hummingwolf | Your daily dose of paranoia

For the three of you who haven't seen it already: Frienditto will steal your soul.

For those who have seen the above but not a rebuttal, here you go.

I do not use any service which wants me to give them the password I use on an unaffiliated site, but that's just me. Well, me and most internet users with sense, anyway.

[Edit: On Frienditto, someone justifying the site.]

[Another edit: More on why people do not trust Frienditto.] [Edit again: The previous post was a put-on. Cancel Red Alert. But Yellow Alert is still a pretty good idea.]

[This should be my last edit: This post seems to be pretty well updated with the latest in the ongoing saga.

In other news, the real reason certain hysterical types want to ban the Harry Potter books is not for religious reasons as so widely assumed. No, the real reason is that they are Bush supporters who do not want us all to realize that the administration is full of Death Eaters. Don't believe it? Just try to tell me that this isn't a refinement of the Cruciatus Curse.

In all seriousness, if they do get this weapon working, you can rest assured that rioters will not be the only ones to suffer. Being in the line of friendly fire doesn't sound like any kind of fun. Besides which, research into the long-term effects of pain is already showing that pain, regardless of the cause, can damage you by itself. As someone who has chronic pain already, I really do not like the way these things are going.

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thanks for the rebuttal to the FD flap. i'm already tired of reading the warnings.

but god in heaven, you are so right about the cruciatus curse. how horrible. it makes me feel vaguely ashamed, somewhat like the school of the americas did.

I think FD is being used in some nasty little ways already, but figured it best to point to the rebuttal as well. People can make up their own minds. I'm not giving over my LJ password to some non-LJ site, but I'm not automatically removing everyone from my friends list who refuses to swear they'll never ever ever use the site themselves, y'know?

"Cruciatus" was the first thing I thought when I saw that article. I guess the HP books really did sink in, eh?

oh, they definitely do. i've found even fanfic has sunk in (since i've only read most of the first book). i've often said aloud, Wingardium Leviosa!, but it never works. :D

If that's the link I think it is, I'd much rather be on the wrong end of a non-lethal, non-permanently-damaging spaz ray than a bullet, a rubber bullet or even a teargas canister.

/might RTFA in a minute or two

And if someone could guarantee that the excruciating pain inflicted by someone 2 km. away would not cause any lasting damage (which would rather go against pain research in general, which suggests that pain does damage no matter what the cause), it would still be excruciating pain.

Yeah, but a rubber bullet will actually cause real, immediate damage, as opposed to slow, subtle nervous system damage. You'd have to get hit by a few of these plasma guns to mimic the effects of a lifetime of chronic pain. Anything that disables without killing is good in my book, and anything that temporarily disables rather than permanently is even better. Let's not forget the purpose of war is to kill people and break things, and has been for ten thousand years. If this weapon lets us enter a new era of less killing and more prisoner-taking, I can't see it being a bad thing.

If the aim was to immobilize and disable an enemy, why not simply work on weapons that cause one to lose consciousness without causing pain? Personally, given the direction the administration has already been going in, I foresee this being used less to disable a foe and more to interrogate one once in custody. Think about the potentials of this weapon for a moment: immobilizing pain that leaves no physical marks? It's the perfect torture device for a nation that wants to be able to deny torture is taking place. Especially since they desire it to cause the maximum pain possible for our nerves to register without killing us or causing tissue damage from the pain itself, rather than simply a pain sufficient to disable. There is also a problem in their methodology in this department, as the studies on how much pain that is are being done on cultured tissue in isolation, rather than taking into account the effect this may have on the human heart or brain in a complete organism. What will happen to someone with a heart condition if this pain weapon is used on them? The pregnant, the elderly, children? What about psychosomatic reactions to feeling that much pain?

There's also the potential that people will begin to shoot first and ask questions later, not caring if they hit civilians or enemies since the effects are not seen as being permanent. There's the very real potential for a mindset of shoot them all and sort it out after with this sort of weapon. Which may not be a bad idea as far as strategy with a nonlethal weapon, but should offend our sensibilities due to the enormous physical pain involved being inflicted on people who may be perfectly innocent.

There is also the problem that it can be used for control.

Who is going to demonstrate against the president stealing office if they are looking down the nozzle of extreme pain? Who will stand up against the bullies? Pain is a very powerful disincentive.

I don't think it is really being developed for riot control or torture (though I'm sure it will be used for both). I'm certain it will find immediate use on university campuses or in the streets to prevent people making peaceful protests. Suddenly people won't be able to show their disapproval.

The media controlled and the streets controlled... then all they would need to do is work out how to control the internet... but Microsoft are working on that with their .net technology and "trusted computing".

God! I sound positively paranoid don't I? I wish I was and that all this wasn't happening. :(

Why have some people such a desire to control other people?

"Why have some people such a desire to control other people?"

I think it's for several reasons not the least of which being fear. Being compulsively and overtly obsessed with control is usually an indication of the presence of some type of irrational fear. Fear can be a very rational, helpful motive when one is in the presence of real danger. It can "activate" one to remove themselves from a truly detrimental situation as quickly as possible. But fear can also be (and is often) irrational and a product of distorted perceptions of reality. It's very easy for one to delude themselves into thinking that it's "justifiable" to seek the control of others.

Another more obvious and less psychologically subtle reason might be the lust for power that seems to be so prevalent among mankind (especially the kind in charge :). Having control over another can give one a rather, I think, sick sense of power. Hitler comes to mind when I think of this. He wanted the entire universe *his* way. Having control over a large group of people gives one the perceived power to dictate other's destinies.

Just plain ego could be another reason. It does wonders for some people's ego if they feel that they have control of other's destinies. I'm not saying that any of these reasons are good or healthy reasons but very probable causes of the desire to control.

Your daily dose of paranoia

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