More Content Talk

Ah! Be afraid. Be very afraid..for no reason. Quick, run for the hills! It's...It's...It's...a harmless chemical found in plastic bottles that the FDA and the National Institute for Health approve of! Run! For years now we have heard people peddle myths about BPA. They have blamed everything for deadly cancers to hormone imbalances and even attention deficit hyperactivity disorder on the chemical compound that on one even knew existed ten years ago. The "scientific" evidence people cite to promote wild fantasies about BPA being harmful is the same type of "evidence" that people have used for centuries to criminalize cannabis or to "prove" the existence of aliens. It is really not evidence at all, but a culmination of various paranoid fantasies that have spread throughout the populous. When people are afraid or just presented with a basic problem, they tend to frantically hunt for solutions. If they cannot find a solution in the real world, then they will invent one. The fear of BPA is so extensive that major companies like Johnson and Johnson now have BPA free wares for paranoid people to enjoy...at a much higher cost of course. Soothing the paranoia of consumers comes at a high price and major corporations are more than willing to sell you anything your little heart desires. Now we can find plastic packaging with BPV, which consumers think is just as bad. So when does it end? Are we going to come to a point where everything we cannot pronounce terrifies us? Are you scientist? Can you run a lab in good standing with adequate lab practices? Then how could you possibly know if something is bad for you? Why are youtubers allowed to decide what is healthy or unhealthy? Are they not controlled by major corporations, the exact same corporations that control what you view on television? Why is youtube and social media given a pass? Why are they not part of the conspiracy? It always seems that major corporations are trying to sell us the very products that are supposed to be the safe ones. If you do not see that as conflict of interest then you are probably too far gone to help. So go on and buy your BPA and BPV free products. It really does not bother me. It will bring some prices down and I will get a better deal while you worry over nothing. 

The movie "The Night of the Living Dead" has captivated audiences world wide to the point that zombies are now almost a fairy tale, even kids enjoy playing zombie games. But cartoon zombies and testosterone packed television series are not the sort of dead that I am referencing in this episode. Don't get me wrong, I love horror movies. But no horror movies has ever grasped the horrors of genocide and hegemony. That is a kind of terror that is strictly reserved for real life. But these horrors have been buried by governments, historians, museums, and colleges in a feeble attempt to prevent children from knowing the truth. But when you bury the truth there is always the possibility of a curious individual coming along with a shovel, seeking a treasure that only they know exist. Well, the shovel has hit the earth, and the treasure of old blood is flowing forth from it like a well of oil. When the daughter of Malcolm Shabazz, also known as Malcolm X, completed the book "The Dead Are Rising" last year, she was specifically referring to old political wounds that had never been healed. Though she was talking about her father and the FBI, she touched on a very real point that I do not even know if she realized she had touched on. That point is that when you allow a wound to fester, it never really heals. Instead it grows, spewing pus and eventually becoming so infected with bacteria that it drives the afflicted person to madness. You can think of the political situation in America as an unhealed wound that has never quite been tended to. But America is not the only nation at fault for not dealing with its old wounds. Canada has recently been affected by old wounds in a way that surely strips the nation of its friendly veneer. In Canada there have now been over a thousand native American bodies located beneath the surface of several Catholic reform schools. Native children were stolen from their homes from 1912 all the way through the 1970s and forced to attend these holy schools in an attempt to reform the way they spoke and behaved on a daily basis. This kidnapping ring in the guise of reform was organized with the full complicity of the Canadian government and the Catholic church. Though Justin Trudeau has at least apologized for this crime, and it is a crime, no formal apology has been made to the native people of Canada by the supposedly loving Pope Francis. Indeed, everybody's favorite Pope has refused to apologize. This has caused great turmoil in Canada, leading to several churches being damaged, similar to the damage that occurred in America. Canadian authorities have not been able to tie these events to tribal violence, and as I write this the origin of these attacks on various churches remains unknown. Regardless of all the turmoil, the dead have risen. They are now walking amongst you. The ideologies of the past are now the ideologies of the present. A great reckoning is coming for those who fail to see the writing on the wall. I am not talking about violence; violence is nothing new. What we are seeing now is a transformation of political ideology, not just in North America but around the world, that will change us all forever. We are being reunited with our long lost ancestors and their political and social struggles are flowing through us like never before. Do not fear the dead. They cannot harm you. It is the reaction of the living that you must fear now. Those who are obsessed with living in the present will try to fight the dead; they will try to stuff them back into their shallow graves and they will fail miserably. The times are not changing; they have already changed. We are living in a new world order; it is not approaching. All the darkness has finally come to light, just as our ancestors promised. I do not fear the dead. I have lived with them all this time, knowing that one day they would end this farce of false hope, love and peace. Yes, the dead have finally risen and I could not be happier. 

