Comment by Zelphyr
12 years ago
> You know what would outrage the public? ESPN being shut down.
No better way to state it. Our government is fucking us with our pants on but we're too distracted (by people getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars to throw a fucking ball around) to care.
Why the contempt for professional sports?
Given that geeks are more likely to fix this stuff, why not talk about blocking hacker news, twitch.tv and reddit? What about political sites Politico, Huffington Post, Slate, that treat politics like sports -- who "won the morning", who's going to win Iowa in 2016, etc., deserve a lot more blame for peoples' political ignorance and apathy than a site that treats sports like sports.
It's a quintessentially American view, though -- my pleasures are above reproach, while yours mark you as a cretin. Nobody who likes things you don't like could be smart!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
Love this, had never heard of it before. My generation drives me mad. 20-30 year olds whose major pursuit in life is frivolity, who complain when they don't have the jobs necessary for them to pursue their frivolity.
We're beyond this: "I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain." And have reached a point where the majority of people spend their time in bread and circuses. God damn it.
I bet if ESPN and shows like American Idol, etc. were knocked offline until we got our government back on track things would get done pretty fast.
The contempt you guys show for millions and millions of people because they prioritize privacy differently from you is really distasteful.
You're in your condo and not only is the roof structurally unsound but the HOA keeps walking around on it holding umbrellas to protect you and the other residents from the rain.
Meanwhile, most of your neighbors are focused on their own lives, and the lives of the people they'd rather watch on TV.
That roof IS going to collapse. Its just a matter of when. Would you too not have contempt for the priorities of your neighbors?
But do you want things to get done fast?
The Patriot Act was done fast, and we can see what kind of mess that is.
No doubt!