The Double-Dip Mentality

[kandrathe]

Seems like you finally got convinced. Woohoo!
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Of what? Don't read too much into it.

What I am convinced of it that our society is way out of whack with values and compensation. Just ask yourself who should be better compensated, the latest group of musicians promoting gun violence, whoring, demeaning and degrading women, and chemical excess? Or, teachers, brain surgeons, engineers, or even Joe line worker at the Ford plant?

Our society puts too much value on entertainment in all its forms. That is TV, movies, sports, and even video games.

Postman sees television's entertainment value as a "soma" for the contemporary world, and he sees contemporary mankind surrendering its rights in exchange for entertainment. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985), by Neil Postman

In essence what I believe about media and news in particular is described best by the following;

As a result, with its powerful visual appeal in the broadcast media, the tsunami that killed 150,000 has been enormous news for weeks, yet  the fact that 4,500,000 children every year from obsolete diseases due to lack of access to inexpensive medicines that could prevent and treat them, has received almost no attention in the broadcast media. And the media were likewise unable to galvanize any action in response to the known threat of genocide in Rwanda in 1994, which killed five times as many as the recent tsunami, nor has it yet galvanized action in the current ominously similar situation, which will yield almost inevitably similar results in Darfur. These dramas built up to crisis too slowly, and were far too subtle and complex to capture in thirty-second 'stories' and quick photo collages. The atrocities at Abu Ghraib only became news when photos were smuggled out, and it was the photos -- the media coverage of the atrocities, not the atrocities themselves or their complicated, inexplicable cause -- that were 'news'. how to save the world --  blog by Dave Pollard 1-10-2005

Do I think Brittany Spears deserves her wealth and fame? No. On two levels, her talents are common and mediocre, and she is a packaged product of pop pablum. When you look at the music industry or the movie industry, you might believe that the most talented people rise to the top. It ain't so. It's usually the ones who have some talent, are "discovered", and are willing to sell their souls for wealth and fame.

I do not weep at all with the prospect of the RIAA, or Music Industry crashing and burning, or thousands of the labeled artists being de-emphasized to indie status where *real* talent and hard work make the difference. But, I'm not so blinded by disdain for Hollywood, or the Music Industry that I would condone piracy in hastening their demise. The Indies will need enforceable copyright laws to protect their ability to get just recompense for their efforts to be able remain in the industry at all.