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Archive for July, 2009

In the last few years there has been a rise of the conspiracy theory, perhaps in line with a rise in dissatisfaction with world politics or the rise of the internet, could be all three. It can’t be denied that access for readers and distribution for writers and broadcasters is now even easier than ever in text, video and audio. That’s no surprise and is true of almost anything the internet touches. The question that arises however is whether we are increasingly disaffected by politics or whether it’s just easier to voice our concern. It’s very easy to make a lot of noise or find a literal web of people who agree with you or share your fears and concerns. Finally there is something we must take into consideration; what if the nut jobs were right?

“Conspiracy theorist” is an easy phrase used to discredit an individual even if they were right. I think one of the most famous conspiracy theorists, internet celebrities or maybe just guy who is speaking the truth is Alex Jones. I find him entertaining, I find a lot of his arguments persuasive but he loses me on some issues (gun control in particular) and I also have issues with his style sometimes. What has worried me recently though is that some of what he has been saying all along is actually just showing up in mainstream media.

The world is changing, subtle in some cases not so in others. Lines are being blurred constantly and perhaps we should be asking why. Why are our wars no longer called wars? On one hand we have military terminologies being watered down, softened and being manipulated into something they aren’t. On the other hand citizens are becoming civilians, everyday life is being militarized, just look at our police and I intend to later. It’s a new world for sure, a new order, a new world order.

“New world order” has been a phrase that would strike fear into the heart of any ‘conspiracy theorist’. The basic premise of NWO is that there would be one world government advancing the interests of the elite and basically enslaving all others so that they were controlled from the top down. The basic description of it is wild and not something any normal sane person would or could believe. And then you look around and you see that our individual liberties are being eroded and that it is becoming increasingly difficult to live outside of the system, it’s already a social impossibility. This is where we have to ask if the people shouting about all this really are the crazy ones? Bill Hicks perhaps described this best

“The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it’s real, because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly colored and it’s very loud. And it’s fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: ‘Is this real? Or is this just a ride?’ And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and they say ‘Hey! Don’t worry, don’t be afraid – ever – because… this is just a ride.’ And we kill those people.

‘Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry; look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.’”

The term “New world order” has constantly been flagged by those we call conspiracy theorists, the phrase has been used throughout the 20th century and before, the dollar bill has something similar translating roughly as a “new order of the ages”. The phrase has picked up, snowballing over the last twenty years. A key speech given George H.W. Bush on September 11th 1990 said “diverse nations are drawn together to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind”. More recently in the midst of global financial crisis Gordon Brown gave a speech to the G20 summit promising a new world order.

“I think a new world order is emerging and with it the foundations of a new and progressive era of international cooperation. We have resolved that from today we will together manage the process of globalisation to secure responsibility from all and fairness to all and we’ve agreed that in doing so we will build a more sustainable and more open and a fairer global society.”


Outside the summit something else was happening, it was something else that the “conspiracy nuts” had been banging on about. They had said all along that with globalisation there would be an abrogation of civil liberties, freedom of expression would be crushed. Outside that summit police in riot gear, some with no identifying numbers worn performed a military action on “civilians” people who used to be citizens in a democracy exercising their democratic right to protest. What kind of society do we live in if it is upheld that the police have acted unlawfully on such a massive public scale? Why are our police forces being militarised? Maybe the conspiracy nuts are right. It is a concern when the BBC (which is bound by law to be impartial) shows a program highlighting the eradication of the right to protest in the U.K., showing that protesters are no longer called protesters but instead “domestic extremists”. Our wars aren’t wars and environmentalists are domestic extremists.

Why do our armies perform global police actions while our society becomes a police state? Whether it is conspiracy theory or not our leaders are describing a new world order increasingly, just the other day this appeared in an Associated Press article.

The White House bills the address as the third of four this year on his vision of a new world order. The first was during his visit to the Czech Republic when he laid out a security agenda and concern about nuclear proliferation. After that, he went to Egypt to reach over the heads of leaders of Muslim countries as he sought to improve the U.S. image with the people of the Islamic world.

If this is the new world order then it is defined by globalization, homogenization and militarisation. If things continue we have to ask what will be next to go? Does our national identity sit well with a globalist view of the world, or should our food become more generic to ease production, would it be better to have one currency? Whether people like Alex Jones are crazy or not, you have to admit that a lot of what they say is slowly ebbing its way into our lives, and whether the demons they paint are responsible for driving these changes or not we really must start staking a claim to our rights and liberties before they are completely eroded, we must protect democracy.

If this is the new world order I want out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8130000/8130986.stm - BBC – Whatever happened to people power?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZkhR8suCF4& – Bill Hicks – It’s Just a ride
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090706/ap_on_go_pr_wh/eu_obama_russia – AP – Obama new world order speeches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a9Syi12RJo – George H. W. Bush – New World Order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv5cqh26CC0 – Gordon Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bKwH3kJew4& – Henry Kissinger

Yesterday my first ever little graphic tablet/ pen thing was delivered. It’s really fun and will take a lot of getting used to. Imagine my surprise when within a few minutes I had produced my first sketch of Da Vinci like proportions in Art Rage. I don’t know if it’s a duckling or a chick though, I think it’s good that brings down the barriers between the two though it sends a clear political message about unity through the bird world.

I started discussing the artwork in an xstreet forum thread and there was an idea of attaching it to some clothing, so I decided to make this t-shirt free to anyone to use in the Second Life world, to share my new found talent.

You can pick up your very own hand drawn, limited edition artwork/clothing combo for free here

Right so you’re in the supermarket late in the afternoon and there is a special section for damaged or going out of date stuff. They apply a yellow sticker and drop the price. In ASDA (the UK wal*mart but like they don’t sell ammunition) you’ve been whoopsie’d, whoops the price has dropped. This is all well and good, people can grab a bargain and it prevents food from going in the bin and so on. It’s an ideal testing ground for things you normally wouldn’t buy, lines that obviously never sold that well like fish fingers made out of goldfish or bizarre upmarket concoctions that would never go down well in the scummy hell hole of a town you live in, you see this more in Tesco when items from the “Finest” range get the yellow sticker treatment, oooh quail ready meal and so on.

There is an art to buying from the yellow sticker section, buy shit you will eat that day or that you can possibly freeze. The golden rule however was breached last week in our house. Two items you never buy at the end of their shelf life are bread and milk. Who buys six pints of milk that goes out of date tomorrow? Who buys into the false economy of saving 30p even though you’ll be shelling out again in two more days? Everyone knows you buy bread and milk with the furthest away use before date, everyone. I hope if anyone reads this that they’ll heed my warnings regarding the purchase of their staple perishable goods.

Who buys whoopsie’d bread and milk? Unbelievable.