The wait is over. Get your tickets for #ManofSteel now: bit.ly/MOStickets twitter.com/ManofSteelMovi…

— Man of Steel (@ManofSteelMovie) May 21, 2013

@manofsteelmovie @wbpictures I don’t think paying is what people were waiting for. Oh, you mean YOUR wait. Gotcha.

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 22, 2013

The #xboxreveal is a Twitter joke gold mine.

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

I watch videogame press conferences for the same reason people watch Nascar… Yeah, they’re always going in one direction, but BOOOM

— Borut Pfeifer (@plushapo) May 21, 2013

Every time they say X-Box 1 they should be required to add “…which is the new one”

— Frank Lantz (@flantz) May 21, 2013

Because it’s not for hardcore gamers – they’re dropping the base. RT @tiedtiger: I have just heard that it will be called the SkrilleXbox

— Jurie Horneman (@JurieOnGames) May 21, 2013

“Xbox is about to become the next water cooler” BECAUSE NEITHER OF THOSE PLAY GAMES.

— Borut Pfeifer (@plushapo) May 21, 2013

Doh. Haven’t watched TV in about 7 years. #XboxReveal

— Alan Tew (@erlanter) May 21, 2013

The PS4 is looking even better now. #xboxreveal

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

CoD: Ghosts looks like something I’d actually like to play. On the PS4. #xboxreveal

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

It wasn’t all jokes, though:

Don’t get me wrong, stuff in the #xboxreveal was nifty. I expect it to be a lot less so with a price tag on everything, though.

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

Plus ads everywhere. #xboxreveal

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

One or two of the new-franchise exclusives might be worth playing. We’ll see. #xboxreveal

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

CoD budgets: “Unsustainable! Collapse imminent!” #xboxreveal #PAReport penny-arcade.com/report/article…

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

Thought so. Poof goes your XBLA collection, too. #xboxreveal Xbox One is Not Backward Compatible kotaku.com/xbox-one-is-no…

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

I don’t know if I want a #ps4 either. But so far I like it better than #xboxone #xboxreveal

— Ethan Elias Johnson (@SharedProphet) May 21, 2013

So, what is going on with this thing? To me the Xbox One looks like the consolidated last gasps of several industries fighting progress. Sure, there’s lots of new technology going into that Kinect, and there are lots of computers in those clouds. But that’s not the innovation that really matters to people. What’s in the box doesn’t matter anymore as long as it’s good enough. What matters to people is what they get out of it.

The main technology that is at issue here for all the big companies jumping in bed to conceive Xbox Juan is the internet. What is the internet? Basically: rapid worldwide communication. It’s not much more complicated than that, but the implications are significant. The natural human tendency best facilitated by the internet is sharing, and this is what so many entrenched industries are now waging war against. To control the internet, to control how and what people are allowed to share, entertainment giants collaborate on increasingly draconian copyright laws and DRM schemes. With the ability of the internet to eliminate many of the middlemen between creators and consumers, content distribution is now an extremely lucrative market inefficiency. Rent-seeking.

The other subtle threat the internet represents to these companies is information overload: everyone connected now has access to more content than a person could ever consume in a lifetime. TV service providers are terrified of the idea that through the internet consumers may actually find that they can actually get along just fine without a premium TV subscription. Most are also ISPs, so they can do things like require you to subscribe to their TV services if you want their best net connection, but that may not be possible forever. Control of content is such a big deal that any company that does a better job of giving customers what they want the way they want it treads dangerous ground, as Netflix found. Netflix ended up starting to create its own high-quality content in order to reduce the risk created by not having any legal control over the essential element of its business, and Amazon and now Microsoft have followed suit.

Big game companies and Hollywood film studios are doggedly pursuing a strategy of betting more and more on individual titles. They are simultaneously attempting to outlaw sharing of their content while erecting enough barriers to legitimate access that they have veto power over each new technology that comes along. The first-sale doctrine is under assault, since as rent-seekers, their ideal world includes only one way to access content: rentals.

And Microsoft’s power has been slipping for quite some time. Starting when OS X provided a viable alternative to Windows and continuing with the market’s shift of emphasis toward net and mobile apps, where other companies are king, Microsoft has been fighting a losing battle for relevance. Its strength has always been in marketing, but with the increased choice and communication afforded by the internet, consumers can now more easily see through bogus marketing claims. The Xboxes have always had a hose pumping money into them from the mothership because games were never the real mission. That was to take over the living room, to give Windows and Microsoft a new body in which to weather the post-PC future. And now it’s coming close to the point where Microsoft will need to be able to reverse the direction of the money hose in order to survive. Microsoft is a big ship; your subscription fee won’t be enough. There will be a price tag on everything. (And an advertisement—why charge only one person when you can charge two?)

By their powers combined, these interests have summoned Xbox One.

It will be a TV remote, video phone, web browser, and game console. But best of all, the only way to play (or watch, or listen) will be through rentals.

