Cashing in on the Innocent - Self-serving agendas & revisionist history

 Transcript below...'nuf said

I hate to date a video by bringing up a current event but the coming YouTube Adpocalypse in 2019 is being driven by yet another self-serving "activist."  One whose own past is questionable in the context of his "activism" becoming  a prime example of what's wrong with social media.

I don't usually get involved in new media controversies.  I see them as hollow, pointless and self-serving to the so-called "activists."

Nobody questions the source if there's an opportunity to milk a story for all its worth.   For example,  I watched a couple of  videos on the" Pedo Ring" controversy on YouTube which is causing major advertisers to pull out of the platform.   While I don't always agree with the viewpoints of  channels like the TheQuartering or Optimus ,  I have to agree with the premise that the media's new "YouTube warrior" is less about his cause and more about his popularity.

I won't bother to name his channel as I have no desire to encourage the behavior. 

That this guy went from virtually nothing to monetized overnight with YouTube's blessing is ironic considering he's attacking the very platform he's deriving revenue from and being given a voice to speak by it. 

That he blames the platform for the problem is either misplaced aggression or outright sensationalism.   I lean toward the latter.  There were ways to achieve his goals without causing harm to legitimate creators or the platform.   

In essence it's like suing an automaker for a fatal accident because the car went too fast. 

You can make a safer car and Youtube is hypersensitive about being a safe platform.  That someone finds a way to misuse it for their twisted compulsions is not reason to attack and damage it.  Where is the personal responsibility here?   

I'm sick and tired of so-called "activists" blaming everything but the perpetrator of the misdeed for whatever "cause célèbre" is popular today.  Half-truths, half-reasoned, complete insanity.

Let me be clear.  YouTube is no great ally of mine and has done my own channels great harm with their overheated fear of losing safe harbor and broken search algorithm but if I do something wrong it's my fault not theirs.

No, YouTube isn't pure and unsullied.  In fact you can find literally hundreds of channels blessed by YouTube whose only purpose is to instruct new "creators" how to essentially STEAL content from other videos on the platform, abuse the search algorithm and make money for doing nothing but a cut and paste of other peoples work.  The result is 1000's of "Top Ten" compilation videos with millions of views and thousands in revenue for these new "creators."  The original creators see none of it and worse the search algorithm gets pre-loaded with garbage ultimately crowding out legitimate content.

This is the same kind of sensationalist and seedy mechanism the so-called "activist" uses to  enrich himself at the expense of others. 

It's the same issue I have with the so-called "woke" movement that treats everything not 100% in line with their views as "misogynistic."

It's not misogynistic to be against a revisionist history agenda even when it's in the form of popular media.

The new "Captain Marvel" movie is a prime example by making it less about entertainment and more about an agenda.

Where have we heard that before...

Games like Battlefield 5, TV shows like Doctor Who and the militant effort to reshape a world view into something  worse than the wrongs they're trying to correct.

It's a stupid game, a dumb comic book, a nerdy TV show.   

Yes, it's all of those things but all of them have their own history, their own take on the world of their time.  A view that should not be lost and a story that must be built upon not denied. 

I'd rather that Doctor Who wasn't the new vehicle for a blatant political agenda.  I'd rather that we didn't need to focus on gender in a video game or a comic book character for the same reason.  All of these mediums can help change a world view but not by alienating half of it.  This is the problem.

The pendulum will swing, that's true, but every pendulum has a fulcrum.  Without it there is no pendulum only anarchy.  Denying history, denying other views denies the fulcurm.  Good or Bad our history is our foundation.  We try to take that which is good and learn from that which is wrong and  unjust. 

For example, with all the evils of the Roman Empire to say that it's gifts to modern civilization are irrelevant is simply ignorant.  Succeeding generations after the fall have tried to learn from the past and hopefully not repeat its worst aspects. 

Not always with success but to whitewash the failures or deny the history is to perpetuate the greater sin.  To align with the cult of personality and the cause célèbre while blatantly denying anything that conflicts with your own world view or your own contribution to the problem only moves civilization that much more quickly to collapse. 

This sounds more like I agree with the rampant SJW causes of the day but in fact I accuse them of the very sin they claim to be vanquishing.

