The True Truman Nation by Oscar Saunders

THE TRUE

TRUMAN

NATION Revealed by Oscar J. Saunders

Contents Ipovlopsychophobia Claustrophobia Dystychiphobia Athazagoraphobia Anatidaephobia Politicophobia Mythophobia Rhabdophobia Telephonophobia Theophobia Sources

Page -002 -018 -070 -082 -110 -126 -140 -158 -180 -194 -206

Ipovlopsychophobia

is from the Greek words ypovlóps - “one who takes stolen glances”, “the soul”, and phobos - “fear”. It refers to a fear, aversion, or strong refusal to have one’s photograph taken. A Fear of having one’s story told through imagery they do not control. Although an uncommon phobia, it has also been noted within minor religions as an experience to which one believes their spirit or essence is stolen by the photographer and the equipment used.

TRUTH 6

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fear of being deceived is the vulgar version of the quest for Truthâ&#x20AC;? Emile M. Cioran 7

ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES! 9

ruman Burbank played by Jim Carrey is an insurance salesman leading an idyllic, peaceful life on Seahaven Island. Truman also happens to be the star of the most popular live show in television history. The only problem is, he has no idea. The entire island of Seahaven is revealed to be a complete fabrication; a massive set surrounded by a protective dome that produces the most sophisticated effects and imagery to mimic the sky, weather, and temperature of the real world. Set just off of what appears to be the coast of Florida, the dome is run by a massive staff hidden just beyond its barriers and managed by the artistically eccentric Director, Christof (Ed Harris). Christof has filmed Truman since just before his birth and sees the project as a ray of hope; a way to truthfully portray a person’s life nonstop while maintaining their innocence.

The film touches upon many themes throughout its duration and I will look into a few of these within this book, the main theme being paranoia and the fear of being watched by powers that are merely out of your own control. Other themes include being deceived over your own reality and what we as the voyeur consider to be real and what is not. Religion and creationism also play a moral role in the Truman Show, paired with the shallow ideology of consumerism. Since the Truman Show is essentially a reality TV show it is funded by advertising endorsements and product placement. Inside this book you may be challenged by such advertisements to emulate the power of the media, and to stress that what we are forced to see and read on a daily basis can sometimes be nothing more than a well conceived little white lie.

Although the concept is rather extreme for reality television, we cannot deny its huge fan following both within the film world itself, and in real life. We also cannot reject the fact that if the Truman Show was an actual program on terrestrial television, we would as global voyeurs, watch intently with eager eyes. Especially as the ratings for shows such as Big Brother and TOWIE (The Only Way Is Essex) only seem to increase as time goes on, and as our tastes turn sour. If you had the choice, would you free Truman from his perfect life? Destroy his “perfect” American Dream? Or allow him no truth and continue to deceive him for your own consumerist benefits? Throughout the film we continue to beg the question - a question we can ask both the Truman Show, and ourselves;

- “how’s it going to end?”

Truman was an orphaned child who’s mother didn’t want him, and as a result was chosen by Christof as his new rising reality TV star. From an early age Truman lead a sheltered life under the watchful eye of his fake mother and father. Keeping him within their false reality and restricting him from discovering the truth. At school Truman wanted to be an explorer but was put off the idea as the teacher replies that there isn’t much point, the world has already been fully explored. On the beach Truman would climb the rocks to see what lies beyond them, but his father would beckon him back down keeping him from finding out. Keeping him trapped within Seahaven and the American Dream.

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia (from Latin claustrum “a shut in place” and Greek, phóbos, “fear”) is the fear of having no escape and being closed in spaces or rooms irrespective of the room size

CAPTIVITY 22

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do everything I think possible or acceptable toescape from this trap.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Jacques Derrida 23

WELCOME TO

SEAHAVEN

eahaven is a constructed reality created by the executives of The Truman Show which serves to house the main character, Truman, as well as the actors around him in an attempt to capture as many viewers as possible and through this, market as many products as possible. Hence, Seahaven is portrayed as the perfect and utopian American seaside town, perhaps of the 1950s to 1960s, but in reality, it is merely a movie/film set of unbelievably enormous proportions, with 5000 cameras, simulated, human controlled weather and geography, as well as an entire town of actors and actresses all paid and supported by Christoff and his corporation. Although Seahaven may be portrayed to its audiences as a reality in itself, the fact is that it is still a simulated reality and the one and only one fragment of it which is truly genuine would probably be Truman himself. However, the audience does not see this fact, and hence Christoff and the executives of the Truman Show masterfully use this to their advantage by creating the perfect, vintage, though highly

stereotypical vision of an American suburbia, the classic American Dream, and sell it to their audiences as a form of reality.

“appear to be leading the perfect lives,” How all this fits in into the American Dream is in the lifestyles of the “inhabitants” of Seahaven. The “inhabitants”, or rather, the actors and actresses, all appear to be leading the perfect lives, with their perfect little children and perfect little homes in which

they are constantly happy and contented with their lives and themselves, where they work hard but never have to worry about their next paycheck or where their next meal is coming from, and where they basically live a laid back lifestyle which the viewers can only dream of. A specific scene which comes to mind in which this portrayal of the American Dream is illustrated well is in the first few minutes of The Truman Show where Truman walks out of his house to the perfect, master-planned community where the freshly painted houses are arranged side by side neatly with clean sidewalks and picture perfect neighbors, all of which/whom evoke a very dreamy quality about them, the kind of feeling that would make the people at home sigh and wish they were there, only they don’t know they can’t, even though it isn’t really there. This feeling is the exact kind of feeling that Christoff and his fellow executives wished to evoke within the audience and this is especially clear when he states that Seahaven is the way the world should be. The desired effect produced by this scene alone is also the

same desired effect that is intentionally produced throughout most of the Truman Show whether for the benefit of the elderly couple watching at home, the waitresses watching from the diner, or even the security guards doing their daily shifts.

The makers of The Truman Show are basically trying to communicate subliminal messages of varying degrees of intensity to their audiences. Firstly, the makers of the Truman Show wish to market their idea of “the perfect life” to their audience. By selling The Truman Show as a “reality TV programme”, despite the fact that the only reality was Truman himself, the makers are subtly deceiving their audience and making them believe that what is shown before them is reality, and hence the ‘reality’ that they see before them is ‘the perfect life’ because everyone in the ‘reality’, including Truman appears to be happy, contented, and living the American Dream.

“the makers are subtly deceiving their audience”

Secondly, through marketing their idea of “the perfect life” to their audiences, they also blatantly market their products to the audience which they think, or rather, which they want the people to think constitute “the perfect life”. Hence these people who are constantly but unknowingly bombarded by such media messages as they watch the show are heavily influenced to purchase these products, due to effective product placement on the part of the makers, in their own personal pursuit of the American Dream, of a life which they can only dream of. Thirdly, by confining Truman to Seahaven and by quelling his urges for exploration beyond his comfort zone, the makers of The Truman Show might also be trying to communicate the idea of “happiness without asking questions” to the people watching at home, effectively consuming the freedom of not just Truman, but also the millions of =viewers who are too emotionally attached to Truman to let go of the television programme as well as everything that it represents.

“happiness without asking questions” 31

The iron dome which imprisons Truman in is own show.

This it the view of Seahaven from outside its dome its Hollywood.

The dome is so enormous it can be viewed from space.

YOU CAN BE A PRO,

NIKE JUST BUY IT. 39

WELCOME TO

THE HAMPTONS

T AKATHE

ucked away in the quiet suburbs of Worcester Park (Surrey) is a strange little complex known as The Hamptons.

