“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”
*Bertrand Russell, Dunning-Krugar effect

Originally posted 2007-10-27 04:21:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Some of you gentle readers may be asking: “What’s historical archaeology?” Simply put, this field is “the study of the material remains of past societies that also left behind some other form of historical evidence.” With a membership base that ranges from newcomers to seasoned professionals, The Society for Historical Archaeology is a group whose work will be of general interest to those with a yearning to learn more about history and archaeology. After delving into their “About” section, visitors should mosey on over to their “Projects & Research” area. Here a number of organizations and research teams have submitted websites that document their own recent excavations, such as those around Harpers Ferry and West Point. Finally, the site’s “Futures” section contains helpful information on careers in archaeology and a guide to programs in historical and underwater archaeology.

Originally posted 2006-07-14 07:24:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

“Just how cool is that?”

DEFINITION OF HATE
The manifestations of hate are legion, but the hate process itself remains elusive. Limited research in this field precluded the development of a comprehensive hate model. Understanding hate groups is essential for the development and implementation of successful intervention strategies, which depend on an understanding of the hate process. The proposed hate model consists of seven stages, including how hate groups define themselves, how hate groups target their victims and taunt them with verbal insults and offensive gestures, and how hate groups attack their victims with or without weapons.

Hate, a complex subject, divides into two general categories: rational and irrational. Unjust acts inspire rational hate. Hatred of a person based on race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or national origin constitutes irrational hate.

Both rational and irrational hate mask personal insecurities. Everyone experiences personal insecurities in varying degrees throughout their lives. The more insecure a person feels, the larger the hate mask. Most people concentrate on the important issues in life, such as earning a living, rearing a family, and achieving personal goals. These pursuits give meaning and value to life. Nonetheless, irrational hate bleeds through day-to-day activities in the form of racial barbs and ethnic humor. Not all insecure people are haters, but all haters are insecure people.

With respect to rational hate, haters do not focus as much on the wrong done to them or others, but, rather, on their own helplessness, guilt, or inability to effect change. The object of rational hate often is despised or pitied. In the same way, irrational hate elevates the hater above the hated.Many insecure people feel a sense of self-worth by relegating a person or group of people to a lower status.

Empirical observations show that hate groups go through seven stages in the hate process. Haters, if unimpeded, pass through these seven successive stages without skipping a stage. In the first four stages, haters vocalize their beliefs. In the last three stages, haters act on their beliefs. A transition period exists between vocalization and acting out. In this transition period, violence separates hard-core haters from rhetorical haters.

Stage 1: The Haters Gather

Irrational haters seldom hate alone.10 They feel compelled, almost driven, to entreat others to hate as they do. Peer validation bolsters a sense of self-worth and, at the same time, prevents introspection, which reveals personal insecurities.11 Further, individuals otherwise ineffective become empowered when they join groups, which also provide anonymity and diminished accountability.

Stage 2: The Hate Group Defines Itself

Hate groups form identities through symbols, rituals, and mythologies, which enhance the members’ status and, at the same time, degrade the object of their hate. For example, skinhead groups may adopt the swastika, the iron cross, the Confederate flag, and other su-premacist symbols. Group-specific symbols or clothing often differentiate hate groups. Group rituals, such as hand signals and secret greetings, further fortify members. Hate groups, especially skinhead groups, usually incorporate some form of self-sacrifice, which allows haters to willingly jeopardize their well-being for the greater good of the cause. Giving one’s life to a cause provides the ultimate sense of value and worth to life.12 Skinheads often see themselves as soldiers in a race war.

Stage 3: The Hate Group Disparages the Target

Hate is the glue that binds haters to one another and to a common cause.13 By verbally debasing the object of their hate, haters enhance their self-image, as well as their group status. In skinhead groups, racist song lyrics and hate literature provide an environment wherein hate flourishes. In fact, researchers have found that the life span of aggressive impulses increases with ideation.14 In other words, the more often a person thinks about aggression, the greater the chance for aggressive behavior to occur. Thus, after constant verbal denigration, haters progress to the next more acrimonious stage.