Hustlers are everywhere and when I say everywhere I mean everywhere you can possibly imagine. Those of you who have tuned into More Content Talk before know my very negative opinion of groups, but you may not know that that negative opinion is also an informed opinion. I have been involved in political and social movement, both on the left and on the right, and there is one thing that these movements always have in common: the potential to attract scammers. This does not necessarily happen because the movements are bad, nor does it happen because most people are bad; it happens because when a group of believers get together, they tend to be more trusting of others. Trust is important in relationships with people you know well, but it is a liability in political and social movements, which criminals are always trying to exploit for profit. This harsh reality is always exacerbated during times of great crisis because when people are suffering financially they are more likely to seek out get rich schemes; this cannot really be blamed on the consumer because the temptation of being able to pay off your rent instead of getting evicted is quite strong during traumatic events. The impending sense of doom that people are feeling is quite justified, considering there are no plans set in motion to prevent the massive evictions that will likely occur. The only state to make such a commitment thus far has been California, which is now saying that they will forgive renters who cannot make their payments on time. But I do not expect many states to follow suit. Newsom has a unique motivation to do so because he is facing a recall. I am not calling anyone stupid for falling for these sophisticated hustles. These are professional criminals we are talking about here; deception is their game and they play it well. However, I cannot sit idly by with this knowledge and allow innocent black people who just want to save their homes to be duped into going to jail instead. You read that right. If you participate in a pyramid scheme, you can be jailed for it, even if you are not in on the conspiracy to deceive others. If you profit from these scams at all, in any way, and do no report your earnings to the IRS you could do jail time for tax evasion. The people who operate these "blessing circle" and "sous-sous" hustles often tell their victims that they will not be taxed for their income because it is a "gift". The problem with that is that all forms of income, unless specifically exempted by the IRS (generally cash donations by approved charities or nonprofits) are, in fact, taxable. They reason they tell this lie is to avoid having to pay any taxes at all, something that only criminals do by the way. Am I saying that all people who try to put money back into the black community are hustlers? No, but I am saying that there is a through point with supposedly pro black business people always saying that they are going to build up our communities, but then turning around and stealing from us instead. The bible teaches that we should forgive our enemies, not that we should be willing fools in their various array of get rich quick schemes. I understand that, now more than ever, black people want to help each other. But who says you need to give strangers money to do that? Do you want to create jobs for black people? Start a business and hire black people. Do you want to support black entertainment? Search for black social media influencers and help share or like their accounts or attend showings for black artists. Do you want to help out a single parent in need in your community? Offer to help them with child care from time to time until they get back on their feet? Do you want to help get black homeless people? Go down to your local homeless shelter; they are always looking for extra help. Hell, I'm black. If you want to help me out then tell people to listen to my podcast. One thing that will never help is giving money to crooks. 

