i am just amazed that people can say that what is going on in the streets of iran day after day by millions of people is all some plot of mi6 or mossad or the cia
i mean you have to either laugh or cry that you live in a world where the people spewing this ignorant propaganda are this delusional and that those believing it are that moronic
someone should start a fark or 4chan meme mocking the delusion of some iranian mullah declaring how millions marching in the street day after day is the work of mossad
how in a billion years can anyone with the slightest bit of cognitive coherence believe that what is going on in the streets of iran is a foreign plot!?
really, those millions in the street are puppets of israel or the usa or great britain? really?! you honestly fucking think that is even remotely fucking possible?!
i find it absolutely mindblowing how anyone could even begin to think that what is going on in iran is anything but an organic, natural, native uprising
how the HELL do you think some meddling foreign power convinced all those iranians to march in the street day after day?
how the HELL can you even begin to think that? how did the mossad, mi6, the cia, convince iranians to do that? mind control rays? hallucinogenic drugs in the water supply? chemtrails? ergot in the wheat in the food supply?
how? how did they do that? please: elucidate to the world your particular brand of paranoid schizophrenia that believes anything like what you are proposing is in the slightest fucking way possible
you're fucking insane. you really are, to even begin to believe that
history is often viewed as rote tired predictable trends playing out in rote tired predictable ways
this is an artifact of human mentality, of hindsight, of how we try to process our world. its not the truth
in truth, history is made by a few people groping their way in the dark, unsure of their efforts, but full of a strange conviction (for their time), and every once in a while, they hit a giant fucking motherlode of popular appeal or societal structural imbalance, and send the entire world careening on some dramatic unforeseen path of ebullition or madness
some assassinations result in nothing but a few changes in an administration, some assassinations result in world war i
what makes one event the start of a massive social earthquake and another event a forgettable hiccup? something strangely symbolic to someone somewhere, and whimsy
no really: whimsy
beware anyone who claims to know which event is nothing and which is an earthquake. the wisest person knows enough to say that no one knows. too many factors, too much complexity. no one controls anything, its all fumbling in the dark
contrast that to those who see conspiracies and dark controlling powers everywhere. paranoid schizophrenia is no replacement for true intelligence about the facts of history
these are some wacky concepts. try using some of them next time when you compare:
1. cops putting rnc and dnc marginal characters with marginal concerns behind fences
vs
2. the sheer scale of the popular uprising in iran 3. what is at stake: the very heart of iranian society (as opposed to nothing more than the ability to disrupt a party convention by outsiders with grudge fringe issues that don't have popular support) 4. the modus operandi: sueable, accountable urban cops restraining people with nonlethal force, versus shady government unaccountable thugs and militia, the basij, unleashed on peaceful protesters
its completely out of scale, out of context, and out of perspective the way in which you are trying to compare these two events. at best, you qualify as a weak threadjack
no one in iran knows the truth, because there is no free press
everyone outside iran knows the truth, because there is free access to a free press
and what in your mind makes you think that the us govt can control the world media?
well, let's go with your paranoia, and make believe for the moment the us govt really can control the media. not even just american outlets, but even the likes of news.com.au and news.bbc.co.uk: any western media outlet. this is some extreme paranoia to believe that, but let's go with your bizarre pov for a moment
is your assertion the us govt can control these news sources?
but my whole point is right there in those links: the fact that i can even click on those news sources if i choose to, and no one is going to knock on my door for doing that, and no one is blocking my access to official russian or chinese news sources, and i feel no fear in clicking those links, then what the hell does that leave your assertion about who is controlling "the media" or your right to free access to news sources in the usa?
why the heck do you have the whole notion of a free press and its implications completely ass backwards in your mind?
but what the hell: it's not the colonial era and its not the cold war anymore
are the iranian people that deluded (or rather: the iranian government thinks so lowly of their own people) that anyone would actually believe this massive popular uprising is actually just manipulation by foreign powers?
