17 May 2023
UNR, TEBC & the WGA–
Gig Economy Blues–
Following a long conversation yesterday with a hiring manager at a nearby public utilities department for a job, with an interview set up for this morning, woke up, called back, and cancelled the entire affair. It has a long history starting back in the 90s. Somewhere around the first of the decade, the Writers Guild in Hollywood had a labor dispute that affected the signatory agents. For whatever reason was insignificant but for me it would change forever my approach to the industry. The ups and downs of that failed enterprise is well documented just about nowhere and it leads to the more important issues of today.
Down to one class for the semester at the University of Nevada, Reno, even that is proving to be quite a challenge. The anthropology class was going well until the second exam. The methods used to study for it seemed foolproof enough, but I was fooled by some multiple choice and long essay answers that resulted in a 67. Not that it affected the grade for the Spring semester much but it did pull it out of the B bracket into the C bracket. Waiting forever for not just that grade, but another one, Assignment 4, was unacceptable and soon an attitude developed about not just the class overall, but for the "TA" as well. LIke a feud between a baseball pitcher and an umpire, the TA history extended back to a previous anthropology class, this was the third effort in passing this requirement for my BA in English. In my fourth year at UNR, there are still some undone requirements, the linguistics class is one of them. Another one is the fourth semester French class, but that one is delayed until the very last.
The trouble with anthropology is its uncanny ability to apologize for all of the missing links in the theories presented, underscored by the fact that a TA grades papers and if it doesn't fit into her 14 year old paper-grading framework, it's rejected. Little did the TA realize, the Assignment Four submission was a deliberate effort to subvert that framework to the requirements of a fourth year English BA writing specialist undergraduate and not to the rigid regurgitated framework of the assignment. On May Day 2023, with communists marching in the streets somewhere, hopefully, and the deadline for the writers strike imminent in Hollywood, the professor sent out an email with regard to the submission. She "shot" me an email as they say, or more accurately, I am going to "shoot" him an email. I didn't actually get shot by an AR-15 that's so popular with mass assassins in the news, but nonetheless, the result was the same.
The assignment called for comparing the difference between "ideologies of language" and "language ideologies' ' using two short video clips from the internet. There was enough in the clips to make a comparison, if only I knew the difference between the two ideologies. The more I researched it, the more I hit the border wall of the anthropology apologists, fabricating one explanation after another to show that if there waqs a difference, it was lost on them. "Please redo assignment-4" the email heading read.
Dear James,
I am writing to ask that you redo your 4th assignment and redo it in a way that directly answers the questions posed in the assignment. In particular, focus on the difference between "ideologies of language", and "language ideologies". These assignments do not require an essay, and your analysis in the 4th assignment you submitted was both incorrect and contained extraneous information. For the resubmission, just focus on the questions provided by the assignment, and focus on the specific things that are said, and how they are said.
You have till this Friday at 11:59 pm to email Assignment 4
I spent about 15 minutes rewriting the assignment, answering the questions, with the minimum focus on the "questions provided" and sent it off. Waiting until Friday was not an option.
05/14/23/0850PDT:
The exam was last Thursday. As usual, it was graduate level material from bonafide professors and teaching assistants packaged into a boot camp freshman required course. There's no content cop to preview the test and there will be the usual teachers' pet getting a 95 and skewing it for the herd barely staying in the corral at the 65 average range. All that is water in the lake.
Back on assignment at the resort, thje first priority was getting the lake pump irrigation system up and running. Last year, a new outdoor shower was installed and it immediately created problems with sand in the lines. It was torn apart by one of the transient Hispanic workers who blew through the basin and operated only marginally all last summer. It was again installed while waiting for a newer model and the irrigation system attached to it was engaged. The tank went to nominal pressure of +/- 80 PSI but on inspection of the pipeline from the lake, a split was discovered in a 20 foot section. Two years ago, all the connectors32 were upgraded so the pipe was removed and a new one will need to be ordered before the water line reaches the removed section. Otherwise, most of the other attachments, the swimming pool line and the sprinkler system for the lawn all appear to be OK.
