2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Stupid and annoying reality TV show scapegoats atheists for religious intolerance
Or like, some network exec thought that it was a damn shame that Ashton Kutcher couldn’t pull off the Peter Pan act and managed to grow up by two years.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Stupid and annoying reality TV show scapegoats atheists for religious intolerance
Yo @falcor, or whoever, if you feel like moving all the posts in this thread that are about atheism to Stupid and annoying reality TV show scapegoats atheists for religious intolerance, that might be a sensible thing to do.
I tried to flag them all Off-Topic but I ran out of flags. This system might need some work.
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I think that I got them all. Let me know if any were missed or moved by mistake.
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I ran into a non-reality-show occurrence of something like this at my local library (a couple of locales ago).
I often have overdue books, due to poor parenting I suppose (my dad was a college librarian and… we had to return books when he quit. That was pretty much it). I pay my fines, that’s the contract I signed up for.
I go into the library one day, and a woman is arguing. “But the librarian at such-and-such-a-branch always forgives my fines. Do you know who I am?” etc etc etc. The library staff hold their ground, but eventually, she demands the library director’s address and says she’s going to write a letter. As the staff complied, I stepped up and asked for the address as well, noting that I had watched the whole thing.
I did write the letter in, noting that the woman was unreasonable, inconvenienced other patrons, and that the attending staff were courteous and professional.
It was not my intent, but I got a lot of fines forgiven after that point.
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You’re a superstar. I’ve always thought people’s outrage over fines was indirectly proportional to the size of the fine–I’ve never seen so much tantrum-throwing over $2 or $3. And FWIW, if a person was nice about the fine, I’d waive it and move on. Be a dick, yeah, I’ll remember you and you’ll ALWAYS get hit up for late fees.
And this is the big problem for me. I’d be forced to wonder if the owners were broke and needed the cash, or if they were simply taking advantage of a, "here’s $1k, and a little free publicity (and don’t worry about the customers, they’ll be fine). Hate to say it, but something like that would probably put me off that particular coffee shop for a long while.
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I handed one of the real staff guys my money and got the drink without either of us having to say anything. The non-hidden video crew was really loud. Dude had not been allowed to help me while the “scenario” was going on.
And no, the release form lady didn’t offer me compensation of any kind, nor did she apologize for messing up my day. The whole crew was probably coached by lawyers never to apologize to anybody for any reason.
I’m sure it sounded good on paper. Reading the WP page, I get sucked into the same kind of smug voyeurism as everybody else. “Ooh, that sounds interesting, I wonder what happened? They should do that one again!”
It’s hard to imagine that being subjected to an irritating experience as part of a trick, a game you were not aware of in advance, would be an offensive thing to do to people, because as you imagine it you are aware of the tricky game. It just sounds fun. It’s kind of a failure of our ability to simulate other people in our heads.
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Oh. I thought that was because this was shot in NYC.
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There was a video recently posted on Cracked, chastising Youtube pranksters for their utter bullshit, and pointing out that most of what they do aren’t pranks, so much as bullying and baiting people into violence while a camera rolls. Just because there’s a camera doesn’t make an unfunny assault hilarious. Apparently there’s some dumbfuck who has a channel of mostly him (white teenager) walking up to black people, saying “nigger” then when they’re going to beat his ass, he runs away yelling “it’s a prank, we’ve got a camera”.
It’s like the perfect material for neo-nazis to masturbate to.
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A hundred times over, this. I’ve seen similar videos, guy walks up to random couple having a nice moment, he either slaps or punches one of the people and then runs away, obviously with the intent of having someone chase him. Oh the hijinks.
Quite frankly, when people chase the instigator out of righteous fury, I’m hoping 1) they’re trained in some form of martial combat, and 2) they catch the person and are able to dole out whatever punishment they feel is just.
When I was in the salad days of my youth, the internet, smartphones, the panopticon had yet to mature into today’s all-watching-eye, so when I did something stupid or mean or thoughtless, it wouldn’t be recorded for all time. How will our having this long tail of see-what-you-did-when-you-were-15-isn’t-that-shitty video/audio/image data warp our culture in the future?
Not to me, but I was raised on Alan Funt’s Candid Camera. The “reality TV” or the candid camera TV of today strikes me as being focused on fulminating outrage, instead of Funt’s introspection and amusement. A better name for “Reality TV” would be “Sex and Malice TV”–I think that moniker is far more appropriate.
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When I’m out running, I always try to think of real-world motivations for keeping up with it. Zombie apocalypse, etc…gets old, and my burning lungs often outweigh the statistical possibilities in my mind. But this is another good one to keep in mind: "Keep running, someday some Youtube assclown might make you chase him. You have to catch him…if not for yourself and your pride, then for @wrecksdart "
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Please remember to capture video of the event for posterity me. might be able to sell the footage…
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Recently the same show “catfished” a guy with achondroplasia:
I don’t remember much of what Quiñones asked me after he approached me, nor do I remember what I said. I was in the middle of a panic attack. I was shaking, and I couldn’t stop cursing. The entire restaurant was silent, eyes on me. Growing up a little person, I’m familiar with unwanted attention from strangers. Twenty-seven years later, and I’m still not comfortable with it. I felt like I was dropped into Sara Goldfarb’s amphetamine-fueled game-show fantasy in Requiem for a Dream. John Quiñones was my Shooter McGavin.
Christ what a bunch of assholes who produce and run that show.
Jeeze even that first little promo clip just oozed exploitation.
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