Chinese propaganda, Avatar and the earth shaking

My mind is a stew of random ideas, this morning. Call it mixed feelings.

The earth shook in Haïti, and NOW we care? This makes me sick. One of the poorest countries on the globe, a no-man’s place deprived of the West’s interest most likely for a lack of resources to plunder, a human desert not worthy of anyone’s attention, now becomes our care-of-the-day because it fell victim to an earthquake.

We have brothers and sisters in this country since the dawn of time. They have asked repeatedly for help, or at least support, on numerous occasions. They suffered regimes, repression and lawlessness at the hands of power-hungry despots. What have we offered? A bunch of cops to train theirs. Don’t get me wrong, it’s probably not such a bad thing, but what about houses? Clean water? Food? Schools? Loans for starting local businesses?

I can’t stand our reaction to what just happened. But that’s nothing compared to how I’m going to feel, in a couple days, when our medias and suburban households get bored of the images and look for another tear inducement somewhere else. Who knows, maybe we’ll be lucky and Celine Dion will break a nail.

************

My friend Dan posted an interesting link to an article explaining why Google will likely cease its operations in China. In a startling declaration, Google explains it has unearthed a vast undercover operation likely led by a government-sponsored organization called The 50-Cent Army (AKA Wu Mao Dang) that hacks into google.cn to spy on Chinese activists by accessing their personal information and their e-mail accounts.

It shook me to wake up to the idea that governments finance hackers and astroturfing operations to enforce their propaganda. But then again, it shook me that I was shocked. I mean really... Is that such a big surprise?

We are being controlled, people. In many more ways than we imagine.


************

The Vatican blames Avatar for bringing about a worship of nature.

I will allow the Vatican to blame anyone for anything when they apologize for the Inquisition, the shameful astronomical fortune it has gathered from starving ignorant masses for centuries, Pius XII’s acceptance of the Holocaust and the tens of thousands of lives their priests ruined abusing bewildered children in absolute immunity, to this very day.

And don’t make me explain WHERE the catholic religion draws half of its traditions.