I don’t watch South Park but is it created and edited hand-to-mouth like that? I would have thought there would be a buffer. Does the show always contain really topical references or something?
South Park famously often tackles the controversial issues of the day very quickly after they hit the public consciousness, so their production runs very late to the air date compared to pretty much any scripted show.
Yeah, they do the whole episode in six days, leading directly up to airtime. They’ll often still be making tweaks early on Wednesday morning for a show that airs that night.
According to them they are just procrastinators who let it go later and later until eventually their weekly routine was pulling an allnighter every week to get the episode out essentially same day. In the 2008 election episode they said they had planned to have 2 episodes ready to go depending on who won, but in the week before they were behind on even doing one, decided Obama was probably going to win and didn’t bother to do the mccain victory episode.
It has the side benefit that they can respond to pop culture events immediately.
This, to some, is a feature-not-bug derived from how the principals of a corporate business have a “duty” to pursue deals that profit the shareholder, as long as they’re legal.
And guess who rules on whether it’s against public interest or not? The government regulator — so the entities have to pursue the regulator’s blessing.
This feels like a pivotal instance of government censorship, the point where there should no longer be any doubt that the trump admin is clearly shutting down any public media dissent and are well on their way to instituting a Soviet-style media landscape.
I mean, I guess it shouldn’t feel like a ramp-up-- CBS News already capitulated to an absolutely BS trump lawsuit, handing over what amounted to a protection racket payout, and accepting a right-wing ‘ombudsman’ who would make sure future CBS news items were ‘acceptable’. That was pretty egregious. Next, of course, came the Colbert cancellation. But those were both Paramount decisions, a company compromised by its need to have its merger approved by the government.
But this is Disney. As Stranger said:
And it’s also based on a clear threat from the trump admin in the form of FCC Chairman Carr, related directly to something Kimmel said, not some banal fig leaf explanation like cost-cutting necessities, as with the Colbert Show. And it’s a completely trumped-up (yes, pun intended) charge, as Kimmel’s comments were in no way disrespectful to Kirk himself. Could this be the watershed moment where not only the Left, but anyone interested in preserving free speech, finally starts to push back?
Yeah, probably not.
Still keeping track?
This – again – is #6 on Laurence Britt’s “14 Characteristics of Fascism:”
A controlled mass media
Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.
I’ve had the idea for what I call “IFA” (Internet Free America) based on the old Radio Free Europe model. It would, of course, have to be base abroad or be very mobile.
I hope Colbert books Kimmel as a semi-permanent guest. Seth Meyers can take a turn now and then, too.
It seems more and more important every day that the Dems take back the house in the mid-terms. Otherwise, we are in for some seriously bad times.
I can’t believe people still think there will be real elections from this point forward. Why would there be?
And in general gerrymandering makes that a tough road but you are as correct as you can be. We need some kind of check and the SCOTUS and Senate aren’t going to be it. I’m in one of the bluest areas in the country and you’d almost thing this was possible in my bubble but I fear that most of the country is loving this.
Things are definitely bad, but there have been much, much smarter fascists than Trump and MAGA that were defeated over the course of a handful of years. Bad things now does not equal bad things forever.
There’s are important elections in many states in about 6 weeks. Let’s see how those go.
To me, at least, accepting that as a given is a discussion-ender, because it’d mean that any resistance to Trump, and any effort to build a better future, is meaningless, futile before it even begins. And this IS supposed to be a discussion, so I’d rather not just shut the whole thing down.
Not saying you’re wrong, mind you, just that the assumption isn’t conducive to an active dialogue.
I’m starting to think that Kimmel’s not particularly mocking commentary just hit WAY too close to home for a lot of people on that side of the aisle.
I mean, it’s a pretty damning opinion, and it wasn’t part of a joke. And they’re all really overreacting to all the commentary about Charlie Kirk and his murder; despite how much they may not like it or may think it’s inappropriate for people to mock him, his beliefs, or anything else, it’s still perfectly legal for people to say whatever they want.
I think Kimmel just called a spade a spade, and they didn’t like it at all. Which is ironic as all hell, considering their derision for “special snowflakes” and all the macho commentary about how oversensitive and weak the Left is.
We may all be missing something salient and obvious: Trump says this is neither a Free Speech issue nor the result of any action threatened or taken by the Trump administration. Rather, Trump says, it’s a result of Kimmel’s poor ratings and lack of talent.
Which brings up another issue:
Poor ratings? No talent??
Hm.
Interesting. I heard the term “Meshtastic” (see reddit group). Seems to be a local FM based communication system, low power, unregulated etc. Good guys and bad guys could use it.
FWIW I suspect I am not reacting completely rationally here but this evokes more of a chill in me than much else that should horrify me more.
I like to be optimistic. My mindset has been that the pendulum will swing back. That he will be turned on. For some reason this is a point that makes me despair of that happening more?
And the helplessness I feel to do anything about it is an awful place to be. Yeah I will vote. I will donate time and money. But I don’t even know where the effective place to do that is nowadays. Leadership seems AWOL.
I’m feeling the same. This is very serious, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop it.
@DSeid You have articulated my feelings perfectly.
There is an ominous chill in my soul.