Learning on someone else’s mistakes is sadly not a quality well-developed in most people, leaving the ones who already know the outcome to sit and watch another crash and burn just to say “I told you so” when it’s all said and done. Many people already have experiences similar to the ones about to be encountered by the American people; they recognize the similarities and know the lessons, but it’s next to impossible to overcome the “it can’t happen here” attitude. Knowing that, I long ago limited the amounts of “I told you so” I dispense on the daily basis.
The above explains why I am not going to dwell on the video below posted by the LAPD:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LciBRRkG_y8
My favorite part is on the 27th second when the actor says “let the law enforcement determine if it’s a threat” and the other one says “let the experts decide”. Anyone with the knowledge of the Soviet history would draw a connection the the Great Purges of 1930’s when regular citizens were encouraged to uncover the “enemies of the state” among their friends, neighbors, co-workers and even relatives. Even small things could be important to the wise authorities, who will then decide if your elderly uncle is really a foreign spy. Authorities wouldn’t send an innocent person to a labor camp for 20 years, right? Most people informed on their friends and relatives with the best and the purest of intentions (except in cases where they wanted to expand their living space once another “spy” gets arrested).
The “authorities” of the Soviet 1930’s would be proud of this video but they had their own means of propaganda.
Be Vigilant! Uncover the enemy under any mask!The enemy is deceitful - be vigilant!Vigilance is our weapon! Be Vigilant!
Written on the snake “Spying, Sabotage, Provocation”.
Foreign spies are seeking out drunks. It's well-known that drunks speak their mind.Militiaman! Be Vigilant! You can't lose your alertness even for a minute!Blabbermouth - enemy's treasure!Be vigilant everywhere. Remember, the enemy is mean and deceitful!Your chatter is helping the enemy!Don't even try!
People, be vigilant! (The snake spells "revanchism")Vigilance is our weapon!Be Vigilant! Comrade, don't let peaceful days fool you! Throw your kindheartedness out! Remember, the enemy is among us!Be vigilant! The enemy doesn't sleep!
Uncle Sam’s bony fingers holding a wad of cash and a binocular peering at the map of the USSR.
Don't Yak! The enemy is listening!The types of spy accessories
Top left: “long tongue” can disclosed military secrets.
Bottom Left: “rose colored glasses” make wolves seem like harmless goats.
Top right: “making elephant out of the fly” (like mountain out of the mole hill).
Bottom right: “catch the enemy’s helpers, be on guard”.
No Chatter! Be on guard, these days even walls are listening! Idle chatter and rumors are not that far from treason!Continue reading →
Trans World Airlines has a special place in American History. On October 21, 1992 a special anniversary flight from Moscow to New York (via Brussels) brought my family and me to this country, full of hopes, dreams and dressed up in full-blown winter attire on a nice 70F fall day. TWA is now a fading memory but some photos from the Life Magazine Archives may remind you of the olden days when the word “stewardess” wasn’t frowned upon, smoking was cool and the sexism was a solid corporate policy.
On my rare visit to Barnes and Noble, a store that encourages consumer to buy books online, I discovered a new batch of books containing vintage photos of Kansas City and other nearby places of interest. While I admire the effort to collect and annotate enough historic photos for a book, I don’t see myself paying over $20 for one of them. I am afraid many of these will be read at the coffee shop upstairs.
Luckily there are plenty of old photos online to entertain a cheap person like myself and even some books that can be read and downloaded for free. For example, check out A Birthday Book Of Kansas City 1821-1921 by Charles Phelps Cushing (obviously you should do it at work). The following photos and captions are taken from this book.
The Past and Present, on this block there is one of the newest and one of the oldest buildings in Kansas City. At Tenth Street and Grand Ave. arises the frame of the new Federal Bank Building. The oldest church building still in church use in Kansas City is the Catholic Church of St.Peter and St.Paul. southwest corner of Ninth and McGee streets. SarventContinue reading →
Wow! Do you get your jollies by going around and finding the worst in every place you go? How sad! Did you bother to look at our new Library or the nice Community building or our school or the many nice houses or the new museum building? I pity you if all you see when you go through a community is the worst – and every community has some. We do have a great community – sure we’re struggling to stay alive – What small town isn’t. But we take care of each other, oh, why am I trying to explain anything to someone like you?
