The Protest CNN Doesn't Want You To Know About

A couple Fridays ago I reported on a group which was planning on occupying Wall Street in an effort to draw attention to the fiscal inequalities perpetrated on the American people due to the greed and malfeasance of corporate executives and their agendas.  I wondered at the time if it would be effective, not because it wouldn't be a great idea but because I was unsure that their protest could catch attention in the US.

I wasn't that far off.  We are now in the sixth day of the occupation of Wall Street, with hundreds participating, and there has been little to no coverage of the event in mainstream news outlets.  

Seriously, I Googled the term "Wall Street Occupation" with the words "New York Times," "MSNBC," and "CNN" and all I got was an iReport that has not been vetted nor approved by CNN.  The fact that the New York Times isn't reporting on this protest is bizarre and absurd.  

Until, of course, you consider that the protest is against the corporate interference in American fiscal interests and that the New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC are all large, corporate funded news outlets.  

Even more insane is the fact that you couldn't, for a while even e-mail your friends stories about the Wall Street protest if you use Yahoo!.  That's correct.  Their e-mail service was automatically and actively preventing this story from disseminating.  This is nothing short of censorship on the scale of China's news blackout of the Cairo uprising.  They eventually issued an apology and said they would work on the issue, but I'm not convinced this was a mistake.

This is now an arrestable offense in NYC.

People are getting arrested at the protest, of course.  Even though they are peacefully demonstrating as is  their right, protesters were arrested under a statute that is over a century old-- one preventing people from wearing masks.  That's right.  If you appear on Wall Street wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, you run the risk of being arrested.  

ThinkProgress has great coverage of the Wall Street protest, so click on over to monitor.  Event organizers are also requesting food assistance from sympathetic donors, so if you would like to support their efforts, click here.  And if you live in NYC?  Get your ass down there.

UPDATE:  Reader Neska L. points out that CNN HAS in fact covered the story, with a brief video, found below:

Of course, they make snide comments that organizing publication AdBusters is only found in super-granola Whole Foods and the majority of the story seemed to be about the inconvenience the protest is bringing to the thoroughfare.  Of course, this short video falls vastly short of the coverage afforded the Yemen protests on CNN.

Geek Shit Wednesday Vol. XX

Marvel Attempts To Incite Destruction Of Competitors' Books

Today comes a disturbing story in what-the-fuck, as Marvel has offered a special variant cover of one of their comics, but only if participating stores submit proof that they have defaced 50 copies of DC's titles:

"This week it came out that Marvel Comics is offering retailers a variant cover of 'Fear Itself #6' by artist Ed McGuinness. But, there is a catch: to get the coveted cover, retailers have to rip the covers from 50 copies of any #1 issue of DC Comics 'Flashpoint' tie-ins. This is not a figure of speech, they literally have to tear the covers off and send them to Marvel to get the special edition, rendering the issues unsalable."

This is not the first time they've done this, and it's inciting geeks to cry censorship.  

Say what you like about Marvel vs. DC, but I've always found Marvel's characters to be more believable and their movies lately?  Nothing short of fan-fucking-tastic.  I'm dismayed, however, at this distasteful and mean-spirited stunt.  

Slutty Male Superheroes?  Yes Please.

Continuing the "news" in comic books, I've often heard feminist outrage over how women are depicted in comics.  One man agrees, and has illustrated what popular male superheroes would look like if they were drawn the same way superheroines are shown:

The guy zapping his crotch does NOT look comfortable.  

Geek Vs. Nerd: A Clarification

Today I asked Facebook if I was a Geek or a Nerd, and this video surfaced.  Plus I'm too lazy to come up with a real story to write about, so watch this instead:

Thanks to Gracie Poo for the video.

Library Strikes Blow Against Censorshit, Donates Banned Book To Students

The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, thanks to a donation from an anonymous donor, is sending 150 copies of a book recently banned in the Republic, MO School District to students in that district in a clear statement on this recent case of blatant censorship.

"Julia Whitehead, the Executive Director of the Vonnegut Library, told HuffPost that the gift was part of an effort to raise public awareness of the school board's decision, and that she hoped parents in the school district might get involved.

