Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

it seems to me that the dude was making a joke about the state of racism in the industry and disney's treatment of the character? i interpreted it almost 180 degrees in meaning from everyone else it seems

 

I don't like Faux News that much, but some times they get stuff that is pure gold that I just have to laugh. How one Reddit Mod can be so stupid to go on Fox and embarrass themselves to the world that they are a f'ing stereotype and a f'ing idiot? This Reddit Mod is from the "AntiWork" subreddit.

And this shit is real. Got the Laziness, stereotypical career goal, and from my review lives in Boston. And this is why Reddit isn't real life.

 

Interview is so cringe. What a terrible way to represent yourself and your community. Antiwork brings up some real problems and unfairnesses in the labor market and it sucks that this interview probably killed all public credibility

 

It sounds like he wants the same thing I do. I want to retire... maybe get a part-time job walking dogs for a little extra cash in pocket, but otherwise just relax. Difference is that I'm working and saving to get to that point in my life...

Hey, I've got no problem if Doreen doesn't want to work to support himself, just don't ask everyone else for handouts for food, shelter, health care, etc.

 

You guys think recent tech blowdup and HalpRussia fears make stonks a good buy?

 

Catch the falling knife then ride the snake. How's Dogecoin lookin?

 

Before the ElonPump™ I told everyone at work it was a scam and not to buy it. They ignored me, it then mooned and they sold at a profit.

 

Honestly I haven't been following the Rogan Controversy that much on Spotify, mostly due to I don't use Spotify. I'll say that Artists trying to leave in Spotify over words is making Rogan the real winner on this issue.

Why people nowadays are so butt hurt over words on a f'ing interview? Do people get so f'ing triggered over a disagreement that they throw a fit about it? I honestly don't care if people on Rogan show is spreading possible misinfo over Covid, his show isn't the f'ing news. It is a f'ing podcast an in interview format. Before he moved to Spotify I watched/listened to a lot of his interviews, including stuff that I don't agree with. Not even once I wanna go on a giant rant and try to tell people to boycott, since I have better things to do.

I dunno guys, but we Americans are becoming too soft on stupid stuff.

Edit: This reminds me of the 90s where everyone was on Rush Limbaugh's ass. The winner on that was Rush, he banked millions.

 

Amen. We've gotten soft on most things. We need leaders that are into kicking butt, not kissing it. Small wonder that the USA has become the world's bitch.
OK, rant over.

 

The significant part of this, regardless of whether anybody cares about Neil Young or Joe Rogan, is the illustration that despite the ~0.4c per stream they're paid, artists (even ancient ones who might not appeal to the target market) can have some power over the streaming services: Spotify's share price has dropped markedly since the stir began.

Hopefully this will encourage Spotify and others to treat - maybe even pay - all their contributing artists a bit more respectfully.

 

Well, it got me to leave Spotify. Not as some new revelation or grand protest, but more a straw-that-broke-the camel's-back thing.

I'd been pissed off at Spotify for putting podcasts before music for a long time, both in terms of UI and investment. And even when I don't expect them to drop Rogan for Young, it shows their priorities are not aligned with mine. The almost-industry-low payout to artists is another factor. Then, Spotify has no HiFi tier, and I can get lossless music for the same price or less from other services, along with apps that use exclusive mode. The Rogan/Young thing just reminded me it was time to leave.

I don't see it as that big a kerfuffle. Spotify can run their business how they like. Young and other artists can choose to be on the platform or not. Individuals can decide whether they want to be customers. Shareholders and the market can decide the value of their investment.

In terms of Americans getting soft, fear not, good brave patriots. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are Canadian.

 

LMAO

 

Given how little money is at stake for them, I suspect a lot of artists might be willing to pull songs from these services for, uh, lots of reasons (if they actually have the rights). Especially established ones. I mean, this got more press/exposure than basically any artist can get by being on Spotify.

Really though, I'd be a little worried if Joe Rogan -didn't- say weird things about COVID. I mean, his career highlights are playing a conspiratorial wacko on TV, doing kinda-crass standup, and being a commentator for human cockfighting. It would be extremely strange to hear him reciting public health expert talking points!

 

RE the recent news shining a spotlight on Rogan: yep, anyone with even a bit of context would have seen that coming and that artists joining in are at least in part inspired by ego (I haven't actively sought Young's or Mitchell's music in years and nearly forgot about them until just now-- still not looking their stuff up but I'm not on Spotify to begin with), but it's one avenue of demonstrating belief. Sadly demonstration through being loud and obnoxious seems to be the far more effective way to get eyeballs on any situation, as exemplified by Philippine elections where late dictator Marcos's son is likely going to win.

Shit makes you wanna cry sometimes.

