Sunday 25 May 2014

The Isla Vista Rampage.

At around 10pm local time on Friday (23/5/14) Elliot Rodger - the British born son of film director Peter Rodgers - went on a gun and knife rampage in the Isla Vista district of Santa Barbara, California, US around the campus of the Santa Barbara College where he was a student. Rodger killed 6 people before being shot and wounded by the police and then apparently committing suicide. In a lenghty online manifesto that included a series of Youtube videos Rodger proclaimed his rampage as a "Day of Retribution" against what he considered arrogant and entitled women particularly ones with blond hair and blue eyes which match the Nazis ideal of an Aryan master race.

When it overthrew the Ukrainian government in February 2014 the US was shocked to discover that it was actually very isolated internationally with only a handful of nations sharing its zeal to attack Russia for failing to help bring about the overthrow of the Syrian government. As such the US is keen to use the four days of voting in the European Union (EU) election that ends today to discover just how isolated it is. The fate of European fascist and neo-Nazi parties such as Golden Dawn in Greece, the National Front in France, the Freedom Party in Austria, the Party of Freedom in The Netherlands and Flemish Interest in Belgium could well be considered an indicator of how tolerant the EU will be prepared to be of the fascist junta the US has put in place in Ukraine and is today trying to give the veil of a democratic mandate through an election in which opponents of the junta aren't allowed to compete.

Adding to the US sense of shock at its current isolation through things like the 2014 Winter Olympics and the recent Eurovision Song Contest the US has started to discover that while it and the UK like to console themselves by thinking of me as a bit of a joke and a figure of fun a sizable number of people actually do value what I have to say and afford me the level of respect that comes with that.

As such the Isla Vista rampage was an attempt to exert pressure on Europe in order for the US to find out where it stands. As such I'm cast in the Elliot Rodger role which projects a very negative image of myself which people are tempted to either passionately agree or disagree with. For example I think it's obvious that a perceived lack of respect is at the core of Rodger's grudge against society. The issue of him being a 22 year old virgin who has never kissed a girl are supposed to put forward the argument that my negative feelings towards Chris Brown and Drake stem from a jealousy that Rihanna simply doesn't love me rather than an impression that neither of them are particularly nice nor likable men who are capable of improving Rihanna's life. The rumours that Rodger's had been planning the rampage for a year is a reference to my role in the Rihanna operation which stretched all the way from September 2012's Summer Para-Olympics through to November 2013 and seems to still be continuing although at a much lower intensity.

The stunt also had a much more specific target in the form of the 2 week Cannes Film Festival which reached its climax on Saturday (24/5/14) in the immediate aftermath of the rampage. Much like Paris Fashion Week and to some extent the Eurovision Song Contest the Cannes Film Festival brings together the great and the good of Europe's and the World's creative industries particularly in the field of film. Apart from their international cultural influence this group is considered particularly important to the US because if they side with me rather than the US the Americans are going to have a much tougher time convincing  people that its own soft power efforts such as Rihanna and the wider Roc Nation family are in fact World class stars. The grand prize of the Cannes festival - the Palme d'Or - went to the Turkish film "Winter Sleep."

Perhaps more accurately translated as "Hibernation" the film is set in a hotel in the Turkish mountains run by a husband and wife who have a stormy relationship and the wife's sister who is dealing with the fallout of her recent divorce. As winter sets in the hotel becomes a refuge for a variety of people trapped by the weather which exacerbates the tensions between the characters. As such - although I've not seen it - it seems like a film all about oppression and simmering internal tensions. In his acceptance speech the director - Nuri Blige Ceylan - paid tribute to all the young Turks who had died in the past year which seemed like a veiled attack on Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. Turkey is of course a strong US ally in the war against Syria although Erdogan seems to getting firmly on everybody else's nerves.

Saturday's gun attack at the Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium in which two Israeli citizens were killed seemed like a very clear demonstration of Belgian support for the US by making it look as though an urgent conversation was going while indicating that Belgium is much more keen on anti-Semitism then it is on the state of Israel although that hardly counts as news.

15:00 on 25/5/14 (UK date).

No comments: