Comments on: you look so tired unhappy

you look so tired unhappy

jonson — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 13:53:34 -0800

Bring down the government! Flickr collection of scans from a CIA published guide for revolutionaries in Nicaragua; many of the suggestions are universally applicable. I myself have been guilty of at least one...

By: baphomet

baphomet — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:04:52 -0800

These aren't about taking down a government or political system, they're about unneccesarily destroying your society. Many of the actions descibed would actually be detrimental to the next, presumably more America-friendly government. If these really were distributed by the CIA I wonder what their intentions really were.

By: Jawn

Jawn — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:37:00 -0800

So does that mean when I slack off at work I'm helping to overthrow the government? Glad to know I'm doing my part. And it seems that in my teenage years I was quite the revolutionary.

By: sharksandwich

sharksandwich — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:56:36 -0800

Fill paper bag with excrement. Place on doorstep. Light bag. Ring doorbell.

By: tweak

tweak — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 15:22:25 -0800

Why aren't these in Spanish?

By: jonson

jonson — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 15:33:41 -0800

Read the links - there's a version in Spanish also.

By: nevercalm

nevercalm — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 15:33:43 -0800

They (and worse) really were distributed by the CIA, and they're but one of many signs of ineptitude on their part....

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:15:47 -0800

Thanks sharksandwich, I now have this mental image of Bush answering the door to burnning poo.

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:22:31 -0800

OMG! The CIA doesn't know how a toilet work! Poo flows downhill, not straight up! I also love that they didn't specify that other people's toilets, not your own, should be the target for the attack. Or maybe the strategy is that you'll have to annoy your neighbors once you block your own.

By: j-urb

j-urb — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:25:02 -0800

Many of the actions described would actually be detrimental to the next, presumably more America-friendly government. That is unless the next "America-friendly government" just lost an election to the non-America-friendly political party (NAFPP). Rather than wait until the next election, the NAFPP can go around destroying the country's economy in hopes that the current government could take the blame because most people would not understand what was happening.

By: j-urb

j-urb — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:26:48 -0800

Woah, I F'ed up. Time to hit the reset button. Many of the actions described would actually be detrimental to the next, presumably more America-friendly government. That is unless the next "America-friendly government" (AFG) just lost an election to the non-America-friendly political party (NAFPP). Rather than wait until the next election, the AFG can go around destroying the country's economy in hopes that the NAFPP could take the blame because most people would not understand what was happening.

By: punishinglemur

punishinglemur — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:54:08 -0800

How the hell is a bunch of people blocking toilets supposed to bring down a government?

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 17:28:37 -0800

I used to have one of the first reprint copies of this. I believe that it has been reprinted (and altered) several times. This copy looks somewhat different from mine. The diagrams look the same, but my copy was in spanish, with red english footnotes ( which weren't in the original). Its also not the complete book. I bought mine in a Cambridge, Ma used bookstore for a political science class/paper on US/Central American relations, and gave it away to a friend years ago.

By: furvyn

furvyn — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 19:34:40 -0800

Here's a CIA assasination manual from 1954 printed for Guatemala operatives.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 21:34:08 -0800

get a steel bar and bend it around a pole to make a hook... you know it is as easy at that. I know bending steel is an easy thing to do, heck perhasp I'll go do it now.

By: Colloquial Collision

Colloquial Collision — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 22:54:43 -0800

I'm so proud of my federal government.

By: thethirdman

thethirdman — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 00:28:06 -0800

My grandfather went to Nicaragua around the time this original manual was published, and I remember him showing me this pamphlet. This page, specifically, always stuck out in my mind.

By: puddnhead

puddnhead — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 02:07:16 -0800

Does anyone else remember the Life in Hell cartoon referencing this manual at the time of its publication?

By: metaculpa

metaculpa — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 08:48:42 -0800

"get a steel bar and bend it around a pole to make a hook... you know it is as easy at that. I know bending steel is an easy thing to do, heck perhasp I'll go do it now." edgeways: you'd be surprised how easy it is actually. Steel can be bend, hammered, ground and cut using handtools. Its not as strong as people assume.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 08:57:12 -0800

Yup, puddnhead. Man, I love me some Life in Hell.