Monday 9 July 2007

When is a Controlled Demolition Not a Controlled Demolition?

- Presumably when fear and cowardice in the face of unsettling reality kicks in. Here is Danny Jowenko, a leading Dutch demolition expert, descibing one very obvious controlled demolition.
And while we're on the subject, here's MIT engineer, Jeff King, with a more detailed view.
As Voltaire wrote, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Onwards the War on Terror.

 
 
Sadly I have just learned Danny Jowenko died in 2011 in a bizarre single car accident on a straight road into a tree on the side of the road. Though it would have been much safer and wiser for him in worldly terms to have backed down, he held to his professional opinion that the collapse of WTC7 was without any doubt an instance of a controlled demolition.

13 comments:

Gar said...

I've always though it's got the most wonderful ring to it - "the war on terror". Sounds wonderfully quixotic. How about a war on horror? Dread? Anxiety?

Andrew said...

Well, it's basically an advertsinig slogan & these slogans presumably designed to cut through one's reasoning to basic drives such as fear & aggression. What you want are short, visceral words & imagery, like Axis of Evil, though that a somewhat less ubiquitous phrase. Huxley described it succinctly in Brave New World Revisited; "Today's dictators rely on repitition, suppression and rationalization- the repitition of catchwords they wish to be accepted as true, the suppression of facts which they wish to be ignored, the arousal of passions which may be used in the interests of the Party or State."
To go on a bit of a tangent, Pelevin's Babylon had one slogan used for the newly opened up Russian market which I thought was excellent-
REEBOK
Do it yourself, motherfucker.

Andrew said...

Just in case a hypothetical reader should be wondering, Victor's Pelevin's Reebok ad a variation on, I think, Nike's Just Do It.

Anonymous said...

you should make your way over to the Dark Age blog on my blogroll & read it from the oldest entry through to the latest. Although the blogger (a Canadian farmer) repeats himself often, there's much wisdom there about how PR has corrupted language since WW1, and the effects this has had on civilisation.

Also you need to keep an eye on the word 'hegemony'. It was once a good word, but now it instantly brings angry feminists etc. to mind, ranting about "male hegemony" and so on. Please substitute 'raging phallus power' for 'hegemony'.

Andrew said...

Thanks for the pointer, El. I was only just getting into the hang of using hegemony. Raging phallus power could pose problematic but I spose I better get with the times.

Anonymous said...

i challenge you to post one comment a day for a week on Appleyard's blog, using the phrase "raging phallus power" in an apparently justified context.

Anonymous said...

I could issue your good self with the same challenge, El. I think to retain any credibility, I'd have to do it under an assumed name but Appley probably has all the truth revealing bloig detectors for ip addresses & all that malarkey.

Anonymous said...

challenge accepted, sir.
We'll see who has the greatest raging phallus power.

Anonymous said...

well so far it looks from a quick perusal of Appleyard's most recent comments, that my raging phallus power is 2 points ahead of yours.

Feminists beware.

Andrew said...

I have to admit I doubt my ability to challenge your raging phallus power, at least on Appley's patch, though probably everywhere else also. How would you consider repeated mentions of "ideological collateral damage?"

Anonymous said...

ok, how about you get one point for "ideological collateral damage", i get one for "raging phallus power", on Appleyard's blog?

Anonymous said...

Very shorts, simple and easy to understand, bet some more comments from your side would be great

Andrew said...

There is a related post

here