Consumers aren’t invited to this party; this one isn’t for you. Looks like Leigh Alexander beat me to the punch in pointing that out, and she highlights a flaw with this strategy: Microsoft’s bet on the TV as the successor to the PC hasn’t panned out. Now they are doubling down. I don’t think they will be happy with the result.

Give you laughter,
Give you love,
And then.

I will stab you
When you are vulnerable.
With premeditated prose,
Subvert your hopes,
Implant new fears.

With a twist,
It will end.

And if I have done it correctly
You will thank me
And hate the knife.

Once you’ve got a nice position as a state governor, US representative, or US senator, you may bide your time a bit, gathering allies and resources and waiting until you are a respectable presidential age. When the time comes, your campaign spending will make records and if you’re more charismatic than your equally devoted opponent, and you tell the public what they want to hear convincingly enough, you may even win. Congratulations! You’ve done it!

But wait. You’re being inaugurated, but something is off. Why did you want to be president in the first place? Wasn’t it for personal power? To hold the world in your hands and bend it to your whims? What are these pesky checks and balances? This will never do. Mere president… no, what you really want is to be King. Not just of the United States, but of the world.

So now what? Well, you know some of your subjects might react unpleasantly if they knew your true goals, so you’ll have to keep a lot of secrets until you can properly condition them to accept you in your rightful place. The first thing you’ll have to do is minimize the ability of others to constrain your power. Fortunately, you have an army of lawyers at hand to help, and allies with enough money to buy several third-world countries. They may inform you, or you may already know, that the president is granted the most power in times of war. Eureka! Start a war.

Hold on, though. That’s one of the things Congress isn’t supposed to let you do, and while they can be influenced, they’re not likely to approve an unprovoked war. They don’t seem to much mind what you do on the other side of the world, though, as long as you’re supporting US corporate interests (which happen to be the political lifeblood of most Congresspeople). Those interests mostly revolve around trade agreements which are much easier to negotiate to US advantage with wealthy autocrats than with democratically elected leaders or councils, so have your people ensure that those are the types of leaders you’ll be dealing with. When the opportunity arises, you can even hand-select the people who will be put into power after the revolutions you’re funding. Your sole criteria for selection, of course, is how amenable the leader will be to the interests of your financial backers. Conveniently, these practices will likely infuriate some plebeians in the countries affected, enabling you to attain approval for “humanitarian” interventions and overseas wars to stabilize the rule of law (i.e. the king’s will) there.

Unfortunately, by this point, your term of office may be up, and you still haven’t been able to eliminate that silly rule. They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Groom your children for the presidency, and help other presidents between now and then to continue the course. Perhaps by the time you have a son in office, the resources and rage of the foreigners whose freedom you’ve been violating will be enough to provide you with the perfect opportunity, which you could not have foreseen (until, no more than a few months in advance, you may be informed that it is coming): an attack on US soil.

Glorious! What a gift! Oh, of course it’s tragic, and you’ll be sure to be filmed reacting with horror and devastation at the proper time, from a safe distance. But now Congress and indeed the whole country is wrapped around your finger! War? Yes, please! Against whom? Well obviously this attack didn’t come from any one country, so we can’t just declare war on a foreign nation. We’ll have to use a scary word to identify these enemies: terrorists. Didn’t some old president or something say once that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?” It’ll be the War on Terror! These people could strike anyone, anywhere, at any time, which is great, because now you can, too. It’s only fair.

This accelerates the plan wonderfully. Invade a foreign country if you like; just say they were collaborating with terrorists or harboring weapons of mass destruction and most of the world will support you. Want intel? Why not access to the private communications of all US citizens for a start? They won’t mind. Well, a few might, but their opinions won’t matter, because terrorism! Oh, that wonderful word. It’s as if everyone has been hypnotized, and the keyword to switch off their reason is right there, oh-so-easy to access. This magic word causes virtually all impediments to your will to simply vanish. Such is the power of the public’s outrage that if you invoke the term “terrorist,” anyone can be assumed guilty until proven innocent; any Constitutional right can be ignored.

If you can get self-professed liberals on your side through charisma, partisanship, or any other means, the world is your oyster. Throw anyone you like in prison; your lawyers will come up with a justification for why they never need to see the outside of a cell again, let alone the inside of a courtroom. In fact, go ahead and torture and kill whomever you wish also. People may be a little alarmed at first, but as you’ve seen through all of this, they’ll get over it. Terrorism! Words are so powerful. Might as well enact policies to apply them automatically so that anything you do is beyond reproach. For instance, any man you happen to kill from afar with remote controlled flying robots is a militant (syn. terrorist) unless proven otherwise after the fact.

