Comments on: Notes from the 21st century https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:03:37 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36892 RL Sun, 26 Jun 2016 19:58:41 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36892 And the accusations stuck... And the accusations stuck…

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36886 ER Sun, 26 Jun 2016 03:43:32 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36886 ...but I suspect you're not. …but I suspect you’re not.

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36883 Robert Sun, 26 Jun 2016 03:02:32 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36883 ...smeared by his opponent for trying to interest little boys in philately. …smeared by his opponent for trying to interest little boys in philately.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36879 ER Sat, 25 Jun 2016 22:30:08 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36879 a comedian once came on posing as a spokesman for an imaginary group agitating for the mandatory placement of diapers on farm animals to cover their private parts from public view. The funny part was that the audience didn't pick up on the fact that it was a gag. And then there was the celebrated case of a conservative California politician who campaigned against his more Liberal opponent by accusing his opponent's wife of being a "self-admitted Thespian". A charge, by the way, that just happened to be true. a comedian once came on posing as a spokesman for an imaginary group agitating for the mandatory placement of diapers on farm animals to cover their private parts from public view. The funny part was that the audience didn’t pick up on the fact that it was a gag.

And then there was the celebrated case of a conservative California politician who campaigned against his more Liberal opponent by accusing his opponent’s wife of being a “self-admitted Thespian”. A charge, by the way, that just happened to be true.

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36878 Robert Sat, 25 Jun 2016 21:47:51 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36878 Go to youtube and search for "unnecessary censorship". It's a comic genre which involves blurring images or bleeping speech in a way that tricks the mind, which assumes censorship for a reason, into supplying the most nefarious, egregious, smutty, or, in this case, the literally gory details. It's a blank slate with an imperative prompt: You <i>must</i> supply the details. I think it's a finely-calibrated hook, inducing powerfully negative emotions which attract an audience, while retaining plausible deniability. It's <i>your</i> disgusting imagination--shame on you! The gore you describe walks the fine line between boring the audience by not showing the images, and disgusting them into changing the channel by showing them. Well played, modern media. Well played. Go to youtube and search for “unnecessary censorship”. It’s a comic genre which involves blurring images or bleeping speech in a way that tricks the mind, which assumes censorship for a reason, into supplying the most nefarious, egregious, smutty, or, in this case, the literally gory details. It’s a blank slate with an imperative prompt: You must supply the details.

I think it’s a finely-calibrated hook, inducing powerfully negative emotions which attract an audience, while retaining plausible deniability. It’s your disgusting imagination–shame on you!

The gore you describe walks the fine line between boring the audience by not showing the images, and disgusting them into changing the channel by showing them.

Well played, modern media. Well played.

]]> By: DanS https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36868 DanS Sat, 25 Jun 2016 15:32:50 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36868 Personally, I am not on CBL or SAT, collecting my entertainment through local digital broadcast. I suppose there's not much of a market there for commercials, as many viewers probably can't afford anything better, or are actually too simple-minded to understand how it all works. It can get frustrating. Well, I get the old 60s, 70s, 80s entertainment, which includes a lot of stuff I missed, in the military traveling the globe. The only trouble are the commercials they do manage to pick up: I must be diabetic. I must be cancerous. I must be dying. I must be dead. I can't get a hard-on. I can't catch my breath. I can't get a date. Once I saw an Eggo commercial. That was refreshing. Occasionally, the older programs will throw in a few vintage commercials, which are now fun to see: Plop, plop, fizz, fizz... My bologna has a first name, it's o-s-c-a-r... Or the short infomercials for: Dump cooking. Copper pots-n-pans. Helium-filled rubber balls. Kinda numbs the daylights outa ya... I usually wake up in time for bed. Personally, I am not on CBL or SAT, collecting my entertainment through local digital broadcast. I suppose there’s not much of a market there for commercials, as many viewers probably can’t afford anything better, or are actually too simple-minded to understand how it all works. It can get frustrating.

Well, I get the old 60s, 70s, 80s entertainment, which includes a lot of stuff I missed, in the military traveling the globe. The only trouble are the commercials they do manage to pick up:

I must be diabetic.
I must be cancerous.
I must be dying.
I must be dead.
I can’t get a hard-on.
I can’t catch my breath.
I can’t get a date.

Once I saw an Eggo commercial. That was refreshing.

Occasionally, the older programs will throw in a few vintage commercials, which are now fun to see:

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz…
My bologna has a first name, it’s o-s-c-a-r…

Or the short infomercials for:

Dump cooking.
Copper pots-n-pans.
Helium-filled rubber balls.

Kinda numbs the daylights outa ya…

I usually wake up in time for bed.

]]> By: DanS https://habitablezone.com/2016/06/25/notes-from-the-21st-century/#comment-36867 DanS Sat, 25 Jun 2016 13:57:53 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58346#comment-36867 I do agree. TV is a visual media, so why the censorship? If the scene is too horrific, just refrain from showing anything -- unless the news anchors have difficulty using great big words for description, or are personally not quite up to the accepted and expected California Beach Image. I do agree.

TV is a visual media, so why the censorship? If the scene is too horrific, just refrain from showing anything — unless the news anchors have difficulty using great big words for description, or are personally not quite up to the accepted and expected California Beach Image.

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