In lieu of planned content for the latter half of this month, I decided to produce a quick unscripted update of what's been going on that has kept me from getting more episodes produced. What happened instead was a rambling diatribe about National Novel Writing Month, indoor climate, facial hair, testicle humor, and my mouth's unending feud with my brain.

This is largely unedited and will probably be a terrible assault on your ears. I commented on that too.

Fact: I recorded this segment in my underwear.

Fact: Technically, anything you do fully clothed is also being done in your underwear.

I really don't know what to say about this episode. It was going to be a quick off-the-cuff thing, but it took hours of editing to make it sound halfway decent. I don't know why I couldn't stop breathing directly on the mic. I don't know why the recording app randomly dropped out at some points. I don't know why I referred to Justin Long as Kevin Long. This episode is an utter disaster, and considering the subject matter, that's really quite fitting.

So, herein I reflect on the more subtle nuances of what I would have expected to be a much shallower film than it actually was. Despite the awful parts, there's a deeper meaning to be taken from Tusk, which I wound up referring to as an allegory.

And before someone else brings it up, yes, I know that's not really what 'allegory' means. English majors...

This is going to be the first of a few discussion episodes gathered around the same central theme. Finally, it won't just be me talking. These discussion casts will feature one-on-one and round-table-style discussions with people I know and trust to help me tackle the subject matter at hand. I'm hoping these will spark discussions among anyone listening as well, because if something is the subject of a discussion series in this podcast, it means it's something I think needs to be talked about by everyone.

This first installment features me making my opening argument, and a brief less-than-flattering clip of moot standing up for anonymity. He really did have some good points to make that I would have happily included here, but none of them directly addressed my concerns, so I didn't think they were relevant enough for this segment. Plus, I wanted to keep this introductory segment short. The real meat of the discussions start next week (maybe).

To see the complete TED talk by Christopher 'moot' Poole of 4chan, follow the link below. It's really fascinating.

http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for_anonymity_online

Love the Twilight Zone as much as I do? In writing and recording this anti-rant, the title of a lesser-known episode of that show came to mind: People are alike all over.

Watch The Twilight Zone - The Obsolete Man on YouTube right now. Seriously, do it now.

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I never read YouTube comments, but I broke my rule about that today when I popped over to a classic episode of the Twilight Zone. I couldn't help but laugh at the responses people had. If you haven't seen the episode The Obsolete Man, stop what you're doing and go watch it now. It's right there on YouTube, it takes 25 minutes, and nothing you do for the rest of you life will matter until you've seen it. I'm only slightly exaggerating.

So, comment after comment on this video compared The State in this story to the Obama administration, and more than that, said that essentially this is what liberals want. Everyone who said that is so drastically out of touch with the world around them it's downright silly. If you live in North Korea, Crimea, Iraq, maybe Venezuela, then this story is definitely more than just allegory for you. But if you live in the United States of America, and more to the point if you're as white and male as the most vocal of Republicans often are, comparing this episode to the world you live in today is just hyperbole. More than that, though, saying that your political opponents actually want the distopian totalitarian society depicted here takes the kind of oversimplified sense of black-and-white us-and-them morality that is usually responsible for creating oppressive dictatorial regimes in the first place.

But of course conservatives look at The State in this episode and they see the liberal agenda (as they see it). It's an evil entity trying to take away the personal freedoms they hold dear. But guess what? Liberals look at this same totalitarian future and they see conservatives creating it. It doesn't matter that the State here has outlawed religion and conservatives are all about religious freedom. The State has also outlawed poetry and literature of any kind, and I know a lot of liberals who love those things. How could they possibly not vilify this fictional State just as much as any conservative would? How cartoonishly detached from human experience do you have to be to think that average ordinary people are somehow the physical embodiment of everything you hate just because they voted differently than you in the last election?

It's so preposterous when you step back and look at it. Look, every hardcore liberal thinks they're a righteous freedom-fighter. Look at Occupy Wallstreet, pissing on cop cars and causing a public nuisance. Look at PETA harassing celebrities and trying to force everyone into veganism. Look at pro-environmental nuts burning down Hummer dealerships and ironically doing more harm to the atmosphere than every vehicle on that lot ever would.

And every hardcore conservative thinks they're a righteous freedom-fighter as well. Look at the TEA party spouting racist nonsense in place of actual ideas to improve our democracy. Look at gun rights advocates who carry M16s into a Starbucks and scare the crap out of everyone. Look at pro-lifers murdering abortion doctors, because apparently life is only sacred if you haven't been born yet.

I'm not a liberal, and I'm not a conservative. I wouldn't even call myself a moderate. I'm just someone with enough perspective to see you people are all the same. There's only one person in the US who honestly thinks a totalitarian dictatorship would be what this country needs, and it's me. Make me the leader of everything; at least I'll be altruistic enough to look out for you. Everyone we've got in office right now is looking out for their own interests, not yours. Liberal, conservative, doesn't matter. Everyone thinks the government is corrupt, and they're all right. They didn't get to the top without making some bad deals with some rotten people. So, ever wonder how government of the people, by the people and for the people could so completely miss the mark when it comes to looking out for the interests of the people? Take a look at yourselves, look at how you treat each other, how you vilify everyone who doesn't fall in line with your ideology, and ask yourself honestly, which is more surprising: that a government by the people is dysfunctional, or that it ever functioned in the first place?

If vilifying people you don't like helps you sleep at night, then good luck to you, but don't ever forget, every villain thinks they're the hero of their own story. And as long as we're talking about great Twilight Zone episodes, did you happen to see one called The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street? Give it a watch. It's pretty good.

I'm not really the most knowledgeable about the events behind Gamergate, but it's something that has roused my ranty nature. On October 13th, coming off a night of no sleep and some serious digestive distress, I felt the need to rant. Early that morning, anxious and delirious from lack of sleep, I called into my favorite radio show hoping to spark a discussion about the topic, and I wound up coming off as a dork who can't talk, partly because that's what I am.

In the past this would be the kind of topic I choose to write a blog post about, but I still feel like I need more experience talking and trying not to sound like an incoherent mess. So, with that in my mind and a lump of phlegm in my throat, I put on my headset that evening to start ranting. I've tried to clean up the background noise, but this is otherwise unedited, so there may be several miscellaneous unpleasant sounds emanating from my body (apart from my voice). Hopefully this is still palatable enough for you to listen through to the end. This is my rant about feminism, consumer rights, and the problems with #GamerGate. Enjoy.

 

Oh, and here's a link to that article I talk about:

http://kotaku.com/another-woman-in-gaming-flees-home-following-death-thre-1645280338

With so many podcasts out there, why should you pay attention to this one?