In Memoriam

I'm torn today.

This being the Martin Luther King holiday here in the states, I wanted to take a shot of the King Memorial, a few blocks away, but it seems every politician in the country descended on it for a photo-op today. I figured I was better off avoiding that chaos.

I really wanted to post this shot, from the parade/march through downtown Atlanta this afternoon. Or this one.

But instead I need to post the one above.

Let me explain.



After the parade, I went to see the film "Cloverfield" (brilliant, and incredibly well-done), which turned out to be a very clever metaphor for 9/11 and the the "war" on terrorism.

After the movie, I was walking around the shopping center, snapping a few shots of all the shiny modern buildings in the fading afternoon light.

I was quickly approached by a security guard, who very politely explained that it was against "policy" for pedestrians to take photos of "structural buildings" (whatever that means). I thought she meant the ones under construction, but no, this included the ones already built, such as the one in the photo above.

This immediately brought two questions to mind:

1. If I'd been hanging my camera out a car window, taking exactly the same photos, would that have been okay?

2. If I'd been wandering around taking pictures of my feet, would they not have bothered me? Or is there a policy against that, as well?

I must say, the guard was very pleasant, and I could tell that she herself thought it was a stupid rule (she prefaced the whole thing by saying, "You're going to think this sounds weird, but...").

Still, having been harassed in the past by public-transport security guards, and a doorman at a government building downtown, this new wrinkle - especially coming on this day - really drove home for me how much we've lost in the last 6 years.

Dr. King's dream of a colorblind world may be coming closer and closer to reality, but by the time it finally does arrive, it won't matter.

What good are equal rights, if by equality mean mean everyone has none?

If we don't even have the right to stand on a sidewalk and take a picture, what the hell are we so worried about the terrorists taking away from us? And what does it matter who's running things, anyway?

The rich, the corporations, the islamic fundamentalists - tyranny is tyranny, no matter how many flags it drapes itself in.



This Blip then, is in memory of a man who dreamed of freedom, and of a time, not so long ago, when most of us could actually believe we were free, and not living under the ever descending boot-heel of politically manufactured fear.





War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength


Homeland Security; Enemy Combatants; Preemptive Invasion


Mission Accomplished







(And I know no one will read this much text, but I had to vent.)