Writing early as I prime up for the show I’m going to see in DC tonight.
I am incredibly excited.
I’m trying to get myself up, physically, to really enjoy myself. *fingers crossed*
Do you ever feel conflicted when someone you admire comes under controversy?
This is one where I’ve found myself needing to do some re-analysis.
I used to look with strong condemnation towards those who had emotional or substance abuse issues. This can be traced to my upbringing, my admiration of stoicism, and the wonderful messaging of the various anti-drug programs of my Gen X youth.
If you smoke crack, you might die the first time you did it. Look at Len Bias.
If you have any sort of sexual contact with another person, you will probably get AIDS die. Look at Magic Johnson.
Yeah, about those….
The government lies. Almost all the time.
The corporate press, too, often falls into that sort of mindset.
One of the things I learned in broadcast, however, is that you’ll never be successful if you think your audience is foolish.
Your job is to make them stick around long enough to listen to a commercial. The nobler ideas of artistry, holding the powerful to account, whatever….are all irrelevant if you turn them off to the point at which they turn you off.
You can leave. You can always tune things out, and choose something different.
On the broadcast side, consider the BBC. In the UK, the consumer pays a tax on every single receiver to pay for the BBC.
So that means that there is no broadcast other than that which is blessed by the British government.
Then somebody launches a satellite. Oops.
Technology can overcome pretty much anything.