Readers Push Back on Ads and Blocking

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This week, I’ve followed a couple of threads on ubiquitous internet advertising and why we block ads. Some of us find all ads inherently intrusive, but most of us just reserve the right to decide when ads become obnoxious or outright offensive.
The dilemma is that our free content providers depend on this ad revenue to pay their writers and their bills. “Not our problem,” some say. I disagree; I think it’s a problem that belongs to all of us, and I think we CAN do something constructive about it. From my posted comment to “Destructoid,” a gamer site with an interesting editorial:

I got here via a Slashdot link. Don’t use game sites but I wish you the best solving this dilemma. If a user posts abusive and offensive comments in this window, you’d be entirely justified in editing or deleting it. In fact, you might have an obligation to do so to protect the editorial integrity of your site.

So why do we have a different standard for offensive web ads? It’s time for content providers to push back against advertisers and exercise some plain old content control. You don’t see dating services, nose pickers and and “pictures of horny men” in the National Geo. Does anyone else remember when advertising was actually informative and – gasp – interesting?

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“Officium” : Stunning Jazz/Classical Fusion

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I happen to like Renaissance masses and madrigals, such as vocals by Tallis and Lassus. I also happen to like saxophone in my favorite jazz. While the fusion of these two may not sound instinctively appealing, to actually hear The Hilliard Ensemble performing crystal-clear vocals, teamed with Jan Garbarek on alto and tenor sax, is truly electrifying. The songs are wonderful, and the fusion of the two genres is outstandingly appropriate to either genre at a level of harmoniousness I’ve just never heard before.

You can order the CD from Arkiv or Amazon, to name two. Check this out!

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Happy Fiscal Cliff New Year

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Happy New Year. It’s a bit early to pat ourselves on the back for the midnight Senate compromise bill. We have yet to reckon with the real hurdle, Boehner’s House.

The American people are deeply divided along party lines on fiscal priorities. No president is going to “negotiate” these differences away. Like the market collapse after the 2008 meltdown, no one knows how seriously the world economy would have been impacted if the US had simply defaulted to the recession option.  It is arrogant to say that Obama “caved,” because it’s arrogant to elevate the “winning” mantra over fiscal responsibility.

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Piers Morgan Deportation Petition

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As most of you’d have read by now, there’s a small movement promoting a petition at whitehouse.gov to punish CNN commentator Piers Morgan for his caustic comments against the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre in wake of the awful Sandy Hook tragedy. They’re petitioning to deport Morgan, a British citizen, despite the fact that in the United States we have not only a Second Amendment, but the First. I posted my somewhat tongue in cheek quip below to the Huffington Post:

How about deporting Wayne LaPierre to the Congo where he could lead his child soldiers in the glorious revolution against brains?”

But I was bested by another reader:

Has not the Congo suffered enough?”

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