Mitch Wagner's Blog

The Internet exists because the world doesn't give us enough reasons to feel inadequate

I looked up a friend on Twitter to send her a direct message, and I saw she'd stopped following me. Even though we don't know each other well, I was sad. I spent a minute being sad, but then I realized I was looking at the wrong Twitter profile--it was someone else, with a Twitter nickname similar to my friend's. My friend is still following me on Twitter after all.

Good grief.

Next on Copper Robot: Marriage Equality

Next on Copper Robot: Join us for a discussion of same-sex marriage. We'll talk about why it's right, why it's important, and what's being done about it

When: Sunday, Oct. 4, 6 pm Second Life Time, which is the same as Pacific time.

Where: The lovely Seaside Theater on World2Worlds Island in Second Life. Or watch the live video on the Web.

Photo: Tillie Ariantho

We're talking with Marriage Equality USA, a national organization working to promote civil marriage for same-sex couples. In two weeks, Marriage Equality is participating in the sixth annual Bridgewalk to promote the cause, marching across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. That's Oct. 11, the same weekend as a two-day National Equality March in Washington D.C. Oct. 11 is also National Coming Out Day and a National Day of Action--we'll find out what that's all about.

While marriage equality suffered a big setback in California, with the passing of Prop. 8 banning same-sex marriage last year, the fight goes on. Maine is voting on Proposition 1, overturning that state's marriage equality bill, in November. And there are several cases headed to federal court, looking to overturn Prop. 8 and the national Defense of Marriage Act.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Listen to my conversation about healthcare reform with political blogger Avedon Carol

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Avedon is a passionate progressive blogger at The Sideshow. She was a vocal critic of President Bush, and is no great fan of Obama either. We talked about why she thinks the current healthcare proposal is a massive ripoff of the American people.

"He's got a terrible plan because he's putting insurance companies first," Avedon said. She makes a case for the U.S. instituting a government-run healthcare system like Britain (where she lives), which she says is less expensive, more efficient, and delivers better care.

Avedon demolishes arguments that national healthcare would violate healthcare companies' private property. "It's not their property. It's our health. They're not entitled to our money." She notes that the Founders were great proponents of government run public services: Jefferson was most proud of founding a public university, and Franklin founded the Post Office. The Constitution says the government's job is to protect the public welfare, not private commerce.

We also talked about 9/11 hysteria, whether high-fructose corn syrup and aspartame are bad for you (she's convinced they are, I'm skeptical), her career as a Second Life stripper, and why the nation that invented the deep-fried Mars Bar still manages to be less obese and healthier than Americans.

From Copper Robot. iTunes Podcast

"C.S.A.," a fake documentary about the history of America after the South won the Civil War

As you might expect, CSA is a heavyhanded movie.

Analee Lewitz writes at Alternet in a 2006 review:

I love a good alternate history yarn for the same reason I love science fiction. Both genres analyze present-day trends by projecting them into another reality. That other reality might be the future or simply a transformed version of the present.

In the United States, there are two incredibly popular alternate history scenarios: 1. What if the South had won the Civil War? and 2. What if Germany had won World War II? “C.S.A: The Confederate States of America”, a fake British documentary made by Kansas filmmaker Kevin Willmott, answers both questions.

After its limited release in the theaters two years ago, the movie achieved cult status in DVD form, which is really its natural medium. It's fascinating to watch “CSA” on a television set because the movie is meant to resemble a snippet from a TV station, complete with freaky commercials and news breaks, that is airing a "controversial" British documentary about the history of the CSA.

Blending dark humor with painstakingly researched historical revisionism, Willmott begins the movie with a fake commercial for insurance. The clip looks exactly like something you might see on ABC, including the fact that everyone in it is white. Then the announcer says, "Our insurance protects you and your property," and the camera pans over to a smiling black boy who is clipping a hedge. This is a present day in which slavery still exists.

The British documentary reveals how this came to pass. After the South wins the Civil War with the help of France and England, the president heals the rift between North and South by offering Northerners slaves to help reconstruct the bombed-out cities of New York and Boston. Deposed president Lincoln flees to Canada, followed by 20,000 abolitionists including Fredrick Douglass and Henry David Thoreau.

The framing device is that we're watching 95 minutes of uncut TV from this universe, complete with station checks and commercials. A title card at the end of the movie says that many of the products advertised are real, in our universe: Darkie toothpaste, the Coon Chicken Inn, and a brand of tobacco with a name so racist and vile I'm not even going to use it here. A couple of the products were available until the 1950s.

I couldn't tell you whether I liked the movie. I watched the whole thing. I wanted to see what happened next, that is, how the alternate American history played out. I don't really feel like I learned anything: I already knew that racism existed throughout American history, and continues today. And I'm uncomfortable with political discussion that isolates racism, as this movie does, and fails to portray it in the complete matrix of American ethnic, religious, economic, and class prejudices--and also great opportunity for all people. Our African-American president is subject to quite a bit of racism--but he's still President.

It's a low-budget movie, and it shows. In particular, bits that are supposedly excerpts from movies made by D.W. Griffith in 1915, and Hollywood in the 1940s, look cheap and fake. D.W. and the Hollywood studio system made better movies than that.

Overall, a nice attempt, but I prefer Harry Turtledove's novel, Guns of the South, which covers essentially the same ground.

That thing on my Twitter bio where I say "hiding from the sun in San Diego"? That's not really a joke

Today's weather:

That's a beautiful day, but we're inside with the a/c on and the curtains drawn, waiting for it to get dark. A lot of the time I really want it to be gray and gloomy and cool. Sometimes I wish we'd moved to Portland or Seattle instead of San Diego.

Are other people like this? Other people in San Diego? Other people who aren't serial killers, that is? I just know that the neighbors look at our closed curtains on days like today and think that we must be sacrificing goats to the Horned God in here.

On days like today I feel guilty for not getting outside and enjoying the weather, which is what my mother always nagged me to do when I was a boy, when I'd rather just read a science-fiction paperback or watch TV.

Oh, and this was the weather earlier this week, for the benefit of those of you who missed my updates to Twitter and Facebook:

My office in Second Life