I’ll admit, I only saw Rooney’s 60 Minutes bit a few times. But I still recognized him as a cultural icon. Having my formidable teenage media impressions form in the 90s however, I remember more strongly a Central Florida car salesman Rooney impersonator commercial and this amazing clip from the original Beavis and Butt-Head show where Beavis completely captures the essence of Andy Rooney.

Years from now, I might not remember anything Andy Rooney said, but I will remember that his style influenced Beavis to ask why we call it taking a dump and not leaving a dump.

I like that.

This week I saw two videos involving children that made me lose and then regain hope in humanity.

First I saw a disturbing video of a small girl hit by two trucks on a road in China. Making the situation even worse, as the girl lay there, obviously in pain, no less than 18 people walk past her before someone comes to her aid. It was a wonder she was still alive.

Then today my hopes for a bit of social civility were restored when I found out the Batman of cyber vigilantism, the famed and mysterious “Anonymous”, was taking out child porn service providers. After focusing on big banks, governments, and other establishments they think are doing evil, Anonymous is coming to the aid of those who can not protect themselves and publishing as much information as possible on those who would do bad to them.

Best apartment complex: my apartment complex

(I’m not going to tell you where I live, duh.)

Best baseball blog: Rays Index

(I write there twice a month or so.)

Best local blogger runner-up: Clark Brooks

(Remember when I cameo’ed on Clark’s blog?)

Best local comedian runner-up: Eric Prae

(I opened for Eric in Lakeland and Ocala, took a comedy class with him, and also wrote on his blog.)

So congrats to all the winners. It’s great associating with such greatness. Maybe next  year I’ll have a loafie to call my own.

We come on at the 60:00 minute mark. It was a lot of fun. We talked Rays, Red Sox, baseball managers, Tim Wakefield, the 2011 playoffs, and the origin of the “Jordi Scrubbings” name.

Check it out.

I think I am getting better at radio interviews. I actually sound half intelligent.

I want to thank Sully again for the opportunity.

Quick post today based on something interesting I read on Wired.com:

In an article entitled “Pseudonymity, Anonymity, And Accountability Online“, author Sheril Kirshenbaum discusses her opinion of another article on the Wild, Wild West of Internet commenting.

(Yes, this is a post about a post about a post.)

This discussion of how people choose to comment on the Web behind the cloak of anonymity has gone on for a while among people who observe culture, media, and technology. The Web is not for the sensitive, bringing out the worst in racism, sexism, and overall meanness.

But there is another less-talked about effect of the Web. That which may even have an effect on lives offline.

There is an allure to be egotistical online. What you write comes from you and is your opinion and your words and often times, being from you, they have to be right. And when faced with the slightest bit of objection, people online tend to either coat their expression in the Internet language of snark or they become highly combative. Neither of which is very healthy.

The Internet has unfortunately decreased our ability to have civil discussion and instead preached argument. It has fostered a culture in which a solo opinion is all that matters and that people have to outshout or outargue everyone else.

If you do a lot of work online, this can be particularly dangerous.

Although you can turn off the computer and mutter under your breath how much of a moron the person you cyber-argued with was, that is not a healthy habit offline. Because it only takes one to type and comments are rarely made by consensus, the Internet has devalued cooperation, listening, and compromise.

As I live by myself, sometimes I have noticed these traits slip into my own interactions. Nothing major, but the ego and hostility that bear its fangs in online debate sometimes slips out offline.

That’s not good.

Stupid internet.

I need a dog or maybe a Russian bride.

Since this blog has gone in a million different directions lately, I figured I might as well go somewhat political or military-strategic with it today.

In the last few years hackers have caused almost as commotion and aggravation to governments and businesses as terrorists. I’m sure there are people out there that would label them “cyber terrorists”. Two of the premier hacker groups are the associations Anonymous and LulzSec. Both of these groups aim to debilitate the powers that be that they feel are taking advantage of the little guy. They are sticking it to The Man as they see fit.

More power to them.

But my question is, are there any rappers who name-check them yet? Rappers are big in name-checking African rebels, Muslim terrorists, domestic terrorists, freedom fighters, and other folks who fight the power. But do they ever mention either of the two groups who are causing the most ruckus? I’m sure there is a lot you can rhyme with Anonymous or LulzSec.

Second thought:

I was reading an article on a conspiracy web site that talked about how a terrorist attack at Disney World could severely destroy what remains of Florida’s economy. According to the counterterrorism analyst, if the tourism goes, so does Florida’s economy. Makes sense to me.

But I have always thought terrorists could take a Disney attack to the next level. Why stop at Disney World? Why not attack Tokyo Disney, Euro Disney, and Disney Land as well? If a group of suicide bombers synchronized their watches and exploded bombs at the main entrance of each Disney park at the same time, it could send ripples through the global tourism industry. Granted at least one bomber wouldn’t claim any victims as the parks would be closed, but I don’t think that’s not the point of most terrorism.

If the point is to show global reach and the ability to scare people from doing what they would normally not be scared to do I think an attack on each Disney main entrance at the same time would do that.

Disclaimer: I like my blog. I like writing on it. I am not advocating or supporting the actions of any group mentioned in this post. Nor am I advocating any violence. I own Disney stock, why would I not want people to go there? What I am doing to expanding on issues that are in the news and brainstorming a little.

By The Time I Get To Tucson:

At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds. – President Obama, January 2011

This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I can almost guarantee hip-hop fans, civil rights advocates, and people who believe in fighting the power will be viewing, linking, liking, or sharing Public Enemy’s hip-hop masterpiece “By The Time I Get To Arizona“. In the wake of the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, I say watching PE this year is the wrong answer.

The American media has spent the last week preaching the need to increase civil discourse. Analysts of all ideologies have proclaimed that we must stop the yelling and try to talk out our issues. Arguing and belligerence is not the answer, and neither is violence.

The first reaction after Rep. Gifford’s attempted assassination was to blame Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and the rest of the right-wing media for the actions of Jared Loughner. Right-wing phrases such as “re-load” and “2nd Amendment solutions” made Palin and her ilk the target of intense national discussion. Whether or not Loughner was influenced by these phrases was irrelevant, but the fact that there could have been linkages was the point of debate. Yet those same violent innuendos permeate the video for “By the Time I Get To Arizona”. Within the first minute, we see Public Enemy frontman Chuck D leading a posse of people carrying M-16s, practicing karate, and shooting in a gun range. Even Chuck D’s lyrics advocate violence as a political solution.

Until we get some land
Call me the trigger man
Looki lookin’ for the governor
Huh he ain’t lovin’ ya

.

.

The cracker over there
He try to keep it yesteryear
The good ol’ days
The same ol’ ways
That kept us dyin’
Yes, you me myself and I’ndeed
What he need is a nosebleed

Of course, supporters say “By The Time I Get To Arizona” is political art, not unlike Ice-T’s “Cop Killer”. It tells the story of a person fed up with being disrespected because of his or her skin color and their desire to see the sacrifices of their heroes acknowledged in by the Government of Arizona. I completely understand that, and the freedom to create art – no matter how it could be interpreted – should never be infringed.

However, celebrating Chuck D’s message, especially in light of what happened in Tucson last week, is not the way to go. If “rap is the black CNN“, as Chuck D once said, then “By The Time I Get to Arizona” is The Glenn Beck Show. For the impressionable, Chuck D’s lyrics and images are no different than the words of any political shill who drums up ratings by spouting off controversy. Repeated daily in a medium that promotes itself as a provider of news and educated opinion, these words are not art, they are calls to action. And unfortunately action words – those of anger and emotion – sell more commercials than voices preaching calm and discourse.

(Of course, rap voices are persecuted more frequently in the media than other form of communication, as Davey D of AllHipHop.com writes in this post. Although back in the day, music was how the black community communicated it’s message of frustration – through rap, blues, or spoken word poetry.)

Just because the song’s subject matter is about Martin Luther King, Jr. does not mean it should be played every MLK Day. It’s meaning was important and relevant when it was released in 1991, and it should be remembered and respected as a voice of dissent during a very difficult time, but today, in the words of President Obama:

“let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.”

Let’s leave a farewell letter on the door in Arizona and move on to higher ground.

(Interesting note: The classic country song “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” starts with the image of a man leaving a note on the door of his lover. Martin Luther posted the “Ninety-Five Theses” on the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenburg, Germany, beginning the Protestant Reformation in 1517.)

In case you’ve never seen it, here is “By The Time I Get To Arizona”:

What has interested me the most, however, is the reaction of the US Government to the information contained on WikiLeaks – namely the thousands upon thousands of classified files available for download. According to US officials this material remains classified even if it is public. It is still proprietary information necessary for the security, stability, and success of the United States. The US Government says so, so right-doing citizens should obey.

I find the US Government’s call for morality interesting.

To me, it seems the US Government is attempting to counter the popular philosophy that barring copyright, once something is on the internet, it is public domain. It doesn’t matter if it is a drunken picture of someone, a cat playing poker dressed as a viking, or a song. If it is out there, and millions upon millions have downloaded it, the cat (with the viking helmet) is out of the bag and containing the information is a lost cause.

(John Naughton of the Guardian has an interesting article on the US Government’s dilemma on this point. Naughton states that putting a finger in the pike can not stop the flood of the internet. Either the governments of the world band together and severely limit the web or they should live with the consequences of a world of free-flowing information. Once a piece of information gets in the current, like a goldfish in the rapids, it’s gone.)

So far, in other realms of information, our culture hasn’t quite agreed with the US Government’s philosophy on intelligence media. For example, if the latest Lil Wayne song is stolen from his studio, uploaded, and downloaded by the masses, Weezy will have to suck it up and get tighter security. That’s just the reality. Score one for the fans who didn’t have to pay.

But of course most people think “stealing” from record companies is acceptable because record companies are successful. They are “The Man” and the consumers are people who are just trying to make an honest living and enjoy the music we like with paying an arm and a leg. Sounds fair enough.

But it is still illegal.

This also applies to movies, TV shows, other forms of entertainment, and even computer programs. If you are lucky to pirate a bootleg copy of Microsoft Office, more power to you. Bill Gates didn’t need that money anyway.

