SLOG and the WGA Strike

There's some people on SLOG giving Savage a hard time because he appeared on the Bill Maher show this weekend, despite the fact that the Maher show is a WGA union show and technically, even though there wasn't an actual picket line, Savage crossed a picket line and is therefore, a scab. Savage argues, that the Maher show is largely an unscripted news show, not that much different than appearing on "Meet the Press" or any news panel show on CNN or MSNBC or FoxNews.

I kind of agree with him on this; I don't think it's the end of the world that he appeared on the show, but he is on some shakey ground, morally speaking. But, it's also really annoying to hear the usual idiots pointing their boney little fingers and making the usual bleeding heart bleeting sounds and making dumb accusations when they really aren't any more morally superior than those they accuse. I had this to point out:

hmmmm....actually, technically, we are ALL scabs. Everytime we WATCH television, (regardless if it's a rerun or not, or a scripted or a non-scripted program), or pay to see a film, you're supporting the management of the multi-national media companies that the writer's are striking against. TV makes its money from ads, and the rates they charge are determined by the number of viewers. So even if you're watching a non-WGA show like "American Idol" or "Project Runway" or even a re-run of "Ugly Betty" you're still putting money into the pockets of Fox and Universal and Disney who own those shows.

It doesn't really stop with tv and film since all the big media conglomerates also own web based companies, book and magazine publishers, video game companies, etc...I'm guessing that over 90% of ALL entertainment is either partially or completely owned or affliated with these companies, so we're all guilty of not supporting the writers everytime we buy a Simon & Schuster published book (Viacom) or the new Hannah Montana album (Disney).

just sayin'....

Posted by michael strangeways | January 21, 2008 1:57 PM

UPDATE

once again, don't see much distinction from appearing on "Real Time with Bill Maher" from appearing on a CNN show from contributing to a piece in Time magazine. They're ALL owned by Time-Warner and every time you support ANY of their products, you support the parent company and therefore are undermining the cause of the Writer's Guild. So unless y'all are boycotting ALL media products produced by the big media giants and quietly sitting at home watching good ole American made porn, (non-union AND independently owned, well, at least owned by relatively small corporations), you shouldn't be so quick to judge.

Posted by michael strangeways | January 21, 2008 4:12 PM