I see where @YMO is coming from but don't entirely agree either. The whole "high road = not caring about others' opinions" perspective doesn't always pan out since there's a difference between letting someone binge drink when all they're doing is screwing their liver over and falling asleep in a puddle of their own leavings and letting someone drain the bar dry when they tend to beat the crap out of their spouses/SOs/children or wave guns in their face when inebriated, making sure to punch their kids in the gut so it doesn't show up easily at school.

I've struggled with the concept of virtue signalling since I've often been told that I engage therein. Maybe so, but this is where motivation and awareness come into play; is it self-serving to point out things that you feel are genuinely harmful for the express purpose of perhaps swaying people away therefrom? Is it contingent on belief that their actions and words might make a measured difference?

Well it could be argued that everything we do as individuals of this species is ultimately self-serving in nature given some degree of self-awareness. There are people that believe donations to their communities will benefit them and/or their descendants either by way of improved living conditions or greater regard within that community; some believe that they will be rewarded after this life for good deeds done but not vaunted (in some other cases, they explicitly try to reap benefits in this life and the next by filming themselves donating food to people living on the streets and then posting the same on Facebook). Others still just want to feel good in their indulgences, like using EVs despite the electricity being generated from non-renewable fossil fuels, or people going out of their way to sort trash even though they (ought to) know that the garbage collectors just dump em all into the same chamber when they pick the bins up; what matters is they still get to drive around instead of walking on hot summer days, or that they continue to use up odorous volumes of plastic because it's a very convenient material.

Related tangent: I've ranted about burning trash in the backyard many times before, not specifically because it's bad for the environment (it is, but the people that collect the garbage burn their collections too, hah!) but because some family members have pre-existing conditions that make even mild aggravation of lungs potentially lethal.

Going back to Spotify, they're not going to feel this unless some really big names (that don't appeal primarily to nostalgia and remain a viable revenue source in the modern context since about half their userbase appears to be 34 and under based on Statista, which isn't the best source but it's something) pack their discographies up and go too. People's minds aren't changing because of this, yeah; even in therapy the first step is always for the client to acknowledge that there are maladaptive elements to their current state, and that they want to change for the better. That said, it may yet give pause for thought or, as in this case, provoke conversations that make a half-assed attempt at being measured and open.

P.S.
While I'm rambling and people are talking about podcasts: Hank Green (dude that wrote The Fault in Our Stars, An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and some other YA things I may have been obsessed with before) has several, one that might be worth checking out as relevant to this convo:

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-reviewed

 

If this is true he is even more intelligent and cunning than I thought. Holding someone by their balls if they havn‘t any is as good as a Siegfried & Roy show.

 

That the thing though, actually tackling Apple's inhuman and sickening abuse of workers would mean even less affordable iPhones! People generally want to feel they're doing good since there's (I hope) only a minute segment of the population that'd willingly and readily admit to engaging in "evil" practises. Whether or not anything beyond the ego and the ego's perception is meaningful from an ontological perspective is something that appears to still be controversial, and because easier options that gratify are afforded nowadays of course humans will pick the loud but ineffective ones; those offer the greater reward for less effort.

That said, it's not like there isn't meaning in protesting the spread of opinions that may be detrimental to wellbeing, never mind that that's invariably something of a perception thing in itself as exemplified by colonial Europe "liberating and enlightening" savage brown folk and bringing civilisation to their uncouth lands.

Blegh. That was hard to type.

The example of the Dalai Lama was an excellent one. Most of the Western world and many places here in Asia likewise respect and revere him, but of course by extension there is a "drive" to see those that vilify him in a less charitable light.

Not sure if I've talked about it before but I've long since grown fond of the Terror Management Theory (social and evolutionary psych stuff) as a means of explaining motivation and group processes in the context of our being creatures invariably bound for death. Fear is a powerful and integral part of the human experience, and as a natural consequence thereof topics that evoke fear and disquiet elicit far more powerful emotions. By that token, of course people will be more likely to stick to their guns and shut down avenues of compromise when put under stress— regression not to the mean, but to the mean-spirited but like-minded. I'm biased against Joe Rogan in the same way I'm biased against Hasan Piker because they both read as intolerably arrogant and shallow, but hey that's perception.

I sometimes come across stuff from the anti-work subreddit on my internet trawling because of course that's a popular sentiment. It was a good place to learn about how to stand up to abusive employers and how to make the most of poor situations, but like any growing movement it attracted the sort of people who didn't read past the first paragraph. I like the spirit of what it stood for at its inception, but now the entire thing is a dead meme. My face nearly imploded from cringing while watching that interview.

You needn't have elaborated that those were fast food places by the by. I have enough friends over on your end talking crap about the fast food I have here