I’ve never understood why people want to become famous. Being famous means you can’t be yourself. You give up being ordinary. At least you used to. Ordinary people get pretty famous nowadays.
The Internet has changed the meaning of fame. You can have millions of followers (I don’t, but some people do) and still be pretty ordinary; obscure, in terms of the public eye. You know…Including all those other people who are too good to Google. Too cool for TikTok. For the rest of us, it’s sort of a golden age in a way. If you’re on the right apps, that is. If the Government doesn’t take them away because they’re afraid of the power we have.
What I want to know is where is the true music underground? The next breakout sound is out there, in some garage or dive bar. A bigger than life, but authentic scene. Where the music speaks the truth and the true seeds of destiny will spring. Not about the industry or money or fame. Music has the power to change. To change Us.
I’m a libertarian at heart. You don’t need a bunch of rules if you follow just one: first do no harm. When the industry is killing the product, the industry needs to change. The money is literally killing the music.
They will exploit us until we refuse to be exploited. Then they’ll find a new way to exploit us.
Why are there no women in the NBA? I mean, there are women in the WNBA with more skills than some of the men in the NBA. Are the boys too scared of getting upstaged by a girl? Do we really need to protect their fragile egos?
I appreciate the existence of the WNBA, but in a lot of ways it seems like the ‘separate but equal’ flavor of discrimination, that isn’t equal at all.
I think basketball would benefit from women in the NBA, and they could replace the WNBA with ‘farm teams’ like in baseball, so second best would be reserved for those who aren’t quite ready for the big league…male AND female.
It’s just my opinion, but I hope the amazing ladies in the WNBA demand their right to play in the NBA. Their right to compete for equal salaries is being denied because the WNBA doesn’t have the sponsorship and fan base of the NBA, and likely never will. Look at the USFL and other attempts to compete with the bigs. It doesn’t ever work.
Women can only compete equally if allowed to compete in the NBA. Separate but equal is never really equal. It’s just gaslighting, meant to draw attention from the discrimination.
Authors note: I don’t really watch basketball, or any pro sports really. I think many of them make too much money for doing what they love. But this isn’t about sports. It’s bigger than sports. It’s about equality for all.
I think it’s time that the human race figures out, that progress for a few should never mean regress for some. If your success comes at another’s expense, it is not really success. It’s abuse. Abuse of human rights. Abuse of our shared resources. Abuse of power, for profit…and more power. Call it Capitalism. Call it anything you want to, to justify it in your conscience. But I call them crimes against humanity, and only the wealthy and powerful are actually able to commit them. Uber Wealthy People. Big companies. Countries. Because after all, who can actually hold them accountable?
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
It doesn’t matter which God you choose to call your own, RELIGION is the ultimate problem that mankind must overcome. Religion is, by definition, perversion of God to manipulate people into behaving a certain way. God just IS (or isn’t). What you believe about Them isn’t relevant to anyone, except to YOU and God.
At best, religion is a distraction from finding your own spiritual destination. Easy answers to reassure, instead of clues about your truths. At it’s worst, religion has brought us countless Crusades and Jihads, The Holocaust, 9/11 and The War on Terror, and so many other atrocities committed by “righteous men” in the Name of God.
Religious hypocrisy is legendary, and yet the sheep keep coughing up their tithes to reach enlightenment or avoid the scourge of Hell. I completely understand the need to believe in something. I just think it’s better to search for, and believe in your own truths, rather than in others who might profit off your faith.
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
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#FuckTicketmaster. Ticketmaster and Live Nation are a scalper monopoly. A drain on the music industry, adding nothing except fees and problems.
The best two things we could do to fix ticket sales are: 1 – Outlaw resale markup beyond a small, fixed percentage 2 – Implement a decentralized online sales system, that puts control in the hands of the venue, not the scalpers.
We easily bypass the Ticketmaster / Live Nation monopoly, and instead give venues an open source, distributed sales system that allows the venue to sell tickets themselves.