propaganda only goes so far, then its just downright laughable paranoid schizophrenia
overthrowing an autocratic state that believes it has the authority of god behind it
which seemed impossible two weeks ago, but which seems possible right now (before the basij reach for their submachine guns and pull a tiananmen square on the iranian populace: please no)
point being, anything is possible in this world
especially ddosing network infrastructure manufacturers who sold censoring hardware and software that aren't exactly providing the airtight experience the regime in tehran expected
oh yeah, you can't chant "death to america" for 30 years and do business with american companies;-P
siemens is german, nokia is finnish
so dear germans and finns, and euros in general: pillory those fucking companies, in the name of your affinity and fraternity with those simply fighting for their rights in the streets of tehran
perhaps siemens.com and nokia.com deserve some DDOSing, get their stock to fall with some false rumors, some googlebombing about the truth of their involvement with iranian the regime, some facebook groups called "siemensandnokiasupportthebasij", some wikipedia edits... anything to punish the suits in the glass towers who are otherwise disconnected from what their technology is being used to do
there are plenty of people in this world who are rich and didn't lift a finger (in some parts of the world, the majority)
there are plenty of people in this world who are poor and work their asses off (flat out majority in the world)
the world is slightly more complicated than a pure meritocracy. there are plenty of forces that elevate the lazy offspring of the rich into permanent riches, and suppress the efforts of the hard working poor due to structural injustices in various societies
you should familiarize yourself with the reality of the world you live in a little better before speaking and sounding ignorant
human beings are a form of capital. and when you have a lot of them, that capital goes down in value. it is yet another evil conclusion to overpopulation. you wonder why you should care about overpopulation somewhere else in the world. well, now you see why you should care: for certain types of job, they lower your career outlook, they decrease your salary by yolking you to their desperate calculus
if you are poor, you tend to be more highly motivated than when you are rich (and yes, middle class, or even lower middle class american counts as rich in this world)
#2: if you are poor, you can be paid a lot less to do the same job than someone less motivated and in a better socioeconomic position
do you know what #1 and #2 are? facts. now mod me troll and flamebait, but you know i speak the truth. deal with it (or more likely, suppress my words and go on whining)
computer programming is a rather interesting skill in the internet age: if you have a terminal, and a keyboard, all that matters is the quality of the mind behind those two things. doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter your age, doesn't matter your education level. here on slashdot, we are all familiar with the internet as a universal leveller when it comes to things like music distribution or political dissent. well guess what: it applies to computer programming as a career choice as well
that fact is not nice if you are rich westerner, but it is still a fact nonetheless: you have a hell of a lot of highly motivated, much cheaper competition out there. deal with it, or whine. but i don't see what the whining is supposed to get you except self-righteous victimization. it certainly won't get rid of the competition or get you higher pay
life is not always kind folks. just fucking deal with it already and stop the pathetic whining
we're all doomed to a life of assumed inferiority because we don't apply strunk and white's element of style to throw away comments on a backwater chat forum
under the current us system, if you are poor, there are plenty of robust failsafes like medicare, medicaid, state programs, etc, that guarantee your health at no or very little cost
if you are rich, well, you're rich: you can pay for your healthcarte
but, and here's the big one: if you are middle class, and you get a major health problem, you have to declare bankruptcy. and even if you are well, you have nothing but grief: cobra has a time limit, preexisting conditions deny your healthcare, horrible deductibles, bureaucrats denying your claims (i love the argument that govt run healthcare will mean your healthcare will be decided by bureaucrats: HEY MORONS, WHO DECIDES YOUR HEALTHCARE DECISIONS RIGHT NOW? CORPORATE BUREAUCRATS!)
from a completely cynical point of view, healthcare reform makes simple political sense because the american middle class are being shafted in the current system, and they hate the current system. it makes simple obvious political common sense to address how much the american middle class hates their current healthcare system. that's really the bottom line here. the current system is politically indefensible... unless some lobbyist lines your pockets of course
represent the people, washington dc assholes, not the lobbyists. and the people's desires are loud and clear: govt run healthcare, a vast improvement over our current system
no matter how many problems you can find with govt run healthcare, our current system SUCKS FAR WORSE
1. the situation in iran is the fault of the usa. therefore, since the usa is responsible for events there, the usa should do more, perhaps invade, since, as YOU assert (not me), the usa is responsible for every goddamn thing by the most creative of lines of reasoning
2. the situation in iran is the fault of iranians. including daily chants for 30 years of "death to the usa". (a country that voraciously antagonistic to the usa is still a pawn of the usa??? how the hell does that work in your mind exactly???)
