21.00, Tuesday 14 Mar 2000

Fantastic issue ('episode'?) of Salon today. (I know it's good because I only went there to check out the Technology articles and ended up reading all the other shit.)
 
Who sold out electronic music? misses the point about how dance really was subversive. It was that normal people were taking drugs. It's that E (such an integral part of early dance I don't know how people can talk about the origins of dance without mentioning it) permanently changed people's personalities and caused an almost religious communion in the clubs. When all this got diluted by booze and pop - that's when DJs got important, because people seem to have to herd and they have to be told what to do. And stuff like Moby and Chemical Brothers isn't proper dance anyway, it's too recognisable.
 
When liberals lie about guns is one of those rare articles that I completely disagree with but can't fault. To say that guns being used in suicides isn't a reason that they should be banned (or at least restricited) is false I think; there is (at least in the UK) precedent here. Aspirin is sold in smaller boxes and has reduced the incidence of suicide. Mind you, if I'm saying that suicide isn't premeditated I should tell you this: my boss from the ironmongers I used to work in sold a length of thick rope saying "Now, don't you go and hang yourself with that (ho ho)!" Buyer topped himself a couple of days later. D'oh. Anyway, I can see no good reason for a person to have a gun; I can see many why they should not.
 
Pink pistols: "The gay movement often portrays homosexuals as helpless victims. Here's an alternative: Arm them." This is a joke. Right?