Somebody Finally Explains Junior High

Wow. Impressive essay on Why Nerds Are Unpopular. Paul Graham mentions several ssues I’ve always considered particularly important, such as lack of purpose, the bland horror of suburbia, and the difference between farm families (for example), where the kids understand what the adults do (and see them doing it up close) and families where the parents are just figures in an office somewhere else.

You don’t even need to ask if I was a nerd.

And in a Similar Vein . . .

A selection of slogans from signs at the SF peace demonstrations. The full list is here. The media estimated 200,000 demonstrators just in SF.

a$$es of evil – bush, cheney, blair

how many lives per gallon?

sometimes the french are right

bush: let us prey

orphans make great terrorists

empty war heads found in white house

cockroaches for armageddon

who would jesus bomb?

go solar not ballistic

mend your fuelish ways

code green – go for peace

be a patriot – ride a bike.

duct tape is not the answer

balm iraq

war = terrorism with a big budget

roll joints, not tanks

suck dick cheney

what’s this “homeland” scheisse?

if war is inevitable – start drafting SUV drivers

war makes the victor stupid and the vanquished vengeful [nietzsche]

there are alternatives to war AND oil

don’t let a rogue president make us a rogue nation

no dubya dubya III

our country has been hijacked by lunatics

killing for peace = fucking for virginity

quick, let’s bomb more iraqi children before they starve to death

when the rich wage war it’s the poor who die [sartre]

democracy RIP – 1776-2000… ah well, we had a good run.

preemptive war = terrorism

bush + ashcroft + rumsfield = terrorist network

our tax dollars should educate american children, not kill iraqi children

we want our constitution back

defend iraq against US imperialist attack

we have nothing to fear but bush himself

collateral damage has a face

now boys, don’t hit … use your words!

no ruler has the right to ignore the will of the world

i went to the gulf war and all i got was this lousy syndrome

SUV = WAR

abort the bush die-nasty

let iraqi children have a future, mr. bush

bush lost

war, greed, hypocrisy – we demand a change in policy

george bush = son of satan

draft the bush twins

hey – red neck, go back to texas

bush – endangering america, enraging the world

yep, let’s kill the desperately poor on behalf of the obscenely rich

21st century bush doctrine – accept US imperialism or die

impeach the son of a bush

stop mad cowboy disease

first casualty of war: the truth

shut down the war machine

got terror?

i didn’t bring my children into the world to kill for the rich

listen to old europe

buck fush

bush = white kkknight for oil industry

engineers against drafting

bush hates america

murdering innocent children is in the highest moral tradition of our country

save the humans

preemptive peace

smush bush

the only bush i trust is the one on me

the last time someone listened to a bush they ended up wandering through the desert for 40 years

dissent – the essence of democracy

stop the blair bush project

support our troops. bring them home

bush, enron, cheney, halliburton

bad plan, dude

jews for burning bush

There is a truth about wars you do not know

This is from the Best of Craigslist. Go there to read the whole thing. (Ellipses in original.)

In a piney woods at Fort Gordon, Georgia in July, 1965, 300 or so close friends and I, Viet Nam vets to be, were lectured on the care and feeding of the M-30 machine gun by two Mutt and Jeff sergeants. The bus back to the base was late, a small group of us clustered around asking questions. We learned that they had been buddies all through Korea, gunner and assistant gunner. We were all pretty sure of our destination, we wanted to know. . . what is war really like?

“Sarg. . . what about Korea, what was it about?”

“It was fucked.”

I remember thinking. . . well, why didn’t you tell somebody. . . why didn’t you tell us?

Okay. I’m telling.

I knew plenty soldiers who wanted to be John Wayne. [snip] You still hear from those types now and then. The warriors. Most are gone, names on that black granite wall with so many of my friends.

I remember the ones who were overwhelmed by the random brutal shredding of human bodies, friends and foe. The hard ass curled up and crying in the bed of a truck cause he knew he couldn’t go back out again and didn’t know what to do. I remember a guy I’d known since Basic, ROTC type, who shot two Vietnamese farmers dead because he knew it would get him assigned to the rear. It worked.

In spite of all the books and movies, war has always been the same. Insanity, pure and simple. When the talking stops, when the diplomats give up and go home, people are maimed, burned, killed in the most ugly ways imaginable. There are no heroes, there is no glory, there is only destruction and death.

[snip]

The time has come to give peace a chance. I’d love to be proud to be an American.