Maybe you will find that you’d like to kill some of your own citizens. And why shouldn’t you? You’re King, after all! But oh yeah, they don’t know that. No bother; the lawyers will provide. Meanwhile you can keep all this from ever being ruled on by a judge (who might inexplicably object to your obvious right to do whatever you want) by telling them it’s all too secret for a courtroom. If your process were to become public, then terrorism would run rampant in the streets! “Never you mind, judge, just let me keep you safe.” When you find that this works, you’ve gained a powerful tool to disable one of the more problematic constraints on your power (since many judges can’t just be bought the way votes can).

Uh-oh. What if some of your corporate backers tank the world economy by stealing a little too much, a little to recklessly? Not to worry: now that you’re King, you can simply explain that because they are so important, if they were to face any consequences the entire world would suffer. Just give them a bunch of your subjects’ money and everything will blow over. If citizens start to complain that their homes are being stolen, get Congress to pass a law disallowing those complaints from being admitted in court. When this works, you’ll know that judicial oversight has been completely defanged. Might as well set up special courtrooms to help your banker buddies take those houses faster, while you’re at it.

From here, there’s still more you can do. Your greatest threat is still and always has been your citizens, but as long as the majority of them aren’t unduly inconvenienced by your policies and can be convinced they still have some power, a revolution is completely out of the question, so that’s not something you’ll have to worry about for quite a while. Importantly, though, you’ll want to keep as much information from reaching the public as possible, so you should be unflinching in pursuing any non-propaganda journalistic efforts with heinously overblown criminal charges, or when that doesn’t seam feasible, at least harassment at airports and other places where you have a strong presence. What the public doesn’t know won’t hurt you.

What’s left? Term limits and elections. Blargh. How to do away with those? Back up a second, though: maybe you don’t have to. There’s no reason to bother with such unpleasantries if you can simply ensure that each successive person to officially work in the Oval Office is your puppet. Then there is nothing preventing you from establishing your dynasty in perpetuity. In fact, you never have to personally hold any official position at all. All you need… is money.

I guess you didn’t care
And I guess I liked that
And when I fell hard
You took a step back
Without me
Without me
Without me

And he’s long gone
When he’s next to me
And I realize the blame is on me

Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I’d never been
So you put me down oh
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I’d never been
Now I’m rolling in the cold hard cash
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble

No apologies
He’ll never see you cry
Pretend he doesn’t know
That he’s the reason why
You’re wealthy
You’re wealthy
You’re wealthy

And I heard you moved on
From whispers on the street
A single on the charts
Is all you’ll ever be
And now I see, now I see, now I see
He was long gone
When I met him
Does he realize the joke is on him

I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I’d never been
So you put me down oh
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I’d never been
Now I’m rolling in the cold hard cash
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble

And the saddest fear comes creeping in
That I never loved you or him or anyone or anything
Yeah

I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I’d never been
So you put me down oh
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now
Flew me to places I’d never been
Now I’m rolling in the cold hard cash
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble

I knew you were trouble when you walked in
Trouble, trouble, trouble
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
Trouble, trouble, trouble

I think most of us have had similar experiences of continual praise, though not necessarily as untempered by punishment and other negative early experiences. The effect on this man seems extreme, but mostly I think it’s amazing that he is aware of the process. That awareness is probably what’s rare, rather than the condition itself. Extrinsic motivators create a pervasive culture of delusion. They were a key component of the problems leading to the recent financial crises (and remain unchanged, so expect at least one more in the near future).

Embedded on the page of that editorial is one of the best commencement speeches I’ve ever seen, with a simple and laudable conclusion: rediscover intrinsic motivation. I’m embedding it below:

Ranked by income inequality, the United States is now ninety-fifth in the world, just behind Nigeria, Iran, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast.

Charles H. Ferguson
Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America

The government of the United States is increasingly becoming an aristocracy. The gap between the top 1% and the rest of us grows ever wider, and the law no longer applies to the elite, but is instead used as a weapon to keep the populace in check. The checks and balances built into our structures of government have been circumvented, and new evidence putting the lie to our nation’s ostensible democracy accumulates daily. It is no exaggeration to call the present circumstances a crisis.

Overpopulation and Climate Change

We are destroying our planet. This is a global problem, but one the US contributes to disproportionately. Our population is unsustainable and growing, and the issue is being largely ignored. Climate change is a reality. If we continue on our current course, Earth is expected become largely uninhabitable by the year 2300. Where is the widespread mainstream panic? It is missing because most people are completely unaware of the problem. Some are listening to talking heads denying reality, and others just haven’t been adequately informed of the danger. Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy will be a drop in the bucket to even what is already inevitable of the coming catastrophe. Immediate change is fundamentally necessary to the survival of our species.

One of the greatest contributors to environmental problems is the factory meat farming industry. These large corporations calibrate their business models to take advantage of the fact that the government fines they receive for the large scale destruction they wreak on the environment are significantly cheaper to pay than it would be to actually handle waste properly. Since the vast majority of the meat available to average citizens is produced by these companies (and it can be difficult to get accurate information about its origins), the most effective thing most of us can personally do to help the environment is to eat less (or no) meat.