We come back to ideology again.  The truth lies not in any full swing of the pendulum but rather where it rests at the center.

Virtual Vegan Vigilantes (Veggie Nazis)

"We enslave, torture, and murder billions of cows, pigs, and chickens every year and nobody bats an eye. A dog is forced to swim for a scene in a movie and everyone loses their fucking minds."

Oh please.....

That quote is from yet another Vegan "activist" on Reddit hijacking a thread to draw yet another false equivalency to make a ridiculous point.  

That being of course, the evils of factory farming somehow not rising to level of someone who beats up a dog.

I'm sorry if I offend anyone with this but dammit....

I'm sick of half-baked, half-assed activists whose only goal in life it seems is to make everyone else feel miserable.

So thank you Veggie Nazi, you've given me inspiration.

Since there never seems to be a separation for you people let's just make the assumption that you feel all meat is bad and we're all going to hell for eating any of it.  

Regardless of whether or not it's "factory farmed."  

You tend to deal in half-reasoned absolutes so that's how I'm going to address you...

Now, let's talk about those beleaguered chickens, cows and pigs shall we?

Yes, they're animals and yes I wouldn't be a very good butcher because they have eyes and would look at me.  If I had to do the deed to save my life, I'd likely starve to death.  The prospect of reducing one to it's constituent products is not something this society has raised me to deal with.

That stems mostly from the fact that I was born into a world with indoor plumbing and something other than animal skins and fig leaf jockstraps.

Let me be clear having said that.  That's no excuse for inhumane treatment of any living thing but let's get real here.  These keyboard ninjas swilling their fat-free smoothies and soy milk treat anyone that's ever visited a drive-thru like they were Jeffrey Dahmer.

Let's get this straight....

There's no such thing as a Free Range Chicken.  I mean really....

Do you think there's some golden, sunlit valley somewhere teaming with cackling hens dancing around crystal streams where they live out their happy days to a ripe old age?   

BS, they'd all starve to death in a week.

All Free-range means is that they don't get caged up.  That's a good thing but they're still destined for the dinner table.

They wander around aimlessly pecking the ground cackling and crapping.  Most of the time simultaneously.  They're dirty, ill tempered and unpleasant.

Pigs aren't much better.  It's been said that they supposedly have the mental equivalent of a 3 year old human child.  

Which explains the general hygiene of most 3 year old's.

Beef cattle, much like Chickens, exist to be eaten.  They, like Chickens, spend most of their day wandering around aimlessly grazing and crapping.  Without much regard for either other than continuing the acts.

I suppose identifying with 1000 pounds of manure factory is someone's idea of bliss but only if you think Tofu and plain yogurt taste like anything but ASS.   

I'm a realist and as such I am fully aware that all of these "endangered" livestock exist in nature for no reason OTHER than to be a meal for something else.  

This is how nature made them.  I'm no evolutionary biologist but I'm fairly certain that cows, sheep, pigs and chickens can trace the roots of their place in the food chain back to similarly situated ancestors.

Should we decry the fate of the Ant when the Anteater comes around?  The Mouse when the Cat catches him?

Just because they're cute doesn't elevate them above livestock.

I suppose Native Americans were monsters for killing Buffalo. 

Never mind they made use of virtually every part of the animal.  

"Barbarians!" you say.  "They should've been eating grass and leaves!"  (and maybe smoking some too!)

I don't put much faith into that biblical nonsense about "Man's dominion over the Earth."  I'm pretty sure nature gives you a few perks and you battle it out from there.

"What about the dinosaurs," you may say, "the largest were almost always herbivores!"

Yeah, they were and they didn't move very fast either.  Know why?  because the carnivores needed a steady food supply and rats on the forest floor weren't going to cut it.

They were beef cattle. 

Humans?  We're Omnivores.  Our bodies don't work right without a balance of both flora and fauna.

Sorry buddy, it's just how we're made and why all those Veggie Nazis always seem to look so sick.  

Yeah sure.  Point to those rail-thin Victoria Secret models prancing around.  All of them looking like they're in dire need of a sandwich with something other than air between their gluten-free bread.

That's not even an acceptable female body image these days.  So what about that Mr. Activist?   Promoting an unhealthy body image seems to me to be far worse.

The old adage of moderation in everything applies.  Some of this, some of that and things go much better.

Sure, there are 100+ year old vegetarians.  

They look like crap...

But to the point of this little piece...

The guilt-trip has to stop.  Spare me the evil eye while you're choking down your rice cakes and hand-raised soybean spread.  I'm perpetuating no evil.

You know damned well you want a burger. 

How do I know?

Because there's an entire industry that's grown up around your mania catering to your natural desire for balance.  A need for sustenance that doesn't normally end up in a lawn mower bag.  

Fake burgers, fries, ice cream, even milk.  

If you're so happy with twigs and leaves why do companies make millions producing soybean saturated stand-ins?

Get off your high horse.  Besides, did you ask it if it actually WANTED you on it's back?

Hypocrite!

You're not superior, you don't have all the answers, and you need to stop assaulting everyone with your absolutes.  Nobody will care about your cause if you alienate everybody.

Yes, treat animals humanely for God's Sake!  Just keep your condemnations to yourself if I choose a more traditional path.  

The two aren't incompatible.

Remember, Absolutes are for Sith Lords and Fascists.  

Don't be a Sith Lord.

Drama, Faux activism and YouTube

Ah Drama...

As if just living life didn't offer up enough trials and tribulations it seems there are those bent on manufacturing more.

Some, like the tarnished remnants of TWIT are a bona fide drama factory.  Others just blatant opportunists.  

If drama were gold it'd be as common as sand on the beach.

We all know someone who seems to be terminally "in distress."  Invariably they'll drag everyone around them into their drama like a black hole.

YouTube has become the perfect outlet for all that dramatic energy.  Puffed up egos bolstered by clueless fans who've got nothing better to do than lament their own failings and swell a channel's subscriber numbers.  

Drama feeds drama which is why YouTube comments are the way they are.

Adam the Woo

But this isn't an indictment against YouTube as a whole. 

There are some gems out there like Adam the Woo or Louis Rossmann.  They invite you into their lives and in the process teach us something about ourselves.  They're  not chasing fame or pouring over analytics like some corporate accountant at tax time.   It's about sharing experiences instead of inventing them.

But they're few and far between rendered all but invisible by the incessant droning from the drama queens.  

Those self absorbed attention whores who will do anything to get more views.  Ruining reputations, exposing private information of a rival even criminal acts, all are fair game.  Nothing is off-limits.

Then comes the second string.  The reactionaries who pounce on the chance to expose or should I say exploit tragedy.   Their drug of choice a piece of that nefarious stardom.  A successful leap on the bandwagon is the path to joining their YouTube icons or so they hope.

To that end they become the self-appointed standard bearers of all that's decent and right (at least on YouTube)  Pop culture judge, jury and executioner of the irrelevant.

The beast is fed and the collective bar is lowered.

Damn!

These people take themselves way too seriously.  YouTube just lets it happen because it means more views which translate to more advertiser impressions.  It keeps the pump primed and the money rolling in.

It's the same formula as reality TV actually.  Throw a bunch of mediocre drama queens together and watch the bloodbath.

Isn't there already enough of this kind of crap in the world?  

Apparently not.  Check out the video below...

Milennials

I'm in a weird place.

Not physically weird like the furniture is nailed to ceiling or anything like that.  No, I'm stuck between two human generations that are vastly different but more alike than they realize.  I believe time will bear that out but for now it's just a hunch.

I hear a lot about how millennials have an entitlement mentality.  Well, I can tell you that such condemnations aren't exclusive to them nor are they anything new.

The civil rights movement was accused of similar "transgressions" against society until the accused flipped the term around on their accusers.

Damn right that people shouldn't be judged based on their complexion!  That's as legitimate an "entitlement" as expecting to be able to walk down the street without a bunch of morons wearing sheets hanging you from the nearest tree.

It really boils down to a heartfelt belief in social justice.

Social Media, the Internet and information overload in general have enabled social activism for causes a world away.  But for many millennials it seems that it's enough to tap the "Like" key and call it a victory for the cause.

