A pattern of dangerous penis-shaped technologies?

Amidst the fear over quakes, water safety, and radioactive fallout, I do not mean to come off as a paranoid conspiracy theorist, or even an antiquated “mother earth” feminist. Still, it is impossible to ignore, in all the dioramas, illustrations, and video footage all the penis-shaped technologies at the heart of Japan’s natural and man-made disaster.

Most obviously, the six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are all boxes (or were boxes, until the explosions) that cleverly conceal what appears to be a giant dildo of radioactive nuclear fuel rods, with torus doughnuts of water at the base and a steel containment vessel pointing this unholy mess of danger and energy sky-ward.

Japan’s protector/daddy/occupier the US military flew its Global Hawk man-less planes to take detailed images of the disaster. These are the drones that support the video distance warfare that delivers bombs throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya. It’s good that these planes have some non-military uses, although I nearly spit out my drinking water when I saw on television these giant black penises flying through the air.

The storyline seems to be that we are dependent on reckless technology that happens to look like enormous penises. And that we can only contain the damage they cause by employing their similarly shaped flying cousins. We are then treated to a parade of government officials, energy company spokespeople, and nuclear epxerts– all of whom seem to be male– who promise vaguely that everything is mostly under control.

What is your favorite penis-shaped disaster technology?

Israeli and US soldiers make videos during occupation

There’s been a lot of controversy over this recently released video of Israeli soldiers dancing to Kesha’s Tik Tok while patrolling Hebron. Some critics complain of a lack of respect towards the people whose land they are illegally occupying. On the other hand, I think for every minute they are rehearsing their dance moves and editing their video, at least no one is being shot, harassed or intimidated.

A similar video came out of Afghanistan where US soldiers re-made Lady Gaga’s Telephone. The dancing is hilarious, as are the props. The higgly piggly background to their music making is surprisingly “real.” But again, at least as long as they are focused on music, dancing, and videos, no one is being killed.

Finally, I always have a soft spot for treason. Apparently Private Bradley Manning breached military security in Iraq and downloaded “150,000 diplomatic cables, as well as secret videos and a PowerPoint presentation.” One video he shared was a helicopter attack in Baghdad where the pilots were speaking gleefully about killing people. It’s hilarious that “military intelligence” (sic) prevents the use of thumb drives, but many of the computers have compact disk drives. Private Manning hummed Lady Gaga songs and pretended to be listening to her music when he was copying the files. NICE!