TRUMAN PROJECTS

I first discovered this place a few years ago during Sixth Form when my friends and I would drive to the McDonalds Drivethru and look for a quaint place to sit and eat it. Back then the artificial village was smaller and less developed with only a handful of completed roads and houses. Now it is complete and boasts a hefty population and community spirit. What

makes The Hamptons so special is the stories that came with it when we used to visit, we named it the Truman Show or American Place due to it’s colourful wooden flat pack housing and odd residents. Each time we would return with newcomers who had not had the pleasure of experiencing The Hamptons and they would in turn bring their own conspiracies with them. One was that the whole village was a front for undercover operations. In the centre of the houses is a large circular mound of greenery raised up in different levels of elevation. This looked suspiciously like there was something beneath the ground, some sort of missile silo or military base. The fact that people were so scarce aided this rumor, houses usually showed no signs of human activity and cars were very rarely seen driving in or out. Fake police dog unit vans would be parked by the town hall like building at

the entrance and undercover men with ear pieces would stop and ask people entering what their business was in The Hamptons. These were all experiences we as friends had been a part of and made us continually question the reason for The Hamptons to be there. Many times we had been escorted out when returning at night and the excessive overuse of CCTV cameras on poles and houses didn’t help us to investigate. When I returned to take these pictures it was on Easter Holiday so I was intrigued to see if there would be kids playing on the green, or any signs of activity - there wasn’t. In fact, I was stopped by what seemed to be a civilian with a earpiece in when snooping around and questioned for having a camera and taking pictures, I explained my story and was left alone.

nother idea was that the complex is part of a witness protection program housing people under different identities from potential threats. This is slightly more plausible than the undercover missile silo story (above), but wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t explain the fact that some houses were up for sale although we never enquired to see if the houses could actually be bought and werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just a front to keep the facade legitimate. The only people seen regularly are the grounds keepers that routinely mow the grass or pick up litter. These people probably had ear pieces in too if we could get close enough to investigate. Above all the strangest part of The Hamptons is when you head over the mound to the other side, away from the houses.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you cross the wooden walkway you weave in and out of the protruding plants and wild birdsâ&#x20AC;?

he strangest part of this false American landscape is its sudden juxtaposition with the outside world. When heading over the mound to the northern edge of the complex you are confronted with an artificial lake. Inhabiting the lake are many gulls and a handful of swans. A bright yellow sign indicates the danger of the water whilst another lets us know not to venture any further in the interest of the wildlife. A strange request as a large wooden walkway stems across the pool fixed with fluorescent lifeboat rings and more signs. The last time I came here the foliage wasn’t so high and there weren’t so many birds lurking around the water. I didn’t notice the sign either. When you cross the wooden walkway you weave in and out of the protruding plants and wild birds, slowly escaping the all seeing eyes of numerous CCTV cameras dotted around on poles and ends of

houses. Once the wood beneath your feet ceases to exist all that’s left is a couple of road works barriers floating in a muddy puddle. Which must be crossed in order to escape the complex out the back. A few years ago this entrance was a mere vandals crack in a concrete wall, but now it has adapted into a metal gate riddled with barbed wire. This gate leads out of the bubble onto ‘Pig’s Alley’, a mile long stretch of graffiti covered walls and empty paint cans. It got the name from the reference to Police ambushing graffiti artists from each end whilst they were spraying up the walls.

WELCOME

NORTH KOREA

also known as the HERMIT KINGDOM

NORTH KOREA: Threats, posturing, belligerent rhetoric from the young Kim Jong-Un is rocketing to new heights.

What’s going on in the Hermit Kingdom? 공산주의국가 지배, 군사 위협, 핵 왕따, 노예와 기아.* *Communism, state ruling, military threats, nuclear bullying, enslavement and starvation.

nother day another threat: from underground nuclear tests to rebooting a nuclear program to declaring war on its southern neighbor , North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric is rocketing to new heights. On Wednesday, Pyongyang’s military made its most unsettling announcement yet — that a new law had authorized plans for “counter-actions” against U.S. military exercises, including launching a “cuttingedge, smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike.” And on Thursday, there were reports it has moved a missile with a range great enough to hit Japan, South Korea and some U.S. bases to the east coast – for no clear reason. Has North Korea’s 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-Un flown off the launching pad himself? Or are other, stronger hands propelling him on a dangerous trajectory? And what is more perilous, Kim’s longrange nuclear threats, or the prospect of war closer at hand, with a nervous, red-alert South Korea? They don’t call North Korea the Hermit Kingdom for nothing. Lifelong Korea-watchers can only shake their heads at the questions, and grope for answers. Here are some of the most informed:

THE

Q&A

Q: Who’s really running North Korea? A: Depends on whom you ask. The prevailing opinion: that KJU is in charge and rumors of a puppet president under the thumb of shadowy advisers are unlikely. Kim’s chest-beating, says veteran Koreawatcher Andrew Natsios of Texas A&M University, is a cover for a purge of “geriatric government and military officialdom” and their replacement by younger loyalists. But he says in U.S. News and World Report, “The change isn’t going well.” Ratcheting up tensions with other countries may be a way of rolling back a wave of dissent. Q: And if he isn’t behind the wheel, who’s driving? A: The International Crisis Group has some ideas. They include young Kim’s aunt Kim Kyong Hui, a 66-year-old iron lady who’s not only a top-ranking political official, but a general. Her husband, Jang song Thaek, is a senior defence official and Soviet-trained technocrat. Experts say they are the “Power Couple” of the new North Korea. Cabinet chief Pak Pong Ju, at 70, has a long track record with the Kim dynasty, and is close to the two relatives. That may make Kim Jong-Un “more dependent” on The Family for his power base. Q: If Kim is making these escalating threats, what is he thinking? A: Scary as it may sound, says Korea expert David Kang of University of Southern California, it’s rhetoric as usual — the latest in a long line of threats that go back six decades. “He’s showing his nationalist credentials, as much to his own military as to the outside world,” Kang says. “Secondly, over the last 10 years both sides — South Korea and the U.S. vs. North Korea — have decided they will never be able to live together. Both sides are thinking the same things: ‘They can’t be trusted, they keep changing the goalposts, they always break their promises.’ ” Q: Is announcing a state of war with South

Korea a brag too far? A: “We forget that for 63 years they have been in a state of war and they have never been at peace,” Kang says. “They’ve never called off the war. That’s why we’re having, literally, the same debates we had 15 years ago: ‘Is Kim a mad man? Is this the time when he’ll go too far? Should we head for the hills?’ ”