Obviously we’d benefit from greater awareness of the situation and legislative and policy changes being made to address the issue. Freely available birth control, education, and encouragement to take advantage of it are some key, sorely needed reforms.

Foreign Policy and the Bill of Rights

The President has, in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and other laws and international treaties, granted himself and all future Presidents the power to secretly assassinate or imprison and potentially torture you without formal charges, warrants, or any other sort of due process of law. In addition, he has extended and expanded the secret, unwarranted spying on all Americans started by Gee Dub in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and just over a week ago we learned that the databases governing both of these functions will be combined and secretly administered by the same government agency.

Obama has also, in violation of the First Amendment, continued and expanded with the war against whistle blowers who expose government corruption, demonizing Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for their heinous acts of journalism espionage which could potentially illuminate to the American public what is really happening in the halls of power.

Other than that, American foreign policy hasn’t changed much in the last few decades: we continue our crusade in the Middle East and around the world for freedom and democracy (i.e. the interests of American elites, regardless of the opinions of the affected populace) and against despotism (i.e. governments and leaders not eager to conform to US interests, regardless of how they gained power). The current outlook has the war industry enjoying the self-perpetuating War of on Terror with no end for the foreseeable future.

Unmanned drones are the tools currently being increasingly used to inspire anti-American sentiment in bring justice to Arab nations. They are advertised as being extremely accurate at taking out specific targeted groups of random citizens militants whose identity doesn’t even need to be known before they are murdered, thanks to our Nobel Peace Prize winning leader’s policy of “signature strikes.”

The greatest threat to the global domination agenda at the moment is considered to be the possibility that Iran may at some point gain access to nuclear weapons. Since this would deter the US from attacking that country at will, it cannot be borne. During the next presidential term, regardless of who is elected, it seems likely that there will be a push to attack Iran, over the objections of most other nations.

The Economy and Privatization

Our money is more of an illusion now than ever, yet it is at the heart of everything that has been happening. We bailed out the banks with the money of a government trillions of dollars in debt, and now allow those banks to borrow more at 0% interest and then lend it back to the government for a profit. No, it doesn’t make sense.

Money is sometimes said to be the root of all evil, but that’s not really true. Money has no morals; it’s just a construct, a number, inherently ethically neutral. But in a sense that’s the problem. Free-market capitalists believe in the ideal of meritocracy, where the people who rise to the top of society get there based on merit. The market will weed out the injustices; surely customers will not purchase a product in support of criminal behavior. If a corporation is party to gross injustices, surely a competitor will arise who won’t do the same and the customers will flock to the better brand. (Assuming customers have perfect information and the time and ability to process it.)

Since money, the measure of merit, is amoral, it doesn’t actually work this way. Money as an extrinsic motivator rewards, by definition, anything that produces more money. Right now our economy is closer to a free market than it has been in decades, and rampant corruption is the result. Money doesn’t inherently do anything to dissuade (rather it ultimately encourages) practices like child labor, unfair work hours, and fraud. If a true free market could possibly work, these problems would never have existed.

The widespread chaos of the complete breakdown of our economy was postponed (and likely exacerbated) with the government bailout of the banks. Unsustainable systems set up by the finance industry emulated the rising pressure of an active volcano about to burst. With the bailout, we paved over the volcano with three feet of cement, but you can’t trick physics. And when the eruption finally comes, it will only be more disastrous than if we’d let it happen in the first place. To be clear, the bailout itself isn’t the problem. It’s that none of the conditions that caused the problem in the first place have been changed; the same people who created this situation are still in charge. The pressure is still rising.

Our tax dollars were spent to save the financial institutions who had brought us all to ruin, and yet we have nothing to show for it; no concessions were made in negotiating the deal, and our government will gain nothing back from it. Why would they ever agree to such terms? Because the banks were on both sides of the negotiating table.

Many of the regulatory departments of the government have become captive to the industries they are supposed to regulate, through a combination of “revolving doors” and lobbying. Industry elites will move on to regulatory, judicial, or legislative positions where they can enact, uphold, or remove regulations in order to promote greater profits for those corporations, then leave office and reap the rewards. The same pattern of regulatory capture occurs in food and agriculture, finance, defense and intelligence, and likely most other areas one might care to closely inspect.

With enough money distributed among Congress and the President, we’ve seen that virtually anything can be made legal. Did you illegally aid the government in spying on all American citizens? No problem, we’ll make you retroactively immune from even civil lawsuits. Committed countless felonies in order to enrich your financial institution? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. You’re trying to steal the houses of millions of Americans through fraudulent foreclosures? We’ll make you immune to lawsuits, too, and while we’re at it we’ll even set up special courts just to expedite your theft. Limits on campaign donation amounts only mean that the bulk of the payoff will come in six-figure fees for single-hour lectures after the candidates leaves office. Effectively, any large private industry has the power to literally write the laws. Now, they can even write them after the fact.

