Monthly Archives: August 2006

Politics

Racial Profiling

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This morning while subjecting myself to conservative talk radio, one of the talk show hosts made a comment about how the U.S. should be racially profiling terrorists and targeting people from the Middle East, etc. His rationale was that since most terrorists are Muslim, it would be in our best interests to go after them and if we end up trampling on the rights of innocent people, it doesn’t really matter, in the end.

What these people who advocate racial profiling fail to recognize is that being white is a race and that if we really want to infuse profiling into law enforcement, then:

  • Since pretty much all rapes are done by men, we should assume all men are rapists
  • Since most “white collar crime” is done by old white men, we should assume that they are all ripping off their companies
  • Since nearly all of the people who bomb abortion clinics and terrorize those who work there and seek treatment there are Christians, we should assume all Christians are terrorists
  • … and so on

Yes, I’m exaggerating a little, but it really irritates me that people who call for profiling are so unaware of how they themselves can be profiled. I’m not sure whether it’s ignorance/arrogance (i.e., they assume white people/men/Christians/etc. have no reason to ever be profiled) or whether it’s some sort of law of averages thing (i.e., they assume that there are too many white people/men/Christians to target). Either way, it pisses me off.

If we start profiling we assume everyone is guilty (for better or worse), and if people are okay with that, fine, but don’t be so stupid as to assume that you yourself cannot or should not be profiled. For example, if I had my way, I’d probably have most Christians locked up for homophobia/misogyny/etc. and the potential to commit hate crimes/rapes or something like that. So it’s a good thing for them that I don’t have that authority. (Again, I am exaggerating [sort of], of course.)

Movies, Music, Seattle

Fall 2006 Here I Come

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Every few months I end up posting a sort of “calendar” of events/things that I am looking forward too (it seems that last fall was good, too). Eventually I do intend to write or find some sort of WordPress plugin that makes this easier and less table/post-ish, but there are just so many things on the horizon that I cannot wait… As always, let me know if you wanna join for concerts or want information on any of this stuff. (Note: I get CD release dates from Metacritic’s Upcoming Releases, I get DVD release dates from Joblo’s DVD Release Dates Schedule and Cover Art, and I get movie release dates from Entertainment Weekly‘s Coming Soon.)

Month Day Exciting Thing
August 22 Paris Hilton by Paris Hilton (I’m already preparing to be thoroughly embarassed when I buy this), Kelis Was Here by Kelis, Idlewild by OutKast, Classics by Ratatat
August 29 Arrested Development season 3, Desperate Housewives season 2, Nip/Tuck season 3
September 5 B-Day by Beyonce (CD), Dreams by Whitest Boy Alive (Erlend Oye’s [Kings of Convienience] new band), Lost season 2
September 8 Dandy Warhols at the Showbox (buy tickets)
September 12 Crazy Itch Radio by Basement Jaxx, The Outsider by DJ Shadow, So This Is Goodbye by the Junior Boys, Pieces of People We Love by the Rapture, FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake, Return to Cookie Mountain by TV On The Radio
September 15 The Black Dhalia opens in theatres (new film by Brian De Palma; I am about to start reading the book)
September 19 Battlestar Galactica season 2, part 2
September 24 Season 3 of Desperate Housewives begins
September 26 Ta-Dah! by the Scissor Sisters, Lady Vengence (part of the triology that includes Old Boy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengence), The Presets at Chop Suey (buy tickets)
October 3 The Information by Beck, Sam’s Town by the Killers, Scissor Sisters at the Showbox (buy tickets)
October 4 Season 3 of Lost begins, Shortbus opens in theatres
October 6 Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica begins, The Departed opens in theatres (Martin Scorsesse’s remake Infernal Affairs)
October 13 Ladytron at the Showbox (buy tickets)
October 20 Fast Food Nation opens in theatres, Marie Antionette opens in theatres
October 24 The L-Word season 3
October 26 Placebo at the Showbox (buy tickets)
October 27 Babel opens in theatres
November 3 Volver opens in theatres
November 14 Hot Chip at Neumos

Looks like there is a lot to look forward to! If you have any additional recommendations, please let me know.

News, Politics

Terrorism Plot: Time For Vacation!

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I love the fact that the UK had been investigating this now-foiled terrorism plot for the last few weeks and that the US got involved within the last ten days… sounds like a perfect time for Bush to go on vacation, eh? It’s one thing to say that he happened to be on vacation today when the shit went down, but the fact that this supposedly really large terrorist plot unfolded recently might cause one (especially if one were the president) to maybe postpone a vacation?

Music

Linus Loves Remixing ‘SexyBack’???

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From the “Too-Weird-And-Awesome-To-Be-True” department:

While searching around the interenet last night, I found a tracklisting from Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” single. Of note, it appears that Linus Loves is going to be remixing the song!!!

Ever since remixing Mylo’s “In My Arms,” I’ve absolutely loved Linus Loves. Their mixes have a very slick, dancey, futuristic feel to them, and I cannot wait to hear what they do with “SexyBack.” The disc doesn’t come out until the end of August and I’ve been unable to find any leaked remixes, but rest assured I will be on the lookout. Without even hearing it, I’m predicting that this will be one of my favorite remixes of the year.

(On a related note, of equal mixing between “high” and “low” culture, The Scumfrog remix of Paris Hilton’s “The Stars Are Blind” is quite awesome, as well, and even if you hate Paris or her “reggae hip-hop,” the mix is worth checking out…)