Q: But what about that nuclear threat? A: “I believe that North Korea has the bomb but not much of a nuclear arsenal,” says Stanford University nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker in CISAC news. “With its limited testing success to date, it likely does not have confidence to field a miniaturized nuclear weapon on one of its missiles. If it

can’t mount a nuclear weapon, its bombs are more like a terrorist’s threat.” As for restarting the nuclear program, experts say it’s an empty threat — the facility was blown up in 2008 and what’s left is old and decrepit. Q: Not reassured yet? A: Missiles currently in the North Korean nuclear arsenal are estimated to have a range of no more than 500 kilometres, which would reach Seoul but not Japan, says the Federation of American Scientists. But weapons in “unclear stage of development” could reach up to 6,000 kilometers — still far short of Washington. Q: Could China put a restraining hand on Kim’s collar? A: “China has 70 per cent of North Korea’s trade and it has a pipeline,” says Marcus Noland of the Peterson Institute in Washington, author of several books on North Korea. “If it turned that off they’d be in trouble very quickly.” However, China shows no sign of squeezing its long-term ally and neighbor. This week the editor of an “influential Communist party journal” was suspended for writing an article saying that China should abandon Pyongyang, and that the strategic alliance was “outdated,” according to The New York Times. China recently backed a new round of United Nations sanctions against North Korea, but there are questions about how strongly it would enforce them. Q: In spite of that, should we keep calm and carry on? A: “There is the obvious chance of miscalculation,” Kang says. “But deterrence has been practised by both sides for decades, because both sides are really cold and calculating. They thump their chests and shout, and they believe each other’s threats. So we know if we were to do a pre-emptive strike the other side won’t take it. The U.S. does military exercises (with South Korea) because it makes our deterrent credible to North Korea. They hate it. But it takes a lot of practice for two militaries to mesh their command and control. And every year North Korea believes that one year we will actually invade. They go on high alert. That’s what I call the security dilemma: The things we do to make us safer make us feel less safe.”

Are you worried about Cancer this Christmas? You should be worrying about Throat-Scratch! 70

Dystychiphobia means the fear of accidents. With such people who suffer this anxiety is that they might injure themselves or other people or damage property or the environment. Accident phobics try to avoid risky jobs, atmospheric conditions, a tiring work schedule, and equipment failure. The fear of accidents is related to a phobia of decision-making and a fear of making errors.

FEAR 74

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The difference between cowards and heroes is that cowards fear what they face, and heroes face what they Fear.â&#x20AC;? Dr. Mardy Grothe 75

ruman’s world is controlled by a producer/director named Christof (Of Christ? Christ like?). He has a control room conveniently placed in the Moon, which is always high in the sky and never moves. It doesn’t have to move since Truman was probably never taught about the heavens and how the planets, sun and moon work. It is attached to the synthetic horizon over the synthetic ocean and overlooks Seahaven. Christof dismisses protestors who believe Truman is the victim of a cruel deception. He even goes on to say that he has done a good thing for Truman (paternal benevolent dictator, Svengali, Hitler, Stalin). He says that Truman lives in a safe world where nothing harmful would ever happen to him. It depends on what he means by harmful. The phobias that are created and psychological pressure put upon this man can be interpreted as harmful. Isn’t feeling safe something we all seem to have wanted at one point or another in our lives? Our media seems to look at the 50’s as

that sort of world. Where everything seemed to be in control or under control and people just went about life living bland, happy existences (i.e., safe). Is this true?

“Seahaven is the way the world should be.” When interviewed, Christof has the audacity to say, “I have given Truman a chance to lead a normal life,” he says. “Seahaven is the way the world should be.”

Would you want to live in a world where you were the only one who was real and had real feelings? Obviously Christof is only talking about such things as dirt, creativity, spontaneity, crime, etc. He is talking about a world with no tension. When I was a child growing up in the 50’s, I seem to remember problems like the Bomb, fallout shelters, blatant racism, gangs (Hells Angels), drugs, and crime. I don’t remember the 50’s as the media is representing them. We, who grew up in the 50’s didn’t just spend our time in sock-hops dancing to Bill Haley and His Comets or driving our hot-rods at racetracks. There was also a lot of real fear going on in the 50’s. Christof uses technical language or what some call Technospeak that further isolates him and the actions he performs on Truman with the results of his manipulation (denial, psychological trauma, love). He says, “there is our hero shot.” He doesn’t mention that hero shot is just a film making term and has no relationship to real emotions.

Christof truly believes he loves Truman in a fatherly, godlike manner. You can see this when he touches the screen while Truman sleeps and when he finally talks to Truman. He is a loving guardian who will do anything he feels will sell the show, a true dichotomy (innocence, betrayal). This reminds me of those parents who manipulate and work their children in the world of children’s beauty pageants. Who’s interest is truly being served here? Christof’s? Or is it Truman’s? Christof’s drive to keep the show alive has contaminated Christof’s love for Truman. For the show to stay alive, Christof must keep Truman alive, but in the dark about the real world. Even when Truman learns from Christof of his true situation, Christof seems to think that Truman will come back to live the rest of his life as a pawn (bird in the cage with the open door). One of the prime methods used to manipulate Truman is fear. Truman’s fears are created to provide a method to control him. Christof doesn’t want Truman leaving Seahaven so

he uses the synthetic drowning of his father to create a phobia to prevent him from ever using the sea as a means to escape. Christof uses the reinforcement of a barking dog every day so that the dog he runs into in the walkway leading out of the town scares

“a lot of real fear going on in the 50’s.” him back. Christof uses news stories in the paper that mention the problems of other cities and

how Seahaven is the safest place to live just to keep Truman satisfied and scared of the outside world. Christof also uses posters that advertise the risk of flying so that Truman consider flying out of Seahaven. Media, in our world, also uses fear. Advertising continues to implant and press us with images of dirty homes (fear of germs), dirty dishes (fear of disease), dirty toilets (fear of disease), wrong clothes (fear of public opinion, shame), wrong shoes (fear of peer disapproval), and many more. In a world where everyone is given the message that it is important to be an “individual”, why is everyone wearing the same kinds of fashions, driving the same kind of trucks, vans, etc.? Truman is obviously attempting to gain a freedom and right he has never known. He has felt the pain of containment without knowing the real truth about how really contained he was. The Truman Show is about a person who must break through all the barriers, even to the point of talking back to his God (JB).

Many people learn in movie appreciation classes that in movies and any visual media, what is not shown may be as important or more important than what is shown to the audience. Important information about reality is constantly filtered and kept from Truman all the time (1984). This also happens to us. Media continually filters what is given to us. Our emotions and feelings are manipulated by what is fed us and not fed us. Our imagination is also fed to limit its use and effectiveness. When was the last time you attempted to write a story or poem? TV, radio, movies, advertisements send messages (subliminal and not so subliminal) that the authors want us to respond to. Sometimes these messages are hidden from our perception (subliminal). They still have an effect on many of us.

The Truman Show provides us a glimpse of what an exciting world it would be to break free of the constraints and experience life for what it truly is, not what some advertiser wants Truman to believe it is. Is that possible anymore for us?

WAS WAS WAS WAS WAS 84

IT IT IT IT IT

EVER? EVER? EVER? EVER? EVER?

We want what we can’t have, commodity makes us want it So expensive, damn, I just got to flaunt it Got to show ‘em, so exclusive, this that new shit A hundred dollars for a pair of shoes I would never hoop in Look at me, look at me, I’m a cool kid I’m an individual, yea, but I’m part of a movement My movement told me be a consumer and I consumed it They told me to just do it, I listened to what that swoosh said Look at what that swoosh did See it consumed my thoughts Are you stupid, don’t crease ‘em, just leave ‘em in that box Strangled by these laces, laces I can barely talk That’s my air bubble and I’m lost, if it pops We are what we wear, we wear what we are But see I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all Will I stand for change, or stay in my box These Nikes help me define me, but I’m trying to take mine, off

Athazagoraphobia

is the fear of being forgotten or ignored by those around you. These can sometimes be the Ipovlopsychoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. - The people that do not fear the camera, the people that are willing to sell their souls to have their story told to millions, so they can gain fame and be remembered for whatever it is they did.

