Why are we so concerned about kids in Flint, but give NFL players a pass?
Why are we up in arms about Michigan’s governor, but cry hosannas when a billionaire moves his football team to Los Angeles and Roger Goodell escapes unscathed?
It’s time for Coldplay to pull out of the Super Bowl.
Forget black actors at the Oscars, this is a much bigger deal. When are artists going to say they’re not going to participate in this barbaric enterprise where people are maimed for life?
Flint was about the money.
The NFL is about the money.
And playing the Super Bowl is about the money too. It not only raises your visibility/profile, it helps you sell tickets.
Is that the country we’ve evolved into, one wherein money is everything?
Isn’t that why Bernie Sanders has made so much headway, because he’s saying NO MAS to a land where the dollar trumps everything?
Football will be marginalized in your lifetime.
They may still play it, but it won’t grab ratings and will be the equivalent of boxing. How many boys and men will be harmed in the interim? How can we all just sit by as these behemoths brutalize each other?
Life used to be different.
Sure, they played with fewer pads, the game was pretty violent, but artists stood outside the sporting world. They questioned authority, they stood up for what was right. Artists were the antidote. They had power beyond elected officials and billionaires. They stood up for what they believed in as opposed to what was expedient.
But that was when there was a middle class, and a successful artist was as rich as anybody in America. Before those who were educated left for business instead of going into the arts, before the artists woke up and wondered who’d moved their cheese and started bitching that they just could not get rich enough. Not anymore anyway. Not like the tech stars.
But the tech stars got rich by pushing boundaries, by doing it their way, not worrying about what the establishment had to say.
And now artists keep playing to the establishment.
It makes your head spin.
The artists want corporate endorsements, not knowing they come with a price. You take the money and you’re a tool of the man. Is everybody a tool of the man today?
What we know is change happens fast. iPhones replace BlackBerrys. Flip phones are in the rearview mirror. Your handheld device is for texting, not talking. The Kochs and their money are the story of political campaigning and then Bernie Sanders raises millions from individuals. Because individuals have power. And their minds can be changed very quickly.
Do you feel guilty when you watch football?
I do.
And that’s an unpopular thing to say. Because the throng is always married to the past, to the status quo. Those on the bleeding edge are excoriated. Whether it be Shawn Fanning or Daniel Ek.
But the bleeding edge is where all the money is, and the public is the early adopter, not those inured to the old ways.
Vinyl might be an interesting curio but it will never be the primary listening medium. Physical is dead. On demand is everything. And if you don’t think being paid forever via on demand streaming is a good thing, you don’t know any broke, aged musicians.
Artistry used to be about humanity.
Who’s the reporter who’s gonna put the mic in front of Coldplay’s Chris Martin and ask him his opinion about football. His ex-wife has no problem being herself, can’t he?
Nope.
Because it’s all about the money until it isn’t.
The networks like the ratings, you like something to root for. Advertisers like the exposure, is that reason enough to continue to support the game?
Nope.
Speaking of it’s all about the money. KCTV last week fired its web manager because he wrote a headline that pissed off Clark Hunt and the Chiefs. The headline was Hunt offers Goodell lukewarm support.
Do I feel guilty watching football? No. Do I care that these “behemoths” brutalize each other? No. Why? Cause it’s a free country and no one is forcing these guys to play football. They now know the risks going in. This isn’t 1980. Shocking development, smashing your head into something is going to damage your brain. Oooooh. What a revelation. Next you’re going to tell me that inhaling smoke into your lungs is bad for you. What’s next Lefshitz? You going to tell me that standing in front of a speeding semi truck can be hazardous to my health? I feel sorry for NO ONE playing in the NFL. NO ONE.
“Who’s the reporter who’s gonna put the mic in front of Coldplay’s Chris Martin and ask him his opinion about football. His ex-wife has no problem being herself, can’t he?”
I think you have “Consciously Uncoupled” from your meds today. Gwyneth Paltrow is no more genuine and sincere than Kris Jenner.
We all, as we should, respect your knowledge of the Music Bizz and there is no doubt the dirt under your fingernails has more insight than I do into said Bizz. But come on. John fu*kin Lennon couldn’t wait to get into the Monday Night Booth with Dandy Don, Howard and Frank. Just look at that little monkey suck up to Cosell. “Rock Concerts look like Tae Parties!” Then, he goes on to PLUG HIS ALBUM.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=john+lennon+in+the+monday+night+booth+with+howard+cosell&view=detail&mid=228EF7AADF14D4DEB33B228EF7AADF14D4DEB33B&FORM=VIRE1
The Kochs are no more and no less a financial force in politics than George Soros.