Other elites in charge of the government see this and want in on the action. This explains the trend toward privatization of as many government functions as possible: education, prison administration, Social Security, healthcare (“Obamacare” does not create government healthcare, it forces Americans to purchase health insurance, taking away the power of consumers to choose not to participate if the prices are too high), intelligence, military, space exploration, etc.

We have arrived not at a meritocracy (rule by the most qualified), but a plutocracy (rule by the wealthy), an aristocracy (rule by the elite class). Reality TV has shown us that these people are no more fit to govern than the rest of us. And as a result, the wealthy pay the least taxes, and arrange the government budget to cut the programs that help the poor in favor of those that help themselves.

“Partisan” Politics

These elites are the leaders of both the Republican and the Democratic parties. While they espouse different stances in order to present the illusion of choice, their actions show a different set of motivations. What benefits the common interests of the elite is automatically adopted as the unanimous best course for the nation, and not even up for debate. In this sense, the Red and Blue parties are effectively just two parts of a single large political machine run by the wealthy; call it the Purple Party.

The policy continuity with Bush is a stark contrast to what Obama offered as a candidate. Look at the broken promises from the 2008 Democratic platform: a higher minimum wage, a ban on the replacement of striking workers, seven days of paid sick leave, a more diverse media ownership structure, renegotiation of NAFTA, letting bankruptcy judges write down mortgage debt, a ban on illegal wiretaps, an end to national security letters, stopping the war on whistle-blowers, passing the Employee Free Choice Act, restoring habeas corpus, and labor protections in the FAA bill. Each of these pledges would have tilted bargaining leverage to debtors, to labor, or to political dissidents.

- Matt Stoller, The progressive case against Obama

The fact is that the Obama Administration, like the Clinton Administration before it, knowingly engaged in a cynical wager.  They bet that they could pursue a host of policies fundamentally odious to their core supporters and yet be reelected.  The calculation depended on the premise that rank-and-file Democrats would have no other option.

…

Anyone who has ever gone shopping knows that their bargaining power depends ultimately upon his/her willingness to walk away.

- Robert E. Prasch, The Progressive Retreat from Obama: Who is to Blame?

Our cadre of financial elites have discovered the secret to disarming the checks and balances established in the Constitution. By forming a political monopoly, the Purple Party has reduced all three branches of government to puppets. How does this work?

The Purple Party presents two options. There has to be a difference between the two, so on the issues elites care less about, the Democrats and Republicans oppose each other. These are presented as the only two options: if any of the issues they disagree on is something you have an opinion about, your only option is to support the rest of the ideology of the party that shares your stance.

This may sound like some conspiracy theory that all this was planned from the outset, but really it isn’t. These two political parties have been in power for over a century, and this coordinated attack on all that our nation stands for is a much more recent development. But it is no accident.

Some might believe that this has been an unfortunate series of accidents, but it was not.  It can be ascribed to the strategy laid out in the early 1980s by Rep. Tony Coelho, who was then the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and to the powerful influence of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), founded in 1985.  Each of these groups worked long and diligently to end the Democratic Party’s long association with New Deal-type legislation so as to increase its appeal to economic elites.  Additionally, they worked hard to sever the Democratic Party’s association with anti-war causes and the extensive 1970s effort to expose and place limits on the executive branch’s capacity for war-making, covert action by the CIA, domestic spying, and associated “dirty tricks.”

By 1996, this effort had come to full fruition.

Robert E. Prasch, On Voting Strategically in 2012: The Ultimatum Game

News media is delivered by large conglomerates owned by elites, and its content is colored purple by corporate interests, reducing journalists to little more than propaganda distributors. The Purple Party, on occasion, even exerts direct control over the facts. And the message is clear. We have two choices: oligarchy or plutocracy.

But are those really our only options? That premise is the foundation of the Purple Party’s political monopoly, so they will do all they can to convince you of it, but is it true?

In short, no.

The Purple monopoly, being political rather than financial, in a nation of even our handicapped democracy, is subject to a fundamentally different economy than a traditional monopoly. Its currency is not money but votes, and while cash goes a long way toward obtaining the needed votes, their security can never be absolute. It is possible for this situation to change.

The Only Nonviolent Solution

The Occupy Movement is a harbinger of the unrest this situation has created. So far, shouting in the streets has achieved little. And if these conditions are allowed to continue, a violent revolution seems the inevitable result. But right now that isn’t necessary; there is a way to reach resolution, taking advantage of the structures and systems already in place:

We elect our own candidates, to every government position we can.

Third parties haven’t stood much of a chance in real elections for over a hundred years. You may not agree with everything (anything?) above, perhaps because your information came from different sources. What platform could possibly encompass the entirety of the 99% and enable the consensus needed to defeat the Purple Party?

Direct democracy.