The problem is is that somewhere along the line social justice has gotten mixed in with Beyonce' videos and video game streams.  Just another element of a social profile.

Worse, it's my generation that caused it.  We are the helicopter parents who banned the word "No" and instilled the belief that everything our kids did was wonderful and had a higher purpose.  Even if the brat was a borderline sociopath.

I've frequently used the phrase "T-ball trophy" to express my disdain for this kind of parenting.  There's a narcissistic undertone that comes out of it that says that because a belief is dearly held and popular that all others are invalid.  It all goes straight back to my generation who were determined to throw out the lessons of 100 generations of procreation and somehow expect a better result in our offspring.

It's where the entitlement charge comes from as well.

How can we blame millennials for dearly held left-field ideologies when we never told them they could be wrong?

Ladies and Gentlemen of Generation X.   You've raised a generation of suckers that will believe and suffer anything so long as it plays into the fantasy world we created for them.

I've seen nothing that better illustrates this point than the groundswell of support for Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. Most of which comes from millennials.

There's nothing wrong with that per se' but when asked about the reasons for supporting him you hear a chorus of anti-establishment rhetoric with little substance.

Hey, I'd love to see all those things that Bernie is promising come to pass too.  But reality says that he's pushing an ideology.  He's selling a product no different than an IPhone or  a designer handbag.  It's promotion without substance with a marketing program that promises instant gratification.  Offer anything less at your own peril.

In fact even President Obama suffered a backlash shortly after transitioning from candidate to President because many supporters thought he should be doing more than he was.  As though the heavens were supposed to open up and vanquish all the evils of the world the moment he took the oath of office.

I've gotten into discussions with millennials over this and the common thread always comes back to a hyperactive belief in the need for immediate change without delay.  Consequences be damned!  We're going to save the planet and bring income equality to the world in a month.  If only these old "establishment" types would just hurry up and die already!

I can appreciate the commitment and the ambition especially when it's focused in a direction I happen to personally agree with.  But I don't buy anything based on its marketing.  I dig deeper which runs headlong into the entitlement mentality.

It seems just because you want something it should happen regardless of the consequences.  Ideologies are great for those weened on instant gratification but they ultimately end up as little more than lip service.

It's not that I believe that the millennial generation is any more naive or less intelligent.  I think they're responding to the programming we gave them.

Which is interesting because at some point in life you throw off that programming.  They say as we age we tend to get more conservative and cautious simply because we have more to lose and less time to recover.

I wouldn't be surprised that at some point when I'm just about ready to collect my paltry social security check of $1200 a month, the millennial generation is going to look a lot more like my parents, the baby boomers.

Remember that young baby boomers were just as much social activists as millennials are now.  In fact my generation spent years dodging the barbs for having no social conscience.  We were the "Do nothing" generation while our parents were lauded for changing social conscience and their parents for ushering in the modern age after winning world war 2.

But our parents eventually got older and with it more conservative.  For the  most part they took advantage of the trappings of the civilized world, raised families and relegated their activism to collections of Time Life "Sounds of the 60's." CD's.  Social justice was important but the climb up the corporate ladder even more so.

If any generation got idled it was theirs.  We still deal with pay inequality for women, stagnant wages and erosion of personal liberties.  What happened to all that activism in the 40 year's they've been in power?

Knee jerk legislation, mandatory sentencing for minor offenses and a income inequality unrivaled since the days of the 19th century robber barons.

I see a similar future for the millennial generation.  At some point you have to look past the packaging if you don't want to end up with maggots in your Twinkies.

If Generation X is to be saddled with the label of "doing nothing" it was simply because we didn't have the power or the cause to do to otherwise.  The world was finally made in an image acceptable to our parents and for a long time we didn't know any better.   As their children we didn't really have anything to complain about other than possible nuclear annihilation from cowboy politics..

You can, however, point to Generation X as the modern root of anti-corporate sentiment.  The boomers may have hated " The Man" but that pretty much ended when "The Man" started offering up company cars and golden parachutes.  The term "wage slave" entered the popular vocabulary during my generation as productivity went up and compensation went down.

