Maybe It's Just Me

But the latest turn in the cavalcade of wackiness that is the Lyndon LaRouche cult looks like it will yield the richest vein of humor yet. (If you have not kept up with the recent history of LaRouche and the LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) with their studies of the details of Kepler and the power of bel canto singing, this article by Scott McLemee from Inside Higher Ed is a good place to start.) Their newest targets appear to be MySpace, Facebook and violent video games (maybe they're about to join forces with Sens. Lieberman, Clinton, Bayh and Brownback). You can learn all about the The Noösphere vs. The Blogosphere: Is the Devil in Your Laptop? here and here (warning: second link is a 22 MB .pdf) - and yes that is Bertrand Russell in the background.

There is a sad element to it of course, as this is just the latest in a series of Larouchian fund-raising gambits targeted at the gullible and confused of the world. Still, it made me laugh. In fact the following from a conference report , "Outflanking the British Empire, The Mass Effect", had me literally in stitches. It is amusing when read, but try singing it with gusto in a group to get the full effect. Holiday fun for the whole family!

A final presentation by the LYM’s Lewis Whilden, attacking the Facebook culture of today’s youth, concluded with the LYM, in four-part polyphony, singing the following lyrics, adapted to Felix Mendelssohn’s beautiful, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”:

Murdoch wants you in your place
firmly planted in MySpace.
While you’re walking to your class
out comes a bomb from Cheney’s ass.
This you do not want to see,
while the Dick gets whipped with glee,
We can’t afford to bomb Iran,
Bush’s Dick, he thinks he can.
That’s if you stay in your place,
firmly planted in MySpace.

When you’re fondling your mouse,
the bank forecloses on your house.
From the crash you cannot flee,
at least you have your HALO 3.
Homeless in the streets you roam,
a cardboard Xbox is your home.
Santa gives the gaming toys,
to 20-year-old little boys.
Games will keep you in your place,
nothing real in your space.