MALADROITHIM'S PROFILE

author=Shadowtext link=topic=718.msg10447#msg10447 date=1205301231
Don't you have an XBox 360, Him?

Actually I have so many video game consoles it's embarassing and people come over for parties and are like WHY DID YOU BUY ALL OF THAT.

author=Shadowtext link=topic=718.msg10447#msg10447 date=1205301231
I've definitely found myself making impulse buys off of XBox Live Marketplace. Mostly games at the moment, but I've played with the streaming service with titles I downloaded through less legitimate means (Gurren Lagann looks great on a TV the way it was meant to be seen, by the way), and at this point the only benefit I see to physical media is that the DRM on it doesn't actively cripple you and make it to where when your system ultimately dies, you lose all your purchases too.

I suppose I'm not the target audience you're talking about, though, because I don't think I've ever bought a DVD impulsively. Maybe that's because I only tend to buy TV series on DVD, though, meaning that they're much bigger purchases for me than for people who like owning movies.

Well you're also forgetting that most people aren't nerds. Nerds like to sit and browse on the internet or whatever but normal people are too busy or too passive for that kind of stuff and would rather see something on a store shelf. Also, yes, DRM is ridiculous and I hope to god that downloadable content doesn't become standard because so far downloadable content is a crippled mess that leaves me feeling like I've paid for an overpriced rental and not actually bought something (PS your iTunes music store purchases self-destruct after being transported through three or more computers).

author=Canuck link=topic=776.msg10445#msg10445 date=1205298726
So your argument boils down to flat out speculation?

Well obviously.

author=Shinan link=topic=718.msg10407#msg10407 date=1205230058
In This Week in Tech they speculated that the HD-war will in the end be won through the streaming and download services and not the physical discs (Blu-Ray & HD-DVD)

This is what people say but I think they're forgetting that most DVD sales are impulse purchases picked up while doing other shopping. It will always remain profitable to sell packaged movies because people will always want to spot some old movie at WalMart for $5 and want to take it home and watch it that night. This is also true for videogames because not only are videogames sold the same way, but a lot of times people shopping for video games don't know ahead of time which one to buy and want to browse at a store and look at boxes and stuff.

author=Canuck link=topic=776.msg10405#msg10405 date=1205221317
Him, why do you first boldly say it's black people's fault, and then go into a lengthy description on how it's the growth of black culture's fault encompassing a dislike of the mainstream?

Well what I'm discussing is that the problem, which is a high dropout rate among the poor (which in the case of Toronto also happen to be black), is caused not by society's failures but by individual failures in each case. It might not be the dropout's fault that he is raised in a culture where other individuals establish a culture that is destructive to the dropout's overall productivity and happiness, but it is still an individual's fault. System-wide changes probably won't address the issues of individual values and I think it's more important to focus on considering the needs of individuals rather than assuming that a system carefully designed to be as neutral as possible is not neutral enough.

author=Canuck link=topic=776.msg10405#msg10405 date=1205221317
When people of the middle class wonder why others aren't viewing the world the way they do, they seem to get angry. Native Americans in Canada get free education, and lots don't take it and the middle class compares. It's not fathomable that some native Americans don't want to have the middle class definition of success and would want to be on their land with their family. Policies given to the poor and different cultures are not to help them, but to assimilate them to having middle class values.

It's a very astute point and it is pretty unfortunate that every culture with a given set of values assumes that there is something wrong with the values of another culture. It's entirely possible that the dropouts in Toronto are dropping out because their set of values does not include a High School education and that sending them to a separate school where the instructors speak in Ebonics and have thick inter-city accents isn't going to make them suddenly want to graduate. And if it does, the program will not be helping the poor but will rather be executing culture genocide.

Being part Native American and having a mother who is a medicine woman and a stepfather who is 100% pure-blooded southwest Native American (I can't spell the tribe's name so I won't try), I am intimately familiar with Native cultural values across America. I have slept in teepees, been an assistant on vision quests, sat in lodge, and been taught how to make a dreamcatcher. I have spent time with Native Americans and I am a Native American (but in my household we say Indian because political correctness is for fags and it's a lot of syllables anyway). I would be the first to agree that there are values that Native Americans hold that don't line up with the values of the white Christian middle class -- however, the values of all cultures include being able to pay rent and afford food. The problem with the ghetto culture is that, at the end of the day, its residents are not able to afford their rent and electricity and they can certainly never dream of owning their own property. You can go ahead and do the math but at least in the US it is literally impossible to pay basic neccessities such as rent, health care, food, and clothing with the minimum-wage jobs that dropouts often end up with. Enter the credit card debt epidemic.

My criticism is that Toronto's school program will be ineffective in helping the poor blacks in Toronto that do have middle-class values but are fated to become lower-class citizens. A new school with a new curriculum will not endear the hearts and minds of poor black kids in Toronto because school curriculi in general do not by their very nature endear the hearts and minds of any child. Peers and parents are the forces that guide peoples' lives and not the public school system. Any program that hopes to improve the situation for blacks in Toronto will have to focus on life outside of the classroom, because, after all, life is something that does not happen in the classroom. I argue that it will make the situation worse because it will increase the proportion of poor people raised in a culture of hopelessness as views by the black student. It will only reaffirm the messages that they are being sent that being a member of a minority means that you do not have the option of being a middle-class citizen, whether you want to be one or not.

author=demondestiny link=topic=776.msg10389#msg10389 date=1205179133
Yes, i think it is very serious but bloody long.

Well you asked us what we think and this isn't the sort of topic where one's views can really be expressed succinctly.

Also: What do you think, anyway?

I torrent occassionally but since stealing is not only unethical but is destructive to the future of whatever it is I want to steal I try to resist the urge. I usually restrict torrenting to downloading things I might be somewhat interested in but would never buy.

Fun fact though: many artists I have discovered through piracy and went on to purchase future albums. I would never have bought their later albums had I not pirated their early material. However I do not think this has a net positive effect on the industry or that it legitimizes piracy.