The pool itself is undergoing renovation. It was found to have a broken pipe at the bottom drain so a contract was drawn up to repair it. In the process, tiles along the edge are also going to be added and some other work done on the face of the pool itself is being done. The pool water was drained last winter and it filled up with snow that was manually removed by one of the Hispanic workers before work could begin. In addition, a feud over who was fixing the broken drain broke out and it stalled progress on repair. Usually, when someone inquires about this type of work, there are two replies: "It's the easiest thing I do around her," or "Gettig ready for winter," even though it's early May. Any number of similar tasks at the resort make summer go by in a matter of seconds. But that's also water under the lake.
That brings up the Fall, and the University of Nevada. Barely escaping the headhunters in Anthropology, the focus now shifts to the other required courses. If the ANTH class gets a passing grade, it will free up the focus on the Minor, Journalism and the fourth semester French class. The first has been an ongoing nightmare since the very beginning of the college career. It started out with best intentions, but after a few dropped attempts at boot camp journo, the pandemic hit and shut down just about any progress that was even remotely considered.
05/15/23/0830PDT
Fog outside over the south shore of the lake at sunrise. The rest is history. The UNR laptop loan is due back Wednesday, checked prices for a new one but am not impressed. Expect to have a solution by the time this one needs to be returned. No word back from Geffen Playhouse on that veteran's performance thing, apparently it's a fraud. Besides, there's enough to do to stay busy until Fall 2023. Checked the options for payment plan, two summer classes. The total due for summer is about three payments of $600 each, it's tempting to go ahead and pay it. There is little ambition to shell out money for a new computer, much less for summer classes. The lesson learned from the spring semester is that it is possible to not spend any money. With a summer free to work, it would allow for going back in the fall with the ability to stay in, with the meager FAFSA funding, all the way until summer 2024. Considering the few requirements left, that would make actual graduation an actual possibility.
Market: Yes, we have no bagels this morning. That means a French roll, "avec beurre," for those Hispanic workers in the deli who understand le Francais. Before any and all newer assignments are added, it is necessary to "tackle" whatever is on the plate right now. That includes returning the laptop to the library, making a decision on the astronomy class, and other critical deals affecting time, and money. The astronomy class is currently listed as TBA, which is an abbreviation for WEB, and that is unacceptable. The strategy there would be to wait until Friday, the deadline for the first installment of the 3-day payment plan, and if that isn't cleared up, drop enrollment until the first week of June just before class begins. Currently, the enrollment shows about 17 out of 30 spaces in the class, which provides the option required to reconsider, if it goes to WEB.
An online class was dropped in wintermester 2022 because of a mistake on the time for taking an exam, another one was dropped again in spring 2023, due to disagreement on a proposal; both were connected to journalism, the second one causing a major headache because it was a concurrent listing. That caused a ripple effect of shifting back to theatre for a minor, which lasted about a week. While in the journalism building, one of the better professors noted he would be teaching the dropped class in the fall, causing a shift again back to a journalism minor. Such is the nature of degree seeking, but at least it prompted looking at the summer schedule and signing on to a PR/ad class. The concurrent journalism classes will again be attempted in the fall, and that brings up finaid.
FAFSA, financial aid, has all but run out. In the fall, it will amount to just enough, between the loans and grants, to cover tuition. That's unacceptable. In a world full of reparations, entitlements, lawsuits and payoffs, it seems almost absurd that money isn't available to complete the terms until graduation. But that's where all that “critical thinking" from those rhetoric, english, linguistic classes will need to have their first application: how to survive in college without any money. Current employment will be drastically curtailed by the summer schedule as it requires driving into Reno from the lake four days a week, attending class in the middle of the day. Of course, if astronomy goes to WEB, the drive will not be necessary. However, with no access to a reliable system to sustain online classes, the problem has expanded, requiring even more critical thinking. There is still the one option that always seems to work the best: wait and see what happens next.
17 May 2023/0311PDT:
Dreams included a paper due on a class regarding profiles, resumes; was outside some rich haven and acquired the bios, the professor refused any suggestion for the assignment and the debate turned into a job waxing floors at a large warehouse where there was a better way to do them without walking on fresh wax. Woke thinking about the thousands of homeless all camped out in the wrong spots across America; the bus and train stations instead of in front of city hall. Stay tuned for tomorrow. Back on guard duty til sunrise.
24 March 2023
The Nemesis Sketches
24 March 2023
Various Sketches 002
24 March 2023
Various Sketches from the Road
05 November 2022
NORTH BEACH 2012--The Search for a Shipper–
THE SEARCH FOR A SHIPPER IN SF //2012-08-13T10:37:16.276-07:00
OBJECTIVE: To cut my travel load in half since, with a clean suit, some of the clothes, extra tapes and other items were no longer necessary. This was begun in Chinatown which was just around the corner from the Hotel North Beach on Kearny, even as the crowd began to pour out onto the streets on Saturday morning.
This was in concert with the ongoing effort to find a wedding present other than the usual gift-card, like Starbucks, which seemed a bit impersonal, and I thought I could go one step beyond. The original plan, since the newlyweds planned to travel after the ceremony, was to find something useful, such as a compass. Little did I know that in a city famous for sailing and ships, a compass may be the last item found.
In Chinatown, however, amid all the hanging dead chickens and noodles in the food shops; the cheap t-shirts with "I heart San Francisco" and "Alcatraz" on them, along with thousands of uncategorized and uncatalogued trinkets, a compass was the last thing tourists needed. As one shopkeeper put it, "We have GPS." Right, I replied, until the satellite goes haywire.
No need to explain that while Marine officers were lost in St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy and looking over a map; I walked by with a compass I'd bought on Catalina Island in Southern California and headed for the main bridge over the big canal without even saluting them as I passed. So much for the Chinaman's world travel experience, he was born and raised on Grant Ave.
Instead of a compass, I settled for a pair of field glasses in a camera shop, since time was running out and the wedding hour fast approaching. It was a small Vivitar that the clerk cut the price in half and then tried to get me to buy a bigger ticket item. I declined, bought the field glasses, (he didn't know what I was talkng about until I called them "binoculars").
Next, it was a matter of gift-wrapping the present. I did manage to locate a small compass on a keychain at the Chinese GPS guy's trinket shop and included that in the gifts for the newlyweds.
In another trinket joint, a Chinese gal found a small red box that had yellow silk lining and the presents fit into the box. She included a Chinese wedding card, so that task was complete and the exit from Chinatown was down some steep street past hundreds of tourists with cheap cameras and cheap t-shirts.
The search for the shipper was on in earnest and forget some Far East Trading Company with impressive credentials dare to lower themselves to packing up some extras and shipping them to Lake Tahoe. They were too busy running guns and drugs to be bothered.
Up and down the streets near the Financial District proved useless. Stopping a weekend UPS delivery man near an Oriental bank, he hadn't a clue where a shipper was. Finally, nearing giving up and deciding to toss the items into the trash, I headed back up Kearny toward the hotel. It was there I found a small shipper with all the right labels on his shop window; UPS, Fedex, etc. However, it was only ten thirty and his shop didn't open until eleven. Forget that one.. Then across from the Rainbow Cleaners in little Vietnam, in the biggest building on the street, was the main downtown headquarters for Fedex, and the store was open.
Who knows how many times I'd walked past it without looking to see if it was open on the weekend, and it was.
05 November 2022
NORTH BEACH 2012–
Something Very Asian About Chinatown
SOMETHING VERY ASIAN ABOUT CHINATOWN//2014-01-16T//18:19:35.735-08:00
SAN FRANCISCO--Following all the logistical arrangements, the bus-train connections proved a cinch and arrival in San Francisco on Friday afternoon, August 10, at the Ferry Building, went according to schedule. The one thing I noticed was the reluctance of passengers to sit next to the gorgeous babes on the trains and busses, that didn't stop me. From the way they responded, and the fact that there are far more of them taking public transportation, it is now an added incentive to travel by bus and train.
Checking into the Hotel North Beach went without a hitch as well, and after cleaning up in one of the shared bathrooms on the first floor, I was out the door and soon landed in Kerouac Alley. From there, a quick hike across Columbus to the Beat Museum where I paid the $8 cover and toured the museum. It is loaded with artifacts from the days of the Beat generation, and I spent a great deal of time recording video on my computer, the files of which became very large, so the process had to be shut down.
Next stop was the Cafe Trieste, which turned out to be a big tourist trap and a few hard corps old timers; didn't stay there long and the big redeeming value there is that it's not far from a Bank of the West branch, which was very convenient for funds withdrawal to continue the North Beach exploit.
Inevitably, the road led over to Chinatown via, and onto Grant Avenue, where the real action was. Hundreds upon hundreds shuffled up and down the crowded streets, the markets were jammed with people, the outdoor produce racks stuffed with vegetables, dead, skinned chickens hanging everywhere.
And everywhere as well, the Chinese inhabitants, and the stone-faced Asian ladies, all of them inviting and seductive.
It was getting dark, and I found myself without a viable link to wi-fi, or any form of internet connection outside the hotel, that is until I came across the Happy Donut next door to the hotel. The wi-fi signal from the hotel worked at the Happy Donut and I found myself drinking quarts of coffee, getting caught up on the details of the wedding coming up on Saturday; and watching in amazement as tourists and locals tried to figure out how I managed to access the web from the Happy Donut. It was simple, I was staying at the Hotel North Beach, and I had the access key to the wi-fi.
24 March 2023
Ukraine Ballet
Covid-19: The Fort Detrick Connection—
(The Lab)-- "No long range ill effects from vaccinations have been found so far, but doctors won't be sure until they contact about 1,000 more former employees at Fort Detrick as a follow-up study of the Army's germ warfare experiments." 1
Under the headline "Ft. Detrick workers sought for germ warfare followup," the article was published in the (Hanover, PA) Evening Sun in 1980. "Laboratory workers, contractors and tradesmen" were immunized, but the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was in the process of looking for about 3,000 total and at the time the search was only 66 percent complete, according to Dr. Thomas Mason, head of the study. "We don't want to frighten anyone," Mason said, but considering today's ongoing existential war against the coronavirus pandemic, a closer look at the Fort Detrick history is in order.
A few months later, an FOIA expose by the Church of Scientology revealed that Fort Detrick's Special Ops Division had secretly sprayed a "harmless simulant agent" into gratings above New York City subways in early summer, 1966 to test the effects of scattering as a possible bioweapons tactic. The report also stated the Army tossed light bulbs of the agent from moving trains for a more effective pattern;
"In 1966, one Charles Senseney, a project engineer with the Department of Defense, spent two weeks flinging bulbs of simulated poisons in front of New York City subway trains." (2)
In May, 1980, Robert Cooke warned in The Boston Globe the possibility of less-than-safe conditions at labs conducting genetic experiments;
"Instead of taking elaborate--and some argue unnecessary-- precautions to guard against escape of newly altered organisms, most of the work is now being done in ordinary laboratories under relatively normal conditions." (3)
A photo included in the article shows workers at the Army base conducting research without the least bit of biosafety measures.
When an animal caretaker at a Reston, Virginia lab was exposed to Ebola tainted monkeys in 1989, a decontamination unit was called in to disinfect the cages. (4) As for the recent reference to "The Big Lie," it is worth noting that Patrick Buchanan used the phrase back in 1989 in his Pittsburgh Press column;
"Under glasnost, the propaganda of hatred against the United States continues. Soviet newspapers continue to promote the Big Lie that AIDS was invented at Fort Detrick, Md., as a weapon in biological warfare." (5)
The HIV-from-Fort-Detrick myth--
The allegation that AIDS was lab engineered was engineered by an East Berlin biologist, Jacob (Jakob) Segal as reported in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice;
"The first suggestion that AIDS was made in America goes as far back as 1983 when it appeared in an Indian newspaper and was largely ignored...the suggestion reappeared in October last year in more damaging form in the Soviet magazine Literaturnaya Gazeta in the fall of 1985... Jacob Segal, described as a retired director of the Institute of Biology at an East Berlin university, was quoted by the Express as saying AIDS 'escaped ' from a secret US laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland. " (6)
The Indian newspaper where the story first appeared was the New Delhi Patriot. (6A, see also Addendum)
The Ukiah Daily Journal reported in 1987 that the story was originally planted in the Indian newspaper by the Soviet propaganda tool Novosti. (7) It was flatly rejected by the U.S. government. However, that same year, Uganda's Minister of Health, Samuel I. Okware, asked;
"If Africa was the original source of AIDS, how come Europe, which has so much social interaction with Africa, has fewer problems very remote to Africa, like the United States..." (8)
Okware's statement was in reference to the HIV epidemic prevalent in America in homosexuals, Haitians and African-Americans.
As for the original proponent of the theory, Jacob Segal, a detailed report on the biologist was published in The Baltimore Sun by Ian Johnson in 1992. (9)
With respect to Segal's allegation that AIDS "escaped," Jill Jonnes added;
"In spite of such precautions, however, there have been more than a thousand accidents connected with biowarfare research at Fort Detrick, and three deaths. "(2)
According to the Sun article, Segal's original theory was that AIDS was found in Icelandic sheep, which by extrapolating backward from his initial research in 1986, the HIV virus in humans was the same as sheep in 1978. Perhaps one of the most revealing aspects of Segal's influence, accidental or otherwise, generated by the theory, is found in "Disinformation Squared," (See Addendum;)
"This extraordinary document (Segal's allegation), written from within the East Berlin Administration of the Ministry of State Security, showed 'everyone' guessing that powerful figures in the East German Communist Party were protecting an eccentric biologist while he embarrassed - practically sabotaged - their country." (Page 69)
The Coronavirus-from-Wuhan-lab theory--
In much the same way Segal's HIV-from-Fort-Detrick myth gained momentum, the timeline of the COVID-19 origin at the Chinese laboratory was similar. According to Jack Brewster reporting in a Forbes timeline, the first to raise the Detrick connection was found in a Washington Times article by Bill Gertz where Dany Shoham is mentioned. (11) Shoham, a former Israeli intel specialist, first surfaced in 2002 calling out Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program; real or otherwise didn't seem to matter. (12) Shoham's claim was followed up by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). (12) The Forbes timeline ended in May, 2020 but wasn't lost on Congress and the media. Last week, in a heated exchange between Dr. Fauci of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), each accused the other of lying about the origin and funding for coronavirus research at the lab. (13) It is clear from the HIV-from-Fort-Detrick myth that a great deal of political support is being given to the Wuhan myth for political "gain-of-function." The political environment ignores the concept of viral jumping--from animal (bat, civet) to primate--as a weak explanation for the cause of the disease.
The Coronavirus-from-Fort-Detrick theory--
Countering the charge that Wuhan lab was responsible, China's The Global Times responded with a long rebuttal of the Wuhan theory and suggested Fort Detrick was the origin;
" Combing through more than 8,000 pieces of news reports related to the lab-leak theory, the Global Times found that as many as 60 percent of the coverage was from the US alone." (14)
In what appears to be collusion between the U.S. government and Western media, another "disinformation squared" effort is underway. Still, Global Times had no explanation for the viral jumping phenomenon, the principal method of spreading of the pathogen to humans. The Global Times compared the effort to affix blame on Wuhan similar to that of the Saddam Hussein nuclear weapon deception; instead of using the more convincing argument of the HIV-from-Fort-Detrick myth. Clearly that would have undermined the Times' own propaganda agenda. If there is insufficient evidence to fix the blame on Wuhan, insufficient evidence exists as well in Fort Detrick theory.
Preponderance-of-coincidences--
The Disinformation Squared paper refers to a "preponderance-of-coincidences." (page 21) But there is little evidence to support the lab as the kickoff point. Funding by the U.S government granted to the lab is meaningless; it doesn't point to some ulterior, evil motive as suggested by the demagogues in Congress. The first suspected clusters were reported in Wuhan; certainly the Chinese government would not test out its secret new bioweapon on its own population. The source would have to be external, and already in a transmissible form so that "jumping" could be readily achieved, if, of course, the virus was engineered. Even then, the role of coincidence, no matter how many in sequence, does not verify a claim without strong supporting evidence.
On a final note: the concept that the virus "escaped" from a lab, any lab, is nonsense. It doesn't have wings or feet; it was either carried out, floated out or flushed out, either by accident or by intentional design. The focus needs to be on that as a motive to find the origin.