Stage 4: The Hate Group Taunts the Target

Hate, by its nature, changes incrementally. Time cools the fire of hate, thus forcing the hater to look inward. To avoid introspection, haters use ever-increasing degrees of rhetoric and violence to maintain high levels of agitation. Taunts and offensive gestures serve this purpose. In this stage, skinheads typically shout racial slurs from moving cars or from afar. Nazi salutes and other hand signals often accompany racial epithets. Racist graffiti also begins to appear in areas where skinheads loiter. Most skinhead groups claim turf proximate to the neighborhoods in which they live. One study indicated that a majority of hate crimes occur when the hate target migrates through the hate group’s turf.15

Stage 5: The Hate Group Attacks the Target Without Weapons

This stage is critical because it differentiates vocally abusive haters from physically abusive ones. In this stage, hate groups become more aggressive, prowling their turf seeking vulnerable targets. Violence coalesces hate groups and further isolates them from mainstream society. Skinheads, almost without exception, attack in groups and target single victims. Research has shown that bias crimes are twice as likely to cause injury and four times as likely to result in hospitalization as compared to nonbias crimes.16

In addition to physical violence, the element of thrill seeking is introduced in Stage 5. Two experts found that 60 percent of hate offenders were “thrill seekers.”17 The adrenaline “high” intoxicates the attackers. The initial adrenaline surge lasts for several minutes; however, the effects of adrenaline keep the body in a state of heightened alert for up to several days.18 Each successive anger-provoking thought or action builds on residual adrenaline and triggers a more violent response than the one that originally initiated the sequence.19 Anger builds on anger. The adrenaline high combined with hate becomes a deadly combination. Hard-core skinheads keep themselves at a level where the slightest provocation triggers aggression.

Stage 6: The Hate Group Attacks the Target with Weapons

Several studies confirm that a large number of bias attacks involve weapons.20 Some attackers use firearms to commit hate crimes, but skinheads prefer weapons, such as broken bottles, baseball bats, blunt objects, screwdrivers, and belt buckles. These types of weapons require the attacker to be close to the victim, which further demonstrates the depth of personal anger. Attackers can discharge firearms at a distance, thus precluding personal contact. Close-in onslaughts require the assailants to see their victims eye-to-eye and to become bloodied during the assault. Hands-on violence allows skinheads to express their hate in a way a gun cannot. Personal contact empowers and fulfills a deep-seated need to have dominance over others.

Stage 7: The Hate Group Destroys the Target

The ultimate goal of haters is to destroy the object of their hate. Mastery over life and death imbues the hater with godlike power and omnipotence, which, in turn, facilitate further acts of violence. With this power comes a great sense of self-worth and value, the very qualities haters lack. However, in reality, hate physically and psychologically destroys both the hater and the hated.

Originally posted 2006-07-16 14:01:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Just when you thought the predictability of the latest triumph in the war on terror couldn’t get any more ludicrous – you’re reminded that the Neo-Cons like to keep the propaganda simple and straightforward, never deviating from well-honed tactics.

In Friday’s article on the Sears Tower arrests it was predicted that one of the repeating elements to emerge from every major terror sting or forged terror alert is the use of retarded individuals as patsies, informants and go-betweens.

Don’t be surprised to learn of a connection to a retarded individual over the next few days.”
So it follows that yesterday it emerged from a New York Daily News report that the alleged ringleader of the plot Batiste “needs psychiatric help,” according to his own mother.

The Daily Show’s John Stewart classified the Miami terror cell that were about to “wage a ground war against America,” according to Gonzales as “seven dip shits in a warehouse,” following a farcical press conference in which Gonzales was cornered into admitting that they had no links to any Al-Qaeda members and had no weapons or explosives to carry out any acts of terrorism.

Today, lawyers for the defendants outlined an argument that the government had used entrapment to essentially imagine into existence a deadly Al-Qaeda terror cell that had never existed in the first place.

Originally posted 2006-06-27 09:33:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Great spoof on pharmaceutical advertising for a drug called Panexa. Be sure to read the Important Safety Information before asking your doctor about Panexa.