its called personal responsibility. you see it on the public AND private spheres: people who remain mired in awful positions in life, partly out of a system of rationalization and learned helplessness which blames all of their slights and difficulties on someone else. rather than shutting up, picking themselves up, and bettering themselves. i have a good idea of what your personal psychology is like, the way you think about world politics
the usa did plenty of vile things in the cold war. britain did plenty of things in the colonial era. did you happen to notice the cold war ended 20 years ago and the colonial era ended in world war ii? no: apparently you, and the propagandizers in tehran, think that therefore there are an endless supply of american and british secret agents hard at work plotting the downfall of iran. that enemies of iran are alwas lurking in the shadows, ready to spring out like BOGEYMEN to destroy the country. because apparently russia and great britain are still playing the great game in central asia. because apparently the usa is still concerned about tehran falling under the sway of communist moscow. pffffffft
as supposed to gee, i dunno, native born iranians who love iran who are just pulling for a better country? naaah, impossible! clearly the dominant narrative here is spy vs spy hijinks going on in the shadows, just as the propagandizers in tehran assert
you're fucking patehtic the way you think about your world
do not have a monopoly on the concept of martyrdom
anyone who sacrifices flesh and blood for a noble common cause is instantly elevated to heroic status to be emulated
whether or not this ohio guy's story is true, the ayatollah's warning today means a lot of blood is going to flow soon enough in tehran and anywhere else in the world serious targets run to
but take note, you basij assholes, while you murder your fellow countrymen who simply want a less intolerant life in iran: you are creating martyrs, and we are watching
who are we who are watching? no, not your tired traditional bogeymen of the imperialist american or the colonial british. we are the world, and we see what the truth is, and this has nothing to with meddling foreign powers. it has everything to do with good iranians honestly and organically wanting to make a better country
and we see the tiananmen square bullshit you are about to pull. and you will murder many. and you are not making a stronger iran, you are making a weaker one. because you are killing your better selves
fuck you basij assholes. however religious you think you are, you are most certainly going to whatever hell your religion affords you for the actions you are about to unleash
1. once upon a time, there was a set of gentleman's agreements agreed upon between large publishers of vinyl and plastic cassettes
2. poof: teh intarwebs appears
3. new ability: every pock marked teenager in the world now has greater distribution powers than bertlesmann + time warner + every publisher that has ever existed: "hey my friend in novosibirsk, this is cape town: you want the entire creative output of that new zealand lounger singer bic runga? here ya go"
4. response of publishers to new ability: apply to every single pock marked teenager the set of rules agreed upon between rich executives in oak paneled golf clubs over mint juleps
i have been downloading mp3s for free since 1999. i have never spent a single dime on music since 1999. i currently have about 20,000 songs. poorly sorted and duplicates (which actually is an argument for buying songs: good organization), but i guess that means my hard drive has a greater value than the GNP of some smaller countries
or maybe NOT, and this whole notion of economic damage is BULLSHIT. maybe its time to rethink your business model, you assholes, or better yet: GO OUT OF FUCKING BUSINESS. artists distribute directly to fans, making their money from concerts, advertising, etc. NO MIDDLE MAN NEEDED. NO MORE FUCKING DISTRIBUTORS. the motherfucking INTERNET is the distributor. you are an expensive redundant alternative. UNDERSTAND YOU ASSHOLES?
just DIE already you useless pieces of shit, your entire reason for existing HAS BEEN RENDERED EXTINCT
fucking deal with it and die already, like the blacksmiths, chimney sweeps, and manual scribes that have been rendered extinct due to technological progress as well
HISTORY HAS SPOKEN. YOUR BUSINESS MODEL IS DEAD. RETAIN SOME DIGNITY AND FUCKING DIE ALREADY
well, at least it shows how pittsburgh's economic sectors are diverse and robust, while places like phoenix which are too economically monoclonal have a bleak future, regardless of real and potential livability differences
which underlies how you rationalize your piss poor attitude?
