Tag: internet

Posted in Art, collage, libretto, opera, poetry

The Troll Revolt of 2020

Posted on by Dogfish Bay

Act 2, scene 1–The RT gala, Moscow, the Future.

The 20th annual gala for the Russian news program, Russia Today, is held in a massive media complex, attended by big shot oligarchs, Russian intelligence, and a legion of scoundrels bent on fortune, fame, and their fair share of Reality.

Announcer: Welcome to our celebration of Russia’s greatest contribution to the intellectual and spiritual heritage of western civilization: Fake reality. We have, as special guest, the most august and perrenial brand of all time, the soul of Rudolf Gulliani, in whose honor we present the following program–the Moscovite Butoh Trolls reenactment of the great troll revolt. This bleak episode of our nation’s history, so handily quashed by the superior messaging of our great leader, marked a turning point in the history of Russian culture. Well we remember that dark day when, incited by the American propaganda apparatus, the once faithful troll workers stupidly rose against the beneficent ministrations of the state and presumed to create their own reality. Such presumption was soon quelled in the final, virtual standoff between fact and fiction.

Posted in Art, Musings, politics, Uncategorized

Speculum Warfare

Posted on by Dogfish Bay
  We saw the projection dynamic in play during the second debate when Hillary, rightly, said 45 was Putin’s puppet.  “You’re the puppet!  You’re the puppet!” was 45’s childish reply.
I reminded of the ancient, Chinese art  of Feng Shui where, through practical as well as highly esoteric remedies, the built environment  was altered in ways auspicious to health and prosperity.  Mirrors were mounted on home fronts to counter the negative chi of neighbors.  The neighbor then responded in kind, but with a larger mirror, and it soon  escalated into all out, speculum warfare.  I see something similar in the endless projections that one side of the political spectrum visits upon the other to manipulate public perception.
  Like 45, Milo Yiannopoulos is an Internet troll, a cartoon character manifest as a faux-real person.  The cyber-world has so morphed with reality that a ficticious, TV personality can become President, and gaudy, physical spectres are  conjured from the etherial world of online trollery.

  Milo Yiannopoulos’s ambiguous role is fabricated to appeal to opposite ends of conservative spectrum, so that both sides might then be swayed toward more extreme, alt-right views. He explained his role perfectly by saying his position with Breitbart countered the perception that the Alt Right is homophobic, and racist.  He’s a shill to make their hateful rhetoric appeal to edgy progressives and third-party stooges in order to draw them into the alt-right fold.   Also, since Yiannopoulos is gay, the alt-right can spin this to deflect accusations of intolerance.

  There are other, more esoteric, means Bannon employs in his global, coup attempt.
The world was perplexed by 45’s recent, shrill warning about immigration when he said: “Look what’s happening in Sweden!”  We are quick to cite this as just another example of his lies.  Then, a few days later, riots break out in Rinkeby.  The Alt Right News then posts an article proclaiming 45’s near mystical powers of prognostication.
  But I wonder if some darker truth was revealed by 45’s “prophesy.”  Bannon has made no secret of his dark vision of historical progress as a series of violent upheavals; and is eager to set the next phase in motion by exacerbating global conflict.  He is quite capable of hiring thugs to incite riots in Sweden in order to support his call for an immigration ban. I think 45’s mysterious warning about Sweden was actually another brain fart along the lines of his famous “Russia, if you’re listening” gaff.  45 did indeed have foreknowledge of the riots–just not of the mysterious, prophetic kind.  He knew Bannon had cooked up another pretext for the planned expulsion of immigrants.  This strategy accords with the Yiannopoulos riots in Berkeley where–says Robert Reich— thugs were hired to amplify the Alt Right claims of Liberal intolerance, and justify violence against peaceful protest.  In the context of this twisted form of psychological and spiritual warfare, it is fascinating to consider that Bannon is a follower of that esoteric fascist, Julius Evola.
   It is easy to get lost in this carnival house of mirrors.  The Alt Right exploits the gullibility and myopia of both extremes of the political spectrum in order to realize their goal of global dominance. It helps to appreciate the ambiguous nature of this struggle in order to remove ourselves from the dizzying play of dissembling and projection.  The art of Feng Shui helps us to appreciate the paradoxical nature of today’s reality and, as remedy to political and spiritual malaise, design that golden bridge that Sun Tzu, admonished us to build for our enemy’s retreat.
Posted in Art, Musings, politics, Uncategorized

Trolling–deplorable tactics or Art?