That is, a system where everyone gets to vote on specific policies and laws rather than just candidates. The Founding Fathers were opposed to direct democracy, but they weren’t omniscient, and note that they too were elites; creating a representative democracy was in their self-interest. Of course, at the time the technology to support a large scale direct democracy didn’t exist. Now it does.

How would this work with our current system? A political party and online system would be created in keeping with the E2D International Manifesto: party candidates vote on and raise issues in Congress and other positions only in the exact way that the public votes. I have several ideas for how the system should work which I will expand on later, but for now I’ll just say that the reason it can work is because there is only one issue on which the 99% need to agree. Only one question for each of us to answer.

Should your vote count?

In the meantime, we need to support non-Purple media outlets such as WikiLeaks, Democracy Now!, and We Are Change, and journalists like those whose work I have linked above. We must do everything in our power to facilitate the return of sanity to public office. And continue to consider the question: should your vote count?

I know my answer.

I’d trade my soul for a wish,
Pennies and dimes for a kiss.
I wasn’t looking for this,
But now you’re in my way.

Your stare was holdin’,
Ripped jeans, skin was showin’,
Hot night, wind was blowin’,
Where you think you’re going, baby?

Hey, I just met you,
And this is crazy,
But let’s get married,
And make some babies.

At around midnight,
They invade me,
But here’s my number,
We’d make cute babies.

Hey, I just met you,
And this is crazy,
They’re always watching,
Like from those daisies.

Illuminati boys
Try to chase me,
We’re too exposed here,
Let’s get to safety.

No, we can’t hide at the mall,
I stumble, don’t let me fall,
They monitor hospitals,
We’ve got to get away.

I beg, and borrow and steal,
Have foresight and it’s real,
Pathogens in my meals,
I have to get away.

Your heart was glowin’,
Aura overflowin’,
Certainty was growin’,
Where you think you’re going, baby?

Hey, I just met you,
And this is crazy,
But in that alley
You have to rape me.

It’s hard to look right
At you baby,
But I see numbers,
And they’re not hazy.

Hey, I just met you,
And this is crazy,
(long, bloodcurdling scream)

And alien ploys,
Never faze me,
They think I’m dumber,
It makes them angry.

Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
I missed you so bad
I missed you so, so bad

Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
And you should know that
I missed you so, so bad

Got into a fight
With a baby,
It tried to trick me
Inside the TV.

Hey, is this your shoe,
Or a phase key?
The sacred numbers
Are hidden in me.

Illuminati boys
Try to chase me,
We’re too exposed here,
Let’s get to safety.

Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
I missed you so bad
I missed you so, so bad

Before you came into my life
I missed you so bad
And you should know that

So call me, maybe?

So I said, “Well, here’s the thing. I really shouldn’t talk about politics. Professionally speaking, it’s just not smart….”

Then I talked about politics.

There’s no real excuse for it, except to say that I was operating on one hour of sleep at the time. And I have an odd compulsion that when people ask me honest questions, I feel compelled to give them honest answers.

I can’t remember exactly what I said. I remember talking about what the true purpose of government is. About what’s wrong with the country. I went on for about 3-4 minutes, and I’m pretty sure I swore more than just a little. At one point, I remember pounding on the table.

At the end of it, folks applauded.

Despite the fact that it seemed to go over well, I felt guilty about it. Like I’d done something irresponsible. It bugged me all night.

But after thinking about it all weekend, I realized a few things.

1. I like saying true things.

2. If I say true things, and it makes people angry. I think I’m okay with that.

3. We can’t be afraid to talk about politics. Talking is the only way that we can make things better in this country. And things need to get better. Our country is teetering on the verge of the howling abyss, if you haven’t noticed.

I noticed. It’s not limited to our country, it’s the entire world. And I agree: if we don’t talk about it, the politicians win.

I don’t know anything about Wisconsin politics. In fact, I admit that I don’t know much about politics in general.

Here’s the thing. I avoid talking about politics, too. On this blog and in person. But beyond that, I tend to avoid paying attention to politics at all. Mostly that’s because a ridiculous percentage of the information available about politics is bullshit. I don’t feel comfortable making important decisions with nothing but bullshit as a basis.

However, there are some significant things happening lately that fit a different connotation of bullshit. That is, whereas political campaigns are full of misdirection and lies, these are facts which incite outrage.

I don’t want to argue about this stuff. I’d rather avoid the potential of being the target of ridiculous personal attacks. But I feel a moral imperative to say something. I have been quiet. Now I need to speak.

I’ve read some of  Glenn Greenwald’s blog on Salon, since I found out about the existence of his book With Liberty and Justice for Some and added it to my wish list. I don’t know what you think about the guy, if anything. To me he seems to be less aligned with a particular political party and more a proponent of basic human rights. Anyway, much of the info to follow came to me by way of his blog.

