e-pistols: Physical Aggressions via the Web

Ignazio Lago, e-pistole, 2018 (ink on paper)

Long Live the New Flesh!
(D. Cronenberg, Videodrome, 1982)

Tutorials on how to achieve self-strangulation are relatively common on the Web, even on some popular video channels. This practice is often referred to as a game or a challenge, and has been given different names. ‘Blackout’ is among the most repeated ones. In the US, the practice of controlling one’s own asphyxiation, while recording it with a camera to then share the images, has already caused the death of many a teenager, who perhaps were not fully aware of the potential danger. Even in Italy, a few deaths have occurred. The first one in Tivoli, and then just a few months ago in Milan.

Even more extensive is the list of intentional suicides committed by people who suffered very heavy and prolonged forms of blackmail, threats and harassment through the web, in particular through social networks and messaging applications. Cyberstalking and cyberbullying are the neologisms describing these phenomena. Laws were also implemented in order to deal with these types of violence.

But putting aside the issues of privacy and control, the behavioral pressure deliberately operated by, and through, social media, cybersecurity, computer wars and the power of “internet giants” – all of which have been tackled, in Italy, through an excellent research work by the organization Ippolita –, let us get to the heart of the matter.

Inducing emulation, cyberstalking and cyberbullying all still remain within a certain limit. These actions influence the victim’s psyche by deceiving its sentinels with enticement, by taking advantage of a weak and still-developing safeguard, by taking advantage of their fragility or injuring their emotions, by wearing their self-esteem and humiliating their scales of values. But the limit was crossed with the cyber attack on the website of the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation of America, which runs a forum for people affected with various neurophysiological disorders. When some of them clicked on one of the hundreds of messages embedded with flashing animated gifs that the attackers posted using a script, they did not find offending messages, but they were actually seized by serious migraine or convulsions. For the first time, the manifest intention of causing physical harm using a computer as a weapon reached its goal and a deliberate aggressive action conducted via the web directly affected not just the victim’s mind, but the victim’s body.
It was a somewhat epochal passage, which can be perceived as a shortening of the distance between virtuality and matter, a shortcut leading straight to the human body. It happened in March 2008: the path to physical cyber-aggression was opened.

Photosensitive epilepsy may occur following prolonged exposure to monitors and flashing lights. The most typical symptoms include: visual fixation, stiffening of the limbs, anomalous head posture, hallucinations, sudden fainting and convulsions. A very rapid sequence of images, quickly swithcing from positive to negative, repeated in short cycles, with sudden chromatic inversions and swirling, flickering/flashing shapes can induce a migraine headaches or seizures in a sensitive subject. This kind of dangerous images can befound in movies, video games, cartoons and television shows. Or, they can be produced on purpose.

WARNING! The video below can induce seizures or interfere with the viewer’s health. DO NOT WATCH if you have a history of epilepsy.

Years before, the EFA had awarded Kurt Eichenwald – a well-known and controversial figure in the US press – for his 1987 article in which he publicly adressed his own epileptic status. Eichenwald had not been involved in any cyber aggression in 2008. But in December 2016, after opening a Twitter DM from his computer in his home in Dallas, the reporter suffered a serious epileptic fit. It was caused by a flashing GIF file embedded in the tweet. There were no doubts the act was deliberate. The text content explicitly said: “You deserve a seizure”.
This was not even the first aggression Eichenwald had experienced in the same way, as he later stated on Newsweek. Earlier that year, in October, he had managed to react in time, by quickly rotating the screen of his portable device.

Kurt Eichenwald, portrait by ArsTechnica

During the last presidential campaign, the journalist had publicly expressed some criticisms regarding the candidate who later won the elections. This was the reason behind the cyberattacks. After the success of this second cyber aggression, Eichenwald’s Twitter profile was flooded with countless epileptogenic attacks launched by several different accounts. It was the birth act of cybersquadrism: a physical group aggression via the Internet, carried out by targeting specific individuals rather than unknown or occasional people.

The author of the attack made significant efforts to keep his Twitter account untraceable. He posed under the name Ari Goldstein and used the handle @jew_goldsteinhad, as if to suggest some kind of conspiracy. But the investigations conducted by the FBI which, at least on this occasion, were carried out with Twitter’s full cooperation, identified the real sender of the criminal message as John Rayne Rivello, 29, of Salisbury, Md., a Marine veteran. An open supporter of the current president. Arrested in March 2017, Rivello was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. It was probably the first time that a computer file was called a “deadly weapon” in court.