In short, we were sold a bill of goods.  We were promised what our parents had but in the end we ended up being the first generation to have less than our parents.  All this while saddled with debilitating debt caused by an economy built on the premise that you could never really afford to buy anything.

Have you seen those "End of Life" insurance ads on TV.  Now you can't even get away from your bills when you die!  Since when is it commonplace to saddle your relatives with your bills?  Hell, when I go, just throw me off some cliff in the wilderness and let the coyotes get a meal.  How's that for environmentally friendly....

Still, with all that, I'm fortunate to have lived in a time where I saw technology rise from novelty to world changing.

When I was a kid music was still listened to on LP's and Cassette  tapes.  From there I saw the rise of the personal computer, the advent of mobile technology to now where connectivity is expected to be ubiquitous.  

So to millennials I can say this.  I get what you're after but don't dismiss my skepticism at your ideology.  I'm glad that your market power has forced a change in education and social awareness.  Just be aware that what you may think is anti-establishment is the same bill of goods that we were sold some 20 years ago.

And don't beat yourself up too badly if you realize somewhere around your mid 40's that liking a Facebook page wasn't really activism.  Step back and see what you've really accomplished before condemning those who've gone before you.

Yes, I still say it's my generation's fault that millennials seem a bit impatient and naive but so is any young generation just coming into their own power.  You can make the changes you want to see but it's not going to come from YouTube or social media or voting for unrealistic ideologies.

It will come from a unified effort toward real change.  An effort with a foundation that however flawed came from those that walked the path before you.

Twitter Activism: Busybody Backfire

Adria Richards

By now you probably already know the name Adria Richards.  Well at least if you follow the technology press that is.  She's the polarizing tweeter who outed a couple of boys behaving badly. 

The cliff notes version of the story is that a group of men were sitting behind Richards at the PyCon conference (A conference for Python developers) making dirty jokes laced with sexual innuendo.  

Richards was specifically offended by remarks they made in response to a speaker such as "big dongle" and "forking repos" which apparently spurred her into action.

She snapped a photo of the two men with her phone and tweeted it with the following: " Not cool. Jokes about forking repo's in a sexual way and "big" dongles.Right behind me #pycon"

Mind you, they weren't talking to her or at her, in fact they probably didn't even notice she was there.  That was until everyone got fired.

The twitterverse went nuts over this.  Most of the response was negative as most responses on the Internet are.  What doesn't seem to fit is that anyone got fired over this or that it became such a big deal.

There's a part of me that likes to see a busybody get a taste of their own medicine and make no mistake, Richards is a busybody.  That she was so determined to ruin someone for behaving like an ass using twitter activism proves that.

People in the tech industry live on the Internet and feel no hesitation in laying open the entirety of their existence for the world to see.  That exposes them to a level of vulnerability that old men like me think twice about. 

So it should be no surprise that your actions in the virtual world have consequences in the real one.  All the parties involved knew that but Richard's decided to be a passive-aggressive activist.  She would likely have had a better outcome if she had just turned around and asked them to shut up.  Nothing muzzles a man faster than a woman calling him on the carpet.   

Should women have to be subjected to lewd and lascivious ramblings? Of course not but it's within your rights to be moron and nobody was talking to or even about Richards. 

It seems we're back to the age old problem of how men are different from women.  Generally,  most men would rather their world was like a weekend trip to Vegas while women would likely prefer something akin to the Lilith Fair. 

Unless Homo Sapiens suddenly become hermaphroditic  that won't change no matter how much you may

The Accused at Pycon

want it to.  It's not an excuse, it's biology.

Richard's job was described as a "Developer Evangelist"  I suppose that in this case she took the title in the biblical sense.  To that end her tweets ran against her job description of being " to build and strengthen our Developer Community across the globe."  A global community isn't always politically correct.  Besides, her followers were looking for information about a Python conference not a blow by blow of a couple of idiots.

It's not that she didn't have a right to be offended or to call these bozos out.  However, the way she did it was unprofessional and ultimately got her fired for the hate mail that resulted. 

Did she deserve it? To some extent yes but I'd draw the line at death and rape threats.  Unfortunately, the Internet can be a very violent place populated with uber egos and social retardation.  It's not right but it comes with the territory and we all know it.

