Saturday, August 05, 2006

ShrinkWrapped Takes On The Tinfoil Apocalypse

And does a pretty mind boggling diagnoses of it too:
"What was most painful was the desperation with which Michael clung to his self esteem while his life was unraveling around him. His initial problem was a difficulty in separating important data from irrelevant background noise. This kind of signal to noise disorder is often an early sign of cognitive dysfunction in Schizophrenia, well before any of the more dramatic symptoms appear. The problem made it impossible for Michael to function academically and he was left with the option of recognizing a serious problem within himself or finding an alternative explanation that preserved his sense of himself. Since the defense he used couldn't work long term, and his illness was progressive, he had to invent increasingly convoluted and irrational explanations for his ongoing problems.

***

Those who gleefully attack Israel for its disproportionate response, for committing genocide, or collective punishment against the victim Lebanese, must simultaneously believe the Israelis are evil monsters bent on genocide, super human military villains, and spectacularly inept at the murderous warfare they are accused of. It doesn't add up and it damages one's critical facilities to continue to believe such nonsense.

***

More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East, according to a new Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll. ... [ Holy sh*t Sherlock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That doesn't explain more than oh, say, most of the Democratic party faithful. If Canada wasn't probably worse, I'd consider moving there based on this alone... -ed. ]

***

As for the title of this post. Philip K. Dick, whose books I began reading in high school, in his own paranoia and disorientation, described what happens when the inmates run the asylum, though he left out one salient issue. While I last read Clans of the Alphane Moon almost 40 years ago, it has stayed with me ever since. And what did Philip K. Dick leave out? In Clans of the Alphane Moon, the inmates did not have nuclear weapons. [ Did I forget to mention the Tinfoil Apocalypse? -ed. ]
"