Thursday, March 16, 2006

Pugnacious Kerfuffle's Revenge

--Enough of this crap about Dana Reeve already. We lost Darren McGavin and Dennis Weaver mere days prior, and both of them barely got a mention. But the news spent at least one entire day talking about this broad. What did she do? WHAT DID SHE DO? She was a housewife who did some charity work, that's all. Don't mourn her just because she was married to a self-important crippled guy.


--So Isaac Hayes is quitting South Park as the voice of "Chef", and I'm pretty pissed about it. Hayes is a Scientologist, and apparently got all upset over last November's episode lampooning Scientology (one of the best episodes ever, IMO), saying that co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone had crossed the line into "bigotry and intolerance". This is very confusing. He never complained about their ribbing of other religions, but as soon as they make fun of his he feels the sting. He expects a double-standard between his religion and all others. Is that not "bigotry and intolerance"? Besides, the episode didn't really knock Scientologists themselves, in fact it seemed pretty sympathetic towards them. It merely called Scientology a "global scam" and explained what Scientologists actually believe, which is something that Scientologists don't want outsiders to know, mainly because of how fucking stupid it all is. Maybe it was the revelation of the tenets of Scientology that REALLY made Hayes quit.

In any case, so long, Chef.


--I just watched Good Night, and Good Luck last night, and I was very impressed by it. Films like that seem so subversive now, and for good reason. Our country has now entered into another McCarthy era, where dissent of opinion is likened to disloyalty to the country. Hell, Bush even said once "You're either with us or against us." In that case, Georgie, I'm against you.

We need more Murrows now, but I think the way broadcast news works today it's not going to happen. The corporate owners of the media outlets would never allow it on the air, not for an instant, and everyone is terrified of sponsors pulling out of news programs. How can CNN broadcast without sponsorship from Ameritrade? Whatever would they do?

There are a few out there who aren't afraid to speak their minds (Bill Maher immediately comes to mind), but these people are primarily comedians and columnists, not purveyors of the news. That's where the bloggers come in. Not guys like me, I'm just some asshole who shoots off on subjects that bother him and makes goofy observations of daily life and hopes that maybe someday more than three people will regularly read it all. I'm referring to the actual news blogs, provided you can find one that doesn't proudly proclaim itself as having a right or left wing bias. I think there's a new medium of reliable information, and I think it's far beyond the reach of government influence.

At least I hope it is.

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