REALITY 92

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I knew it was time to get off of reality tv when someone asked me if I sang, as well as acted.â&#x20AC;? Ozzy Osbourne 93

xperts and society are quick to notice cigarette, alcohol, drug and sex addiction. However, certain TV programmes can be just as dangerous and damaging. “There’s no way producers can create a reality show from that idea!” That’s the initial thought. You then tune into the first episode to check out just how silly the concept is. At the end of the hour, you vow never to waste your time on that show again. However, before you know it, friends and family are talking about it and you find yourself conveniently plonked in front of the TV week after week. Although TV addiction has been around for a long time, reality TV addiction is something new, International Psychology Centre consultant psychologist Avis Ng Weng Suan says. But it’s catching on. Ng believes that if reality show addiction goes unchecked, it could lead to serious physical, mental and emotional problems. “The issue is escalating, although it’s difficult to gauge what stage we are at right

now. When someone spends an excessive amount of time watching TV and can’t kick the habit, no matter how hard, that is a sign of addiction. One of the main reasons this addiction is becoming more common is because of the availability of reality shows. Over the past couple of years there have been a mushrooming of TV channels, reality shows, Internet forums and bloggers who discuss every single episode of these shows. Even parents believe that they are doing their children good by allowing them to watch hours of educational programmes or cooking reality shows. These days you rarely find children reading books or solving puzzles. The problem may be more serious than we think. Recently, a Japanese study revealed that children are prone to epileptic seizures because of too much TV time.” Although children and teenagers are more susceptible to TV addiction, Ng says, adults should be as cautious. “Adults hooked on reality shows isolate themselves socially, which could lead to obesity. They also develop an inability to communicate. In some extreme cases, their

addiction could also lead to depression.” Ng says Chinese TV serials have always been around, but it was more of a family thing. “Reality TV is a new introduction to an old problem. It still does not promote real conversation. TV scenes may show kids what to do, but it doesn’t show them how to act upon those feelings. Ultimately, you don’t have a good relationship with family members. Indirectly, this could lead to other addictions, such as drug and alcohol. We are formed to communicate with people, not with the TV or robots. We have rational needs that need to be met, such as to be loved and understood. If you spend 60 per cent of your time in front of the TV, you will lack social interaction. Before you know it, you’ll develop social anxiety.” Someone with social anxiety feels self conscious. Even a dinner alone at the local mamak stall can be frustrating and scary. “In many instances, reality TV is a form of escapism. You’re looking at somebody else’s life instead of yours. When a viewer watches

“Really love the Truman Show reality television phenomenon! I think it really portrays life in its many forms. It’s just like watching your own little everyday events but on a television screen surrounded by other people all connecting with the traumas together.” “God bless the Truman Show, we love you Truman!” a reality show, they create a projection of themselves. They admire a certain role or character because they themselves lack those traits. In a nutshell, you play your life through someone else’s life. That admiration could easily turn into idolism. What’s worse is when the person is suddenly eliminated, it can be disappointing. Most of the time the addict does not know what to do with themselves. Emotionally, they feel upset. Eventually, they may find someone else to project through another show. Projection is common because it reflects self-esteem. It’s not a two-way relationship, it’s just a substitute.” Monash University Malaysia clinical psychologist and senior lecturer Paul Jambunathan believes that reality shows aim to sell emotions. “Why do we watch movies? It’s because we identify with all the emotions they express. The whole thing about film is the sale of emotions. We identify with reality shows like a puzzle we want to solve in our heads. Take for instance Indian movies, the story line spans over every emotion we can think of.

Anonymous, N/A Slave.

There are moments of happiness, sadness, pregnancy and dying. It’s a business of selling emotions. Another big lure of reality shows is the ability to judge people. The producers edit and `beep’ a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, we are becoming more and more emotionally detached. If you want reality TV, take your family out, enjoy nature, get rid of your family problems, leave the phone at home, get lots of mirrors and deal with your own issues. You want reality TV? Put a camera in every room

of your house, now that’s reality.” Jambunathan says that if you are a junkie, the signs are obvious. “Ask yourself whether you would choose something else besides what you usually eat, like roti canai. If you must have that, although there are other available options, then you have a problem. In the same way, if others have something they want to watch and you don’t allow it, then there may be a problem already.”

100

“I love watching the Giuliana & Bill reality show because it’s so fun. I prefer most reality shows compared with shows like CSI because I can relate to them better. It’s more real although I know there is a script, but it’s entertaining. Serious shows are not so exciting.” “At first, my husband was not a fan, but after watching some of the shows with me, he is also hooked. He does feel as though some of the shows are lousy, but he watches it just to keep me company most of the time.” Ermie Ismail, 30 Engineer.

101

“I’m a huge fan of the Bachelorette reality show. For whatever reason, it’s soothing to watch someone else’s personal life and the drama that goes along with it. Of course, most of it is fake, purely made for entertainment, but at least it doesn’t involve much thinking.” “I’m not sure whether I am hooked to reality shows, but it is entertaining and relaxing, especially after a long day at work.” Carrie Geraldine Aralis, 28 Teacher.

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“The Biggest Loser is my personal favorite. It does not encourage me to lose weight or exercise more, but the drama is quite fun to watch.” “I don’t think reality show addiction is a huge problem in Malaysia. After all, we don’t have that many shows compared with the US. However, it will probably get worse in the future.” Zeeshan Siraj Din, 33 Teacher.

107

“Why do we eat potato chips? It’s a guilty pleasure but we do it because we enjoy it. I suppose it’s just one of those things.” “My life does not revolve around these shows, but if it is on I’ll catch it. It’s definitely scripted, that’s for sure.” “But if I have kids, I would make sure they don’t watch most of these shows.” “Many of these shows don’t teach kids respect, especially Keeping up with the Kardashians. It doesn’t instil good values. I would hope that our youth are not too focused on these programmes.” January Low, 25 Dancer.

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Anatidaephobia is the fictional fear created by Gary Larson for a comic strip - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Far Sideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. It is the irrational fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is always watching you. I have used this phobia to describe the following 21st century syndrome that is terribly real in such a fictitious way.

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PARANOIA 114

“Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then.” Philip K. Dick 115

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here have been over 40 recorded instances of people suffering from the Truman Show Delusion in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere. Joel Gold, a psychiatrist at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University, and his brother Ian, who holds a research chair in Philosophy and Psychiatry at Montreal’s McGill University, are the foremost researchers on the subject. They have met since 2002 with over a dozen individuals, primarily white men between 25 and 34, suffering from the delusion. They have reported that one patient traveled to New York City after 9/11 to make sure that the 2001 terrorist attacks were not a plot twist in his personal Truman Show, while another traveled to a downtown Manhattan Federal building to

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seek asylum from his show. Another patient had worked as an intern on a reality TV program, and believed that he was secretly being tracked by cameras, even at the polls on Election Day in 2004. His shout that thenPresident Bush was a “Judas” brought him to Bellevue and Gold’s attention. The choice of the name “Truman Show Delusion” by the Golds was influenced by the fact that three of the five patients Joel Gold initially treated for the syndrome explicitly linked their perceived experiences to the film.

One of Gold’s patients, an upper-middle class Army veteran who wanted to climb the Statue of Liberty in the belief that doing so would release him from the “show”, described his condition this way:

“I realized that I was and am the center, the focus of attention by millions and millions of people... My family and everyone I knew were and are actors in a script, a charade whose entire purpose is to make me the focus of the world’s attention.” 121

In the U.K., psychiatrists Paolo Fusar-Poli, Oliver Howes, Lucia Valmaggia and Philip McGuire of the Institute of Psychiatry in London described in the British Journal of Psychiatry what they referred to as the “Truman Syndrome”:

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The authors suggest that the “Truman explanation” is a result of the patients’ search for meaning in their perception that the ordinary world has changed in some significant but inexplicable way.

