PROMETHEAN ANTAGONIST

I’ve been watching a DVD of international award winning television commercials – good stuff. It’s a shame that more people don’t recognize the artistry that goes into many of these bids to sell products…or ideas.

So far the award winning ads I’ve seen for Amnesty International that have been shown in Western Europe and Scandinavia have focused on what they apparently see as a most noteworthy transgressor of human rights – the United States. Granted, these ads are from a few years back and perhaps A.I. is not so anti-U.S. in their sympathies now, but I’m going to guess otherwise. There have certainly been a few quotes from A.I. officials regarding events in Iraq to indicate that the U.S. is a major concern in their eyes (after all, a war is about being nice to your enemy, isn’t it?).

I realize that A.I. still adheres to its original concern for human rights in general but in a world where several countries are virtual prisons of state directed enslavement and torture, A.I. has increasingly focused on the alleged transgressions of one of the more open, free, and diverse societies in history. I suppose this can be seen as the natural progression of such things (in its priorities domestically, the American Civil Liberties Union has followed a similar transformation -- i.e. now, among its priorities; making sure gays can guide boy scouts and Christmas is removed from public exposure).

I think it can be said that people who take interest in “social” issues tend to be more left-wing as a rule. This doesn’t mean that those who are conservative or less collectivist in outlook are any less “compassionate” or helpful to fellow citizens, often quite the contrary. I’ve met plenty of people actively concerned with social issues who could care less about a real person standing in front of them – abstraction seems to garner greater sympathy to a leftist/collectivist.

I would suggest that most on the right are more personally oriented and likely to direct their attention to daily work and their own families more than the rallying issue of the day. One seldom sees massive organized protests for reduced taxes or less regulation of personal lives and commerce.

Any organization committed to collectivist issues is likely to be generally left wing, and will often sway further left over time.

My gripe with the A.I. Ads that I’ve seen thus far -- they are excellent from a concept/design standpoint -- is their clearly skewed appraisal of where broad and genuine threats to human liberty exists. In this sense they seem similar to the U.N. which plays considerable lip service to the abstraction of human rights but becomes most fervent only when the U.S. or Israel are the topic of critique (remember, the U.N. human rights commission includes and has been chaired by some of the world’s worst tyrannies).

One of A.I. big complaints with American “human rights” is the death penalty.* When dramatizing the issue in their ads, the graphic “horror” of executing a murderer is typically juxtaposed with America’s espoused values as a land of freedom, openness, and achievement. For example, in one ad an Olympic athlete training vigorously on the hoops is suddenly jerked downward and hung on one of the ropes as a script reminds us of America’s terrible human rights record with regard to having the death penalty (of course, it isn’t Olympic trainers who are executed in America’s criminal system, it’s murderers who have typically appealed the sentence and consistently been found guilty of horrid acts against innocent fellow citizens).

The skillfully manipulated intent of such ads is to mock America’s very belief in its own liberties and ideals (A.I. obviously hasn’t convinced the millions of immigrants that desire to move to a country that occasionally executes guys who rape, murder, or dismember children, for example).

Personally, the death penalty isn’t a big issue with me. If it was outlawed and murderers were guaranteed life sentences instead, I couldn’t care less. On the other hand, if a serial killer or child rapist is executed, I can’t work up the level of “compassion” for his “rights” that the left and A.I. is able to (maybe I’m just not “socially conscious”).

There are plenty of countries where the death penalty is exercised loosely for a variety of mundane “crimes” -- often opposing political views begin among them -- and the idea of appeals and a court appointed defense is out of the question. But, that stuff doesn’t play well in Norway or Denmark, caricatures of America as a fascist police state do.

I don’t watch American TV (I live in Japan), but I’m going to guess these rabidly anti-U.S. ads haven't been shown in America itself. After all, the main purpose of the ads – above all else – is fundraising. Get more cash for the noble NGO and its humble agenda to protect Human rights – in some places more than others.

