The episode mainly on Obama’s 2008 campaign and victory indirectly offered a couple insights, for me, looking back in the Trump era: how Hillary’s loss in the primaries contained elements of the misogyny that would doom her against Trump, notably in Iowa, which is part of that swath of country )Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania…) where her fate would be sealed in the 2016 general.
And, it occurrrd to me that, if she HADN’T been picked as McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin might have won the general in 2016 as easily as Trump did — she appeals to the same folks (yes, I know that seems to contradict what I just said about misogyny — maybe it’s more an issue some people have with OLDER women).
Finally, Obama’s outsider status (compared to Hillary and McCain) sort of presaged the appeal of someone like Trump. (I know, that’s been said before, but for me, I appreciated the reminder).
Final episode today (I Want My MP3), and not a moment too soon. Goddammit, I barely have the energy to even think about this dreary series anymore. The worship of the status quo and political figures is at the level of Communism. Well, it’s all about music, and predictably, it’s about how those mean old freeloaders screwed over the poor, innocent music industry with file sharing.
Huh. Okay, you know what, I probably commented on this subject here before (I mean, hell, I was on these boards for the entire time period in question), and there’s a pretty good stance my stance changed at least somewhat between then and now, so here’s what I got to say now.
I never paid ripoff prices for CD’s before Napster, and I sure as spit didn’t pay ripoff prices for CDs after. For me, Napster filled a void that wasn’t going to be filled any other way. I’m not freaking paying to listen to My Heart Will Go On, goddammit. I knew from beginning to end that all the posturing about stealing and pirating was absolute BS, that the real issue was that the industry wasn’t going to be able to charge insane prices for worthless dreck anymore, and it’d be all no-hard-feelings the instant it found a workable smaller-scale measure. The artists are still being screwed and they’ll continue being screwed until the end the time. That’s just how soulless greedbag capitalism works in this country.
Before Napster came along, there were cries for not lumping the track the buyer wanted with the tracks they didn’t which often were of terrible quality. The industry did nothing. The record stores did nothing. The consumers were denied the choice. Napster gave them that choice. They “expected to not pay anything for it” because they never had the option of paying for it. Which eventually made the record stores hopelessly obsolete and killed them all. Good riddance. Who exactly am I supposed to be sorry for here?
Oh, and Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, etc. Pretty telling that we didn’t hear the words Destiny’s Child even once. (I have one of their CDs!)