A Ton of Crap (129 page)

The War on Terror
Following the attacks of September 11, the Bush administration declared a war on terrorism. The objectives of the war were to defeat terrorists and their organizations (including Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi), strengthen the international efforts in combating terrorism, deny any forms of support or sanctuary to terrorist organizations, reduce conditions that terrorists can exploit, and defend U.S. interests at home and abroad. In October of 2001, Operation Active Endeavor was launched by NATO with the purpose of preventing any movements of weapons of mass destruction or terrorists.

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES

Glittering Generalities
Glittering generalities are common in the political world and in advertising. Glittering generalities are words that are associated with extremely valued concepts, but with individual subjects, these words have a different meaning. This type of propaganda throws in important concepts, and by doing so, demands approval. For example, often food will feature on their label extremely general and vague terms such as “new” or “homemade.” Often politicians will express their policies as being “in defense of democracy,” a very broad phrase that is more about conveying an idea or belief.

INFINITY

Aristotle
Aristotle distinguished between two different types of infinity. There was potential infinity and actual infinity. Aristotle believed that natural numbers were potentially infinite due to the fact that they did not have a greatest number. Aristotle did not believe, however, that numbers were actually infinite, but rather that it was impossible to think of all of the natural numbers as complete. He believed the idea of actual infinity did not make sense, and so only potential infinity was allowable. Aristotle believed actual infinity to be a paradox because it is something that is complete yet consists of an infinite amount of something.

DNA

Structure
DNA is a double-helix molecule that consists of two chains. A single chain is a strand that is made up of a large amount of nucleotides, or chemical compounds, that are linked together. The nucleotides are made up of three things: deoxyribose (a sugar molecule in the center of the nucleotide), a phosphate group (which links to the deoxyribose of the other chain), and one of the bases (A, G, T, or C). When the two chains come together, they form the double-helix shape. Bases are always paired accordingly: A with T and C with G.

EXTINCT LANGUAGES

Ubykh
Ubykh was a northwest Caucasian language that was once spoken in Turkey and the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Sochi. When the Russians came in 1864, the Ubykhs left Sochi and founded a series of villages in Turkey (Hacı Osman, Masukiye, Hacı Yakup, and Kırkpınar). The language had a total of eighty-four consonants and only two vowels. Over time, Turkish and Circassian were adopted, and on October 7, 1992, the last speaker of Ubykh passed away. Before his death, linguists collected a great number of audio recordings and took notes on the language. There has been an interest in reviving the language.

WAR ON TERROR

War in Afghanistan
On October 7, 2001, the War in Afghanistan began with the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom. The goal of Operation Enduring Freedom was to dismantle the al-Qaeda organization, end its use of Afghanistan as its base, remove the Taliban, and find Osama bin Laden. The first phase of Operation Enduring Freedom saw the Taliban get thrown out of power in Kabul. In 2002, Operation Anaconda was launched to destroy any al-Qaeda and Taliban that remained. The Taliban came together in Pakistan and unleashed offensives on the coalition forces. Fighting between the Taliban and coalition forces is still ongoing, though peace talks are underway.

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES

Plain Folks
The plain folks method of propaganda is about convincing others that your views reflect the views of the common, everyday folk, and that you have the interests of the common person in mind. Often local accents, idioms, or jokes are used to create the sense of familiarity. Other methods include limiting one’s vocabulary, including stutters, and not pronouncing words perfectly. These errors can come across as sincere to the viewer. Often, glittering generalities are used with the plain folks strategies, making the broad ideas seem more valid.

INFINITY

Galileo’s Paradox
Galileo came up with a surprising paradox relating to infinity. Galileo noticed that if you remove half of the set of equal numbers, there are as many numbers remaining in the set as before. For example, if you remove all of the odd numbers from a set, you will only have the even numbers remaining. If you then pair the natural numbers (
n
) with 2
n
which is even, the set that has the even numbers is equinumerous (meaning they have the same cardinality) to the set that had all natural numbers. In other words, if you had infinity, you still have infinity.

DNA

Protein Synthesis
Inside the DNA are instructions for how to produce protein. Proteins are made up of amino acids, which also determine the function and structure of the protein. The sequence of nucleotide bases in the DNA determine the sequence of amino acids. A triplet (three nucleotide bases) specifies an amino acid. GAC, for example, is the codon (genetic code) for leucine. When the DNA molecule separates into two strands, protein synthesis occurs. Transcription begins, where a part of the strand turns into a template for a new strand, known as messenger RNA. This RNA then attaches to ribosomes, and through translation, amino acids are linked and a protein is formed.

EXTINCT LANGUAGES