The world health organization recently advised people who are vaccinated to continue wearing masks indoors. The WHO's new advice comes as cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in nations that have high vaccine rates, such as Israel. Instead of taking the advice in stride and continuing to mask up indoors, many major news outlets scoffed at the WHO's new guidelines, stating that they will instead defer to the CDC. The WHO has been rated by mediabiasfactcheck.org as a reliable organization that bases its guidelines on science. So...why all the negative press from supposedly unbiased media sources? Well, the answer is simple. The news media is motivated by the desires of their audience. So, it is advantageous to these media corporations to continue to promote faulty science as opposed to erring on the side of caution. People are basically over the pandemic. The inconvenience of having to care for others has taken its toll on snowflake Americans, and now they need their binkies, bankies, and babas before the colic starts up again. Snowflake Americans need a nap. They are cranky and are starting to project their paranoia about never returning to normal on to others who could really care less about them. Already I am seeing people talk about being "judged" for not wearing a mask. Uh...yeah, people have a right to be concerned for their health, for their lives. This hurts the feelings of snowflake Americans. They feel that they should be able to set the standards for what is healthy because...well, they have no reason why they should be able to do this. It comes from a place of privilege, this desire to go without a mask when there is obvious danger to others. Vaccinated people can still get sick, though it is rare, but we have somehow forgotten all about the children under twelve who have not been vaccinated and that some people have still only had one dose. Are we just supposed to pretend that the delta variant, which is much more infectious than the other variants of Covid, does not exist? Have we become so selfish that one year is a strict time limit on empathy? It seems that this is the case. But, whether you are a leftist anti-masker, supporting the idea that CDC is infallible and did not just lie to everyone on several occasions about the virus going away last year, or a rightist anti-masker stating that covid does not exist, then yes, I am judging you. I am judging to stay as far away from you as possible. You want to live it up and party like a rock star during a pandemic, be my guest. I honestly am too exhausted to site anymore reasons why you should not do so and you are not my responsibility. Go ahead, enjoy your freedom: spit on the sidewalk like an idiot, bother terrified employees while they are at work like a moron, fight against the very good advice of the WHO by blurting nonsense conspiracy theories on youtube, do whatever the hell you want. Just please, please, please leave me out of it. The least you can do is leave me alone and not take cheap shots at me on your crappy youtube channels. If you cannot even do that, then I really do not want to be anywhere near you until covid is gone for good. So do not worry too much about being judged by people like me. I am already over people who do not wear masks and who mock people for wearing masks. If you do not care about me, then guess what? I am under no obligation to give a rat's ass what you are doing with your life. It is always your choice to deny science. This is America, where science is hated and fantasy is loved. Our once great nation has turned into a Disneyland vacation where diseases do not exist, racism is not talked about and fairy tales rule reality. Enjoy your fantasies anti-maskers...Seriously, have fun with that...while you still can anyway. I am not going to stop you. I do not even care to stop you. Now stop lying and pretending you are the center of attention in a world with billions of people. Talk about a big ego. That is beyond egotistical.

Bill Cosby was released from jail recently because the prosecutor who tried to jail the grumpy old comedian used evidence that Cosby did not approve of. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but the legal system is a world full of idiocy, not to mention it is outright owned by a bunch of damn thugs in suits. These thugs in suits were never happy about Cosby going to jail, not because they love Bill Cosby, but because Cosby is one of them. This man is not a victim of racism, as shock talk show hosts like the fake ass phony Tariq Nasheed, have claimed. He is a product of a system of privilege, one that denies opportunities to talented young black men because they are not docile enough for the black house niggas who see themselves as being somehow better than black people like me. Bill Cosby has been talking shit about people like me, outspoken black people who do not base our philosophies on white culture but instead create our own, since 2004. He very wrongly has claimed that people like me who cannot find work in American are simply lazy. He is the poster boy for this new conservative black movement that seeks to destroy everything fun and unique about blackness so that they can finally be white, which is what most of these hacks actually want. Well, just as Bill Cosby and other fake ass black hacktivists like him have denied and rejected me, I deny and reject any idea that Bill Cosby and his team of dumb ass sycophants promote. White conservatives absolutely adore Cosby because he hates black people, liberals and he abuses women. He embodies everything that white supremacy stands for. So come on down and get your Bill Cosby Qaalude pudding pops. You're going to need it after listening to this crazy ass fool spew nonsense while he celebrates getting away with a crime he knows damn well he committed. 

