Secrecy is the most important component of any successful military campaign. It is a fundamental rule of combat: you don’t want the enemy to know your next move. The concept goes back to ancient times and the very beginnings of civilization. Nearly a thousand years ago, the brilliant military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu encapsulated […]
There are many problems in the world today: rampant corruption, disease, inequality, hunger, poverty. But the worst by far is war. Warfare destroys the very foundations of what makes us a civil society. Indeed, war is the negation of civil society. War demolishes the things we build, it disrupts our lives; it destroys the environment. […]
Agenda-setting theory relates to mass communications and media; particularly news coverage. It focuses on how the news is presented and what news is shown to the public as being newsworthy. My focus in this blog will be on the recent phenomenon of participatory or ‘citizen’ journalism, and how this new development disrupts the assumptions of […]
Ever since I was a kid I‘ve loved fast cars. My dad took me and my brother to our first race back in 1971 at the Ontario Motor Speedway in California and I’ve been hooked on speed ever since…so to speak. I grew up in Riverside, within a few miles of the famous racetrack – […]
I’ve always hated the term African-American, because I found it downright patronizing and vituperatively ‘Politically Correct.’ I am old enough to remember when that whole PC thing happened: during the odious Reagan era of the early 1980s. The ‘Reagan Revolution’ was a complete fraud; a Ponzi scheme of monumental proportions foisted upon an ignorant, gullible […]
The US Festival was a milestone in the history of rock music. It lasted for only two years – 1982 and 1983 – but the shows laid the groundwork for today’s enormous, week-long festivals: Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Coachella among them. The US Festival was three days – not of peace and music, but […]
Do not touch anything If forced to use a Porta-potty, do not look down Avoid sitting in the stalls at all costs If there’s no way to avoid it, use the ‘Handicap’ stall and don’t sit next to anyone Do not make eye contact with anyone Make as much noise as possible while urinating if someone […]
The purpose of propaganda is to invoke an emotional response from the target audience: one which is not based on critical thinking. Terror bombing is so morally offensive to its victims that it has always been used as a propaganda tool by the government. The greatest success of the ‘myth of the Blitz’ was the […]
The critical timeframe between the bombing of Hiroshima and the surrender of Japan has been largely ignored by historians. Sadao Asada’s essay, The Shock of the Atomic Bomb and Japan’s Decision to Surrender – A Reconsideration is a well-reasoned, critical exploration of the true factors which led to Japan’s surrender to the allies in August, […]
Americans have never been known for their sense of humor. They are way too prudish; unhip, too “PC”- and most are simply too dumb to “get it.” Concepts like satire and parody are difficult for the average American to grasp, put it that way. A lot of people consider anything which is personally offensive to […]
Jason Darensburg's Blog-o-rama 