"'All of these students will be eligible to vote, and some may be protecting our country through military service in the next year or two,' Whitehead said in a statement. 'It is shocking and unfortunate that those young adults and citizens would not be considered mature enough to handle the important topics raised by Kurt Vonnegut, a decorated war veteran. Everyone can learn something from his book.'"

Of course, if they'd sent ME this book during high school, I probably would have been like, "WTF!  More summer reading?  FML."  But whatevs, it was a nice gesture.

Today In Censorshit

A school board in Republic, Missouri has capitulated to Christian demands in their community by banning two books, one being the Kurt Vonnegut classic Slaughterhouse-Five, because it contains ideas contrary to Biblical teachings.  The complaint was leveled against three works, including Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer (now banned) and Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, which was kept on library shelves.

"Wesley Scroggins, a Republic resident, challenged the use of the books and lesson plans in Republic schools, arguing they teach principles contrary to the Bible.

"'I congratulate them for doing what's right and removing the two books,' said Scroggins, who didn't attend the board meeting. 'It's unfortunate they chose to keep the other book.'

"Superintendent Vern Minor said the vote brings a conclusion to the complaint filed a year ago. Scroggins told the News-Leader he has yet to give any thought to pursuing this further."

I've never read Slaughterhouse-Five, but the Vonnegut novel has been hailed for decades as a classic challenging the ideas of fate and free will.  I can see Scroggins' objection... clearly the book suggests that God isn't necessarily the one in charge of our ultimate fates.

Of course, if we were to throw out all material in public schools that contradicted Biblical thought, we would have to get rid of most of the science curriculum, but whatevs.

Bachmann Blocking Media Questions On Marcus' "Ex-Gay" Extravaganza

With the Iowa primary vote a crucial first step to taking the long road to the White House, you might think alienating the local press wouldn't be a hallmark of your campaign.  Not for Crazy Eyes!

At this point, the news on Marcus Bachmann's counseling practice's policy of advising gays that they can change to straights is well-known, exploding beyond the gay blogosphere and grabbing attention in the mainstream media.  The Bachmann campaign, knowing that this information has the potential to destroy her credibility due to the fact that reparative therapy is a damaging and evil pipe dream, has been attempting to control the rhetoric on her involvement in anti-gay politics.

One Iowa news outlet, the Davenport-based WQAD, pressed the issue to the candidate during a satellite interview.  Not only did Bachmann's handlers cut the live feed for the interview, but the station is now blacklisted to prevent further embarrassment to the Tea Party-backed candidate.

"During the satellite interview, behind the scenes, it got ugly. In the News 8 control room, campaign staffers threatened WQAD producers that they would cut off the feed if Rae Chelle repeated the question. A follow-up question was asked on the issue. The Congresswoman's answers were aired nationally on ABC World News Tonight and Nightline.

"At Sunday's Davenport fundraiser was our first chance to interview Bachmann since the satellite interview incident. All Quad Cities media were invited to attend and promised a one-on-one interview during the evening. While our competitors were accommodated, WQAD was blocked and denied."

Does Crazy Eyes really think that censorship and blocking news outlets can save her record on anti-gay policies?  Here's the thing about pissing off the press: they're the press.  They will print the fucked up shit you do.  Alienating news outlets is not beneficial, it's dumb, because they will tell people exactly what you do, say, or avoid saying.  

The original interview:

Discussion: Celebrity Impact On HIV/AIDS

In a recent Queerty piece, Daniel Villarreal bemoaned the lack of HIV-positive celebrities in Hollywood. At one time, we had a slew of famous people coming out as poz in order to put a face on a deadly disease and give the virus the attention required to halt the spread of a horrible epidemic.

During the '90s, brave men like Rock Hudson came out as HIV-positive and combated the stigma of the disease as being "other." In recent times, who fills this role? We have this notion that HIV is manageable, much like cancer, yet still, there's no-one living openly with HIV who can "put a face on it."

I agree with Daniel. Who really thinks there aren't any celebrities with HIV currently working today?

The conversation evolved off the blog though, and Daniel asked me a complicated question that I've had to address before: Is it really wise to even term HIV manageable? While it's certainly treatable, isn't it counterproductive to prevention to allow educational campaigns to stress that it is no longer necessarily deadly?