Excerpted:

PANEXA is a prescription drug that should only be taken by patients experiencing one of the following disorders: metabolism, binocular vision, digestion (solid and liquid), circulation, menstruation, cognition, osculation, extremes of emotion. For patients with coronary heart condition (CHC) or two separate feet (2SF), the dosage of PANEXA should be doubled to ensure that twice the number of pills are being consumed. PANEXA can also be utilized to decrease the risk of death caused by not taking PANEXA, being beaten to death by oscelots, or death relating from complications arising from seeing too much of the color lavender. Epileptic patients should take care to ensure tight, careful grips on containers of PANEXA, in order to secure their contents in the event of a seizure, caused by PANEXA or otherwise.

ps- don’t forget to make that Dr’s appt!

B/T

“Man has to suffer. When he has no real afflictions, he invents some.”
*Jose Marti, Cuban freedom fighter and hero (1853-1895)

Originally posted 2008-04-22 08:27:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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• Make the beds. What a waste of time and effort, we’re only going to sleep in them again tonight. Forget that. Scratch one.

• Pick up dog poop in yard. It snowed last night, I don’t see any dog poop. Kids, do you see any dog poop?  Scratch two.

• Drop your pants off at the cleaners. Uh, I took a vacation day therefore, I don’t need them. Scratch three.

• This is easy, man, so what’s the fuss about, huh? Think I’ll grab another cup of coffee and get some computer time in for a while.

• Clean out Tupperware cabinet. Uhhh, now that one’s a hard one. Ooooh, I GOT IT! I’ll Velcro the door. That will keep them closed. Scratch four.

• Mop kitchen floor.The dog licked up that sugar spill from breakfast, floor looks clean to me. Scratch five. Good doggie, go play in the yard. (He loves rolling in the snow.)

• Find something fun for the kids to do. That tinfoil in the microwave thing was kinda fun. Scratch six. This is way too easy. I’ll have lots of time for the computer!

• Vacuum the carpets. That’s a hard one. Hey kids wanna have some more FUN? Scratch seven.

• Snack time. Hey gang, don’t you have a friend or two to visit? YESSSS! Scratch eight.

• Clean out hallway closet. Hmmmm, another hard one. That’s it! Take enough out of the closet to close the door. Outta sight, outta mind. Hmmmm, this other stuff can go under a bed. Scratch nine.

• Boy-O-Boy am I good! It’s lunch time. Pour some chili into the cracker bag and eat. Voila!  No lunch dishes !

• Do laundry. Ok, so nothing major. I can do the laundry while I’m on the computer. Scratch ten.

• Fold laundry…..(Dang, ‘ya know, I never noticed how many pink things this family actually wears! Gonna have to ask the little lady why she buys me pale pink underwear? Hey! Check this out! A cashmere Barbie sweater? Cool! Scratch eleven.

• Put the laundry away. Baskets in bedrooms work for me. Scratch twelve.

• Ah, man. This is just way too easy. Wonder why women always complain about house work?

• Water the plants. OOPS! Good thing the carpet is absorbent. Scratch thirteen.

• Grocery shopping. Buy toilet paper.These old newspapers will do, besides, that’s recycling and that’s good for the earth. We just went green. Scratch fourteen.

• Pick up the kids.Yeah right; we’re talking about my kids here. Parents will normally pay to drop them back off. They’ll be back. Scratch fifteen.

• Wonder who’s on ICQ? Awww, I have plenty of time to catch up with the latest.

• Make dinner. Easy! “Hello? I hear that you deliver. Ohhh double that. ‘We’ll need more dinner  for tomorrow.” Scratch sixteen.

• Clean out the dog house. Damn, the dog sleeps in our bed. Like that needs to be done! Scratch seventeen.

WOW! I got the list done in plenty of time to play on the ‘puter plus take a nap. Man, today was sooooo easy.

His conclusion: Women complain about house work just to make us guys think they work hard and have to also prove that they earn their keep. Bahhh!

Originally posted 2009-10-08 09:45:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter