03:06 - 01.04.06
censorship
My youngest gave me gift certificates to that one Canadian bookstore for Christmas and my birthday. That bookstore also sent me a gift certificate for being part of their on-line panel. I don't even recall participating all that much. The expiry date for that one coupon was today. So in a panic, I went onto their on-line store rather than luxuriating in one of their huge, comfortably appointed and well-stocked coffee-bar stores for a day - or two. My youngest had volunteered to accompany me, but I sensed some relief because my book habits are notorious among my family. "Don't let her in there", is usually the comment when anyone goes shopping with me and we come anywhere within sight of a book place. Whatever. At least I'm a cheap date, right. Just coffee and an endless assortment of books. You don't even have to talk to me. As it turned out, I checked out the "on sale" sites first and decided that, with just a little bit of extra cash from me, I could get an Ipod. My youngest was very approving of my choice of how to spend his gift. I promised to share. All we have to do now is decide which songs to put on it. Between myself and my six sons and their friends' collections of CDs we probably have thousands of titles to choose from. I'll have to slip the belly dance and bollywood music in when they aren't looking. It is my new toy after all isn't it?
I was still stewing over that one article I linked to the other day and the issue of censorship. http://www.lib.uwo.ca/weldon/news/hottopics/archive2002/september02.shtml You will notice I've included the full webaddress of the next few links, dear diary, because when I checked my post for the integrity of the links I found all of them came up as blocked sites. Pretty paranoid someone is, aren't they? Can't even write about censorship anymore - and yes, that in itself is obscene. It wasn't the ideas presented that bothered me - they may or may not be true. It was that something that serious had been suppressed from any mention that I can recall in any mainstream press - even the ones who do suprisingly excellent investigative reports.http://www.pencanada.ca/programs/index.php That was fuelled today when I received a powerpoint presentation from one of my friends - en francais. The music was sort of familiar. What I had not heard before were the lyrics - Et si tu n'existais pas (And If You Had Never Existed). They were beautiful and I could tell by what I could translate as I was listening that it was a love song - linked to a series of photos of cats, mostly, allowing dogs second billing. Wanting to know more about the singer, I googled the name Joe Dassin. I was amazed to find that he was actually an American citizen whose father - a movie director - had been forced to flee the US because of one Joseph McCarthy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Dassin He grew up in Europe schooled in a multitude of languages, while his father continued his film-making. Imagine having Melina Mercouri as a step parent. That article that started it off - the one about the link between vaccines and AIDS? Well again, it isn't the content that is at issue. It is the fact that if that was actually the true source of the disease, then the knowledge of where and when it had originally infected humans as well as the footprint it has made since in so many populations, would allow for a much more efficient and effective way to help those already infected or at risk. It would also end the "God's fault" mantra that has so effectively been a barrier to addressing the problem. It is kind of like alcoholism, isn't it - censorship that is - until you admit you have a problem you can't address it.
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