Sifting the "Lighter Side"

Anthropology, History, Science

2011-11-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that often items about discoveries concerning history, anthropology or science are often considered "light" and put in the "Lighter Side" section. Shows where MSM and corporate globalism want us to stay focused: on trivia. Sports and entertainment. But discoveries, put on the margins of interest. The category alone -- "lighter side" -- ensures the subconscious treats such news as amusing, mildly interesting in a casual way, but of no account.

The Onion's Fake News and Horrifying Real News

2011-09-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Juxtaposed images and items involving children. One has hints of the fake staged terror events put on in schools I've been commenting about on The Orange Orb and Octopus Confessional. Even though the story is false -- it's from The Onion -- it contains elements of those actual stories of false terror events.
The Onion tweeted:

"BREAKING: Capitol building being evacuated. 12 children held hostage by group of armed congressmen."

While The Onion is a satirical fake "news" operation, and this story, like all their stories, is completely untrue, this particular "story" of theirs concerned children and upset a lot of people. It was juxtaposed with the very real and horrifying news out of Mexico of a bag with five human heads left outside an Acapulco elementary school as a warning from drug cartels.

When I did a search at the R-G site for the item it wasn't there. But here's something from the Huffington Post about The Onion piece.

Banana Man Wins: High School Principal Gone | ThePostGame

2011-09-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

Update on the previous item, which first appeared in the "On the Lighter Side" section of Eugene's local paper the Register Guard. The earlier item did not mention that the student was austistic or that he ended up in handcuffs. In this update -- found on the web and not in a "lighter side" type category -- the principal is gone, and students vindicated:

Many felt the punishment didn't fit the so-called crime. The initial coverage of the story also started a discussion about autism. A parenting columnist in the Washington Post wrote: "Thompson's behavior might have been harmless, but the coverage has been another story, because it unnecessarily evoked autism for a stunt that any class clown could have pulled."

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) got involved after the school attempted to keep students from wearing T-shirts supporting the "Banana Man." A few students were punished with Saturday detention for their wardrobe decision. That suspension has since been retracted.

With video clip.

Banana Man Wins: High School Principal Gone | ThePostGame

Banned Books, ACLU

2011-09-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

Source: Register Guard, Eugene, Oregon

Juxtaposed with an item about a baseball mascot's head returned to The Lake Erie Crushers:

Banned Twain book back on shelf

CHARLTON, Mass. — A Massachusetts library has put the Mark Twain work “Eve’s Diary” back on the shelf more than a century after it was banned. The Charlton Public Library’s trustees this week voted to return the book to circulation, reversing the board’s 1906 decision.

Trustee Richard Whitehead said the move was made to coincide with the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week.

The book was written from the perspective of the biblical Eve. It was banned because trustee Frank Wakefield objected to nude illustrations of Eve.

The 1906 decision drew attention from The New York Times, which reported that Twain was not particularly concerned.

In case banned books, American literary history, sacred/religious mythology and the divine feminine aren't trivial enough for you, there's one more item:

ACLU backs ‘Banana Man’ shirts

STAFFORD, Va. — High school students wearing “Free Banana Man” T-shirts to protest a classmate’s suspension for sprinting around a football field in a banana costume are drawing support from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.

The ACLU told administrators at a Stafford County high school that they must let students wear the T-shirts.

Stafford schools spokeswoman Valerie Cottongim said a couple of T-shirts were confiscated because students were whipping them around like “rally rags” and creating a disturbance.

All right, it is a bit funny. I can't help but think of John Cleese instructing the troops to defend themselves with fruit. Still, we're talking ACLU, not Ministers of Silly Walks.