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Politicophobia is an exaggerated or irrational fear or dislike of politicians, the political process or the government as a totalitarian superpower. Most people that suffer from this condition are obsessed with various conspiracy theories.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.â&#x20AC;? Thomas Jefferson 131

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IS 2013 1984?

ineteen Eighty-four (1984), an antiutopian (dystopian) novel, published in 1949. The writer George Orwell tells the story of Winston Smith and his dilapidation by the dictatorial superstate Oceania in which he lives. He grew up during the revolution and the civil war in post- World War II United Kingdom. He was orphaned Due to the loss of his parents during the civil war and was placed in an orphanage by the “English socialism” movement. Eventually he got a job in the Outer Party and has been a member ever since. The novel describes a world of “Totalitarianism” where “Thought crime” means death through the dealings of “Thought Police”. The “Thought Police” were said to have placed Telescreens,

hidden microphones and informers in every public place and not to mention the Party households. That was “1984” a book from the year 1949. Now come to reality, think of our world today. Think about the last time you stepped out on the streets, have you ever noticed the sidewalk surveillance keeping an eye on you all the while? The government says you got to put them in your house too, why?! For security reasons of course. To hell with security who is going to give me my privacy. Have you walked into your work place or your friends place without ever getting the feeling that you were being watched? Or spoken over the phone thinking it was only your girlfriend who

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could hear you on the other side, if you have, say hello to wire tapping. It does get on your nerves doesn’t it? You think maybe you can calm your senses down with a drink at the local bar, oopps!! Guess who you meet there? Your old friend the CCTV grinning right back at you. Ok, forget the drink, lets get out for some fresh air, who doesn’t like fresh air, it’s good for the health too. Well, I’ll tell you, I don’t like the fresh cameras keeping fresh eyes on my neck. You can’t even have a peaceful walk around the park. It’s like “Thought Police”, remember “1984”? Ok, let me see, we must have something that the book doesn’t have. Ah!!! I got it. Our government’s got complete control over mass media which is constantly manipulated to act in accordance with the past doings of the ruling party. Uh, nope, the book got this one too. Maybe you can enjoy some privacy in your car, go for a long drive to the country, they have ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) and traffic analysis, they can track you but at least they can not see you! The government got an eye on everything you do; the world is a raw victim to “Totalitarianism”. We are the free people of a free country with the rights of every man for himself, nice statement to say and hear, but beware! All that glitters is not gold. This organization (Totalitarianism) is commanded by the political powers using misinformation circulated through the state-controlled mass media, secret police, mass surveillance, widespread use of terror tactics. And forget freedom of speech, they do have laws which covers the regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism. Whew! Talk about free speech. You could go to jail for doing the same thing they claim you were free to do.

can sure see what it means. This slogan is practically living a physical form in the world today. “We are not attacking them, we are trying to free them from their miseries” that’s what our government says when they declare war on other countries right? They even track where your money is going. Someone got to tell them that it’s not their money that I am spending, it’s my money. Who are you to care where it goes. It’s my money and I demand a freedom to spend it where and how I wish. They should get this simple thought through their thick scull. I don’t mean to sound or be pessimistic, but believe it or not, we are living the life of 1984, a vision George Orwell had in the year 1949. I think the higher political levels are using the “Dystopian” society as the role model which used fascism, bureaucracy, socialism, chaos, anarchy, totalitarianism, dictatorships and other forms of political, social and economical control. The funniest part is it is a fictional society. Makes you laugh doesn’t it? Woah! Hold on your horses, I don’t dare laugh. Who knows what they might have implanted in my brain after I was born. With all these biometric data identification and DNA testing things, I pretty much can not have a private thinking session in my own brain. The problem is, with these facilities, the surveillance, voice recognition, ANPR, biometric analysis, you can be framed of a crime you did not do and it makes it look more like you actually did it.

“War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.”

This book explains the nature of the uninterrupted war, and exposes the truth behind the Party’s slogan, “War Is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.” We might not be shouting out or repeating the same slogan from “1984”, but we

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Well, the final point is where I take you back to the header of the writing, “Is it 1984?” what would you answer to this question? If your answer is Maybe, I would nicely ask you to wake up and go brush your teeth. If the answer is NO, well what can I say, you are the ruling party. The vivid answer would be YES. Why? Why not? Go read the book again. Then come back to reality. You would see what I am talking about. There is no difference, we are simply living life in the vision of George Orwell.

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Mythophobia

is an unreasonable apprehension about making or receiving false statements or untrue stories; an unnatural fear of incorrectness. A pathological fear of stories or myths; disbelief in everything one is told.

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“A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” William Blake 145

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The next day, as he drives to work, the radio in Trumanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s car begins to strangely broadcast every movement he makes. Growing increasingly paranoid, Truman opts to walk around in the open air outside. He parks and ducks into a building. He makes his way towards the elevator and, as the doors open, is surprised to see, not an empty car, but an entrance to what seems to be a studio filled with people wearing headphones and eating sandwiches. Before he can register what heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seeing, security grabs him and pushes him out of the building for trespassing. 147

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here is a wonderful moment in the film ‘The Truman Show’ when Truman’s ‘friend’ of more than thirty years, Marlon, responds to Truman’s growing sense that his entire reality is somehow being fabricated as part of some great conspiracy: “The last thing that I would do is lie to you. If everybody was in on it, I’d have to be in on it too. I’m not in on it, Truman, because there is no ‘in’.” The beauty of the scene is that Marlon’s passionately sincere assurances that he would not lie, that he is not in on any conspiracy, are in fact being relayed to him through a microphone by a director watching the entire scene from atop the vast dome that covers the entire mock town and doubles as the sky. Truman, it turns out, has guessed right. He is the first child to be “legally adopted by a corporation” and has spent his entire life on a giant theatrical set modelled on smalltown America, Sea Haven, observed through 5,000 pinhole cameras. His mother and father, his friends, his wife, are all actors in the ultimate docu-soap: ‘The Truman Show’.

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Only the unwitting Truman is real. His society, of course, has programmed him to view all speculation on such a conspiracy as utter madness: he is controlled by fears, hopes, the need to belong, just like you are. Just like I am.