By definition, a fop is a person, generally a male, but not always, who takes extreme pleasure in their appearance to an abnormal extent. That is to say, a fop is a person who just takes the whole idea of wearing the proper outfit a bit too far. They relish so much in the adulation of their appearance that they become overconfident in themselves, as if they stumbled upon the answer to all of life's problems by taking a trip to the shopping mall. To simply label this as egoism is kind of an understatement. These people certainly seek to inflate their own egos, but they also see themselves as arbiters of fashion. They make or break the various styles of the day. Because of this they develop this sense that they are fashion and that we should all try to be more like them; they should become our goal, our motivation, our utopia...That is right, it is the same old story for a new generation. You see the star on television and you desire to become them because you identify with some sort of struggle they have, in this case I suppose the struggle would be finding a certain size that fits one just right, and then you attempt to become the star by looking like them. Now this easy access to self hatred is available at your fingertips. You can finally hate yourself quickly and efficiently. Thank you style gurus. We owe you a huge debt of gratitude! Chances are you know some fops. They always make sure the brand names are on full display, recently you can find them wearing brand name t-shirts the size of shower curtains, with names like Ralph Lauren and Gucci on them so big that they can be seen from the next town. They are a bunch of walking billboards, advertisements for the next big waste of time and money. There is no room for personality and individuality; there is only items to purchase and status to obtain. This week there is another meeting and a fop is under great duress. However will they match last week's attire? How will they convince the boss that they are living the good life on minimum wage this week? It is not fashionable to look poor while on the job. One must create a semblance of equality so the boss is not depressed. No gloominess is allowed, only pleasantries, idiotic pleasantries. Hello. How are you? Good day. How do you do? And so on, and so forth. You know the ques. You are always on time here. The early bird gets the worm. But the bird is killed by a jumbo jet, raging forth toward the next meeting. Onward and upward. No sense wasting time. Let's get a move on; we have no time to waste. Where is the criminal while all this is going on? Where is the crime boss in all of this? He is always late, always relaxed, always calm; that is his reward for enslaving entire nations. They do not say that word; it bothers them too much. It messes with the sales. They must not upset the blacks, the women, the children, and so on and so forth. And if someone finds out? Break out the apology, the one they give to everyone. "We recognize the horrible things that we have done. We value our customers and will strive to do better in the future. We are committed. We care. Now resume purchases at once...or else that next stimulus check may never come, that next tax will be on your income bracket, that next cut will be to your benefits this time, and so on and so forth. The fops are always meeting with senators, always making deals. They dress to impress, which is just another word for lying. No one who dresses like that can be a criminal, right? That is what people think to themselves. There had to have been a legitimate road to the finer things in life. There had to be a way to have the good life without harming good people. Is there? Does there have to be? Why must the good always triumph in your story? Why must the bad always perish in your imagination? Because in real life it is the exact opposite. In real life the fops always get the big bucks. They sell you an image to live up to and you charge it to your credit card. 

There is no way of knowing how many lives John Hurley saved last week. There is no way to know how many people an unhinged shooter would have eventually killed after he cowardly executed an officer who had done nothing wrong. We can never really how many lives John Hurley was able to save in Arvada, but we do know that he loved people, perhaps even more than he loved himself. Hurley did not know the race of anyone involved when he heroically acted that day; he did not know what religion or social clubs anyone was involved in. He was not selectively trying to help anyone. He wanted to help everyone. Hurley did not even think before he grabbed his gun and sprang into action after hearing several rounds fired outside. He simply grabbed his gun, identified the shooter and took action. He was rewarded by police with an untimely death. Hurley's loved ones, needless to say, are quite upset by this. The criminal Hurley took out was likely looking for more police officers to kill because he passed up several passersby and was seen heading toward a squad car after his initial act. So, we do know that John Hurley saved police officers that day. We do know that without a doubt. We also know that, after screwing up the situation, the police ran some fake investigation into the incident to try to pass the buck. But the buck was too big to be passed this time. Hurley was not a black lives matter activists, nor was he an antifa member, and his criminal record is spotless. Hurley was your typical red blooded American patriot, yet he was automatically targeted and killed by police. Of course the police department has give its usual talk on the "stresses" of the job, that anyone would have acted the same in that situation, that it was just another accident. How much longer are we expected to accept such ridiculous responses? Officers are supposed to be trained to react to criminal behavior. Shooting a mass shooter in order to save lives is not criminal behavior; it is intelligent, which the police, more and more, are failing to be. Hurley should not have been killed that day and calling him a hero does not change that fact. There should be repercussions for this; arrests should be made. We cannot allow a good person such as Hurley to be chalked up as just another accident by police investigators. If we continue to ignore police negligence, how long will it be before the Breona Taylors and George Flyods of the world become the likes of you and I? Do you really think the defund the police movement is solely about race when we are now seeing our white brothers and sisters murdered just as we have seen our black and brown brothers and sisters murdered? Do you really believe that, if I was only interested in furthering the rights of people of color, that I would even cover this story? The problems with the police institution range from racism to downright authoritarianism. Let us not forget that there has been an uptick in all police shootings, though blacks have received the brunt end of this idiocy, white people are not immune. All that is required is catching the wrong cop on the wrong day and the chalk lines will be drawn, whether you are black or white. It is all well and good to pretend that more police are the answer, that having more cops will somehow make us safer; it is easy to admit that if you disregard stories such as this. But how much longer will you be able to do that before this whole ridiculous system comes crashing down? How many more cops do you need to see in court before your realize that defund the police was always about making our communities safer? My guess is there will never be enough. I do not have high hopes for the future of a nation that pays officers to murder good samaritans. I do not have much hope for a nation who reduces real systemic problems to petty political debates that only end up making the problems worse. Give the police more money if you are so inclined; but the blood will be on your hands. 