* In some European countries the death penalty was only ended a few decades ago. Now they’re coming up smelling like roses (to themselves) – short memories are a big thing in Europe today. It’s odd, indeed, to often see the German media make Nazi-like allusions to the U.S. – this, from the country where the concept originated.


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An Observation regarding Bush’s recent trip to China:

An irony just occurred to me regarding President Bush’s recent trip to Asia, which included China, of course.

One of the issues addressed by Bush was that of intellectual property rights and piracy. Specifically, among pirated intellectual property are many Hollywood movies and music CD's.

Bush (certainly a pro-capitalist) was negotiating with a country ruled by the Communist Party over the concept of private ownership and intellectual property rights. This was being done for an industry (film and entertainment) that generally despises the concept of property, ownership, and capitalism in general, and despises “the messenger” (Bush) even more.

The film industry in America is and always has been well stocked with radical leftists that hate the very system that has made them rich and famous. Someone hasn’t told them apparently, but movie studios, and CD and DVD distribution are capitalist enterprises. Producing most of the entertainment industry’s products would be against the law in countries ruled by the communist party yet, these pampered fools and millionaires continue to actively voice support for Fidel Castro and assorted thugs who have sought to eliminate free markets and free expression of ideas. Meanwhile, “Bush is Hitler”…when he’s not speaking for the cause of property rights for some spoiled brat musicians and drama majors.

Classic left in all its anti-glory.


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Amerasians in Vietnam

A recently read a uniquely troubling article at FrontPageMagazine.com regarding the treatment of Amerasians living in "The People's" utopian prison of Vietnam.

Of course, things like racism and human cruelty show their ugly faces everywhere to some degree, but to hear an average leftist describe their cherished standards, you'd think the price of egalitarian destitution and dictatorship was worth the supposed "achievements" of Marxist states.

One's guy's story of growing up half American (black) and half Vietnamese is incredibly disturbing:

"...Between the ages of 8 to 12, Tuan Le roamed the streets scrounging for food and trying to find some kind of work – as a last resort, he would beg for food or money. When the communist cadre caught him, they would force him to strip naked and dance. They told him that if his mother could do “the dance” with an American GI, he could dance for them too. When he wouldn’t dance for them, they would begin stabbing the ground around his feet with bayonets fixed to their rifles. The more they stabbed the faster he would dance, all the while they would be calling him degrading names for their entertainment. On one occasion, he was stabbed several times with a bayonet penetrating his ankle. The scars are visible on his ankle, as many scars are on his head, some from being beaten with a North Vietnamese soldier’s helmet."

"In Vietnam, the communists require everyone to carry an ID card, and without one, Tuan Le could not travel anywhere. Many commodities, such as rice, were rationed and one had to have an ID card to buy any. The communists told Tuan Le that for him to get an ID card he would have to bring his dead father with him to get it. They thought this was amusing..."

The article is definitely worth sharing with a "compassionate" leftist...who will then use it as a springboard for a rant on "American Imperialism" in Vietnam. 'Just can't ever get them to acknowledge how horrid their philosophy is in practice.


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A brief excerpt from a “glossary” of Ed-World terminology (from an essay on my experiences in Ed-land U.S.A., to be posted sometime in the next few weeks (probably over the holidays while I’m away from my computer and weekly postings):

- “Teaching the Whole Child”
Another classic total crock... Their point being that good teachers are supposed to be wizards who “nurture a student’s emotional needs” and involve themselves in everything from a students’ sexual orientation issues to whether or not they’re offended by the presence of a flag in the classroom. The insinuation they’re trying to make with this cliché is that teachers who actually increase a student’s knowledge of a subject are somehow neglecting their more important roles as nannies and psychoanalysts. Sometimes it is rhetorically asked, “Do you teach the student or the subject” as if to imply that teachers must choose between sides in this conjured dichotomy.


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A Comic Commentary from Promethean Visions:


Superheroes of the Left...


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Promethean Quotes from The Promethean Observer:

"A problem with musicians, artists, and entertainers is that some are good at what they do and think it somehow qualifies them as experts in completely unrelated fields like domestic and international political policy."