“controlled by fears, hopes, the need to be alone, just like you are.” The Truman Show is a perfect metaphor for our time. It is exactly this level of deception to which we are subjected - the unadulterated lie presenting itself as the absolute truth. As

the historian Howard Zinn notes: “The truth is so often the reverse of what has been told us by our culture that we cannot turn our heads far enough around to see it.” You and I, nice people that we are, normally do not expect human beings to say the exact opposite of what is true. We know that people twist the truth, squash it a little, stretch it, but they generally don’t reverse it. This is why it is important to remember that when we are listening to corporate and state spokespeople disseminating “the truth” of our culture, we are not listening to the independent human beings of ordinary, dayto-day experience, we are listening to human beings radically constrained by the structural requirements of their institutions. ‘Oh come on, people aren’t that dishonest!’, I hear you cry. Oh, but they are - especially with themselves. Upton Sinclair explained the problem: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

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“The last thing that I would do is lie to you. If everybody was in on it, I’d have to be in on it too. I’m not in on it, Truman, because there is no ‘in’.” 152

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Women too! People have a capacity for saying and believing whatever they have to say and believe in order to keep their jobs - history suggests that there are few if any limits to this self-deception. Alas, seeing through the illusions of society is far harder for us than for Truman. A conspiracy can always be betrayed, exposed. The deceptions in our society, however, are not the product of a conspiracy; they are the product of market forces. Nobody conspires to build a snowflake, it is in the nature of water, ice, air and cold temperatures for snowflakes - which look for all the world like they have been painstakingly designed - to be perfectly symmetrical. Likewise, nobody conspires to prevent the media telling the truth: a profit-seeking media system operating within a capitalist society dominated by corporate and state power just comes to report in a way that reflects the values, interests and goals of that power. Editors and journalists just come to believe that what they write is the unadulterated, unexpurgated truth. People who challenge

the notion that a corporate press could be a free press, are odd, Truman-like figures shouting ‘The sky is a roof! The sky is a roof!

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it” There is more!’. Kalle Lasn of Adbusters describes how editors received his attempts to place his anti-consumerist TV adverts: “They laughed me out of the building... They

just giggled and laughed and said ‘Hey, this isn’t a commercial, we don’t play this kind of thing’.” When environmental journalist George Monbiot raised the issue of resource use and global warming with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders “they burst into gales of laughter. They found these concepts funny, I think because... anyone who could compare them in importance to the growth of their industry had to be either joking or insane”. As Truman’s wife pleads, “Let me get you some help, Truman, you’re not well.” In Sea Haven, the local paper’s headline reads: “Sea Haven: The Best Place on Earth”. When Truman tells his teacher he wants “to be an explorer, like Magellan”, she replies: “You’re too late, there’s really nothing left to explore.” In the town’s tourist office, a poster shows an airliner being struck by lightning: “It Could Happen To You!” it warns. Naturally enough, everything is designed to work against Truman’s wanderlust.

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In our corporate capitalist society, talk shows ask “Shopping or sex: which is better?” Education ministers openly declare that “The end-users of education are the employers.” Our news broadcasters announce: “And the main headline this lunchtime: Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles have appeared

as a couple, in public, for the first time.” Naturally enough, everything is designed to work against our wonderlust. As Norman Mailer has written, all of this comes at a certain cost for the editors and journalists: “There is an odour to any Press Headquarters that is unmistakable... the unavoidable smell of flesh burning quietly and slowly in the service of a machine.” Many of the ideas in our heads - the notion that we live in a free democracy, that the West supports human rights in the Third World, there is nothing more to life than fun, status is success, life is meaningless, romantic love is ‘the answer’, anger is empowering - are what comes out of the end of this machine. It’s not pretty.

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Few of us question the version of reality with which we are presented. But, as happens to Truman, glitches in the programme are beginning to wake us from our slumber. In the film, Truman begins to wake up when an object crashes down from the ‘sky’. It is clearly a light from a TV studio and is labeled ‘Sirius’ - being the light used to represent that star on the roof of the dome. In the same way, climate change, ozone depletion, the mass death of species, are all waking us up to the fact that ‘normal’ is in fact pathological - the devastation of the environment may well prove to be the best thing that ever happened to freedom of thought!

“Few of us question the version of reality with which we are presented.”

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Rhabdophobia is the morbid fear of a rod or stick used as an instrument of punishment. It is also used to describe anxiety towards being criticized or punished. In some rare cases it can also be a fear of magic.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153; I want to live perfectly above the law, and make it my servant. Instead of my master.â&#x20AC;? Brigham Young 163

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* State Policing to Oppress Thinking. ** With or without your consent. 165

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fter suspicious behavior noticed by Truman continues to unravel he spots a homeless man at the side of the street. As he passes the man looks back at him and Truman suddenly realizes the man is in fact his father who was believed to be dead after drowning in a sailing accident. “Dad?” he questions, but before the man can confirm his identity two members of the public, fitted with ear pieces sweep him away and into a bus. This is the first time within the film we see first hand the intervention of the actors to protect the bubble of Seahaven and the destined story of Truman Burbank. Despite the best efforts of his family and his best friend Marlon to reassure him that it couldn’t have been his father, all these events cause

Truman to start wondering about his life, realizing how the world seems to revolve around him. The removal of his father is even reinforced by newspaper headings the next day that indicate the town is taking a no-nonsense approach to down-and-out people. They are not wanted in this place. His mother also reinforces this attitude when she says, “Why do we want Seahaven to be like the rest of the world?” This systematic and cleanly executed routine in order to remove possible threats without reason or trial reflects the recent bill passed in the U.S.A.

The National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) is an extremely controversial change in America and many question the major infringement on their rights that are now at stake at the hands of the state and its military.

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he NDAA is an annual bill passed by the U.S. Congress authorizing the budget of the U.S. Defense Department. It’s always a bit of a political hot potato because few presidents can justify failing authorizing revenue for the Defense Department, particularly when tens of thousands of U.S. troops are overseas serving in extended conflicts. Since the President does not have a lineitem veto, lawmakers try to attach all sorts of things to the NDAA, knowing the President will almost certainly have to sign them all through into law. The NDAA contains a doozy: It enables the U.S. military to conduct anti-terrorist operations on U.S. soil, and authorizes indefinite detention of terror suspects, including U.S.citizens. The law is not entirely clear whether the military can indefinitely detain U.S. citizens domestically, but it can certainly

do so overseas, and foreigners can be detained whether overseas or within U.S. borders. In signing the NDAA, President Obama included a signing statement attempting to clarify his position on the law. “The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.” In essence, this year’s NDAA expands on provisions granted into the Patriot Act and extends the military’s role in domestic law enforcement. Now, the U.S. military can detain anyone, anywhere in the world, without trial or process, simply because they’re suspected of terrorist activities. This may not seem to have anything to do with the Internet — until you think

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about groups like Anonymous and Wikileaks. Could Anonymous (or groups within Anonymous) attacking credit card operators, the threatening the NYSE, law enforcement organizations, or other organizations constitute terrorist activity? Similarly, would Wikileaks’ publication of classified U.S. diplomatic cables constitute terrorist activity? Suddenly, everyday Internet users speaking up in support of groups like Anonymous and Wikileaks might find themselves accused of aiding and facilitating terrorists. Similarly, if U.S. authorities decide these or similar groups’ activities constitute terrorism, members or alleged members might find themselves shipped to Guantanamo. No trial, no process, no appeal. The Obama administration says it does not intend to exercise these powers. Even if that’s true, now that they’re law the only way they can be undone is with additional legislation that repeals the provisions, or through a court challenge,

which would almost certainly ensure if the powers were ever utilized. But just because the Obama administration says it won’t use the powers doesn’t

“No trial, no process, no appeal.”

administration concluded it has the power to assassinate U.S. citizens without trail. (The American-born alAwlaki was killed in Yemen by a targeted U.S. drone strike in September 2011.) The bottom line here is that it doesn’t matter whether the U.S. government ever exercises the powers granted under this year’s NDAA: the very fact they exist suppresses American civil liberties by explicitly authorizing the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without trial, anywhere in the world. For folks who hold unpopular views, or merely know people who do, that’s a sobering thing to consider.

mean future administrations won’t. And let’s not forget that, at least in the case of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Obama 173

WATERSTONE O

nly after the curfew in Watertown, Massachusetts, was lifted and alert resident David Hanberry went outside his home to get a smoke, according to news reports, did the case of the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev crack open. That was when Hanberry saw blood on the tarp of his dry-docked boat and called the police. Up until that time, a wide assortment of local, state, and federal officials were engaged in a dragnet that essentially shut down the city of Boston, and included house-to-house searches in the neighborhoods of Watertown, Mass. and New Bedford, Mass., the latter being near where 19-year-old Russian

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immigrant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had enrolled in college. Tsarnaev, a Muslim from the Dagestan area of Russia that abuts Chechnya, became a U.S. citizen on September 11 of last year. In essence, the lessons from the Boston Marathon mean that the following procedures employed in the week-long manhunt proved to be completely ineffective:

•House-to-house searches without warrants in a dragnetstyle operation. • Use of military-style helicopters across the state. • Use of tanks and armored vehicles on the streets of Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and New Bedford. • Shutting down the city, except for limited coffee shops. • Stopping all public transportation. • Banning taxi service across the entire city of Boston. • Abandoning the federal Posse Comitatus law banning the use of soldiers in law enforcement. • ...and lots of fucking weaponry.

