made another approximate proclumation. It was omnipotent, omnivorous and.....well here it is:

What say you oohh wise one:

Whenever death and violence take place in proximity to digital video recorders, these days, the results inevitably seep onto the Internet. It is unstoppable.

Simultaneously, the mainstream media can always be counted upon to write predictable stories about how they agonize about whether to broadcast or publish the disturbing images. But none of that really matters anymore: Whatever editors decide, the disturbing images inevitably make their way onto millions of computer and television screens — the 2002 decapitation of Daniel Pearl; the World Trade Center jumpers of September 11; police beatings; countless plane and car crashes. If there is someone getting hurt, somewhere, there is always someone ready to capture the hurt on a cell phone camera.

We are hypocrites about this sort of thing. If you were to ask friends or neighbours or acquaintances if they had scoured the World Wide Web for, say, the three-minute video of Pearl being murdered by Islamic terrorists, the chances are excellent that all of them would quickly say no. But some, perhaps most, would probably be lying. The Zapruder film — grimly documenting president John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, more than 43 years ago — was similarly denounced, but then sought out by the masses

If you are like me, and you watched all of the hanging of Saddam Hussein — uneasy, but also unable to tear one’s eyes away — we share the same narrow moral ground. On the one hand, we are aware that violence does, usually, beget violence. But, on the other hand, we are not unhappy to see a notorious murderer finally receiving crude justice. And grateful that a record exists, however blurry, to prove to us that he did not escape his long overdue descent into Hell.

How the mighty have fallen. Spake no more...go quietly into the night...or at the very least shut yer shameless yap.

Syncro