The Catch-22, of course, being that hiding that information can promote unnecessary stigma against people living with HIV. So what's the solution?

It's a subject I've had to address before. In May, Dan Savage gave an interview to Hivster in which he rashly claimed that we should be hiding the facts about HIV:

"HIV [prevention campaigns] are fatally compromised, terribly conflicted. They seem designed, first and foremost, to avoid making the already HIV+ guys feel bad about being positive. That fear—that this, that, or the other HIV education campaign might stigmatize having HIV and hurt the feelings of guys who have HIV — is paralyzing and it leads to neutered, ineffective, flaccid campaigns. They can’t say, 'Don’t get HIV! It’s life-altering, it’s hard!' and 'HIV is not big deal! You’ll be fine! Guys with HIV are living wonderful, rewarding lives!' at the same time."

I respond to statements like this very simply: you can't win by lying or hiding the truth. You can't educate with obfuscation. The reason I'm progressive is because I believe in telling the truth. Changing the perception that HIV is manageable flies in the face of the purpose of education and promotes negative stereotypes of people living with HIV.

Is Dan suggesting that we should be making HIV-positive people feel ashamed of their serostatus? I reject that notion, as do most HIV advocates. Stigmatizing poz people as a method of prevention is a dangerous campaign which turns people living with HIV/AIDS into casualties of opinion. Clearly, unfounded bias is in of itself flawed.

Even more simply? People don't say "Oh, well, cancer is manageable. I'm going to go get loaded on carcinogens." I have never ever known someone living with HIV who said "Well, I figured I would just take a pill, every day, for the rest of my life, so catching HIV didn't matter." Really, which HIV prevention programs are saying "HIV isn't a big deal!"?

Finally, the best way to prevent HIV and still mitigate the problem of serophobia is most easily addressed by tailoring campaigns to include the consequences of HIV. While my disease is manageable, there are still serious daily consequences and fears I must face every single day. I take pills, I have side effects, I have to constantly worry about my medical coverage. All year long I have frequent doctor's visits where multiple vials of blood are drawn.

So no, Mr. Savage. HIV prevention campaigns are not flawed by telling the truth. They are perfected by telling the truth. Education cannot be founded on bias and fear campaigns. It is unacceptable to create unreasonable fear through misinformation! Since when is censorship of the facts a tool for HIV prevention?

It only served to underscore Daniel's point: HIV-positive celebrities who come out as poz could provide not only a face that validates the need for prevention (people are still catching it, guys!), but could educate the public as to the consequences of their serostatus. Happily, for people like myself who face stigma related to our disease, this would serve the piggybacked benefit of humanizing once more this virus which has become increasingly "other" with lack of visibility.

Will the Rock Hudson of the 21st century please stand up?

Cuz There Are Haterz Everywhere

Today OAQ hit a snag: some jerkwad flagged my blog posts as spam, meaning I can't post any of my work to either my personal page or my fan page.  Super shitty, right?  I mean, couldn't they have just hidden my posts from their feed?

Anyway, I'm not going to let myself be hamstrung by some hater.  You can follow me at @OneAngryQueer on Twitter, plus my personal page is allowing me to post links from Tweetdeck.  Feel free to friend me on Facebook on my personal page!  My name is Ian Finkenbinder.

I've emailed Facebook about the issue and hopefully it will get resolved, but until then, keep coming back!

Geek Shit Wednesday, Vol. XIII

New Project Aims To Save Amphibians Via Social Networking

Living in the Facebook Age, it seems every two seconds we are presented with yet another opportunity to "Save the World!!!" via social networking.  Why, this here blog thingy wouldn't have a single reader or any impact whatsoever were it not for diligent and obnoxious use of Facebook and Twitter for promotion on behalf of its author.

Sometimes, however, a project has actual scientific impact geared towards "Saving the World!!!" or, in this case, "Saving the Frogs!!!"

"The Global Amphibian Blitz is a website that lets amateur naturalists upload images of beasties they encounter on their travels, along with the date and their location. Experts will then browse and filter the submissions in a bid to identify rare species or amphibians found out of their normal habitat.