i don't understand the connection, but i'll take it as a sign that i've struck a nerve
so let me sever the nerve completely with a fact, which melts everything you say like a snowball in a furnace:
if you don't have anything positive to say, you're not helping whatever it is you believe in
contemplate that. try to find an observation that in any way negates that fact
shut up until you learn how to be optimistic. why? simply for the sake of whatever cause you care about. your current words hinder whatever it is you care about
or become a lewis black style comedian. that's the only value of your words currently: humor
let's see: oregon almost as bad as michigan in terms of unemployment, but at the same time experiencing an influx of refugees from california
so oregon, as opposed to michigan where everyone is fleeing, has the worst economic recovery prospects of any state in the union, thanks to the rats scurrying off the sinking ship to your south
while i read your post and the one you are responding to
zzz
maybe he is modded off topic because he is more concerned with grudges and overarching indictments and acid-laced blame than anything useful
people who are consumed by pointing fingers and little more are yet a further symptom of any societal blight you or the post you are responding to describes
the way out of any problem in this world is positive, optimistic ideas and attitudes, regardless of what got you there
not useless, pointless doom and gloom
and so he is off-topic, and correctly modded as such: his post has more to do with acting out his psychological damage than anything anyone else wants to read or might find useful
maybe he has good reason to be bitter. maybe his indictments are valid. but he needs to reach a point where the words that come out of his mouth are constructive, before anything he says is of any value to anyone else
Slashdot Mirror
i am just amazed that people can say that what is going on in the streets of iran day after day by millions of people is all some plot of mi6 or mossad or the cia
i mean you have to either laugh or cry that you live in a world where the people spewing this ignorant propaganda are this delusional and that those believing it are that moronic
it reminds me of this guy:
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/mss_history.html
someone should start a fark or 4chan meme mocking the delusion of some iranian mullah declaring how millions marching in the street day after day is the work of mossad
its where arnold schwarzenegger and freud and hitler and the sound music are from... its just below germany ;-)
(awaiting the incendiary and mocking comments from people who don't have a sense of humor)
how in a billion years can anyone with the slightest bit of cognitive coherence believe that what is going on in the streets of iran is a foreign plot!?
really, those millions in the street are puppets of israel or the usa or great britain? really?! you honestly fucking think that is even remotely fucking possible?!
i find it absolutely mindblowing how anyone could even begin to think that what is going on in iran is anything but an organic, natural, native uprising
how the HELL do you think some meddling foreign power convinced all those iranians to march in the street day after day?
how the HELL can you even begin to think that? how did the mossad, mi6, the cia, convince iranians to do that? mind control rays? hallucinogenic drugs in the water supply? chemtrails? ergot in the wheat in the food supply?
how? how did they do that? please: elucidate to the world your particular brand of paranoid schizophrenia that believes anything like what you are proposing is in the slightest fucking way possible
you're fucking insane. you really are, to even begin to believe that
history is often viewed as rote tired predictable trends playing out in rote tired predictable ways
this is an artifact of human mentality, of hindsight, of how we try to process our world. its not the truth
in truth, history is made by a few people groping their way in the dark, unsure of their efforts, but full of a strange conviction (for their time), and every once in a while, they hit a giant fucking motherlode of popular appeal or societal structural imbalance, and send the entire world careening on some dramatic unforeseen path of ebullition or madness
some assassinations result in nothing but a few changes in an administration, some assassinations result in world war i
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip
some rebellions aren't even noticed, some foment a civil war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown's_Raid_on_Harpers_Ferry
what makes one event the start of a massive social earthquake and another event a forgettable hiccup? something strangely symbolic to someone somewhere, and whimsy
no really: whimsy
beware anyone who claims to know which event is nothing and which is an earthquake. the wisest person knows enough to say that no one knows. too many factors, too much complexity. no one controls anything, its all fumbling in the dark
contrast that to those who see conspiracies and dark controlling powers everywhere. paranoid schizophrenia is no replacement for true intelligence about the facts of history
scale
perspective
context
these are some wacky concepts. try using some of them next time when you compare:
1. cops putting rnc and dnc marginal characters with marginal concerns behind fences
vs
2. the sheer scale of the popular uprising in iran
3. what is at stake: the very heart of iranian society (as opposed to nothing more than the ability to disrupt a party convention by outsiders with grudge fringe issues that don't have popular support)
4. the modus operandi: sueable, accountable urban cops restraining people with nonlethal force, versus shady government unaccountable thugs and militia, the basij, unleashed on peaceful protesters
its completely out of scale, out of context, and out of perspective the way in which you are trying to compare these two events. at best, you qualify as a weak threadjack
no one in iran knows the truth, because there is no free press
everyone outside iran knows the truth, because there is free access to a free press
and what in your mind makes you think that the us govt can control the world media?