The new relationship between man and the electronic machine, which emerged during the shift from personal computers to smartphones, has resulted in an unconditional adherence to the phenomenon of interconnectivity. But it has also performed a deep maneuver, bringing the body closer and closer to the network; the forms of violence available in a hyper-connected world have evolved; online attackers have found their target in the soma — the corporeal body — as well as in the psyche.

F.lli Wachowski, Matrix, 1999

With the purpose of influencing the mind, our bodies have been restricted, disciplined, regulated and punished for centuries. Now, on the other hand, things seem to be heading in the opposite direction: bodies can be reached through the mind. From the most powerful instruments of social and mental conditioning, comes the subtle and astonishing possibility of inflicting pain and suffering to the flesh.

Will we ever expand this astounding potential? Will we someday take advantage of this wonderful opportunity by breaking through our obsolete epidermal barrier?
Will we be able to amplify the advantages deriving from our own carnal vulnerability, by finally inserting the electronic body into the human body?
Easy, folks! No need to push: we have subcutaneous devices for all purposes, and all budgets!

Six Handkerchiefs for the Cannibals: The Infamous “Jameson Affair”

Dec16

This article originally appeared on #ILLUSTRATI n. 54 – “Se questo è un uomo”

From James W. Buel, Heroes of the Dark Continent, 1889

In 1885, the state of Congo became private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. During the 23 years of this colonial domination, the king never set foot in this country; yet he exploited its resources and enslaved its inhabitants, causing 8 to 30 million deaths, which means he literally halved the local population. The Force Publique, a militia established by the king to spread terror, used to torture and mutilate men, women, and children, thus writing one of the most shameful and bloody pages of European colonialism.

James S. Jameson

Such an inhuman context was the setting for the scandal of James ‘Sligo’ Jameson, heir of a famous Irish whisky distillery still operating today. A naturalist, hunter and explorer, Jameson joined the Emin Pascià Relief Expedition led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley in 1886. Despite the stated objective of this expedition was to provide aid to the Emin Pasha who was under siege, its real task was to expand Belgian settlements on Congolese territory. On February 25, the soldiers left Zanzibar, heading to the heart of what was then called “Black Africa”. The scandal happened when they arrived in Ribakiba (a town known today as Lokandu).

According to Assad Farran, Jameson’s interpreter, during a meeting with the local tribe leaders, the Irish gentlemen showed his curiosity for the practice of cannibalism. “In England we hear much about cannibals who eat people, but being myself in the place, I would like to see it in person”, he said. The tribe leaders confirmed that anthropophagy was quite common in that area, and they suggested Jameson to offer a slave as a gift to one of the neighbour villages. So, for the ridiculous price of six handkerchiefs, Jameson bought a 10-year-old girl.

On reaching the native huts the girl, who was led by the man who had brought her, was presented to the cannibals. The man told them: “This is a present from the white man. He wants to see how you eat her”. The girl was taken and tied by the hands to a tree. About five natives were sharpening knives. Then a man came and stabbed her with a knife twice in the belly. The girl did not scream, but she knew what was going on. She was looking right and left, as if looking for help. When she was stabbed she fell down dead. The natives then came and began cutting her in pieces. One cut a leg, another an arm, another the head and breast, and another took the inner parts out of her belly. After the meat was divided, some took it to the river to wash it, and others went straight to their house. During all the time Mr. Jameson held a notebook and a pencil in his hand, making rough sketches of the scene.

Recontruction of Jameson’s sketches.

When Assad signed this sworn statement in 1890, four years after the events, Jameson was already dead. Since his description of the events was confirmed by another witness, the scandal broke out, and the word spread fast from Europe to the US, where the story was even published in the New York Times.
Jameson’s widow then tried to redeem the memory of his husband by publishing a letter he was supposed to have written on his deathbed. This writing provided a different version of the events: the whole thing happened so fast that Jameson was powerless to stop the carnage happening before his eyes. Yet in the letter (which many suspected to be a fake written by Jameson’s friends) there were some details—such as the six handkerchiefs used to buy the little girl—corresponding to the interpreter’s report: if the letter’s purpose was to restore a posthumous honour to Jameson, this strategy proved to be rather weak.
The situation became even more confused when Assad withdrew his charges, declaring he had been misunderstood. Yet, everyone could figure out that, in all likelihood, he had been forced to retract his accusations by Belgian officers.