Your belief that all “artists” were so altruistic in our freshly remembered “Baby Boomer” past is sweet, but I remember the greatest entertainer (In my opinion) in American History, Frank, using some “Muscle” to beat his way out of a contract. Frank was indeed a social force and a catalyst for positive change, but he kept his eye on the financial ball a lot better than Cam Newton at crunch time.
How about all those wonderful concerts in South Africa to end Apartheid. What is left now, but dystopia and an ongoing genocide that no one will speak of? When will Bruce and Bono go back to Sun City and sing a requiem for the dead? Artists used to do concerts for distraught farmers and those who starved in Bangladesh. Where are the Musical Heroes who sing the praises of the condemned and beheaded Christians in Islamic countries all over the world as they are slaughtered under the Salifist Flag?
Nah, we got Beyoncé doing that Black Panther “Formation”. Artists are, as a whole, just as money grubbing now as they were then and just as much of a sell out now to the shim and caprice of the Left now too.
“Whim”–sorry.
By the way, the Koch Brothers are no more a force in politics than George Soros.
In fact, the REAL money, is on the Left.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/democrats_the_real_party_of_the_rich.html
YES…CHUCK THE MONEY IS ON THE LEFT.
WE’RE TAKING OVER THE ENTIRE NATION.
2016 WE KEEP THE WHITEHOUSE.
PUT IN 4 NEW JUSTICES THAN WE GET AMERICA MOVING AGAIN AND
WITHOUT CITIZENS UNITED.
DON’T KNOW TOO MANY POLS WHO LIKE THAT..BUT IT SAVES THEM TIME HAVING TO COLLECT NICKELS AND DIMES FROM REGULAR PEOPLE.
CHUCK THE SAD OLD WORN OUT CLOWN GET IT RIGHT FINALLY!
expect a billion from the Saudis to Hillary’s pac.
Perhaps you are right, except it’s not “All About the Base” is it? There is money on both sides of the equation, the Koch Brothers on the right, Soros on the left and Donald Trump in no man’s (or should I say no woman’s) land. If it is all about the money, who better to see and ask than someone who knows money, right? I truth, it’s magic. Listen to what I say, not what I do. Yes, there are cases where the guy who spends the most money still doesn’t win, such as Jeb Bush, but in football, here’s a couple hundred million for you to entertain the folks, and if it kills you, so be it. Whether it is the issue in the colleseum for “We who are about to die”, the Aztec sacrificial soul who was treated like a king for year before sacrificing his heart, or the modern football player, you pay enough and you can have almost anything you want. It’s the same for politics, when a Democrat promises to tax the rich and support the middle class, but never considers the funds going to pay the middle class the wages of the middle class are coming from the money paid for taxes, it is neither pretty of common sensical. Who do you blame when fewer people watch the Super Bowl, go to the movies, or even go to an art gallery. Could it be the artists, or is it a strong desire to spend our time and money elsewhere? Whether we are losing at the track or the stock market, or there is something else that entertains us more, we are blessed with the ability to do what we please, say what we feel, or support what we want, and the caveat is that we have the ability to judge others based on how they spend their money. Artists play to the establishment because they like to eat. I have seldom seen the impoverished soul spend thousands of dollars on a Van Gough or a Matiz, but I have seen him cherish his daughter’s artwork on the refrigerator. The early capitalists made the mistake of determining that money was value. Even Veblen, (a totally mad soul) the father of Institutional Economics understood that, and if you had a loaf of white bread and a loaf of rye at the same price, value (your desire) would dictate the one you bought. There will always be football, as we just have to play players more for giving up their last years of life, all of the costs being passed on to ticket holders and television contracts. And yes, Harley, Citizens United was a good decision. There are those who scream the loudest that their candidate is better, whether it be based on money spent or a debate of the facts. I pay little attention to party affiliation, but I listen to what a candidate says about their own positions, not their opponents, and it doesn’t matter how many times I see or hear the add. I understand that with a Congress a candidate may not be able to get everything they want, but, first, I have to trust the candidate. I listen, and there are a few points that will disqualify a candidate either in terms of not understanding simple economics and the laws of secondary and terciary effects, or blatant dishonesty. There is little difference between stupidity and dishonesty, when it comes to a candidate. It all ends up the same way, with a dishonest elected official controling a stupid one. However, best of all, I get to judge the supporters, both good and bad, for how gullible or ignorant they truely are. Do they drink the cool aid? Would they believe something as stupid as urban renewal can be accomplished by a small nuclear device, if their candidate said it? Sadly, there are those who believe a political party expounds gospel, no matter what is said. Just this morning, I had a person I love write me that slavery was invented by the white man, a fact refuted by tribal slavery in Africa, Egyptian slavery of the Jews, Chinese slavery of the Mongols, and even American Indian slavery of one tribe by another. I reserve the right to judge others on the basis of public utterances, because I know I am judged the same way.
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