D'BLOG

The Blog of Dabido (the Baka one). Everything in this blog is copyrighted. Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 by D. Stevenson.

03 July, 2006

Blur - Freedom of Speeeeeech - Gender Gap

Some days I get a bit blur with some of the blogs I read. Let's face it, I normally open about ten to twenty of them at once and flit between them Read bit of one, bit of another ... then another bit, then a different bit from a different blog. Let's face it, most people can't do this, as they'd get totally confused as to what the frig is happening. As it stands, I sometimes blur some bloggers together. Not the story, not the post content ... the bloggers. Which means I'm reading one persons post, then another, then another ... and I have to check to see who I am reading. If you were to stick together the posts I'm reading in the order my brain is receiving them you'd probably believe that they recently were in Bangkok at an art exhibition, playing soccer for Argentina, while cooking up a storm based on the latest Sci Fi book they watched at a movie in a food court somewhere while vegeing out in front of a TV on a motorcycle with their BF/GF problems and wondering what their life is all about. Yet, my brain can handle that quite easily. It's just that sometimes I confuse myself as to who said what. Not that it really matters. By the time I comment, my brain already knows what's been happening, and I've normally worked out who I'm speaking to.
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Freedom of speech. Where does it start? Where does it stop? What about when someone is talking complete crap? Well, this week on Big Brother (a TV Show I loath and can't understand WHY anyone would watch), they had an incident where two of the flatmates have apparently broken the rules and as such been thrown out of the house. So, fine, they broke the rules, they're OUT! OUT! OUT! Only, people who don't like the show are calling for it to be banned. Even the PM has waded in and said it should be removed. What were/was their/his reasons? Well, first of all, they don't like the show! Well, tough. I don't like the show either. BUT, that isn't a good enough reason for banning it. Let's face it, if it hasn't broken any of the laws or rules regarding what can and can't go on TV, then that's not a good enough reason to ban it. The call to ban it is akin to removing someone's freedom of speech. What if we banned all shows the PM doesn't like? So, the PM has a right to decide what should be considered good viewing? I'm sorry, but if that's the case, we won't vote for a politician in future, we'll vote for a friggin' TV/Movie critic. The other reason they're making the claim is that the show can't self regulate itself ... the proof being that it kicked out two members who broke the rules! Sorry, but that's amongst the stupidist arguments I've ever heard. The proof that IT CAN ENFORCE it's own rules makes this arguement contradictory. Someone breached the rules - the TV Network took action and DID REGULATE ITSELF. The incident HAS NOT been shown on TV ... therefore, why ban a show for NOT SHOWING a CONTROVERSIAL INCIDENT THAT it's critics say shouldn't be shown on TV! THEY DIDN'T FRIGGIN' SHOW IT!!!! It's like banning actors for things they did off screen just because they broke the rules here or there. I mean, let's just ban the world cup because Grosso took a dive ... no? Why not? It's what you're calling for Big Brother to do. Let's ban all movies with Tim Allen in ... why? Because when he was younger he broke the law! It's your rules. Let's just ban all actors who have ever looked remotely sexy, after all, they've probably broken some rule somewhere!!! Like, it's time the PM and other people got a grip on themselves. [No, not agrip down there, that'd get us banned!] It's a REALITY TV SHOW. Yes, it's a load of crap. I don't know who watches it either, but it will run out of steam on it's own and it'll lose audience attraction and disappear into nothingness. As it stands, banning it is akin to censorship and a breach of the networks freedom of speech ... and all over something that DIDN'T FRIGGIN' APPEAR ON TV! If you don't like the show, then do what a normal person would do. Rather than calling for it to be banned, either turn the TV OVER or TURN IT OFF!! Not only is calling for it's ban stupid, it's counter productive. You've now raised it in the public conscious and more people than ever will tune in to see why it's so controversial that it needs ot be banned.
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On another TV thing, Sixty Minutes ran a show on a guy who wrote a book called: Please Just F--- Off. It's Our Turn Now. The guy, a Ryan Heath, is a Gen Y'er. Once again the generation war is screwing us poor cynical gen-x'ers. [And they wonder why we're cynical!] This battle is between the Generation-Y's and the Baby Boomers. Basically those born after 1976, and those born between 1945 and 1964. [Yeah, if you were born between 1965 and 1975, you're a poor Gen X'er.] Anyway, it's like watching two very similar people argue. Both generations are basically, self centred (to quote the Baby Boomers, 'The world revolves around us, and has done so for the last 30 to 40 years!'). The Gen Y'ers thik they should be in control of everything. There are some good points on both side of the arguement. Gen Y haven't really got the battle scars of hard times and haven't earned the right to lead. The Baby Boomers ahve lead for the last 30 to 40 years and have basically screwed a lot of things up for the coming generations. Let's face it, it was the Baby Boomers who basically said that the worlds woes are not their problem, as they won't be here much longer. Therefore, why should they care? Now, us Gen X-ers are the meet in the sandwich. The problem is, the Baby Boomers think they've earned everything they've got. They grew up with the prosperity of the post war boom times. They had a nice foot hold on the world. It doesn't mean it was easy. But, the Gen Y'ers have a similar foothold. They've grown up in boom times too, without a recession, without high unemployment figures. The poor forgotten Gen X-ers ... well, we had to start working when loans were 18%, unemployment was 12% and we've done it tough. It's easy to forget us. We're the ones doing most of the hard work now-a-days. The Baby Boomers are retiring [and good luck to them], while the Gen Y'ers want to kick them out of the house (pull the plug on them ... let's hope their Grandparents haven't given them right of attorney). So, with the Baby Boomers reluctant to hand over control (in case someone pulls the plug) and Gen Y trying to pull the plug on anyone born before 1976 ... where does that leave Gen X? We have to inherit the Baby Boomers mistakes, the very things the Gen Y'ers are complaining about. Only, the Gen Y'ers want all the wealth, and the jobs and control, and they want it now. Yet, to a Gen X-er like myself, they're values are almost exactly the same. They're both two selfish groups trying to fight for the same bone. Gen Y is now telling the Baby Booomers to F*** off, the same way the Baby Boomers told the previous generation to F-f-f-f-f-f fade away. In all the fracas though, I haven't heard one genuine idea from either of those two generations as to how to make things better for everyone. Baby Boomers look after their own, and Gen Y want to take it from everyone else. As far as I am concerned, both generations can go F-f-f-f-f-f-f-f themselves. :-)