Venue could be pay once to buy the software or pay a monthly fee, and split the ticket sales with the artists, cutting out the scalpers altogether. Artists and Venues get to split 100% of the door, and nobody gets raped by surprise 35% “convenience fees” at checkout.
I’ll be happy to design the system if someone wants to pay for it’s development. Who’s in?
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Here’s what I think about Critical Race Theory (CRT). I think it sucks. Making school kids feel bad about their race, white or black, is not positive or useful, and can harm their mental health. Stop it teachers, if you’re doing it (I don’t actually think most of you are).
Critical Race Theory shouldn’t be a thing. In fact, it really isn’t a thing, except in the minds of the anti-woke. But, no one should be made to feel bad about their race, gender, or religion, or blamed for events if the past committed by others ‘like them’. History should be taught in an objective way, the truth being prioritized over politics and prejudice.
The sins of our forefathers are our past, not our future. We must learn about and use the events of the past to guide our steps into the next chapter of human evolution. To make a better future.
We must learn of past injustices…without blaming anyone for them… in order to devote ourselves to fixing them, avoiding making the same mistakes over and over again. We can’t sensor out the bad parts because we don’t like the way they reflect on us. We cannot allow ourselves to forget, because our history…our collective memory…is the key to learning to do better.
But that means we must teach ALL the facts about the past…even the uncomfortable ones. In the past we may have fucked up. OK. Now it’s time to move on. It sure as fuck wasn’t my fault. I’m gonna say it wasn’t yours either.
Look…We can simply choose to accept “that’s just the way things are”, or we can decide to change things for the better. Fear of change doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary. I won’t accept that we can’t do a LOT better, despite some very great progress.
But there are still plenty of haters out there, and they are only getting louder, angrier, and more violently hateful, trying to create a more divided nation. They resist being “woke” because they don’t want us to wake up.
Because they know the truth: Change is overdue. But they don’t want change. It will hurt their profits and wealth, and they’re “doing just fine the way things are, thanks”, and you know, rich people are so much more important than the rest of us.
E pluribus unum. From many, One. One people, one voice. #Vote for Change. Vote for #Progress. #VoteProgressive
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Looks like we’ve completely forgotten our first president’s warning against the corruptive power of political parties…
“They [political parties] are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government”
~President George Washington
It took the power of the Internet to push our government to the brink and back, but here we are. Partisan polarization is entrenched, supported by legalized bribery (aka lobbying) and corporate meddling. Our politicians have become an elite ruling class that routinely ignores the will of the People.
The solution is pretty simple:
Publicly funded elections. No campaign donations allowed. NONE. Free and equal airtime given to ALL verified candidates, regardless of party affiliation…not just Democrats and Republicans. Issues, not party affiliation should matter again. The number of votes should decide elections, not the number of dollars spent to manipulate our opinions.
Term Limits. No one should serve in Congress forever. If our elected officials service is temporary, they can properly focus on making progress, rather than getting reelected.
Get rid of the filibuster. Give us true democracy, rather than oligarchy. Americans deserve a popular vote for President and majority rule in the Senate. Independent and Other Party candidates should not be discriminated against by a system that seeks to perpetuate the ‘Two Party tradition’.
Truth, Transparency, and Ethics. Politicians must be ethically above reproach, and should not be profiting on their votes. Bills should be simple, readable and single purposed, not 1000s of pages of unrelated legislation. CSPAN should broadcast EVERYTHING and the People should get to vote on the bills too. Then the popular votes can be compared to how our politicians voted. If they vote against us too often, make recall and replacement easy.
Of course it’s complicated. Nothing is just a simple answer. But…These are things that would make a BIG difference, but our politicians will NEVER consider because it upsets the status quo…and things are pretty fucking good for THEM just the way things are. Trouble is, they aren’t so great for all of US. It’s time for drastic changes, folks. Before it’s too late.
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
