Thursday, June 17
0
Thursday, June 170
Last August I wrote a post called “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Health Insurance Reform“. When the post hit my Facebook page it ignited quite a discussion…one that ultimately led me to de-friending an old friend on Facebook, and in real life as well.
During this process, the friend in question offered to give me $50 to pay for Health Insurance. While I don’t believe he intended the offer in malice, to me it showed a genuine lack of respect for me as an individual, and a fundamental chasm between the way he and like-minded others looked at their fellow humans.
It wasn’t until I saw this video of a recent Tea Party protest where one angry protester throws dollars at a man with Parkinson’s that I realized the reason why I reacted so negatively to his offer. My friend, regardless of intent, made me feel like the guy with Parkinson’s, sitting silently on the ground while insults and dollars are thrown at him, essentially telling him, “We’re healthy and rich, you’re sick and poor, now go fuck off!” If you haven’t seen the video, here it is:
We live in a world of our own making. How we treat our neighbors, family, friends…even when we disagree is the greatest measure of our humanity.
Before the de-friending occurred, somewhere amidst a $50 Paypal transfer and my outright shock of the depth of his self-entitled rant, he forwarded me a Glenn Beck video and asked me to watch it. Having never actually watched Glenn Beck’s show, I acquiesced. This turned out to be a bad descision.
Thinking that somehow Glenn Beck would convince me that Health Care Reform in this country would lead to Nazism in America was possibly THE WORST argument he could have presented. Here’s the ACTUAL VIDEO he sent me asking me my “honest opinion.”
I honestly didn’t know what to say. Trying to follow Glenn Beck’s line of reasoning or finding accuracy in his logic is like trying build a house of cards with a retarded kid who just keeps screaming “UNO! UNO! UNO!”
So yesterday, after my epiphany about the Tea Party Parkinson’s video, when I saw this brilliant rant about Glenn Beck by Jon Stewart, it all tied together for me:
This is how I lost a friend in the Health Care Reform debate: Compassion.
You see, you can’t quantify compassion. You can’t solve compassion with an equation or by throwing dollars at people any more than you can draw conclusions by drawing circles on a blackboard. When someone is sick, you shouldn’t have to ask if they can afford to live.
It shouldn’t even be a factor.
It’s not my job or my mission to convince my ex-friend otherwise. It just made me sad that he doesn’t see just how wrong he is. Or how he made me feel. Or how he chooses to treat his fellow man. He lacks the fundamental human capacity for compassion. And I choose to not to live in his compassionless world.
If we live in a world of our own design…of our own making…I want mine to be a compassionate world. A happy world. A world where someone with Parkinson’s or Asthma or Cancer doesn’t have to be mocked or condescended to because they are sick, or worry about whether or not their insurance provider will cover this particular trip to the emergency room. That’s MY American dream.
Unfortunately there are some friendships that have been sacrificed along the way. I’ll gladly trade those for logic and reason and compassion any day.
Now I’m going to go outside and enjoy the rest of this beautiful spring day. You should too!
Dear Andy-
I read your blog entry “A Fond Farewell” today with great disappointment. The day Hulu launched back in March of 2008 was the day I canceled my DISH Network satellite service. Like many other people, I’ve enjoyed the content you’ve provided. I’ve seen the changes you’ve made…some good, some bad. I understand that you have a business to run and that content licenses are sometimes complicated and change over time.
Yesterday, March 2nd 2010, you announced that “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” would no longer be distributed on Hulu. You said, “After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central…we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time.”
It is no surprise to me, however, that you’re suddenly having difficulty negotiating with Comedy Central (or any other content provider for that matter.) Why?
Because March 2, 2010 was the day you started producing your own content.
March 2nd, 2010 was the day you stopped being simply a content distributor, and became a content producer.
March 2nd, 2010 was the day you became competition to ALL of your content providers.
And for what? So you can start streaming YET ANOTHER mindless, Simon Fuller-produced, “I Can Dream” REALITY TV SHOW?
Andy, you and Hulu are shooting yourselves in the foot. You yourself said that quality content like the award-winning “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” are consistently two of the top-watched shows on Hulu. Why are they watched?
BECAUSE THEY’RE GOOD. They’re NOT reality television.
You’re taking a huge step backwards. HUGE.
Stop producing your own content. Take the money that you’re throwing away at Simon Fuller’s idiot dreams project and hand it to directly to Comedy Central. The Comedy Central shows are ANCHORS. They will be with you for years to come. Focus on what Hulu does well: simple interface, solid streaming technology, and distributing quality content…OTHER PEOPLE’S CONTENT.
Mark my words: Unless you change this quickly, you’re going to lose the streaming online content race. Heck, I’m not even in your business and it’s blatantly obvious to me. Strategically you’ve put yourself in a terrible position. Your other content partners will see you as competition and do the same thing Comedy Central has done: Leave.
Sincerely,
Johnny Diggz
Hulu fan from Day 1
I know this was last week, but I just caught this tonight. The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart takes the entire CNN network to task for “leaving it there”. Jon Stewart and the Daily Show at the top of their game, doing what they do best…
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| CNN Leaves It There | ||||
|
||||