Was firing the answer? I don't think so.   Surely there were other positions she could have been moved into. 

Did the knuckle dragging chauvinists (at least they were on that day) deserve to be fired? Probably not but they definitely needed some sensitivity training and maybe some potty training as well since they were obviously immature.  I've met plenty of people of both sexes who could use a refresher course in how to conduct themselves in public.

Still, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", says the bible.  Richard's may have been justified in being offended but wrong in her actions especially considering her chosen vocation.  If you're getting paid to "evangelize" to a bunch of programmers you'd better understand that your audience may not be as progressive as you are.

It's no different than being a conservative politician who comes out in favor of a liberal agenda.  It's a pretty good bet that you're not going to be on team Red much longer.

If you're a guy, chances are you've been those two morons at some point in your life and may have even offended a few people.  If you're a woman you've probably witnessed it and wished looks could kill. 

Thing is, nobody ever tried to ruin your life over it.  People who run around the world seeking to remake it in their own utopian image are called idealists.  If they get enough power they're called fascists which is the secret dream of every busybody even if they think their intentions are pure.

    

Law Enforcement and Political Activism

Article first published as Law Enforcement and Political Activism on Technorati.

It's good to have heroes.  People whom you can look up to and pattern yourself after as you move through life.  It's fairly obvious that Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has a hero in Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and possibly Rush Limbaugh.

In the latest episode of "Babeu on Immigration" we find the Pinal county Sheriff bemoaning what he calls "Roadside amnesty"

The Pinal County Sheriff had this to say to local news outlets today.

"Within hours of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices upholding the main portion of Arizona's SB1070 law, President Obama and Janet Napolitano, with a wave of their hands, have made what was illegal one day, legal the next. They can't pass their dream act, so they change enforcement policies, which undermines the rule of law,"

He goes on to cite an alleged incident involving a 17 year old stopped for exceeding the speed limit by 50MPH.  Apparently the teen had no driver's license or other identification because he was an undocumented immigrant. 

The Sheriff contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but found no interest in the teen since he had been in the country for most of his life.   ICE does not consider this type of "illegal immigrant"  a priority focusing instead on recent and repeat border crossers, those over 30 years of age and felony offenders.

Babeu holds President Obama and DHS Head Napolitano to blame for having to release the young offender to his mother's custody with a citation instead of turning him over to ICE for deportation. 

Babeu cites the revoking of the 287G agreements between DHS and local law enforcement as the root cause. 

The 287G agreements allowed local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law and hold offenders in custody.  With the SB1070 supreme court decision, DHS terminated the agreements which in Babeu's view allows "illegal immigrants" like the aforementioned teen to go free.

Babeu continues...

"The President fails to understand the...impact created by his decision to not enforce immigration laws..........What other laws will the President wave and not enforce?"

Conservative pundits often cite the reason that Gitmo detainees could not be brought to U.S. soil is because they may gain the same constitutional protections as U.S. citizens such as a right to jury trial and counsel.  Which begs the question, exactly what laws isn't Sheriff Babeu able to enforce?  The laws that exist or the laws that he'd like to exist?

The teen in question was arrested in Sheriff Babeu's county which at last check was well within the confines of the United States.  It's likely that along with the criminal speeding offense, a laundry list of other charges await the teen unless he happens to have a parent who belongs to the Mexican consulate.  He was arrested while traveling to work so that's unlikely.

Law enforcement's primary responsibility is to enforce existing laws, regardless of political bias or opinion.

While the prospect of activists judges is frightening, activist law enforcement is even more so.  Like Arpaio it appears Babeu has no qualm with using his position as a political platform.  In some cases, tragically as in his recent misinterpretation of a murder/suicide as a drug cartel assassination.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa county Arizona has done a stellar job of self promotion for the past 3 decades and it appears Pinal county's Sheriff is looking to get in on the act.  Nothing garners more press attention than a public persona emphasizing political extremes that border on a circus sideshow. 

It's likely you don't know the names or political positions of Arizona's other 13 county sheriffs, perhaps that's the way it should be.