07-14-2009, 05:12 PM
Well said, Lavazza. All of it. *applause*
And, yes, I did watch the first season of "Lost" -- enjoyed it very much! -- but by the time the second season began, I'd lost (pun unintended) interest in the process of watching commercial TV. I just have an intolerance toward sitting through long stretches of commercials for the few minutes of programming in between, especially how it's set up now, with the last 20 minutes or so of an hour-long program broken into many small segments for the handy insertion of longer segments of commercials. Setting the end of the hour up like that pretty much guarantees that if the program itself is compelling, folks will sit through the excess of commercials in order to see how the program ends. I find myself being more annoyed by the commercials (and the tactics used by advertisers) than entertained by the programming. That's just me; I tend to hyperfocus on whatever entertainment I'm accessing, so it's really hard for me to disengage from the commercials. Give me a good book and you almost have to shake me to get my attention away from its pages. Same thing with work or play on the computer. Plenty of folks can simply take the whole commercial process in stride, and sometimes I wish I could do that, too, but then again I'm easily entertained so if something doesn't work for me it's not hard to find an alternative.
Which brings me back to the original topic, sort of: I have the same aversion to commercial radio that I have toward commercial television, so I don't often hear the new music that's available, so I don't develop a perceived 'need' to either buy or pirate it. While I think the way the music industry functions is truly ugly, I don't see piracy as an appropriate vehicle for change. Just as I would not sneak in to a sporting event on the basis that it's wrong to pay players such an exaggerated amount of money for, really, just playing a game - no matter how good they are or how entertaining it may be - I would not use the unethical practices of the music industry to justify unethical behavior on my part. Again, that's just me. I absolutely do not hold negative judgments toward those who view this differently.
plur
And, yes, I did watch the first season of "Lost" -- enjoyed it very much! -- but by the time the second season began, I'd lost (pun unintended) interest in the process of watching commercial TV. I just have an intolerance toward sitting through long stretches of commercials for the few minutes of programming in between, especially how it's set up now, with the last 20 minutes or so of an hour-long program broken into many small segments for the handy insertion of longer segments of commercials. Setting the end of the hour up like that pretty much guarantees that if the program itself is compelling, folks will sit through the excess of commercials in order to see how the program ends. I find myself being more annoyed by the commercials (and the tactics used by advertisers) than entertained by the programming. That's just me; I tend to hyperfocus on whatever entertainment I'm accessing, so it's really hard for me to disengage from the commercials. Give me a good book and you almost have to shake me to get my attention away from its pages. Same thing with work or play on the computer. Plenty of folks can simply take the whole commercial process in stride, and sometimes I wish I could do that, too, but then again I'm easily entertained so if something doesn't work for me it's not hard to find an alternative.
Which brings me back to the original topic, sort of: I have the same aversion to commercial radio that I have toward commercial television, so I don't often hear the new music that's available, so I don't develop a perceived 'need' to either buy or pirate it. While I think the way the music industry functions is truly ugly, I don't see piracy as an appropriate vehicle for change. Just as I would not sneak in to a sporting event on the basis that it's wrong to pay players such an exaggerated amount of money for, really, just playing a game - no matter how good they are or how entertaining it may be - I would not use the unethical practices of the music industry to justify unethical behavior on my part. Again, that's just me. I absolutely do not hold negative judgments toward those who view this differently.
plur