Cited
1.) Staff, "Ft. Detrick workers sought for germ warfare followup," The Hanover Evening Sun, 19 February 1980, Page B1.
2.) Jonnes, J., "Biowarfare: the U.S. record," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), 04 February 1979, Page E1.
3.) Cooke, R., "Relaxed rules spur on the geneticists," The Boston Globe, 04 May 1980, Page A1.
4.) Engelman, R., "Deadly virus found in lab monkeys," The Fresno Bee, 09 Dec 1989, Page A10.
5.) Buchanan, P., "Glasnost can't fix closed Soviet ways," The Pittsburgh Press, 01 December 1987, Page B3.
6.) Staff, "Soviets make AIDS a propaganda issue," Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, 27 December 1986, Page 16.
6A.) Cockburn, M., "No, AIDS virus was not a big Pentagon plot," The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 July 1987, Page 3.
7.) Editorial, "Blatant Propaganda," Ukiah Daily Journal, 17 November 1987, Page 4.
8.) Hale., E., "AIDS rumored to come from CIA, American clothes, witchcraft...," NY Press and Sun- Bulletin, 12 October 1987, Page 10A
9.) German scientist couple presses theory that AIDS was created at Fort Detrick - Baltimore Sun
10.) n/a
11.) Gertz, B., Coronavirus link to China biowarfare program possible, analyst says - Washington Times
12.) Zacharia, "A Stealth bomber: what Israel fears about Saddam," The Miami Herald, 25 August 2002, Page 5C.
12.) Timeline, A Timeline Of The COVID-19 Wuhan Lab Origin Theory (forbes.com)
13.) Fauci-Paul, Fauci: Paul doesn't know what he's talking about | TheHill
14.) Lingzhi, F., et.al., Suspect No.1: Why Fort Detrick lab should be investigated for global COVID-19 origins tracing (globaltimes.cn)
Addendum- Geissler, Erhard, and Robert Hunt Sprinkle. “Disinformation Squared: Was the HIV-from-Fort-Detrick Myth a Stasi Success?” Politics and the Life Sciences, vol. 32, no. 2, 2013, pp. 2–99. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43287281. Accessed 25 July 2021.
NBACC image,
National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) Photos | Homeland Security (dhs.gov)
Ukraine Ballet
24 March 2023
IRAN & THE BOMB–
MAD:Mutual Assured Destruction
Published in Rhetoric and Public Affairs in 2011, Leah Ceccarelli's article "Manufactured Scientific Controversy" defines the title as;
"A scientific controversy is 'manufactured' in the public sphere when an arguer announces that there is an ongoing scientific debate in the technical sphere about a matter for which there is actually an overwhelming scientific consensus." (Ceccarelli, 196)
The footnote attached to the definition makes the case for the two so-called spheres of "public" and "technical" where Ceccarelli notes the "boundaries between the two are permeable." In a sense, it sets the stage for the non-experts to encroach on the terrain of the experts and call the findings into question. To what degree the evidence of the claim is "overwhelming" is irrelevant. The footnote explicitly points to political policy making as the ultimate goal of those with self-interest beyond the scientific sphere.
Uncertainty plays a large part in the process of calling into question scientific fact;
"most scientific findings are inherently probabilistic and ambiguous." (197)
Again, in the climate warming section, even with overwhelming evidence, Ceccarelli notes;
"It seems to corroborate the essayists claim of a dogmatic orthodoxy by indicating that
supporters of the dominant paradigm would prefer to silence dissent." (208)
Translated, the scientists themselves are to blame for allowing the so called "mercenaries" to refute the facts since they (the scientists) are too busy digging up more facts to pay attention to the debate in politics and the press. That very orthodoxy invites criticism. The truth of the matter is that the era of positivism has long since passed, replaced by one of skepticism.