well, let's go with your paranoia, and make believe for the moment the us govt really can control the media. not even just american outlets, but even the likes of news.com.au and news.bbc.co.uk: any western media outlet. this is some extreme paranoia to believe that, but let's go with your bizarre pov for a moment
well then, what's preventing me from going to:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/
is your assertion the us govt can control these news sources?
but my whole point is right there in those links: the fact that i can even click on those news sources if i choose to, and no one is going to knock on my door for doing that, and no one is blocking my access to official russian or chinese news sources, and i feel no fear in clicking those links, then what the hell does that leave your assertion about who is controlling "the media" or your right to free access to news sources in the usa?
why the heck do you have the whole notion of a free press and its implications completely ass backwards in your mind?
why iran hates great britain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game
i understand why iran hates the usa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_ajax
but what the hell: it's not the colonial era and its not the cold war anymore
are the iranian people that deluded (or rather: the iranian government thinks so lowly of their own people) that anyone would actually believe this massive popular uprising is actually just manipulation by foreign powers?
propaganda only goes so far, then its just downright laughable paranoid schizophrenia
overthrowing an autocratic state that believes it has the authority of god behind it
which seemed impossible two weeks ago, but which seems possible right now (before the basij reach for their submachine guns and pull a tiananmen square on the iranian populace: please no)
point being, anything is possible in this world
especially ddosing network infrastructure manufacturers who sold censoring hardware and software that aren't exactly providing the airtight experience the regime in tehran expected
you write perfect english
if you were hungarian yourSentences wouldBeFormatted inProperHungarianNotation ;-)
oh yeah, you can't chant "death to america" for 30 years and do business with american companies ;-P
siemens is german, nokia is finnish
so dear germans and finns, and euros in general: pillory those fucking companies, in the name of your affinity and fraternity with those simply fighting for their rights in the streets of tehran
perhaps siemens.com and nokia.com deserve some DDOSing, get their stock to fall with some false rumors, some googlebombing about the truth of their involvement with iranian the regime, some facebook groups called "siemensandnokiasupportthebasij", some wikipedia edits... anything to punish the suits in the glass towers who are otherwise disconnected from what their technology is being used to do
there are plenty of people in this world who are rich and didn't lift a finger (in some parts of the world, the majority)
there are plenty of people in this world who are poor and work their asses off (flat out majority in the world)
the world is slightly more complicated than a pure meritocracy. there are plenty of forces that elevate the lazy offspring of the rich into permanent riches, and suppress the efforts of the hard working poor due to structural injustices in various societies
you should familiarize yourself with the reality of the world you live in a little better before speaking and sounding ignorant
human beings are a form of capital. and when you have a lot of them, that capital goes down in value. it is yet another evil conclusion to overpopulation. you wonder why you should care about overpopulation somewhere else in the world. well, now you see why you should care: for certain types of job, they lower your career outlook, they decrease your salary by yolking you to their desperate calculus
if you are poor, you tend to be more highly motivated than when you are rich (and yes, middle class, or even lower middle class american counts as rich in this world)
#2:
if you are poor, you can be paid a lot less to do the same job than someone less motivated and in a better socioeconomic position
do you know what #1 and #2 are? facts. now mod me troll and flamebait, but you know i speak the truth. deal with it (or more likely, suppress my words and go on whining)
computer programming is a rather interesting skill in the internet age: if you have a terminal, and a keyboard, all that matters is the quality of the mind behind those two things. doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter your age, doesn't matter your education level. here on slashdot, we are all familiar with the internet as a universal leveller when it comes to things like music distribution or political dissent. well guess what: it applies to computer programming as a career choice as well