Hoarders...I mean, preppers are currently hoarding...I mean, preparing for the next...I mean, last...I mean, first second coming environmental disaster destruction of the universe starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and that old guy from Rocky. No, seriously, preppers are idiots. This is an episode about the kind of idiocy that matures like a five dollar bottle of wine. Prepping will never make sense, ever. But to these idiots, it makes perfect sense to stalk up on batteries and mac and cheese for doomsday. I guess this end of the world is brought to you by the creamy goodness of Kraft or the stale ass armpit taste of spam, whatever your little heart desires...as long as it is canned and resembles something out of a third grade cooking contest. "Wow Timmy, that chunky beef play dough souffle looks exceptionally disgusting. Give him a medal folks!" How are these people being taken seriously? Why do they believe the world will end? And why do they think that buying junk food in advance will save them? I suppose it was inevitable. Americans do love their junk food after all. I wonder if the fast food industry will get on the action. Canned big macs anyone? How about a taco wrapped in tinfoil to hold you over? And don't forget the special sauce! That is in a different set of tin foil. I have explained in prior episodes how the end of the world hustle works. I told you that scaring people leads to impulse purchases, which help temporarily alleviate that fear, the fear that was created by unscrupulous marketers in the first place. Without extensive and costly marketing campaigns about the world's end, it would have never crossed your mind. I do not doubt climate change one bit. However, the end of the world narrative is far too common in American history for me to simply accept that "A" leads to "B". Temperature changes do not mean the end for humanity; it certainly could mean that, but is not a foregone conclusion. And I cannot but help to start to notice that major corporations are profiting from this end of the world narrative. Did you know that there are actually entire companies dedicated to prepping? I am not talking about your average bargain bulk market either. I mean there are entire forums, social groups and advertising campaigns designed to stoke fear in your heart so you buy a tin of canned banana baby food. People are wasting their money if they think this is going to help them when a crisis comes. Do you remember hurricane Katrina? Those people were standing on top of their roofs waiting for help. Any possessions they did not bring up on the roof with them were lost. That happened down in the south, where prepping has been popular for decades. Yet anything those people prepared was undoubtedly lost in the floods. In other words, they wasted money that they could have used to, you know, get the hell out of the south. Many people were simply stuck; they had nowhere to go. Why do you think it will be so different for you? Are you planning on storing your fallout shelter full of goodies on the roof of your house? Are you starting to see how ridiculous this all is yet? I hope so because if you do not you are going to waste your money on a fruitless exercise in insanity. I tried to be a prepper before. It is expensive. There are literally an endless amount of tools and food to buy, not to mention the guns and gold that they will inevitably try to sell you after all those initial purchases. Speculators are making big bucks selling disaster wares and scam artists abound. This is not about safety; it is about massive profits, the kind that god has nothing to do with. You get a little placebo effect every time you make an impulse purchase; such things are meant to make you feel safe. But feeling safe solves nothing in the long run and that feeling always seems to taper off, no matter how much canned food you buy. Never forget that you live in a fear based economy, a sitting duck for exploitation. Hold on to your wallet. 