But it is still illegal.

The only type of information that comes to mind that carries the negative stigma the US Government hopes for in the case of WikiLeaks is child porn. No matter how someone finds it, or whatever they do with it, creating, owning, uploading, or downloading child porn is illegal. Everyone knows that. It’s disgusting and revolting and anyone who even goes to those sites is a filthy, disgusting pervert who should be put behind bars. Hackers don’t defend child porn sites with attacks.

But what makes downloading child porn different from stealing a song or movie?

For those with an interest in either, after breaking the law acquiring the data, why are the two categories of media different?

The difference is in the victim.

Both stealing songs and downloading child porn are victimful crimes. Downloaders are taking either the hard earned labor from the record company and the artist or the stolen innocence from the child. In the former, we don’t mind because the record company is more powerful than we are, nevermind the fact that it could be a starving artist and a mom-and-pop record label. In the latter, the child is far less powerful than we are, so we sympathize and condone any actions that may support the dominance or exploitation of the child. To include downloading, viewing, or in any way, shape, or form manipulating media of the child.

Most times we tend to think of the US Government as more powerful than we are. They are definitely more powerful than the record companies. We’ll steal a government pen, claim an extra benefit, even try to cheat on our taxes. Because, like the record companies, the government will survive.

(It will also be interesting to see if the government tries to claim that the information contained on the WikiLeaks document is “property”. Under that logic, if someone steals my social security number, have they stolen my property, and I could press charges. I’m definitely not a lawyer, but I’m not sure that holds water.)

In the case of WikiLeaks, the US Government is trying to change perception. They are trying to convince the world that they are powerless against the information available on WikiLeaks and that, like child harmed by pornography, their right to life or innocence is at stake and anyone who sees, supports, uploads, downloads, or generally doesn’t help in the fight is at fault.

The question is: will the US Government succeed in creating a social stigma around the WikiLeaks content? Surely, not as many people are concerned about US relations with Uruguay as they are about Lil Wayne’s hot new release. But the US Government and their media blitz are not taking chances as even college students are being warned about their surfing habits.

In a world where information flows constantly and genies don’t go back into bottles, will people rally around the cause and denounce users of WikiLeaks?

Or will popular consensus shrug and go back to downloading illegal Lil Wayne songs?

Could the popular opinion surrounding WikiLeaks carry over to the other forms of downloading, changing a culture and providing ammunition for government entities attempting to shut down other less intelligence-focused piracy sites?

End note: A web site called Scattered Speculations has a very interesting piece similar to this entitled “Informational Governmentality: The Politics of the Leak“. They also discuss the idea that the US Government could try to influence cultural responses to “leaks” – be they intelligence or entertainment – by framing them all as dangerous to our way of life. I recommend checking it out.

• According to Dallas Maverick owner and media maven Mark Cuban, TV will not be replaced by the Internet anytime soon because peoples’ media habits change as they get more engaged in life. As they get older and more stressed by the everyday rigmarole, they want to be less engaged, not more. Unfortunately for me, I have the media habits of a 20-something with the lifestyle of a 30-something, hence I stay up until 2AM every morning.
• National Geographic explains the phenomenon of the chupacabra. It is not a mythical monster as portrayed in local legend or low-budget cinema, it is only a coyote with a bad case of mange.
• Here is an article on a 6’9 female pro wrestler named Isis the Amazon. I have seen her in person around Tampa. She is a legit giant. The question remains however, how successful will she be in entertainment?
• Here is a very cool Wu-Tang Clan shirt. I normally don’t like the _____&_____&_____-themed shirts, but for Wu it fits.
• If you have ever been curious how much it costs to employ Boba Fett to capture someone who dumped a cargo-load of spice in the presence of an Imperial Star Destoyer, here is your answer.
• Also on the Star Wars tip, here are some awesome travel agency posters for places in the Star Wars galaxy. Depending on popular consensus, the person who designed them may sell them. (Christmas hint, yo!)
• Here is one of the 5 million articles on LeBron James and his new commercial. I care less and less about LeBron everyday, but the reason I like this post is because of this quote from the book “Only the Paranoid Survive“:

Your career is literally your business. You own it as a sole proprietor. You have one employee: yourself. You are in competition with millions of similar businesses: millions of other employees all over the world. You need to accept ownership of your career, your skills and the timing of your moves. It is your responsibility to protect this personal business of yours from harm and to position it to benefit from the changes in the environment. Nobody else can do that for you.

• Finally, because it’s Halloween weekend, here is a link to more pictures like the one on the right from National Geographic of costumes from the early 20th Century.

(Ok, I’ll admit, we took one and didn’t think it came out well, so we took a second. And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t mind.)

Anyway, she is one of the final contestants for the 2010 Maxim Hometown Hottie Contest. Since I didn’t have a favorite before, Ashley Ann is now who I am going to vote for.

So here is a lesson for all of you folks aspiring to bigger and better things, if you are running for anything – mayor, congress, president of your class – take a picture with me and I will vote for you.

I’m simple like that.