Basically, Obama’s campaign this year seems to have started out with bragging about his flaunting of basic human rights, and his killing of a bunch of people in the Middle East. He’s redefined “militant” to include any adult male we happen to kill. We are gradually being lulled into accepting the unacceptable, from assaults on freedom of speech to the idea that the President has the right to order the assassination anyone of his choosing. Regardless of the specific crimes of anyone on that list, this sets a precedent. And the splash damage is already significant. Former President Jimmy Carter even wrote an op-ed for the New York Times calling out and condemning US human rights violations. Oh, and Obama is the reason no one in the financial industry has been held accountable for the extensive fraud that led to the financial crisis.

All of these things are being done in my name, since I am a US citizen. I certainly didn’t vote for any of these things to happen, but they are happening anyway. And the worst part?

Romney wouldn’t be any better.

There is no real choice in this upcoming election. Not about some of the things that matter most, like human rights. Maybe some independent candidate I haven’t heard of is running on a ticket of stopping the bullshit, but does it really matter? Is there a real candidate for the 99%? I don’t know.

I stopped writing in the middle of this post and ignored even Greenwald’s blog for over a month because it’s just depressing. I don’t see a solution. But I needed to say something, I needed to finish this post, so here it is. Maybe you can figure it out.

We also essentially get confirmation that there will be no intentional message to the game, that the hacking/security/surveillance stuff is just flavor for Pearce’s magic:

RPS: So you had your big spiel rooted in real world events at the beginning of the demo, but then Pearce waved his hand and took out entire phone networks and stoplight systems like some kind of magical Hollywood hacker Jedi.

Dominic Guay: It’s not. It’s not [like that]. So obviously, the player will build up his abilities. He won’t start out being able to do everything. Obviously, for the purpose of the demo, it was kind of a late game moment. You have a lot of abilities built up. There will be a very realistic reason behind his access to the city – how he can grow his power gradually. It’s going to be the player choosing where they want to put those efforts – on what type of control, how much he wants to invade the privacy of whom, and what he wants to do with that information. It’ll be the player who chooses that.

And really, all the things we’re doing in the game – so you saw hacking radio frequencies, hacking traffic systems, watching people through surveillance cameras – we have concrete references from the real world for all of that. Obviously, he has some pretty good back doors there, but that’ll be explained in the game.

RPS: The demo opened with a big speech about the marginalization of the individual and the idea that we’re all just data points now. It seemed very cautionary in nature – like, “Oh, this is clearly an impersonal, almost inhuman attack on who we are as people.” Which is a bit odd, coming from, well, a giant corporate entity like Ubisoft. Is that dissonance something you’ve been aware of in creating Watch Dogs?

Dominic Guay: We’re not putting judgment on it. We’re not saying it’s either bad or good. It’s just what you do with it, right? Some people have asked us “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?” We’re really going on the gray there. So you choose as a player what you do with that power. It’s either good or bad.

We don’t think technology’s bad, right? We love technology. We’re saying it’s powerful. We’re all dependent. We’re putting our personal lives on cell phones. We’re all dependent on the city that’s run mostly through computers – traffic, communication, electricity grids – and that can become an incredibly powerful weapon in the hands of a single man.

At least this news came fairly soon after the announcement, so the disappointment is minimal. With the original Assassin’s Creed (made at the same studio), it wasn’t managed so well. I like the story in Assassin’s Creed, even the silly sci-fi bits, but it had the potential to make a much more significant statement. And it did seem like the first game was trying to go a little deeper into certain issues, but that was ditched from AC2 on. Based on that, this stance isn’t surprising. Aside: this game looks like it could point the way toward how a modern-day Assassin’s Creed could be done where Desmond stops dreaming about the past and starts doing stuff himself, as the games have been hinting all along will happen eventually.

It seems that mission in the trailer is representative of the direction of the story: a cyber-vigilante uses his powers to kill a bunch of people he believes have it coming. But there are problems with the second answer above. “It’s just what you do with it, right?” Well, not exactly: it’s also what everyone else does with it, and even when it’s you, how do you know you’re right? Inevitably, at some point, even if no one intentionally abuses that power (unlikely), mistakes will be made.

And this is where the post would segue into politics, but I’m going to separate that out into the next post.

At any rate, I think the game may find it impossible to avoid carrying a cautionary message. The things this character will be able to do will likely come as a shock and a warning to people, regardless of Ubisoft’s reluctance to pass judgment. And I think that’s a good thing.