Posted on by Dogfish Bay

The word “troll” needs qualification–there are many forms. Some are ornery cranks who, at least, honestly represent their true motives. Some are masters, who raise trolling to an art form–SNL’s Fatal Attraction satire is an example–while others are paid by the alt-right to pose as progressives who encourage us to speak against our own self-interest.  Much troll activity is to get us to echo Alt-Right, talking points.

For instance, trolls–under the guise of progressives–encourage members of the resistance to gloat about the murder of a Klansman.  This only validates the extreme, right wing propaganda that claims the left is the hateful, violent party.  This image of the left as violent can be used as pretext to attack protesters.  This is crucial. At this time of escalating tensions, we can practice a compassion and human decency that accords with sound strategy–to say nothing of protecting ourselves and loved ones who participate in peaceful protests.

We need to be wary of the propaganda campaign against the DNC which encourages progressives to smear Elizabeth Warren for her alleged, selling out to establishment Democrats.  According to this line, it is not Russian interference, but she and Hillary who are ultimately responsible for # 45, as well as our current malaise. You see this echoed on the RT affiliated, Ring of Fire and Redacted Today videos.  Since Putin doesn’t allow dissenting opinion–without an ulterior motive–are the rad hosts of R of F being exploited by Putin in his attempt at a global coup?  Or are they willfully parroting his party line?

The ultimate form of control is to compel us to participate in our own subjugation. Putin, from his KGB experience, knows this well. We shouldn’t be stooges, drawn by trolls into dizzying webs of dissembling and projection.  Don’t allow them to frame the dialogue in their own terms.

Actually, there is some truth to progressive intolerance–we are intolerant of the racist and treasonous policies of the 45 gang.

 

Posted in Saturnius McWhirr stories

Old Hand’s Babylonian Voyage

Posted on by Dogfish Bay

And it came to pass that a great swarm of splog descended upon the land and the soundcloud was darkened with idle slander and empty promises of sensual delights. Worshippers of the true faith were subjected to the false blandishments of priests and the perfidious purveyors of illusory commerce.

I squinted at the aged, musty tome in the dim light of the pub and read on:

And the once mighty creatives of the realm looked upon their followers and found naught of artistic merit and grew heavy in spirit, seeing therein ought but Jezebelian allurements by comely maids in unseemly attitudes of licentious repose.

“I’m glad I wore my sea-boots,” said McWhirr.

“Listen to this, Captain:”

And lo, the verminous swarm of splog grew apace, and the goodly scions of the realm gnashed their teeth in anguish, for their earnest, artistic efforts were devoured by the black vultures of Satan. The fat herds of the righteous became but reeking carrion for the voracious appetites of the infidels.

“What fools would steal such windy bombast anyway?” asked McWhirr.

We’d just sailed into the gaudy metropolis of Babylon, seeking refuge from the equinoctial gales. The dank pub which lay just off the pier-head served a clientele of wharf-rats and scurvy rum-bots from dilapidated bum-boats.  One smelly clutch of waisters clicked madly at their laptops, their rummy faces aglow in the in the villainous blue light. The grating chortles of these flatulent knaves reeked an atmosphere of gaseous inertia our way.

“Get this, a real Byron he thinks he is,” said a muscled hulk in a pink tutu.

“Ya really read that BS? “Asked his mate in a voice  that sounded hollow and grating-like 50 fathoms of hause-fouled chain.

I’d heard of the splog pirates, but thought them mere paranoid tales by rummy tars around the fo’c’sle stove. And now here they were, as big as life, waylaying the earnest efforts of my myself and my literary colleagues like the nefarious ship wreckers luring unwary vessels with false lights on the storm-wracked coast of Cornwall.

I continued reading:

The once proud sites of the righteous became barren wastes of vacuous splogs and brazen images of bouncing titties…

“Maybe there is something to it after all,” says McWhirr.

“Aye, Captain. And look what we have now in this rank grog-shop of the internet-a foul lot of brazen cut-throats  who’d just as soon steal your traffic as say how-do-ye-do.”

One such galoot, a skanky brigand with a striped shirt and cutlass, approached the bar next to McWhirr with the slithery movement of a wolf eel saying:

“Eh mates, stand us a pint.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw  McWhirr take his rigging-knife from under his coat…