Political Fundraising, Extremism, 1984, and Disconnection from Reality
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/02/25/there-are-six-kinds-of-twitter-political-twitter-is-the-worst-of-them/I’m not against political fundraisng. And I realize that the apparatus of modern fundraising calls for continual e-mails to anyone and everyone who accepts them, creating an atmosphere of crisis. That said, after a while it becomes surreal. Generally the level of spasticness follows the reporting deadlines. But it can vary wildly from one day […]
Christmas Movies that Don’t Suck
Every year for some years since I was sick on Christmas and spent the day with Stephanie lying in bed watching TCM, I’ve tried to do a little Film Festival that day to go with Chinese Food. The problem is I don’t like most Christmas movies. I don’t even really celebrate Christmas except as a […]
Bilbo Baggins takes the One Ring for himself.
So…I walked into the kitchen and said “Good Morning” and the housemate being a smart ass started the Gandalf quote.. “What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it to be or not or that you feel good this morning or […]
If you ever throw a tantrum like that at chess again…
So…we were sitting in a chain restaurant where they decorate the walls with old advertising, implements, and lithographs…I saw this one and immediately the dialog beneath it in the original 1909 Harper’s Magazine sprang to mind…her voice was like Myrna Loy in the 1934 Thin Man. – She: covering his palm gently “Darling I do love […]
Salon.Com: My sexuality after porn
To me this article isn’t about a difficulty with someone’s sex drive. It’s about a difficulty in our society. I realize the author doesn’t see it that way. And I realize the author has his right to his interpretation of his sexual situation. But…writing about that situation on Salon.com is stepping outside yourself. When you […]
Compare and Contrast – Poly in Five Years – WaPo and Washingtonian
When it comes to social matters, I’m an optimist. Whatever happens in the present, the fact is that better communications have always driven a more liberal culture. Sometimes they drive a more repressive one first because a facet of new communications is often that a group of people who weren’t involved in broad cultural discourse […]
Existentialism and Emotional Misery
Occasionally one of my friends writes something that I find truly interesting or outstanding. This is a short essay written by a friend of mine and posted with her permission which I found provocative and interesting, particularly in the discussion of “hidden keys.” I think the essay speaks for itself, so I’ll provide no further […]
What is Power Exchange, and "twoo" slavery….
This started out as a response to a question on Fetlife, but it’s also my most compact, succinct and concise writing on the subject of modern power exchange to date, and I liked it enough I thought I’d repost it…
Amanda Todd and the wrong message about bullying and sexuality…
Over the next few months, society will report and debate the death of Amanda Todd, a teenager who committed suicide after posting a Youtube video about bullying. I truly mourn her loss. This is someone who was intelligent, creative, had some artistic capability and seemed to understand a great deal about what was happening to […]
Goodbye Washington Post
Today I first ran into the Washington Post’s new paywall, which, while poorly explained seems to track me and want to charge me a subscription fee for the Washington Post. I deleted the Washington Post from my media bookmarks as “go to” reading, and will stop linking to its articles when I post to Twitter of Facebook.
Let me explain why. It isn’t that I don’t feel, in principle the Post’s coverage is worth paying for. At the same time, I want the Post to be a success. It only matters if it’s a success. And paying for it when I can get the same coverage from a dozen different sources…especially paying for it’s “Opinion” coverage is an act of mercy and loyalty, not an intelligent act.
Yes I know other newspapers have embraced this model. But MSNBC doesn’t. CNN doesn’t. The BBC doesn’t. The world news leaders don’t. That leaves the Post essentially trying to put forward either one of two arguments. The New York Times does. Great! Way to define yourself as last century’s press.
a) It has specialized news content that the others don’t, something like “Financial Times.” I find this difficult to believe. The Post has some excellent writers, certainly. But why is it more insightful about Washington than other free content providers. What specialized content does WaPo present that a dozen other sources don’t also. Free. Washington Insider talk? Politico and a dozen blogs. International Politics? The Economist, BBC. Washington area information. Washingtonian.
b) It admittedly can’t compete with other free content providers but for some reason I should prop it up anyway like a beloved friend’s YouTube Channel. That’s depressing and hopefully not the case.
I hoped new ownership would help WaPo. I could see it as the platform basis for something the US lacks. A world-dominating platform that seriously competes with CNN, MSNBC, or BBC. Not to burrow back into the 1990s in search of a payer model that failed years ago, thus insuring that its content is never routinely accessible.
Post…I’m not going to post links to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit that people can’t get to. (I make occasional exceptions for academic content…good luck with that). You live or die by your social media. Please don’t go the route of making the Washington Post another insular, irrelevant news source to get a few pennies from readers.
I love the Post. And this is tough love. Goodbye and Goodnight.