that fact is not nice if you are rich westerner, but it is still a fact nonetheless: you have a hell of a lot of highly motivated, much cheaper competition out there. deal with it, or whine. but i don't see what the whining is supposed to get you except self-righteous victimization. it certainly won't get rid of the competition or get you higher pay
life is not always kind folks. just fucking deal with it already and stop the pathetic whining
things can change a lot in a few decades
just ask the people in tehran revolting against a regime that was established 30 years ago in a revolution of the people
the grammar nazi party
we're all doomed to a life of assumed inferiority because we don't apply strunk and white's element of style to throw away comments on a backwater chat forum
the future is not big brother, ie, the govt surveils you everywhere
the future is little brother: it is your fellow citizen who surveil you, completely uncontrollably
under the current us system, if you are poor, there are plenty of robust failsafes like medicare, medicaid, state programs, etc, that guarantee your health at no or very little cost
if you are rich, well, you're rich: you can pay for your healthcarte
but, and here's the big one: if you are middle class, and you get a major health problem, you have to declare bankruptcy. and even if you are well, you have nothing but grief: cobra has a time limit, preexisting conditions deny your healthcare, horrible deductibles, bureaucrats denying your claims (i love the argument that govt run healthcare will mean your healthcare will be decided by bureaucrats: HEY MORONS, WHO DECIDES YOUR HEALTHCARE DECISIONS RIGHT NOW? CORPORATE BUREAUCRATS!)
from a completely cynical point of view, healthcare reform makes simple political sense because the american middle class are being shafted in the current system, and they hate the current system. it makes simple obvious political common sense to address how much the american middle class hates their current healthcare system. that's really the bottom line here. the current system is politically indefensible... unless some lobbyist lines your pockets of course
represent the people, washington dc assholes, not the lobbyists. and the people's desires are loud and clear: govt run healthcare, a vast improvement over our current system
no matter how many problems you can find with govt run healthcare, our current system SUCKS FAR WORSE
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html
1. the situation in iran is the fault of the usa. therefore, since the usa is responsible for events there, the usa should do more, perhaps invade, since, as YOU assert (not me), the usa is responsible for every goddamn thing by the most creative of lines of reasoning
2. the situation in iran is the fault of iranians. including daily chants for 30 years of "death to the usa". (a country that voraciously antagonistic to the usa is still a pawn of the usa??? how the hell does that work in your mind exactly???)
its called personal responsibility. you see it on the public AND private spheres: people who remain mired in awful positions in life, partly out of a system of rationalization and learned helplessness which blames all of their slights and difficulties on someone else. rather than shutting up, picking themselves up, and bettering themselves. i have a good idea of what your personal psychology is like, the way you think about world politics
the usa did plenty of vile things in the cold war. britain did plenty of things in the colonial era. did you happen to notice the cold war ended 20 years ago and the colonial era ended in world war ii? no: apparently you, and the propagandizers in tehran, think that therefore there are an endless supply of american and british secret agents hard at work plotting the downfall of iran. that enemies of iran are alwas lurking in the shadows, ready to spring out like BOGEYMEN to destroy the country. because apparently russia and great britain are still playing the great game in central asia. because apparently the usa is still concerned about tehran falling under the sway of communist moscow. pffffffft
as supposed to gee, i dunno, native born iranians who love iran who are just pulling for a better country? naaah, impossible! clearly the dominant narrative here is spy vs spy hijinks going on in the shadows, just as the propagandizers in tehran assert
you're fucking patehtic the way you think about your world
do not have a monopoly on the concept of martyrdom
anyone who sacrifices flesh and blood for a noble common cause is instantly elevated to heroic status to be emulated
whether or not this ohio guy's story is true, the ayatollah's warning today means a lot of blood is going to flow soon enough in tehran and anywhere else in the world serious targets run to
but take note, you basij assholes, while you murder your fellow countrymen who simply want a less intolerant life in iran: you are creating martyrs, and we are watching