A fox news poll recently showed that more and more Americans are becoming open to policies that progressives are promoting, a clear break from the normal idea in politics that less is more. Apparently less is only more when you have health insurance, a house and food in the refrigerator. Who would have thought? Oh yeah, progressives. Gee, we probably should have listened to them. But you would not know that by reading certain publications or watch certain news programs. Everywhere you look the moderates and conservatives are crying about progressives interfering in their bland utopia of normalcy. They blame everything on progressives: they lose seats because of progressives, they lose popularity amongst minorities because of progressives, they lose presidential elections because of progressives...But a look at the data shows that this blame is being placed on people that are merely giving the people what they want. The reason these policies are so popular now is because of recent, past and developing crises. More pandemics will surely follow and climate change will become increasingly difficult to deal with. Already I am seeing stories about increased cases of heat stroke, not to mention an increase in wildfires; injuries will surely follow as natural disasters and extreme weather increases. So why not take the proper precautions while we still have the opportunity? That is what most Americans are thinking when they agree with universal health care or free college or universal basic income. The Americans that laugh such policies off as socialism are living in a dream world where the nation they live in is not under threat by various diseases and extreme weather. Further, the infrastructure in this nation, as I have argued to no avail in the past, is a fucking joke. You saw what happened in Florida. Do you mean to tell me that such a gross failure of this nation to secure the safety of its own people is somehow acceptable? Is that supposed to be the free market at work? Perhaps this is the trickle down economic plan that I have heard so much about. At the rate we have been going so far, I would not be all that surprised if it were. Seeing these stats, one can see the concrete proof that business interests are preventing the democratic process from taking place, the same business interests that tried to stop the government from giving people unemployment benefits, the same business interests that profit from destroying the environment, the same business interests that prefers crashing the economy for profit to actually providing any products that benefit society, the same business interests that caused the obesity epidemic with fast food on demand and unneeded sugars to enhance taste and their wallets, the same business interests that cut food stamps after lying about "welfare queens", the same business interests that cut disability payments after lying about people faking epilepsy, etc. Of course there is more, but who has the time? You know who they are: the captains of industry, the wealthy classes, the successful, the rich and famous, the people who bend over and wave their ass in your face when you ask for a decent paying job. So none of this is about debate, none of it is about proving your argument to the other side because there is no other side. Americans agree that change is needed, but these corporations are not American; they are multi-national crime syndicates who own the means of production and therefore set policy on the Hill. Of course the media will defend them; that is what they are paid to do. Of course politicians will excuse their actions because they too know where their bread is buttered. But do not expect me to suck up to these people any longer. If you want some sycophant bitching about work shortages, then read Newsweek or the New York Post or any of those other crap publications that confirm the fears of the out of touch wealthy classes. This is real news, not a brown nosing festival.  

Actor Seth Rogen recently hypothesized that art is not useful because, according to him, all useful things stand the test of time. If you have ever listened to an old school record or read a really great obscure novel, you probably fervently disagree and so should you. Why does Hollywood always feel so attacked? Critique does not have to make people so fatalistic; it can a way to really get to know your audience, something modern performers are increasingly falling out of touch with. By the way, I am not trying to "cancel" the dude from Pineapple Express; I would never do that because...Why? What would be the point? What could I possibly have to gain? The satisfaction of being able to look my grandchildren in the eye and say, "that's right sonny, I was the guy who took down Seth Rogen, the guy you would have never heard of had I not just told you about him." Yeah, no. I have bigger fish to fry. I am not reprimanding Rogen here; I am simply stating that I disagree with him, something that online master debaters seem to believe is synonymous with taking away a millionaire's salary. How I obtained the power to make or break celebrities, I will never fully comprehend. I suppose I am to believe that social media comments and independent podcasts are now officially more powerful than the multi million dollar marketing agencies that are now in the employ of people like Seth Rogen. Well, I don't. I am not naive enough to believe that I have the kind of power it would take to bring down Hollywood's best and brightest. I do not believe that anyone has that power. It is instead the performer who takes themselves out of the game. This can occur for any number of reasons: perhaps the celebrity offends their audience, perhaps the celebrity is not as interesting as they once were, perhaps they produce a bad piece of art, perhaps they try to push their political opinions on others in a way that is unwelcome, etc. There can be many reasons a celebrity becomes unpopular. But when did anyone ever talk about canceling art in general? When did anyone ever talk about ending artistic expression? I have heard it mostly in religious and extreme conservative circles and Hollywood certainly employs some of these people, whether they want to admit it or not. And that is where this negative reaction to what has been deemed "cancel culture", a political pop psychology term used to describe the end of an unpopular celebrity's career, is mainly originating. I still remember those silly articles about Steven King being sad because no one was going to the movies. "This makes sense," I remember thinking to myself, "Steven King gets a movie made out of one his books every month; he is certainly losing a lot of money when there are not butts in the seats." It makes sense that actors were once liked would turn to fatalistic predictions about the future of art in a world that has turned so cruel...to them. But this is quite pretentious when you think about it. Do they actually consider themselves to be art or are they implying that the appreciation for the arts are dwindling, just as their father and their father's fathers did before them? I sense a bit of dishonesty here. Art found its way onto our laptops and phones just like everything else and it is thriving online in a way it never could have in real life. We artists are reaching people quicker and we are also reaching more people than ever before. Sure, not all of those people are interested in what we have to say, but an artist is not an egoist. A true artist creates art for the consumer of said art. We either learn to do this or we fail as artists; there is no other way. If the consumer of art is online, then that is where I will be. And to be honest with you, I do not really miss the long commutes to distant theaters just so I could see your lovely smiles. But the best part is that I still get to see those smiles right in front of me on my computer screen. What is so dystopian about a smile?