...and no, I did not mean that the way it sounded, so get your minds out of the gutter, dammit!
So let me get this straight; Juan Williams, a journalist, gets fired by NPR for...having an opinion. I thought that was one of the things we usually paid journalists for. Not only that, but it's made abundantly clear that he's been fired for holding an unpopular opinion, at least it's unpopular amongst what passes for intelligent people at NPR.
I say "made abundantly clear" because the tap dance NPR spokespeople and management have been doing to explain the otherwise-inexplicable makes it obvious that Williams crime was to give voice to what everyone pretty much already thinks but would never dare say aloud for fear of being banished from smart cocktail parties. Or of having a Libtard get in your face. The explanations make no sense, and there's been a lot of lawerly talk.
Except for the one remark about Williams needing a psychiatrist.
When it makes no sense, there's a bunch of lawyers involved, and they accuse you of being crazy, then you know they're full of shit.
This is 21st Century America in the Age of Barack Obama and Liberal Pieties, where a government-funded media outlet (why the hell do we have those? It can't be that difficult to make money in media when my cable system provides 250 channels of absolutely nothing to watch, and charges exorbitant rates for it) can deprive a man of the right to express his opinions.
All Williams said was what we all think; he worries when he sees an obvious Muslim getting on the same airplane he does. Normal people do.
Juan Williams will survive. He's a wonderful journalist (even if I don't often agree with him), and he seems a very decent sort of man. National Public Radio, however, shouldn't survive. It's time for NPR and PBS to go the way of the Dodo. If both were forced to compete in the marketplace, we'd see NPR vanish completely.
PBS would stick around solely on the strength of Big Bird and Elmo, and actually make money, so they wouldn't have to try and sell those gay and pretentious tote bags, anymore.
"This episode of Masterpiece Theatre is brought to you by the Letter 'L', and the number '4'...."
This is censorship, plain and simple. NPR could not get Williams to stop giving voice to his opinions, so they fired him. That this censorship is being paid for by the American taxpayer, for the benefit of people who could not survive otherwise in the marketplace of ideas, or if they had to get a real job, is an outrage. Contact your Congresscritter -- the new one you're likely to be getting next week, I mean -- and make it known that you want to ensure that this abomination -- National Public Radio --is no longer going to be lavishly funded with your stolen tax dollars.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Crashed And Burned...
Unfortunately, I shall not get stinking rich in the video game business. This was not totally unexpected, as I was aware of both the initially-remote possibilities and the extremely long lead time in production of any video game, to count any chickens before they were hatched.
Still, I did at least get paid for my time and effort, and that's something, but at the end of the day Market Research did me in. Market Research says; the typical video game junkie, apparently, has no patience to solve puzzles, read or even think. When they sit down for their six-plus hours of mindless entertainment (the average video game junkie spends 6 hours a day twiddling their thumbs. Now you know why there's an obesity epidemic), they don't want to have to expend braincells. My concept was shot down because -- get this -- it was judged that there was the potential for too many pauses of greater than 30 seconds in the action.
See? The world caters to people with short attention spans. That's why there's ObamaCare and Jerry Springer. Never mind that those pauses were necessary to inform players of vital plot points, to give them information to continue their virtual quest, Today's Breed requires "total immersion". Any pause in their simulated violence, bloodshed, flashing lights and sound effects might cause them to go into a coma. Anything that causes their thumbs to stop moving for that long simply invites Carpal Tunnel syndrome, or probably brings on Rabies, for all I know.
Ask them to have to read something, and you just might see an increase in suicide rates, I would suppose.
Still, the experience hasn't been a total loss; I've learned a lot, and well, there's always someone else who might find gold in my garbage. I suppose that the most shocking thing about the entire process was the discovery that the people who were evaluating my product for eventual production were so clueless...about most things. Here I was, trying to sell a video game based upon the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, and usually discovering that 80% of the people in the room had never read either.
One woman, in her mid-30's by the look of things (the vacant stare gives away her age. She is obviously someone raised on Reality Television), during one meeting about the storyline suddenly blurted out, as if she had some particularly curious form of Tourette's syndrome "Hey, wasn't this once a movie with Brad Pitt...?"
"Why, yes. Yes it was, Sunshine. What college did you go to again?"
"San Diego State."
Good for you! I'm sure your parents are so proud. Ask for your fucking money back.
Anyways, I guess I'll have to continue to shop the project, and horror of horrors!, continue to find a permanent job (at least as permanent as you can get these days). I wonder if there are any openings on the San Diego State faculty?
Still, I did at least get paid for my time and effort, and that's something, but at the end of the day Market Research did me in. Market Research says; the typical video game junkie, apparently, has no patience to solve puzzles, read or even think. When they sit down for their six-plus hours of mindless entertainment (the average video game junkie spends 6 hours a day twiddling their thumbs. Now you know why there's an obesity epidemic), they don't want to have to expend braincells. My concept was shot down because -- get this -- it was judged that there was the potential for too many pauses of greater than 30 seconds in the action.
See? The world caters to people with short attention spans. That's why there's ObamaCare and Jerry Springer. Never mind that those pauses were necessary to inform players of vital plot points, to give them information to continue their virtual quest, Today's Breed requires "total immersion". Any pause in their simulated violence, bloodshed, flashing lights and sound effects might cause them to go into a coma. Anything that causes their thumbs to stop moving for that long simply invites Carpal Tunnel syndrome, or probably brings on Rabies, for all I know.
Ask them to have to read something, and you just might see an increase in suicide rates, I would suppose.
Still, the experience hasn't been a total loss; I've learned a lot, and well, there's always someone else who might find gold in my garbage. I suppose that the most shocking thing about the entire process was the discovery that the people who were evaluating my product for eventual production were so clueless...about most things. Here I was, trying to sell a video game based upon the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, and usually discovering that 80% of the people in the room had never read either.
One woman, in her mid-30's by the look of things (the vacant stare gives away her age. She is obviously someone raised on Reality Television), during one meeting about the storyline suddenly blurted out, as if she had some particularly curious form of Tourette's syndrome "Hey, wasn't this once a movie with Brad Pitt...?"
"Why, yes. Yes it was, Sunshine. What college did you go to again?"
"San Diego State."
Good for you! I'm sure your parents are so proud. Ask for your fucking money back.
Anyways, I guess I'll have to continue to shop the project, and horror of horrors!, continue to find a permanent job (at least as permanent as you can get these days). I wonder if there are any openings on the San Diego State faculty?
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