Watch Dogs looks cool:

Sort of a Person of Interest: The Game. The premise is intriguing, but it will be wasted if it’s just going to be flavor for the magic powers you use to hunt down one “bad guy” after another. So many potentially interesting questions aren’t being answered or even asked in what’s been shown so far: who is this guy? Why does he have the ability to do all this stuff rather than someone else? Or do others have the same abilities? Why does he feel justified in using them to kill people? Is he working for someone? And what further implications does this have for the world? This teaser outlines the premise better:

It hints at some interesting exploration of issues around surveillance and security, which means ample opportunity for disappointment if those topics are left unaddressed. The violence was the least compelling part of the presentation. Nathan Grayson at Rock, Paper, Shotgun put up a piece there today that I really agree with, calling out the problematic attitude of PR (and fans) toward violence in games. He talks about how The Last of Us makes its violence terrifying, like the last resort of the desperate. I found it horrible and difficult to watch:

My thoughts on the game? It looks like Enslaved, but a bit more interesting. And the violence, like I said, is disquieting. I wonder if it’s possible to avoid it.

Quantic Dream, creators of Heavy Rain, unveiled their next title:

Ellen Page! I need a PS3 now. Yes, I have a crush. Anyway, the game looks interesting, and Quantic Dream’s performance capture is still the best in the industry. Really would like to be able to play this game. The Unfinished Swan also looks pretty cool (though it will apparently be very short):

There are getting to be quite a few games exclusive to the PS3 that I’d really like to play: 3D Dot Game Heroes, The Last Guardian, Journey, Bleach: Soul Resurrection, now Beyond and The Unfinished Swan, and maybe Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, Heavy Rain and The Last of Us. And it’s still possible they might make Persona 5 a PS3 exclusive. Assuming I have the extra money someday (after the price of the system drops again), and that I actually have had time to play through more of the games I already own but haven’t played yet, I think I might want to pick up a PS3 at some point. I’ll always be incensed that they took out the upscaling PS2 disc compatibility. But it might still be worth it.

I thought this headline was hilarious: SimCity Is Online Only, But It Promises Not To Repeat Diablo III’s Mistakes. I’m sure it won’t: Diablo 3′s mistake here was in selling over 6 million copies at launch. Not something I would be worried about an online-only SimCity game repeating.

Edit: how did I forget Ni No Kuni (the Studio Ghibli game)? Definitely makes the PS3 more attractive.

There was a booth selling board games, and when I pointed out to my wife that Mike Krahulik had recently tweeted praises for Lords of Waterdeep, we ended up buying it there. It was unusual for me to pick up a game I hadn’t actually researched at all beforehand, but I think it’s a pretty fun game. Not too long, not too complicated, but fun. So far I’ve only played with two players, and only twice.

I was looking around hoping to spot someone involved with (or at least selling?) Daytripper, which Patrick Rothfuss recently recommended on Goodreads, but I didn’t see it.

There were many comics artists in attendance. Most of the art there came across to me as just sort of generic comics art, but one piece grabbed my attention and had me looking through the work of Daxiong. I bought a print of it and another, and Keisha picked a third for herself. I wish I could link the one I really liked, but it doesn’t seem to be up online. It shows a woman from the bust up, much more focused than most of his work, wearing some interesting sort of Victorian/burlesque outfit with a tiny top hat, in front of a red background. What struck me was her facial expression; she looks at the viewer askance with her head tilted slightly back and to her right, innocently curious or contemplative, unconsciously attractive. I know the parted lips, the outfit and all are specifically intended to be sexy, but that was the impression I got and I found it stunning.

Anyway this guy’s stuff is awesome. When Keisha went back on Sunday she came home with his art book for me as an early anniversary gift, and I’ve read and looked through it already. There are a lot of typos and errors in the writing which is understandable since he is Chinese, but still unfortunate since it feels like it doesn’t do his work justice. I wish I could fix them for him.

After my second con at the Irving Convention Center (the other was the Sci-Fi Expo this year held by the same people), I have decided I really don’t like the venue. There is no place within walking distance to get decent food (the concessions are ok, but there aren’t enough options for a vegetarian and the prices are ridiculous); parking (since the parking garage was already full) was on crappy, uneven fields of grass; and there really just was nowhere near enough space for the number of people attending this convention. If the next one isn’t moved to the Dallas or Fort Worth convention center, I don’t want to go.

I was a fiend for scripting
Working in a data mine
Kept me and my family fed
It was the summer of ’69

Gaming with the guys was cool
Partied up, we could hit real hard
Jimmy quit and Jody was buried
I shoulda known we’d never get far
Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Ya – I’d always want to be there
Those were the best days of my life

On that day it was rainin’
One of the main plants blew
We locked up food and made sure to stay in
And that’s when I met you yeah

Pulsing your electric torch
You were a second late, however
Though nobody understands
I had to pull the ‘open’ lever
Those were the best days of my life

Oh yeah
Back in the summer of ’69
Oh

That was a milder clime
Smart goggles were used less
And no one went blind
I guess nothing can last forever, forever, no

And now the times are changin’
Look at everything that’s come and gone
Sometimes when I get tired of scripting
I think about you, wonder what went wrong

Pulsing your electric torch
You were a second late, however
Though nobody understands
I had to pull the ‘open’ lever
Those were the best days of my life

Oh yeah
Back in the summer of ’69
Oh
It was the summer of ’69
Oh yeah