Subject: Here We Are, Here to Go, Again

From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgenius.com>
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Mar 20, 2003 12:03 PM

God damn it, it's just like last time. MIXED FEELINGS. Repulsion and
lust. I know it's just rich guys trying to trick each other, using
human bacon, and probably doesn't affect me personally that much. I
probably don't know a single soldier that'll get hurt or any Iraqis. I
know much better than to trust ANY "news" source, right, left, center
or Martian. (I'm not REALLY as paranoid as I like to play-act.)

YET I WAS PISSED OFF THIS MORNING WHEN THE TV WAS JUST NORMAL AGAIN
after a night of excitement.

That's the problem -- it's EXCITING. It's just like NAUGHTY
PORNOGRAPHY, except that I don't consider porn all that naughty,
whereas war is. FORBIDDEN. "SPECIAL." Plus, like any male primate, I
enjoy seeing "my" team win something, DESPITE MYSELF. I'd rather win
something FOR myself, and I try not to depend on any team. But, like it
or not, good or bad, as long as I live here I'm part of the team on
some level, even if I'm just some guy that draws dirty pictures on the
walls behind the bleachers and isn't even watching the game.

And, having once been a boy, I SLOBBER over the COOL WEAPONS. The
WEAPONS are REALLY REALLY COOL.

At the same time, I know it's just a bunch of rich fux trying to grab
for everything they can, while they can, lying their asses off the
whole time. AND I MUST WONDER WHETHER I WOULDN'T COOK UP THE SAME THING
(albeit in a different flavor) WERE I IN THEIR SHOES. Maybe if I had
the OPTION of furthering an empire I would, just under the assumption
that my empire was somehow the lesser of two evils.

During the Gulf War I got caught up in patriotic war fever -- well, for
a LIBERAL TYPE. Oh, The Hour of Slack was always critical of it but I
personally was all EXCITED. Afterwards, as I read more details about
the whole thing, and history of the Bushes etc., I was ashamed of
myself for having fallen prey to the emotions of the thing, even if not
the direct propaganda.

So, I was up half the night watching blow-by-blow bullshit on TV, with
guilty joy and approved horror, and then DISAPPOINTED THIS MORNING when
it was back to Daytime TV Sludge.

I deliberately don't have cable, so CNN isn't an option at home, THANK
GOD. But I went to WalMart to buy DV tape and ended up standing there
watching CNN in the electronics dept. on 5 screens. Got into a
conversation with a Walmart employee I had joshed with before, an older
guy who today told me he was in some kind of Special Forces during
Vietnam and speaks 8 languages including Russian. He said the main
problem is, humans don't respect cultures outside their own. Americans
particularly don't even really totally understand that there REALLY ARE
other cultures. Having traveled and read a lot of Russian and Asian
history I was able to agree with him all too heartily. By the end of
the conversation it was clear that although he was black and I was
white, we were both fucking weirdos above and beyond that -- just
because I got his joke about Pushkin and he got mine about Rasputin and
the Tsarina.

The checkout lady who overheard part of our conversation said "Some
people has intelligence but no common sense" refering to Bush. I would
have said it was more like the other way around -- all common sense
with no intelligence. But then I thought about it and my combined
common sense and intelligence reminded me that I was in no position to
declare that I even knew the difference. Praise fucking "Bob."

We/I are in the same Winterstar cabin as Chaz so there I have a feeling
the TV will be on a lot in there this weekend. Chaz seems to have the
same weird mixed feelings as me, knowing it's all bad bullshit but
unable to stop soaking it all in anyway.

Part of the fun is in guessing what they're NOT telling you -- looking
for what's MISSING from the news. Studying the art of propaganda in
other words.

"FUNNY LITTLE MONKEYS."

P.S. The THIRD SUBG DVD I made, "AS THEY SEE "BOB," (formerly
"SubGenius Interviews," revised) produced an UNSUCCESSFUL FIRST COPY.
It's 89 minutes and the last 7 don't play. HMMM.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Here We Are, Here to Go, Again
From: ZONTAR JOHNSON <n@m.net>

In article <200320031203202284%stang@subgenius.com>,
"Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgenius.com> wrote:

> God damn it, it's just like last time. MIXED FEELINGS. Repulsion and
> lust. I know it's just rich guys trying to trick each other, using
> human bacon, and probably doesn't affect me personally that much. I
> probably don't know a single soldier that'll get hurt or any Iraqis. I
> know much better than to trust ANY "news" source, right, left, center
> or Martian. (I'm not REALLY as paranoid as I like to play-act.)
*snip*

Well from Venus comes an historical view of how some things never change
from our old pal Mark Twain:

http://www.counterpunch.org/twain03192003.html

A History of War
By MARK TWAIN
Excerpts from The Mysterious Stranger (Harper & Brothers, 1916).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Here We Are, Here to Go, Again
From: "nu-monet v5.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>

Rev. Ivan Stang wrote:
>
> ...I know much better than to trust ANY "news"
> source, right, left, center or Martian.

Only I tell the truth. In fact, I'm telling
the truth RIGHT NOW. I am the ONLY news source
you need. And you DO need one, you know. For
if you DON'T get your news, then the PAIN will
return. And WE don't want that, now do WE?

Now think back before the accident, back to the
days when there were trees and grass and the sky
was blue and people were happy. Picture yourself
there, among them. You are happy, too. It's a
time before the darkness and the numbness and the
PAIN that never stops. A time when you could feel
the blood rushing in your veins and your heart
beating, and little drops of sweat roll down your
forehead and sting your eyes.

And the people there are your friends. And their
bodies are covered with healthy flesh, and their
skin looks so smooth and soft. And you feel the
pressure of little rocks on the soles of your feet,
and the feeling goes all the way up your legs,
because you still have strong and healthy legs.

And you hear the sounds of the little living things
around you, the ones that were called insects and
birds. And there is much food. Wonderful,
delicious food that you would put in your mouth and
chew with your teeth and it tasted so good and made
you feel healthy and full, like there was something
in your stomach.

And there is a beautiful woman there, a female that
you know, but you don't remember her name, and you
try to focus on what she's saying and you can't for
a few seconds. And it makes you a little confused
to not understand her, but only for a moment. And
then suddenly you understand what she is saying.

She's saying that you shouldn't resist the doctors,
that you should use your mind the way they tell you
because that's the only way they can help you, and
you can help them. And now she's saying that what
you are doing is very helpful to the war effort and
everyone thinks you are a hero and it will be just
a little while longer before you can be at peace,
but there is still much work to be done to stop the
hated enemy. The evil enemy. The inhuman monsters
who want to destroy all the beauty and all that is
good. And it's up to you, Ivan. It's up to you to
stop them. Only by helping the doctors to do what
they must with your brain can you help us defeat
the evil horrible enemy. The ones that bring the
darkness, and the numbness and the PAIN. Help us,
Ivan. Help us help you. It's up to you, now,
Ivan. Now go and watch some more television.

Because television is good for you.

--
Depravity, Hostility, Insanity,
and other acts of God.

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Original file name: Here We Are, Here to Go, Again - converted on Monday, 21 July 2003, 13:45