Matt Taibbi on Sport, Labor

[pscot]

and Assholes in Broadcasting:

It seems the whole sports world is abuzz about the decision by the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints players to raise a finger in the air before the season-opening game as an expression of union loyalty -- "We are one" -- in a year in which the players and the owners are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. I watched that gesture during the game and knew it was going to inspire the usual sneering (it started almost immediately, with Al Michaels chirping, "There's nothing like starting an NFL season with a labor statement"), as voices from all corners (including, unbelievably, many former NFL players) denouncing the absurdly brief, silent, and inoffensive demonstration as a tasteless interruption of our God-given right to nonstop mindless entertainment.

-----

That kind of thinking is spreading, because our pop culture priests have succeeded in filling the population with shame and nervous self-loathing to the point where they think of anyone who isn't an employer as a parasite, and anyone who isn't rich and famous, or trying to be, as a loser. People even think of themselves this way, which is why there are so many down-and-out people voting to give tax breaks to the same bankers who've been robbing them for years, and booing when the mere concept of unions shows up for a few seconds in a football game. It's sad, and a lot of it's the fault of mean little assholes like Cowherd. Shame on him.

more

[DiverDave]

1. Link?

eom

[pscot]

5. My bad!

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/matt-taibbi/blogs/TaibbiData_May2010/202082/83512


Note to self: never post and run.

[donheld]

2. More?

You gonna make us hunt for it? is this a scavenger hunt? :D

[Lilith Velkor]

3. Unrec - no link

[kenny blankenship]

4. WTF is the matter with you people? You can't type 'rollingstone.com' into your browser?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/matt-taibbi

He's not hard to find. Took me about 3 seconds.

[trumad]

6. LOL

Yeah---like the OP made it up.

fucking people are lazy.

[xocet]

9. +1000

As I understand it, Google is working on a predictive-linking project based on cached blog post history that will eliminate this entire issue. I don't really understand the sketchy description of their method that was in the article, but the process is supposedly based on some sort of Bayesian statistical analysis.

You don't happen to have a good command of Bayesian statistical analysis, do you?

[Brickbat]

7. K&R -- this made my fucking day to read.

[Jax]

8. Loved reading that. Taibbi is why I subscribe to Rolling Stone

he is the best.