the internet, writing, and culture

Folks who are interested in the literary and anthropological issues and implications of the internet should read this conversational essay, which the lovely reve_lucide linked to. Fascinating stuff.

i fucking hate politicians

News-bite snagged from morchades regarding the much-talked-about Saddam execution:

The tribunal also had a unique sense of timing when choosing the day for Saddam's hanging. It was a slap in the face to Sunni Arabs. This weekend marks Eid al-Adha, the Holy Day of Sacrifice, on which Muslims commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son for God. Shiites celebrate it Sunday. Sunnis celebrate it Saturday –- and Iraqi law forbids executing the condemned on a major holiday. Hanging Saddam on Saturday was perceived by Sunni Arabs as the act of a Shiite government that had accepted the Shiite ritual calendar.

Link to the full article at Salon.com (ad click-through, but otherwise free).

*Beats* *Head* *On* *Desk* *Repeatedly*

I swear by all that's holy, some days I just want to give up on humanity as a whole. Would it have fucking killed the tribunal to not be assholes about the holiday thing? Would it have been too much of a damned inconvenience to wait until frigging Monday, or to have done it yesterday if it was really that gods-damned pressing that it had to be done ASAP? No, of course not, it just would have denied them a valuable opportunity to be complete jerks and further muck up an already disastrous political and social situation. And why did no one from our vaunted peace-keeping mission not say "gee, don'cha maybe wanna, I don't know, NOT do that?" Why the fuck did we do all of this, just to instate a government that's this disgustingly biased and vindictive? We've killed how many people so that the Iraqi's elected government would have the free right to make their peoples' gods-damned situation even worse? Fucking fabulous.

And while we're at it, I love the hubbub over Barack Obama's middle name and whether America is "ready" for either him or Hillary Clinton. My country, ladies and gentlemen... And for this, they think they've got the right to police the rest of the gods-damned world.

Before I get stomped, yes, I agree that Saddam was a bad man. But I fail to see how living out Bush Jr's little Daddy-complex vendetta and bombing the hell out of the country really made things any better.