who are we who are watching? no, not your tired traditional bogeymen of the imperialist american or the colonial british. we are the world, and we see what the truth is, and this has nothing to with meddling foreign powers. it has everything to do with good iranians honestly and organically wanting to make a better country
and we see the tiananmen square bullshit you are about to pull. and you will murder many. and you are not making a stronger iran, you are making a weaker one. because you are killing your better selves
fuck you basij assholes. however religious you think you are, you are most certainly going to whatever hell your religion affords you for the actions you are about to unleash
1. once upon a time, there was a set of gentleman's agreements agreed upon between large publishers of vinyl and plastic cassettes
2. poof: teh intarwebs appears
3. new ability: every pock marked teenager in the world now has greater distribution powers than bertlesmann + time warner + every publisher that has ever existed: "hey my friend in novosibirsk, this is cape town: you want the entire creative output of that new zealand lounger singer bic runga? here ya go"
4. response of publishers to new ability: apply to every single pock marked teenager the set of rules agreed upon between rich executives in oak paneled golf clubs over mint juleps
i have been downloading mp3s for free since 1999. i have never spent a single dime on music since 1999. i currently have about 20,000 songs. poorly sorted and duplicates (which actually is an argument for buying songs: good organization), but i guess that means my hard drive has a greater value than the GNP of some smaller countries
or maybe NOT, and this whole notion of economic damage is BULLSHIT. maybe its time to rethink your business model, you assholes, or better yet: GO OUT OF FUCKING BUSINESS. artists distribute directly to fans, making their money from concerts, advertising, etc. NO MIDDLE MAN NEEDED. NO MORE FUCKING DISTRIBUTORS. the motherfucking INTERNET is the distributor. you are an expensive redundant alternative. UNDERSTAND YOU ASSHOLES?
just DIE already you useless pieces of shit, your entire reason for existing HAS BEEN RENDERED EXTINCT
fucking deal with it and die already, like the blacksmiths, chimney sweeps, and manual scribes that have been rendered extinct due to technological progress as well
HISTORY HAS SPOKEN. YOUR BUSINESS MODEL IS DEAD. RETAIN SOME DIGNITY AND FUCKING DIE ALREADY
that is a shame
well, at least it shows how pittsburgh's economic sectors are diverse and robust, while places like phoenix which are too economically monoclonal have a bleak future, regardless of real and potential livability differences
which underlies how you rationalize your piss poor attitude?
i don't understand the connection, but i'll take it as a sign that i've struck a nerve
so let me sever the nerve completely with a fact, which melts everything you say like a snowball in a furnace:
if you don't have anything positive to say, you're not helping whatever it is you believe in
contemplate that. try to find an observation that in any way negates that fact
shut up until you learn how to be optimistic. why? simply for the sake of whatever cause you care about. your current words hinder whatever it is you care about
or become a lewis black style comedian. that's the only value of your words currently: humor
because i just finished reading this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/18oregon.html
it pretty much negates everything you just asserted
i especially like this graph:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/06/18/us/18oregon_graph.ready.html
let's see: oregon almost as bad as michigan in terms of unemployment, but at the same time experiencing an influx of refugees from california
so oregon, as opposed to michigan where everyone is fleeing, has the worst economic recovery prospects of any state in the union, thanks to the rats scurrying off the sinking ship to your south
while i read your post and the one you are responding to
zzz
maybe he is modded off topic because he is more concerned with grudges and overarching indictments and acid-laced blame than anything useful
people who are consumed by pointing fingers and little more are yet a further symptom of any societal blight you or the post you are responding to describes
the way out of any problem in this world is positive, optimistic ideas and attitudes, regardless of what got you there
not useless, pointless doom and gloom
and so he is off-topic, and correctly modded as such: his post has more to do with acting out his psychological damage than anything anyone else wants to read or might find useful
maybe he has good reason to be bitter. maybe his indictments are valid. but he needs to reach a point where the words that come out of his mouth are constructive, before anything he says is of any value to anyone else
until then: -1, off-topic. the correct mod