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March 02, 2005

Progressive? Not me, I'm liberal and proud!

: Who went to the committee meeting that decided that liberals should be called progressive now?

Well, I can guess who went. And so I know why I wasn't invited. But I would have liked to have gotten the memo... so I could complain about it (and piss off the committee once again).

What wimpery. What balllessness.

It's as if liberals are ashamed of being liberal. It's as if we bought the conservative mantra that it's a bad word. It's as if we, too, started to believe it was a bad word and so they changed the word. It's as if the party believes it can win elections if it just changes a word. If that's the case, why not go all the way: Rename the Democratic Party. Any ideas?

This hit me as I read many of the links associated with my recent dustup with the Progressive Boys Club wanting to drum me out. I kept seeing the word "progressive" everywhere.

That's the name of an insurance company (or is it an auto-body shop?). It's the name for a a long-ago movement from a different world. It has the unironic sound of a newspeak chant. I don't like it.

I'm not afraid to stand up and say I'm liberal (and I'm disappointed in the liberals who are... as well as the liberals who don't want me to call myself liberal).

So maybe that's the solution, boys: You be progressive. I'll be liberal. And proud.

: LATER: See Chris Nolan, liberal.

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Hell, apparently

: When I blogged about GodBlogCon, I said I'd be unlikely to be attending:

Well, I am a Christian. But I don’t think I’ll go. I’m a Howard-Stern-loving, gay-marriage-backing, prochoice, Clinton-voting, separation-of-church-and-state, cabernet-guzzling Christian. Something tells me that I’d fit in there about as well as I apparently would at the Kos Konvention....

And GodBlogCon replied:

A Howard Stern-loving Christian? Where are you coming from Jeff?

Aw, gee, I was hoping they'd say that I'd be welcome anyway. Apparently not.

:LATER: Joe Carter blogs:

While I personally don’t understand how a person resolves being “Howard-Stern-loving, gay-marriage-backing, [and] prochoice” with being a Christian, the convention is not about policy disagreements. It’s about community....

as a born-agin and an ordained minister i can answer that Howard doesn't play much of a role in my spiritual life, he is a morning talk show host, and a funny one. he has as much to do with my spiritual life as my breakfast does.

however should Christians even be in the business of judging others and their choices for morning commute entertainment? i dont think so. especially when the entertainer in question is an excellent interviewer and the target of an unfair witchhunt.

And just so everybody (including God) are clear on this: I have the wink light on. I was trying to make a different point in the original post about another sort of (poliitcal) intolerance. But I'm enjoying this discussion anyway....

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Indecency makes strange bedfellows

: There's an odd consensus of sorts forming around the notion that thereal solution to is to kill broadcast and increase choice.

Jonathan Rintels at CreativeVoices. just sent me this email:

We debated the Parents TV Council on CNBC last night. Rather than endorse Sen. Ted Stevens's call today to extend FCC broadcast indecency regs to cable and satellite, we were pleasantly surprised (shocked?!) that PTC agreed that our solution was far preferable: give consumers the right to pick and choose what cable channels they want, rather than eat the broadcasters' and cable companies' "packages," larded with channels that offend them. PTC went on to say that technology would soon solve the problem of objectionable content on cable, via VOD and digital cable boxes.

In many ways, I think the debate may be between Old School/Old Media vs. Technologically Savvy New School/New Media – that Sen. Stevens, as well as some of his Hill colleagues, push the old Central Command and Control censoring solution for cable because they don’t know/understand the pro-consumer, pro-personal choice/individual freedom technology that’s out there now with more about to come down the pike.

The video of our CNBC appearance is here.

Now see Ernie Miller's comment in the very good discussion going on in the comments below, in response to another commenter:

Why not disable broadcast entirely and rely exclusively on content which you choose explicitly to bring into your home through the DVD player? Or, don't teach your children to change the channel, teach them only how to operate the DVD player.

Of course, we could always eliminate broadcast television all together, which, honestly, wouldn't be a bad solution in my book.

I wouldn't get ready to pull the plug quite yet, of course. But technology brings many solutions -- the remote control, the V-chip, channel-blocking, broadband allowing on-demand programming, and so on -- putting control where it belongs: in the hands of the consumer, not government.

: Howard Stern made a point this morning about Steven's constitutionally abhorrent effort to extend government censorship to cable (which even Michael Powell knows would be illegal): If you try to censor cable, it's no longer about protecting children, the justification the censors use on broadcast. Now it's about government trying to "protect" adults: you and me.

: Go tell Ted Stevens to:
1. Mind his own damned business.
2. Read the First Amendment.
3. Worry about the deficit and health care and homeland security and Social Security and...
4. Retire.

: I'll say it again: The internet is next. They will try to go after what you and I say here. Welcome to Maylasia.

LINK | Comments (14)

The Citizen Journalism Starter Kit

: Mr. Sun offers a Citizen Journalis Starter Kit, complete with:
: Anti Knee-Jerk Brace.
: Your Advanced Investigative Journalism/Guidebook/Field Manual.
: An Egg-Shaped Libel Prevention Device
: Staff Uniform
: High Heat Content Mangement System.
Click for punchlines.

But wait! There's more!...
: Coffeegrounds says: "Order now and get a free autographed lo-res frame capture of Jeff Jarvis video-blogging from his rec room!"

LINK | Comments (1)

Handy-dandy indecency smasher

: Pete Blackwell gives us instructions for the only device you'll ever need to get things you don't like off your TV.

: Howard Stern this morning ran a commercial for another amazing technological innovcation that cures this indecency thing: The Knob.

: And Ernie Miller gives us one of his magnificent analyses of the FCC ruling on Private Ryan. He shows, for example, how silly it is that the FCC has to decree that the F-word is always sexual -- even when uttered in he mud of a foxhole, making it curiously homoerotic in the case of Ryan. He concludes:

By all means, let's honor veterans (I'm one), but maybe we could also honor the liberties those veterans fought and died for. The FCC understands that we should honor veterans, but they apparently do not understand why they deserve to be honored.

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Whereabouts
: Meeting and traveling today; will blog when possible.

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