Moreover, the use of curfews in a number of towns actually likely delayed apprehension of the suspect, as the curfew essentially took more than a million pairs of eyes off possible getaway scenes. Veteran police investigators have traditionally rejected the dragnet because they see it as a waste of police resources, but in the post-bombing panic, politicians demanded that police on the beat appear to be doing everything they could to solve the crisis. In this case, that appearance included a curfew that amounted to searching and hassling people who were clearly not in cahoots with the bombing suspects. Police detained and searched anyone on the streets of Boston and Watertown, even searching famous local news reporters multiple times during the course of the manhunt. In some instances, news reporters received death threats from over-zealous police officers. In the end, if the goal of the terrorists was to terrorize, the terrorists won in Boston. Rather than returning to its ordinary business, one of the world’s greatest cities was terrorized, and even shut down, for days by the two suspects identified by authorities as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older (deceased) brother Tamerlan. The two presumably hated America for its freedom, and were able to get the government to take away

much of those freedoms from its citizens for a period of time. The scare even led to a humorous over-reaction in Bridgewater, a college town where a “suspicious” backpack forced the evacuation of part of Bridgewater University. The Navy bomb disposal team arrived to find the backpack full of beer, according to the Brockton, Mass.-based Enterprise newspaper. The newspaper story did not record how police disposed of the “suspicious package.” The reaction of Massachusetts’s state and federal officials to the Boston Marathon bombings — two black powder bombs with nails and ball bearings that killed three people — can be contrasted with the wave of 125 nearly identical bombings, technologically speaking, that took place across America in major U.S. cities during the 1917-20 “Red Scare.” The differences are that many more were killed 100 years ago, top U.S. government officials were targeted (including the U.S. Attorney General and judges) back then, and the federal government did not shut down entire cities. Although the period is known as the “Red Scare,” the genuine security threat was greater than the threat authorities responded to in Boston. And with the exception of a set of warrantless searches by the Justice Department’s 175

â&#x20AC;&#x153;searching and hassling people who were clearly not in cahoots with the bombing suspects.â&#x20AC;?

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Bureau of Investigation (later the FBI) under J. Edgar Hoover, the public’s liberties were respected. And as if the attacks on civil liberties during the current Boston manhunt weren’t sufficient offense against the Bill of Rights, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsay Graham has called on denying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — a U.S. citizen — all his rights under the U.S. Constitution. On the evening of Tsarnaev’s arrest, Graham tweeted the following: • “If captured, I hope Administration will at least consider holding the Boston suspect as enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes.” • “The Law of War allows us to hold individual in this scenario as potential enemy combatant w/o Miranda warnings or appointment of counsel.” • “Under the Law of War we can hold #Boston suspect as a potential enemy combatant not entitled to Miranda warnings or appointment of counsel.” Graham later tweeted a partial retraction, claiming: “As to any future trial, if this suspect is an American citizen, he is NOT subject to military commission trial. #Boston.”

throw a flashbang and open fire, hitting the suspect in the leg and neck. Latest reports now say that the shot to the suspects neck was self inflicted and NOT a bullet fired by a federal officer.

The Boston Police Commisioner Ed Davis spoke in a news conference: “He is not in a condition to be interrogated at this point in time,” Davis said in an afternoon news conference. “I personally believe they were (planning other attacks),” he told CBS television’s “Face the Nation.” The men’s parents, who moved back to southern Russia, have said their sons were framed. Tsarnaev was shot in the throat, U.S. Senator Dan Coats, a member of the Intelligence Committee, told ABC. A source close to the investigation released information that he had sustained severe tongue damage. “We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to question the individual,” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said Sunday, also on ABC’s “This Week” program. Then again, who needs correct answers when you have the NDAA? Photo of police performing a house-to-house search in Watertown, Mass, in the Greater Boston area: AP Images

However, that trial could (and probably should) be indefinitely delayed, according to Graham and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). The two issued a joint statement on April 20, arguing: “We hope the Obama Administration will consider the enemy combatant option because it is allowed by national security statutes and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.” Following the discovery of the 19 year old brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding on a boat the military were quick to 177

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The scenes captured during the Waterstone martial law NDAA sweep were not so dissimilar to the search party issued to find Truman after he goes missing. With the use of the moon as a search light to help from the air.

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is the fear of making or receiving phone calls. The subject may be fearful of their own voice or being heard whilst using a telephone device. They tend to make sure no one is around to hear them when making calls.

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“ There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” G.K. Chesterton 185

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hilst driving to work Truman realizes that the radio is having some signal difficulties. Strange broken chatter could be heard through the airwaves and the clock started to malfunction. After fiddling with the tuner he stumbles across what seems like a police channel. It soon becomes apparent that the surveillance over the airwaves seems to be following Trumans every turn. Distracted and confused he swerves to avoiding hitting an old lady and the chatter cuts to a high pitch frequency causing all of the actors to clutch their ears in pain, then carry about there instructed routines.

It is from this point onwards that Truman shows extreme signs of paranoia, as if the whole town revolves around him, and that every action he makes is being monitored, every word he utters is being recorded. This may be a regular occurrence for the surveyed life of Truman Burbank, but how close is this kind of privacy breaching to our own lives? Well in America it seems ever so real that people are being monitored both over the airwaves, through phone lines and of course, on the world wide web. I will explain how your privacy in many forms are quickly becoming extinct.

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ate last year a U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld the constitutionality of a law that makes telecommunications operators immune to lawsuits for assisting the federal government’s surveillance of American citizens. In other words, if your cell phone, telephone, or Internet provider turns over information about you, your activities, and use of their services over to the Federal government — even illegally — you’d have no grounds to sue. Communications companies face no sanctions for disclosing personal information to the federal government, including account information and even usage data like sites visited, account names, and location data. When can the federal government require communications companies to hand over customer information? Essentially, anytime it likes: As part of anti-terrorist measures enacted by the Bush administration, the federal government has been engaging in warrantless wiretapping of individuals it has reason to believe may be connected

“the federal government has been engaging in warrantless wiretapping” to terrorist activities. Although originally revealed back in late 2005, the practice was sustained by the Bush administration and continues under the Obama administration. The activities include tapping phone calls, as well as intercepting Internet traffic (email, Web use, etc.) VoIP traffic, and text messages. The government is the sole arbiter of what individuals are surveilled, and is under no requirement to disclose its activities.

