Tales of cyber-neurosis
October 6, 2012 Leave a comment
Republicans in Maine have launched a series of attacks on Democratic State Senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz, over her love for playing World of Warcraft; apparently they feel that it is unbecoming for a serious politician to spend time in a fantasy world. Perhaps they should tell that to their Presidential nominee…
September 19, 2012 Leave a comment
Well, it looks like my worries about the Democrats losing the White House may have been misplaced. Obama has hit on the perfect strategy – sit back, look presidential and wait for the Romney campaign to implode.
September 5, 2012 Leave a comment
I have to admit that I’m starting to get a bad feeling about Obama’s chances of reelection in November. Judging by the content of the speeches from Romney and Ryan at the Republican convention last week it looks like the GOP strategists have finally figured out that, while the wingnut social conservatism spouted by the likes of Todd Akin may play well with the base, focussing on the economy is the best way to win over swing voters in the midst of a recession (especially if you are prepared to tell blatant lies.)
It’s a formula that worked well for the Conservatives here in the UK a couple of years back, though they had the advantage that the financial crisis had indisputably started on the watch of the previous government, while Obama can just about plausibly claim that if he’s been slow in turning the economy around it’s because he inherited such a mess from the Bush administration.
Obama’s victory in 2008 was made possible by his ability to inspire hope and excitement in sections of the electorate who would otherwise have felt alienated from the political process (that, and the car-wreck that was the Republican ticket), and I’m sure that he’ll try to create the same momentum again, starting with his own convention speech this week. The difference this time round though is that he has a record in office which is, compared to what he promised, rather underwhelming.
I think that Obama’s best move would be to tack sharply to the left, and hope people believe that, unencumbered by the need to get reelected in four years time, he’ll actually deliver. I also think that he’ll probably do the exact opposite, and try to chase the centre-right vote by playing up his moderate credentials, a potentially disastrous strategy which would only shift the fight to the ground where the Republicans are strongest, while also running the risk of demobilising the core Democratic constituencies.
On the other hand, Obama did manage to get himself elected President, so I guess that he and his team don’t really need to take any advice from anonymous foreign bloggers. We’ll see what he says on Thursday, but I do hope he knows what he doing.
August 28, 2012 Leave a comment
Interesting news from New Zealand, where a long-term study of the inhabitants of Dunedin has revealed that people who smoke a lot of dope in high school may fail to achieve their full potential as adults, thus finally providing a scientific rationale for the otherwise inexplicable observation that stoners do not rule the world.
August 27, 2012 Leave a comment
Back in 2009 we ran a piece marking the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, which noted wistfully that the vision of widespread space travel promised by the Apollo program had never been realised. We returned to this theme on the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s maiden space flight, by which time our regret had expanded to cover the passing of the whole concept of progress through rational planning.
The news that Neil Armstrong has passed away is another reminder of how much the world has moved on since the days when flying to the moon was the peak of human aspiration. In a few more years an era in which there exist living men who have walked on another celestial body will have passed completely, with no sign that it will ever be repeated, a thought which I find almost unbearably sad.
Of course the Space Race of the 50s and 60s was driven by Cold War tensions, and it’s hard to argue that the threat of global thermonuclear destruction that hung over that period was a price worth paying for the dreams of space exploration. Nevertheless, I think our culture has lost something important since then; the sense that we could go ever onward and upward, replaced by the generally gloomy feeling that our best days as a species are already behind us.
All hope is not lost though; we’re still sending robots to other planets, and the information they send back may inspire another wave of space enthusiasm. I might yet make it to Mars after all…
August 18, 2012 Leave a comment
Now here’s a cause we can support without any hesitation. Regular readers will know that here at SLS we tend to think that “insulting Christianity” is the sort of thing that should be rewarded by a medal rather than a jail sentence, but even people who take a dimmer view of such activity would surely agree that two years in a labour camp sounds a bit harsh.
August 16, 2012 Leave a comment
We’ve had an extended summer break this year, which I might post about at some point, but what’s stirred me from silence today is a feeling that I should pass some sort of comment on the Wikileaks/Assange/Ecuador situation.
But what can I say? The whole thing has become a complete mess, a veritable train-wreck of competing left principles that seems to force one to choose between excusing US imperialism or apologising for sexual assault.
It’s a false dichotomy though; it’s perfectly possible to support the fight for free information represented by Wikileaks while at the same time believing that individuals should be prepared to take responsibility for their personal actions.
It’s hard to see much positive in all this, but perhaps when the smoke clears the movement will take on board the lesson that mass collective action is much preferable to personality-focused politics, because nothing undermines a campaign like a figurehead who turns out to be a serious liability.
July 5, 2012 Leave a comment
I’ve been pretty lax on the blog front of late, which I had been ascribing to simple idleness, but my new theory is that I’m just being slowed down by having to wade through that damn Higgs Field every day.
Anyway, what’s been happening? Spanish flair did win Euro 2012, as I (almost) predicted, though it triumphed over Italian artistry rather than Teutonic efficiency, the Germans having lost their way in the semi-final. For a while after that game it seemed like they might cave in on the Eurobond question too, but no such luck.
In other news, the reading public have twisted a dagger into the heart of aspiring authors everywhere by enthusiastically embracing a volume of reworked Twilight fan-fic, making it the fastest selling paperback ever in the UK, despite it being, by all accounts, very poorly written, not particularly transgressive, and certainly not psychologically sophisticated.
Discouraged by this turn of events I have abandoned my plans to spend the next few months working on my own literary masterpiece, in favour of my usual summer routine of getting stoned in the park (assuming the rain ever stops), with a suitable soundtrack. There may not be many more posts this month…
June 23, 2012 Leave a comment
I’ve not had much time for blogging recently, because, among other distractions, I’ve been spending my evenings drinking beer and watching the football on TV.
I had been hoping that last night’s match between Greece and Germany would provide me with a handy metaphor for a post on how the downtrodden masses can, through organisation and unity, overcome seemingly impossible odds, but sadly the cold efficiency of the Germans saw them run out comfortable winners.
Things are looking a little more hopeful on the political field though. The left may not have won in last week’s rerun election in Greece, but it appears they have done well enough to force Angela Merkel to accept some softening of the austerity programme imposed on the country.
On current form it looks like the Germans might end up facing Spain in the final; perhaps Iberian flair will make that match a better symbol for the future course of European protest.
Second Life Shrink 
