dopediana
14th July 2003, 17:33
this stuff is just absolutely amazing to read. if you ever get a chance, i suggest you take a look at "upsidedown"
flight/1
chatting with a swarm of street kids, the ones who cling to the bumpers of buses in mexico city, reporter karina aviles asked about drugs. "i feel great, i get rid of all my problems" said one. "when i come down and i'm just me." he added, "i feel trapped like a bird in a cage." these children are regularly harassed by the police and their dogs in the northern bus terminal. the company manager assured the reporter, "we don't let these children die, because in some way they are human."
points of view/1
from the point of view of the owl, the bat, the bohemian, and the thief, sunset is time for breakfast.
rain is bad news for tourists and good news for farmers.
from the point of view of the natives, it's the tourists who are picturesque.
from the point of view of the indians of the caribbean islands, christopher columbus, with his plumed cap and red velvet cape, was the biggest parrot they had ever seen.
language/3
in the victorian period, one did not speak of trousers in the presence of an unmarried woman. today there are certain things one can't say in the face of public opinion
-capitalism wears the stage name "market economy"
-imperialism is called "globalization"
-the victims of imperialism are called "developing countries" such as a dwarf might be called a child"
-opportunism is called "pragmatism"
-treason is called "realism"
-poor people are called "low income people"
-the expulsion of poor children from the school system is measured by the "dropout rate"
-the right of bosses to lay off workers with neither severance nor explanation is called "a flexible labor market"
-official rhetoric acknowledges women's rights among those of "minorities" as if the masculine half of humanity were the majority
-instead of military dictatorship, people say "process"
-torture is calle d"illegal compulsion" or "physical and psychological pressure"
-when thieves belong to a good family they're "kleptomaniacs"
-the looting of the public treasury by corrupt politicians answers to the name of "illicit enrichment"
-"accidents" are what they call crimes committed by cars
-for the blind, they say "the unseeing"
-a black man is a "man of color"
-where it says "long and difficult illness" it means cancer or aids"
-"sudden illness" means heart attack
-people annihilated in military operations aren't dead" those killed in battle are "casualties" and civilians who get it are "collateral damage"
-in 1995 when france set off nuclear tests in the south pacific the french ambassador to new zealand declared "i don' like that word 'bomb'. they aren't bombs. they're exploding artifacts."
-"getting along" is what they call some of the death squads that operate under military protection in colombia
-"dignity" was what the chilaean dictatorship called one of its concentration camps while "liberty" was the largest jail of the uruguayan dictatorship
-"peace and justice" is the name of the paramilitary group that in 1997 shot 45 peasants, nearly all of them women and children, in the back as they prayed in the town church in acteal, chiapas, mexico.
for the course on penal law
in 1986, a mexican congressman visited the jail in cerro hueco, in chiapas. there he found a tzotzil inddian who had slit his father's throat and been sentenced to 30 years. but every day at noon, as the congressman discovered, the dead father brought tortillas and beans to his son in jail. the tzotzil prisoner had been interrogated and judged in spanish, or which he understood little of nothing, and with the help of a good beating he confessed to something called parricide.
global fear
those who work are afraid they'll lose their jobs.
those who don't are afraid they'll never find one
whoever doesn't fear hunger is afraid of eating
drivers are afraid of walking and pedestrians are afraid of getting run over
democracy is afraid of remembering and language is afraid of speaking
civilians fear the military,t he military fears a shortage of weapons, weapons fear a shortage of wars.
women's fear of violent men and men's fear of fearless women
fear of thieves, fear of the police
fear of doors without locks, of time without watches, of children without television, fear of night without sleeping pills and days without pills to wake up.
family chronicle
nicolas escobar's aunt died in her sleep, peacefully, at home in asuncion, paraguay. nicolas was six and had already logged thousands of hours of television when he learned that he had lost his beloved elderly relative. he asked, "who killed her?"
flight/1
chatting with a swarm of street kids, the ones who cling to the bumpers of buses in mexico city, reporter karina aviles asked about drugs. "i feel great, i get rid of all my problems" said one. "when i come down and i'm just me." he added, "i feel trapped like a bird in a cage." these children are regularly harassed by the police and their dogs in the northern bus terminal. the company manager assured the reporter, "we don't let these children die, because in some way they are human."
points of view/1
from the point of view of the owl, the bat, the bohemian, and the thief, sunset is time for breakfast.
rain is bad news for tourists and good news for farmers.
from the point of view of the natives, it's the tourists who are picturesque.
from the point of view of the indians of the caribbean islands, christopher columbus, with his plumed cap and red velvet cape, was the biggest parrot they had ever seen.
language/3
in the victorian period, one did not speak of trousers in the presence of an unmarried woman. today there are certain things one can't say in the face of public opinion
-capitalism wears the stage name "market economy"
-imperialism is called "globalization"
-the victims of imperialism are called "developing countries" such as a dwarf might be called a child"
-opportunism is called "pragmatism"
-treason is called "realism"
-poor people are called "low income people"
-the expulsion of poor children from the school system is measured by the "dropout rate"
-the right of bosses to lay off workers with neither severance nor explanation is called "a flexible labor market"
-official rhetoric acknowledges women's rights among those of "minorities" as if the masculine half of humanity were the majority
-instead of military dictatorship, people say "process"
-torture is calle d"illegal compulsion" or "physical and psychological pressure"
-when thieves belong to a good family they're "kleptomaniacs"
-the looting of the public treasury by corrupt politicians answers to the name of "illicit enrichment"
-"accidents" are what they call crimes committed by cars
-for the blind, they say "the unseeing"
-a black man is a "man of color"
-where it says "long and difficult illness" it means cancer or aids"
-"sudden illness" means heart attack
-people annihilated in military operations aren't dead" those killed in battle are "casualties" and civilians who get it are "collateral damage"
-in 1995 when france set off nuclear tests in the south pacific the french ambassador to new zealand declared "i don' like that word 'bomb'. they aren't bombs. they're exploding artifacts."
-"getting along" is what they call some of the death squads that operate under military protection in colombia
-"dignity" was what the chilaean dictatorship called one of its concentration camps while "liberty" was the largest jail of the uruguayan dictatorship
-"peace and justice" is the name of the paramilitary group that in 1997 shot 45 peasants, nearly all of them women and children, in the back as they prayed in the town church in acteal, chiapas, mexico.
for the course on penal law
in 1986, a mexican congressman visited the jail in cerro hueco, in chiapas. there he found a tzotzil inddian who had slit his father's throat and been sentenced to 30 years. but every day at noon, as the congressman discovered, the dead father brought tortillas and beans to his son in jail. the tzotzil prisoner had been interrogated and judged in spanish, or which he understood little of nothing, and with the help of a good beating he confessed to something called parricide.
global fear
those who work are afraid they'll lose their jobs.
those who don't are afraid they'll never find one
whoever doesn't fear hunger is afraid of eating
drivers are afraid of walking and pedestrians are afraid of getting run over
democracy is afraid of remembering and language is afraid of speaking
civilians fear the military,t he military fears a shortage of weapons, weapons fear a shortage of wars.
women's fear of violent men and men's fear of fearless women
fear of thieves, fear of the police
fear of doors without locks, of time without watches, of children without television, fear of night without sleeping pills and days without pills to wake up.
family chronicle
nicolas escobar's aunt died in her sleep, peacefully, at home in asuncion, paraguay. nicolas was six and had already logged thousands of hours of television when he learned that he had lost his beloved elderly relative. he asked, "who killed her?"