Although a number of grey areas still remains, there is little doubt that the accident actually occurred. Another witness remembered that back then Jameson had no problems telling this story, and that he didn’t realise the gravity of his actions until long afterwards. “Life is very cheap in Central Africa; Mr. Jameson forgot how differently this terrible thing would be regarded at home.” During those dreadful years in Congo, while regularly committing massacres, Europeans treated natives like cattle. So, from the colonists’ point of view, six handkerchiefs were clearly worth a gory and unforgettable show.

20 Bizarre Christmas Gifts Ideas

Dec9

Credit: Rob Sheridan.

Christmas is approaching, and with it comes the usual risk of choosing banal and trivial gifts.
Fear no more! Here is a selection of 20 absolutely weird gadgets, to refuel your consumerist creativity and to satisfy your relatives and acquaintances with tailor-made presents!

For your goth friends, nothing is better than a melancholic cup of tea while dreaming of sepulchres by the sea.
This delightful Edgar Allan Poe tea set includes: a hand-stamped muslin bag, a bag of “Midnight Dreary” herbal tea, and a limited edition charmed tea ball. (Crow not included.)

Available on Etsy.

A book is a classic but always welcome gift. Especially when, besides being a compelling read, it also proves useful and educational.
Someone you know will certainly appreciate this very practical guide.

Available on Amazon.

And now a perfect gift for (your enemy’s) children: it’s fun AND instructive!

Available on Amazon.

A calendar is as boring a gift as it can get. Well, not these ones: here are Bizzarro Bazar’s picks for 2019.

Available on Amazon.

These fun-loving nuns remind us, however, that Christmas is above all a sacred holiday. So here’s your pious decoration: a praying mantis Christmas angel.

Available on Etsy.

Chocolate is always a safe bet, when it comes to Christmas presents. The variant I propose here is not exactly cheap, but it sure sounds exotic: this chocolate bar is made from camel’s milk.

Available on Amazon.

It takes you a whole afternoon to set up your Christmas tree, but only 2 minutes for your cat to destroy all the hard work.
The problem is solved with this pet-proof Half Tree. Also available in the snowy version.

Available on Argos.

Since we’re talking cats, it is a real pity that this kitty saucy boat is no longer on the market. It was a Kickstarted a few years ago, and it’s now sold out. I’m listing it here anyways because, who knows, maybe you can find a secondhand one to shock your guests at Christmas.

Enough about cats, just one last thing: here is an action figure for your crazy cat lady friend.

Available on Amazon.

What about dogs? Don’t they need to keep warm during a rough winter?

Available on Amazon.

Here’s another useful, exquisite gift.
When the cold gets intense, and it makes the eyes water and the nose run, these double-sided “Snittens” offer two solutions in one: they’re specifically designed to dry tears on one side, and to absorb mucus on the other. Specifically designed, mind you. Just imagine the team of scientists working on this ground-breaking project, and be thankful you live in such enlightened times of sophisticated technology.

Available on eBay and Amazon.

If snot mittens were not enough to disgust your friends, maybe you want to go a bit further.
Give this pimple simulator as a gift to your most squeamish friend. Pus recharge is included!

Available on Amazon.

Lastly, we need to come up with something for those sexually liberated friends — or boy/girlfriends, why not— who are constantly looking for a new sex toy. We want it to be Xmas-themed, but something more than the usual kinky Santa outfit.
When you give them this awesome reindeer penis dildo (well, if we believe the producer’s description), you’ll know you’ve made their Christmas a bit happier.

Available on Amazon.
(By the way: Amazon’s suggested combined purchase is a thing of beauty.)

Before concluding, I would like to suggest two gadgets which are not really gifts but rather tools that you can use yourself, in case of need. A survival kit for the festive season, to defend yourself against relatives visiting, long dinners that can sometimes turn into Kafkian nightmares, etc.
The first remedy allows you to noncalantly approach your Christmas tree, unscrew a ball and drown your sorrows in alcohol.

Available on Amazon.

The second is designed for real emergencies.
Instructions: get up from the table, make up an excuse for leaving your guests, head into the other room and, once you’re there, scream your lungs out in the scream-absorbing jar. This essential accessory will allow you to let off steam without spoiling that pure, touching Christmas spirit.