"The initiative has been launched by the University of California, Berkeley’s AmphibiaWeb, which is a database of nearly 7,000 amphibians; Amphibian Ark; the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; the Amphibian Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission, which is part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature; the Center for Biological Diversity; and iNaturalist.org, a social network for naturalists.

"Amphibian lovers hope that crowdsourcing sightings of these species could give a greater indication of which species are threatened, but in a cost-effective way."

Google Reports Hackers From China Breaking Into, Monitoring Email

Google revealed today that hundreds of email accounts on the popular Gmail webmail service have been compromised due to efforts from hackers out of Jinan, China.  The targets?  Chinese activists, journalists, US officials and officials in neighboring Asian countries.

"Through the strength of our cloud-based security and abuse detection systems*, we recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing. This campaign, which appears to originate from Jinan, China, affected what seem to be the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of users including, among others, senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists.

"The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users’ emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples’ forwarding and delegation settings. (Gmail enables you to forward your emails automatically, as well as grant others access to your account.)"

This latest set of attacks comes a year and a half after Google reported Chinese efforts to undermine Google's own corporate infrastructure and is yet another symptom of the Chinese government's campaign to control information in and out of the communist nation.  

Zynga Set To Conquer The World 

Zynga, the Facebook gaming giant responsible for FarmVille, CityVille, and others has released a new game today geared towards the more warlike amongst us.  

"Empires and Allies" is a story-driven strategy game positing the gamer as the leader of an island nation, and progression through the game requires you to battle the unsuspecting folks on your friendlist for world domination.

"According to the Zynga press release: 'Throughout the game, players will build army units, recruit friends, and encounter helpful allies and unique villains as fight their way across enemy-held territories on the quest to defeat the final villain.'

"'Think CityVille meets Risk,' said Amer Ajami, executive producer of Empires & Allies at Zynga."

Hmmmm.  Maybe I'll break my strict "no Facebook gaming" rule.  

Abilene, TX Doesn't Like David's Peen

One new homeowner's choice to display a reproduction of the David in their front yard has some Texan neighbors up in arms.  It begs the question:  What is appropriate to put on your front lawn?

 Michaelangelo's David, with original peen attached.

One resident complained about it, stating that it would make children ask about sex before parents are ready to tell them.  Right!  Because acknowledging that boys have penises and girls have vaginas is practically devirginizing.

If you click the link below, you'll find video on the story.  I'm kind of annoyed that the television station pandered to the idea that you should censor art by putting a CGI fig leaf over the offending parts.

Plus!  This is an exceptionally bad replica.  Maybe they should just remove the statue because it's an offense to good art.

[WAPC]

Egypt's Twitter is Cut Off-- Google to the Rescue!

 Officially more badass than entire governments.

When the Internet went down in Egypt, a resource was lost for protest organizers.  Twitter and Facebook, both key components to the civil disobedience (not to mention getting news OUT of Egypt), were fucked.  Until Google decided to take a hand. 

"We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It’s already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet."

I find it kind of interesting that a corporate entity-- albeit, a giant like Google-- can completely defy a government's will by circumventing President Mubarak's Internet blackout.  It's amazing.  

[GoogleBlog]

The Fifth That Can't Learn: Egyptian Unrest and the China That Should Hear About It

Once again, the Chinese government has failed the Chinese people.

I have a feeling Hosni is fucked.

Egypt has, for the past few days, been embroiled in riots and unrest as the Egyptian people take to the streets protesting Hosni Mubarak's 30 year-old reign in the North African country.  While violence rocks Cairo, the Internet cuts off, and Mubarak refuses to step down, the world waits with bated breath to see the outcome of this story... Will change come to Egypt, or will the 82-year old president hold onto his office?  Whatever the outcome, we can definitely say that Egypt has changed in a profound way-- either politically or in the hearts of its people.  Everyone is enthralled.

Well, almost everyone.

"China has blocked the word 'Egypt' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.

"China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest.

"A search for 'Egypt' on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying, 'According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown.'"

I would to state unequivocally that nothing makes me as angry as censorship.  I read this article (link below) and I get furious.  I might have a few things to say.

First of all:  The Chinese government blows.  The only reason we talk to them is because they have goods, and we want those goods.  Period.  Otherwise, we would have classed the human rights violations the government routinely commits against its people as sanction worthy and would have nothing to do with these despots. 

Plus, how stupid do you have to be?  Egypt blocked Twitter when the protesting started-- and it only served to enrage people and attract attention to the issue worldwide.  Does the Communist Party and its puppet agencies like Xinhua think that they can get away with this level of arrogance?

 He calls himself a President.  I call him the oppressor of over a billion people.

Worse, I object to using the phraseology "China blocked the word 'Egypt.'"  China didn't do this.  The Chinese government did this.  Why do I care about this?  It's pretty important, and it's also why the ruling party does not want the Chinese people-- does not want China-- to learn about the unrest taking place in Egypt even as I write this post.

Here's the thing.  20% of the world's population lives in China.  That means that as long as the media is restricted regarding the protests in Egypt one fifth of the human race is kept from learning about something happening in a powerful Arab nation.  That is what boggles my mind and surely terrifies the Hu Jintao regime-- the greatest people on Earth are being kept from being told that a nation's populace can topple an unjust ruler.  

Who is China?  Is it the few assholes who made this stupid policy decision and restricted information that is on every street corner in Washington DC, Paris, London, and Sydney?  Or is it the 20% of humanity that suffers under the depredations of said assholes?  China is not the the single-party "Republic" that does the ordering, but instead the people in the cities, in the country, in Beijing and along the Yellow River.  It is a sleeping giant waiting to be awakened, and it will be truly terrifying if it wakes up angry.

The Communist Party of China would do well to remember that, and act accordingly... because someday China will remember, and then the few who oppress the many will pay.  I can't say they won't deserve it.

I look forward to seeing the events in Egypt unfold.  I hope justice prevails, and I hope that the violence and bloodshed taking place in Egypt, while terrible, buys freedom from an unjust rule and true democracy for a beleaguered nation.  

And I hope China gets to hear about it.

[News.com.au]

Click here to learn about the political unrest in Egypt. 

Mark Twain Heads Back to Schools- Chopped Into Little Bits

What would Mr. Twain have said about censorship?  "Fuck you guys!" That's what.

The teaching of Mark Twain's masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn, has fallen off in recent years due to public schools' lack of comfort with the N-word, which appears in the book 219 times.  Well, never fear, fans of censorshit!

"Twain himself defined a 'classic' as 'a book which people praise and don't read.' Rather than see Twain's most important work succumb to that fate, Twain scholar Alan Gribben and NewSouth Books plan to release a version of Huckleberry Finn, in a single volume with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that does away with the 'n' word (as well as the 'in' word, 'Injun') by replacing it with the word 'slave.'

"'This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind,' said Gribben, speaking from his office at Auburn University at Montgomery, where he's spent most of the past 20 years heading the English department. 'Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century.'"

Ian Awesome's official position on censorship of any kind:  BULLSHIT.

The N-word is bad.  We can agree on that.  Racism = no good.  One of the ways I know this is because I was exposed to it, mainly in this book.  It taught me that the word "nigger" was used in a negative context and symbolized the oppression of the black American.

See?  You got a little uncomfortable even reading it here, didn't you?  Why?  Because we've heard it, we know the horrible context it was used, and now we shun its use.  I mean, these kids hear that word every day in use in gangsta rap-- maybe they should understand its historical power and respect the word for what it has been-- a tool of oppression.

You change the words of our history and you change our history.  I asked my friend and fellow activist and troublemaker (now published author too!  yay!) Robert Smith what he thought and he said:

 Rob Smith:  Further proof that all my friends are hot beasts.

"This isn't so much about the rush to placate blacks as it is another attempt to rewrite America's racist past, like when people try to pretend the Civil War wasn't about continuing slavery."

Let's not rob our children of their literary heritage, guys.  I know that if I ever read this to my goddaughter, I will certainly have to discuss seriously with her parents which version to read.  It will be an interesting discussion.

Update:  Asked said goddaughter's mom:
"I'm not interested in censorship.  Age appropriateness yes, censorship no. I mean I read the original and it didn't turn me into a racist."  Score one for literature!

[JoeMyGod]