Trying to use the word "Obamacare" to stir up negative feelings about pretty much anything is a lot like calling somebody or something "Communist" or "socialist" used to be. It's just an all-purpose synonym for "scary and bad" that has the added benefit of making you sound like you vaguely know something about public policy.
The delicious irony is that Republicans came up with the word to mock the Affordable Care Act, but when (as is likely) it becomes an entrenched and valued part of the health care system, it will enshrine the guy they hate so much in history.
Today's young people no longer recoil in horror at "socialism". Maybe someday the same will be true of "Obamacare".
It seems like a lot of these incidents start with seatbelt violations. Granted, not wearing your seatbelt is dumb and puts you at somewhat greater risk, but it doesn't affect the safety of other motorists and isn't exactly a major offense.
I think here in WA, cops will only cite you for a seatbelt violation if they've already stopped you for something more substantive. That seems like a sensible policy.
Authors will "front load" their books, putting all the best material at the beginning in the hope of hooking readers for further purchases.
By the end of the book, it will have degenerated to drivel.
Which might be OK. Personally, I think the great majority of (nonfiction) books could say everything important they have to say in a couple dozen pages.
Haven't read Spies' piece yet, but, as a certifiable Old Guy, I'm sympathetic. It strikes me that your commentary crosses the same territory as his lament, but at a totally different altitude, IOW you're largely missing the point.
Let me try to illustrate by taking a few sentences you wrote and changing a few words:
"to understand any given woman, is it not useful to have access to the women born before and after her by her parents, the girlfriends that influenced her, and those that she influenced? Or what about all the women born the same year, or attending the same schools, or living in the same town? Those complex relationships of the totality of the female sex."
If the goal is an intimate, and, yes, romantic relationship with music, all the other music surrounding—by whatever criteria—a given piece may be of interest, or it may be quite irrelevant (Pandora's hit ratio just isn't that high for me). I never did an analysis of my girlfriends' siblings or sorority sisters to help me decide whether to fall in love with them. That's the point you're missing. Besides, who has time to do all the exploration you advocate? It's the old story: do you like things a mile wide and an inch deep, or would you like to choose a few things—by whatever idiosyncratic, quixotic, and maybe even just plain random processes work for you—to give your heart to. "Abundance" may have its merits, but it ain't the whole story.
If you can't see this, then I submit you're being willfully blind in the service of your ideology.
Anyone going to argue that the depiction of smoking as suave and sophisticated in the movies was not responsible for inducing millions of people to smoke? This has to be the biggest triumph of product placement ever.
Also, product placement has been embraced as a solution to the "Tivo problem" of people skipping commercials.
I have greatly cut back on moviegoing because of the rapacious ticket prices, the absurdly rapacious snack bar prices, and the fact that I'm forced to watch 15-20 minutes of commercials before the feature starts.
Fortunately, the theater in the small town where I live hasn't adopted these practices, so I patronize them and forgo the big movie houses. Who needs it?
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Rob Lewis.
Apparently "Obamacare" is the new "Communist"
The delicious irony is that Republicans came up with the word to mock the Affordable Care Act, but when (as is likely) it becomes an entrenched and valued part of the health care system, it will enshrine the guy they hate so much in history.
Today's young people no longer recoil in horror at "socialism". Maybe someday the same will be true of "Obamacare".
"Seatbelt violations" just an excuse to harrass people
I think here in WA, cops will only cite you for a seatbelt violation if they've already stopped you for something more substantive. That seems like a sensible policy.
Unintended Consequences
Authors will "front load" their books, putting all the best material at the beginning in the hope of hooking readers for further purchases.
By the end of the book, it will have degenerated to drivel.
Which might be OK. Personally, I think the great majority of (nonfiction) books could say everything important they have to say in a couple dozen pages.
Drowning in abundance
Let me try to illustrate by taking a few sentences you wrote and changing a few words:
"to understand any given woman, is it not useful to have access to the women born before and after her by her parents, the girlfriends that influenced her, and those that she influenced? Or what about all the women born the same year, or attending the same schools, or living in the same town? Those complex relationships of the totality of the female sex."
If the goal is an intimate, and, yes, romantic relationship with music, all the other music surrounding—by whatever criteria—a given piece may be of interest, or it may be quite irrelevant (Pandora's hit ratio just isn't that high for me). I never did an analysis of my girlfriends' siblings or sorority sisters to help me decide whether to fall in love with them. That's the point you're missing. Besides, who has time to do all the exploration you advocate? It's the old story: do you like things a mile wide and an inch deep, or would you like to choose a few things—by whatever idiosyncratic, quixotic, and maybe even just plain random processes work for you—to give your heart to. "Abundance" may have its merits, but it ain't the whole story.
If you can't see this, then I submit you're being willfully blind in the service of your ideology.
(untitled comment)
"The human brain hasn't evolved to search for truth, but for advantage."
Product placement
Also, product placement has been embraced as a solution to the "Tivo problem" of people skipping commercials.
Hollywood Greed
Fortunately, the theater in the small town where I live hasn't adopted these practices, so I patronize them and forgo the big movie houses. Who needs it?
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Rob Lewis.
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