However, there is an upshot to the appeals court ruling. The court only finds the immunity granted to telecommunications operators to be legal; a case against the government challenging the legality of warrantless wiretapping practices can still proceed. That case, Jewel v. NSA, alleged that the National Security Agency set up secure facilities within AT&T facilities across the United States to engage in an “unprecedented suspicionless

general search” of digital communications. “The federal courts remain a forum to consider the constitutionality of the wiretapping scheme and other claims, including claims for injunctive relief,” wrote Judge Margaret McKeown of the 9th Circuit. However, even if the Justice Department does not appeal the ruling that Jewel vs. NSA can proceed, it is likely to move the case be dismissed on state secrets grounds. Given the volume of information that has already been disclosed about the NSA’s domestic surveillance operations, the Justice Department may have a difficult time asserting a state secret privilege, but it does mean key proceedings of the case could take place outside public view.

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C.I.S.P.A YOUR ONLINE PRIVACY HAS JUST BEEN INTERCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

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controversial cyber-security bill known as CISPA is once again in the news. The House approved the bill last week, and it now moves to the Senate, but opponents of the measure are not going down without a fight. Today, in fact, hacker collective Anonymous is calling on websites to go dark in protest of CISPA as they did last year against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). But what is CISPA and why is it creating such a ruckus? Why is it being compared to SOPA and PIPA? Let’s break it down. What is CISPA? CISPA stands for Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). What does it do? CISPA would allow for voluntary information sharing between private companies and the government in the event of a cyber attack. If the government detects a cyber attack that might take down Facebook or Google, for example, they could notify those companies. At the same time, Facebook or Google could inform the feds if they notice unusual activity on their networks that might suggest a cyber attack.

Sounds OK. What’s the problem? Backers argue that CISPA is necessary to protect the U.S. against cyber attacks from countries like China and Iran. But opponents said that it would allow companies to easily hand over users’ private information to the government thanks to a liability clause. This, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “essentially means CISPA would override the relevant provisions in all other laws— including privacy laws.” Is that true? The bill’s sponsors, Reps. Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger, say no. But amidst backlash over the vague wording in the bill, the congressmen introduced an amendment that would require the government to anonymize any data it turns over to a private company. Did that do the trick? Not exactly. The White House has threatened to veto CISPA, in part because it does not require private

companies to do the same and anonymize the data they hand over to the government. That would impose an onerous burden on private companies and perhaps deter them from participating in this voluntary program, backers claim. What type of personal information are we talking about? According to the EFF, “CISPA is written broadly enough to permit your communications service providers to share your emails and text messages with the government, or your cloud storage company could share your stored files.” Bill sponsors, however, argued that CISPA is needed to keep that data safe, pointing to foreign hackers who have hit U.S. companies in an effort to steal information. The ability to share data about incoming cyber attacks as quick as possible could thwart the improper use of that data, they said. What’s the difference between CISPA and SOPA/PIPA? SOPA and PIPA targeted websites that trafficked in counterfeit goods, from fake purses to software. The bills would have allowed for copyright owners to file a complaint against offending websites and have them pulled from the Web. SOPA/PIPA were aimed at “rogue” overseas sites, but it prompted concern that legitimate websites here in the U.S. would be taken offline. Major firms like Google and Facebook expressed concern with the bills, which were ultimately tabled after a Jan. 2012 Internet blackout day. Is the same thing happening with today’s CISPA blackout? The idea is the same, but the support is a bit more tepid. The list of sites going dark in protest of CISPA is not exactly a who’s who of major tech firms. When CISPA was first introduced, Facebook actually voiced its support, though it backed off a bit this year. What changed? With SOPA and PIPA, tech firms were concerned about having their websites taken offline for no reason, which would have cost them millions of dollars. So there was a big incentive to see it defeated. CISPA, however, goes after cyber attacks -

which also cost those firms money. If there’s a way to get a heads up about a cyber attack, these companies are probably going to take it. The backlash against CISPA from the privacy/consumer groups means the support for CISPA is somewhat muted, but there are some big names on the bill’s list of supporters, including AT&T, Comcast, HP, IBM, Intel, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon. Didn’t we hear about CISPA last year, too? Yes, the House passed CISPA in April 2012. But it never made it through the Senate, and the White House threatened a veto back then, too, so it died. So why take it up again? The bill sponsors claim that with the increased number of attacks from countries like China, the ability to stop them before they happen is imperative. Rogers and Ruppersberger admitted that as originally crafted, CISPA would likely not pass the Senate or get President Obama’s signature. So they have introduced a number of amendments - in committee and on the House floor last week - to calm some of those fears.

What type of amendments? More than a dozen proposals were approved, but among the highlights: companies can only use information they receive for cyber-security purposes, not to help their business; the feds can’t hold on to shared data and use it for “national security purposes”; clarification that CISPA does not authorize hacking; and a rule that incoming cyber data will be handled by the Homeland Security Department and the Justice Department. What’s next? CISPA now moves to the Senate, where senators can consider the bill as crafted, or write their own cyber-security legislation. If the Senate passes a bill and it differs at all from the House version, the two sides must hash it out together “in conference.” But the White House also needs to be on board.

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Theophobia

is the fear or dislike of God(s) or religion. An abnormal fear of the wrath of God or of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s punishment for sin. It can also be a fear of your own destiny and the lack of control one has over their own fate.

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RELIGION 198

â&#x20AC;&#x153;God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.â&#x20AC;? Francis Bacon 199

200

’m not a religion nut or anything, I actually don’t know that much about, say, Christianity or Bible studies at all. But it seems to me that in the critique and analysis of The Truman Show, the whole biblical aspect of the film has been left out for primarily media related aspects of the films implicit meaning. Needless to say, “Christof”; that is, Christ of. Truman was in the vicinity of thirty years old when he underwent his journey, as was Jesus. The whole walking on water scene at the end and his speaking to the ethereal voice booming from the heavens.

“Truman being the brightest star as well.” At the beginning of the film, the light falls out of the sky. Written on the light is the word Sirius, making reference to a star. From Earth, Sirius is the closest star to us, and therefore the brightest star in the sky. It only makes sense that it’s falling out of the sky directly correlates with the symbolism of Truman being the brightest star as well. This event marks the beginning of his descent too. Just some observations that I picked up and thought I’d drop in a line for you. Take them or leave them, I just think this is a film wonderful on many different levels for critical deconstruction.

201

202

“The sky is a roof! The sky is a roof! There is more!” 203

204

205

“In case I don’t see you later, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”

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ALL IMAGES FROM THE TRUMAN SHOW TAKEN FROM THE DVD RELEASE. Special thanks to the security at The Hamptons Estate for letting me into their American Dream.

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Ever wondered if your whole life is just a huge reality television show? With cameras placed in every home, down ever street, in every car. Where everyone you know, everyone you pass in the street, are really nothing more than actors specially hired to keep your perfect dream a reality - and a public one at that? Within this book we examine the Truman Show dilemma and some of the fears he faces in order to cease him from seeking the truth about the world around him, and the world around ourselves. Everything from George Orwellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prediction of 1984 and the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea, to the current bills passed by the U.S. Senate including C.I.S.P.A, S.O.P.A and the ever more controversial N.D.A.A. martial law act. Hopefully I can encourage you to realize, as I have myself, that this reality bubble we live in, and the reality shows we watch so religiously are nothing more than an act. To captivate us from seeking truth about our own mundane lives. This is The True Truman Nation, forget any idea you had about TRUTH.

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