Based on the above criteria, it might be debated that military superiority is not necessarily a winning strategy in the modern world. The slogan "Might makes right" is something out of the 19th century but didn't really become a reality until atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The debate over whether to develop even more powerful nuclear weapons, especially the hydrogen, or "super" bomb, forced a great deal of soul searching in its developers such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller. (Halberstam, 151-174)
Now, in the 21st century, with Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, with the realignment of NATO forces in Europe, with the threat of development of the bomb by non-aligned nations as Iran and North Korea, it has become essential to question the doubters in the community that thermonuclear war is, as what might be defined from above "probabilistic and ambiguous," anything but "uncertain." The assassination of the top bomb expert in Iran last week is a barometer as to how serious the prospect has become. (BBC)
The policy was referred to "Mutual Assured Destruction" (MAD) that has prevented nuclear war. Today that policy is being challenged from within and from without.
" 'The central thing was the public had no control,' says Dr Christopher Laucht, a lecturer in British history at Leeds University. 'You were at the mercy of political decision makers. Apart from the fear that one side would do something stupid, there was also the fear of technology and the question of 'what if an accident happened'. ' " (BBC)
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: Iran buries assassinated nuclear scientist
Iran has held a funeral for its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated on Friday in an attack that it has blamed on Israel. In a televised speech at the ceremony, Defence Minister General Amir Hatami vowed to avenge Fakhrizadeh's death and continue his path "vigorously".
Discussion reply:
Paranoia is the bedfellow of conspiracy theory. Neville-Shepard cites Hofstadter's highlight of paranoid conspiracy: the vast network, transcends history, popular villains, the impending apocalypse, and the scapegoat. (Neville-Shepard) The author traces the "early style" to the post-Roosevelt era, in particular, President Truman. This fits well with the initial post regarding the advent of the Atomic Age and the role played by Truman and his cabinet, in particular the Secretary of State, Dean Acheson.
Following some rather high-profile spy trials and convictions, including Alger Hiss, who was a friend of Acheson, the Secretary went on the offensive;
"The political pressure building around Truman to go ahead with the Super was relentless...Failure to do so, Acheson noted, 'would push the Administration into a political buzzsaw.' " (Halberstam, 61)
Acheson created the specter of the apocalyptic villain in the form of the Soviet Union when at first, sharing nuclear technology appeared to be the preferred strategy considering the Kremlin had been an ally in World War Two. Acheson qualified for all of Hofstadter's categories of the paranoid style, accidentally or otherwise.
Today, the assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist became the latest casualty in this strategy of paranoid style, Instead of following up on the preceding regime's tireless efforts to bring Iran and North Korea into the nuclear community as constructive members, the current US administration deserted arms agreements with those particular non-aligned nations. (Laub, Robinson)
The paranoid nuclear holocaust environment has been given new life. Comparing Neville-Shepard to Ceccarelli is not as useful as comparing Neville-Shepard to himself, particularly with respect to the "subtextual" component of paranoid style. There is nothing subtextual about nuclear annihilation. There is every reason to believe certain non-aligned nations have atomic weapons capability, and the vehicles for delivery. We can only speculate on how the now long gone Secretary of State Dean Acheson would characterize the immanent threat.
Neville-Shepard, R., Paranoid Style, Full article: Paranoid Style and Subtextual Form in Modern Conspiracy Rhetoric (oclc.org) (Links to an external site.)
Laub, Z., Robinson, K., What Is the Status of the Iran Nuclear Agreement? | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)
Pakistan latest nuclear power to condemn killing of Iranian scientist as world remains on edge
Pakistan is the latest nuclear power to condemn the killing of a top Iranian atomic scientist, deeming the act a destabilizing event in a region already plagued by widespread unrest. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a former Revolutionary Guard officer who led the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research was shot dead last Friday east of the Iranian capital in a yet unclaimed assassination that has fueled suspicions of Israeli involvement.
Ceccarelli, Leah. “Manufactured Scientific Controversy: Science, Rhetoric, and Public Debate.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs, vol. 14, no. 2, 2011, pp. 195–228. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41940538. Accessed 1 Dec. 2020.
Halberstam, David, The Fifties, 1993 Random House, NY
Iran Scientist Assassination, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: Iran scientist 'killed by remote-controlled weapon' - BBC News
(Links to an external site.)
de Castella, T., MAD, How did we forget about mutually assured destruction? - BBC News