This is what I call a Podunk Effect. Every other town in this country has a library, a school and a great community. It’s the rest of the stuff that makes a place unique, even if it’s a rusty truck, broken-down gazebo or an old sign. Podunk Effect makes you want to prove that your town is much much better than some visiting idiot made it out to be, even though the visitor is long gone and will probably never be back. He didn’t do his research, didn’t shake hands, didn’t sign your museum’s guestbook, and now everyone will see your awesome town as a giant pile of rusted metal and construction trash. Podunk Effect makes you boil with anger and leave angry comments on the offender’s site to set him straight.
Recently an enormous case of Podunk Effect hit Kansas City, when a snarky article about the life of a vegetarian New-Yorker in Midwest was published in the New York Times.
But make no mistake: meat-loving is one stereotype that the region wears with pride. Lard still plays a starring role in many kitchens, bacon comes standard in salads, and perhaps the most important event on Kansas City social calendars is a barbecue contest.
– blasphemed the alleged heretic (none of it untrue) inadvertently creating a tsunami of righteous outrage.
“How dare he! What does he mean by “meat-loving stereotype”? Lettuce is a vegetable!”
One chef and refuter wrote:
My first reaction to the article was confusion. My second reaction was to laugh. My third reaction was anger.
My first reaction to her post was doubt – do people really have three separate reactions in a row?
My second reaction was to wonder – what was the length of time in which these three reactions occurred? Was it really fast like “I am confused! Ha-ha! Boo!” or did every stage take some time, maybe an hour or more?
My third reaction was amazement – did I just have three reactions in a row? Awesome!
The problem with the NYT article is not the lack of research, or the author taking an easy route of propagating old stereotypes instead of portraying Kansas City as an oasis of vegetarianism in Midwest. The problem is the Pavlovian defensive reaction the article prompted on twitter, blogs, Facebook and even in the local paper, reaction which just like a hurricane in a glass of water is pretty irrelevant in the scheme of things.
Because I went to college I will use a Venn diagram to illustrate my point.
All the reactions, comments, blog posts and rebuttals are staying here, with an exception of maybe this short note on the New York Magazine’s site, where one succinct comment expressed how most New Yorkers feel about Kansas City.
Here is one headline you will never see in print: “New Yorkers are outraged about an unfair article about New York City published in the KC Star“. New Yorkers don’t need our or anyone else’s approval and acknowledgement, so why do we have to get hysterical and make everyone love us just like a podunk Williamsburg,KS? Until we drop small town mentality and just do our thing whether it’s eating meat or tofu, we will always suffer from the lack of self-respect as the city.
No one is flying in here for the local vegetarian smorgasbord, it exists mostly for the people who live here and their occasional meat-hating guest. And, to be fair, the meat-loving stereotype served this city well, financially as well as being known as the BBQ capital of the world in the rest of the world. Recently I watched a clip of a Russian show where a lady presented a host with several bottles of the Kansas City BBQ sauce (ironically with all-vegetarian ingredients). That’s not a bad thing to be famous for.
One thing this city needs to learn from New York: when you say or do something that a New Yorker doesn’t like, he will show you a finger and move on.
We just need to learn to move on. But not before showing the finger.
Recently my friend EmawKC (I struggled for years to figure out what it stands for and gave up) happily helped out the City of Overland Park with his almost voluntary donation.
Through the miracle of modern forensic science I was ably to recreate the events leading up to the event. I believe it started something like this:
This is a live reenactment of what happened just prior to the act of the donation itself:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPx20Gb5Jro
*At this point of my research another policeman pulled up behind me and ruined the cinematographic moment. Although I wasn’t doing anything wrong being on public street filming a public employee, I didn’t feel like hanging out there any longer. Maybe next time time I will do a better job of blending in.
