eVille Times

Apr 24, 2016

Today's Today

The Armenian Genocide "started" on this date in 1915. And of course it didn't - it started way before then because history isn't just some randomly jumbled string of unrelated events.

Writing in the late 1890s after a visit to the Ottoman Empire, the British ethnographer William Ramsay described the conditions of Armenian life as follows:

We must, however, go back to an older time, if we want to appreciate what uncontrolled Turkish rule meant, alike to Armenians and to Greeks. It did not mean religious persecution; it meant unutterable contempt ... They were dogs and pigs; and their nature was to be Christians, to be spat upon, if their shadow darkened a Turk, to be outraged, to be the mats on which he wiped the mud from his feet. Conceive the inevitable result of centuries of slavery, of subjection to insult and scorn, centuries in which nothing that belonged to the Armenian, neither his property, his house, his life, his person, nor his family, was sacred or safe from violence – capricious, unprovoked violence – to resist which by violence meant death!^[34]

But we can kinda fix the date by noting that something happened 24APR1915 that pretty much signaled a change in the Turkish Government policy regarding "the Armenian problem".

So, 1st there was this:

Armenian intellectuals who were arrested and later executed en masse by Young Turk government authorities on the night of 24 April 1915.

And before long, there was this:

Of this photo, the United States ambassador wrote, "Scenes like this were common all over the Armenian provinces, in the spring and summer months of 1915. Death in its several forms—massacre, starvation, exhaustion—destroyed the larger part of the refugees. The Turkish policy was that of extermination under the guise of deportation"

And this:

Decapitated heads of Armenians placed on stakes.

And this:

Armenian Christian women crucified

Maybe we can thank The Cosmic Muffin it never fucking works in the end, but there's always somebody - usually followed closely by a big buncha of rubes - willing to blame every difficulty (real or imagineered) on a hapless minority, and to mask their own lust for blood, power and treasure by tapping into a base human brutality in order to try just one more time to kill his way to glory.

So why do we keep saying, "never again" when history is just chock full of this kinda shit?

Apr 23, 2016

Think Of Something Better

And that kinda goes with a piece at WaPo:

The U.S. suicide rate has increased sharply since the turn of the century, led by an even greater rise among middle-aged white people, particularly women, according to federal data released Friday.

Last decade’s severe recession, more drug addiction, “gray divorce,” increased social isolation, and even the rise of the Internet and social media may have contributed to the growth in suicide, according to a variety of people who study the issue.

But economic distress — and dashed hopes generally — may underpin some of the increase, particularly for middle-aged white people. The data showed a 1 percent annual increase in suicide between 1999 and 2006 but a 2 percent yearly hike after that, as the economy deteriorated, unemployment skyrocketed and millions lost their homes.

“People [were] growing up with a certain expectation . . . and the Great Recession and other things have really changed that,” said Julie A. Phillips, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University who studies the demography of suicide. “Things aren’t panning out the way people expect. I feel for sure that has had an effect.”

Apr 22, 2016

How Things Change

In 1969, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins took this picture of Apollo 11's Lunar Landing Module, with (obviously) the Earth in the background.

Dramatic and interesting and Nerd-Cool-As-Fuck, because at that moment, Collins is the only human being - living or dead - who isn't in that picture.

What's the word for the exact opposite of "selfie"?

English Is Weird

... although, through tough thorough thought, it can be made to make sense.

A Lousy 10 Million

Figure out two things:

1) how to get the nerds the support they need

2) how to stay the fuck outa their way

Today's Tweet

Patternicity. What you see in the clouds is influenced by what's on your mind. A stiff salute to Queen Elizabeth pic.twitter.com/99G87wECCE
— Michael Shermer (@michaelshermer) April 21, 2016

I'll make allowance for the possibility that somebody's had his PhotoShoppy way with this, but c'mon - there just can't be a more fitting graphic to make the connection between Heads-Of-State and their Big Guns.

We Could Call It Progress

Beat on your neighbor - you go to jail.

Beat on your dog - you go to jail.

Beat on your kids - well, the little boogers gotta learn some respect, dammit.

Apr 21, 2016

And We Lose Another One

(Apocryphal or not): Someone asked Eric Clapton what it felt like to be the greatest guitar player in the world, and he answered, "I don't know - ask Prince".

Clapton played on the original track (White Album), but couldn't make it to the George tribute - so Prince stood in for him.

Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)

Today's Tweet

"How it feels as a Canadian watching US politics right now" pic.twitter.com/93Qj6mT71F
— TheLADbible (@TheLadBible) April 21, 2016

Apr 20, 2016

Another 420

Usually, on April 20th, I put up a post to be kinda jokey about The Hemp Rangers, or I'll try to link it back to the struggles of working people against the Corporatists, but every once in a while, I feel the need to hedge my bets against the whole after-life thing.

So just in case Adolph is able to check in with us (this being his birthday and all), and because there's a sizable portion of Americans who seem to think Mr Hitler had some good ideas too - which makes them think it's OK to support the authoritarian crap spilling out of the GOP right now - I think it's important to take just a small moment to mock him (and them) unmercifully, and to make sure they all know how stoopidly childish their behavior is.

(and of course, I do this in a stoopidly childish way to make sure they can understand it)

So Adolph was an extremely bad guy who did extremely bad things. And he didn't love his country; he actually had a deep sense of shame and loathing for himself and everybody else, and his whole political career was aimed at punishing the German people for being stoopid enough to follow The Kaiser, and then even stoopider for following him, and all he could think of was to burn the whole place down etc etc etc.

But a Nickelback fan? Universal condemnation is in order - so yeah - fuck that guy.