America, Let this Be a Lesson… By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

November 18, 2010 Whitney Farmer 20 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A. She has an M.B.A., and bought some new sunglasses today.

“Dancing with the Stars” is in the midst of what may be its greatest controversy in all of its gazillion seasons. Bristol Palin ousted Brandy to secure a spot in the Finals competition based on the number of votes submitted in her favor by the viewing public.

Reports have been circulating about how the Tea Party has been encouraged to vote. There are blog postings that have described how the reporting system at ABC seemingly doesn’t care enough to vet each contact and how this provides opportunities for multiple votes with relative ease. Apparently the email addresses don’t have to be a valid address and no verification is sent back to the specified voter’s email to confirm its authenticity. One comment stated that the person was individually able to vote over 300 times.

Why hasn’t ABC taken the steps necessary to prevent multiple votes from the same individuals, thus allowing their system to be manipulated as it has been by the Tea Party? BECAUSE NONE OF THIS REALLY MATTERS AND THERE IS NO VALUE IN CHANGING THEIR STATUS QUO. This contest is ashow, one of the most fluffy pieces of entertainment ever to be given birth. If the voting system is crafted like the system that was rolled out by “American Idol”, then the votes generate revenue for whoever milks this cash cow. There is a possibility that — if revenue generating, or if the data that is gathered is valuable enough to be converted into a marketable asset — the votes fund the entire production at a significant profit.

And in some arenas, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Citizens who will never become viewers of the show are aware of what has transpired. Those who have already been hooked by the crack of the cognitive dissonance of astronauts and NFL quarterbacks doing jazz hands now schedule their lives around viewing the next episodes.

As frightening as the first vestiges of a Fahrenheit 451 society , (infantile and controllable because of no books…remember?), are and should be, there is a more frightening aspect to what has occurred.

Ms. Palin won. Her supporters figured out how to work the system and dedicated time and effort into her election.  Now she is in the winner’s circle. And there is nothing anyone can do about it because she got more votes.

Hey America:  Do you get it?  In the words of Cyrus from  The Warriors:  “Can you dig it…?”

Quote of the Blog from Sarah Palin, describing the media as investigative reports began to surface regarding her rugged hand-picked fav for Governor of Alaska: “…Conniving bastards…”. Perhaps she was inferring that those people who work in the media were conceived as a result of fornication between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman — as were her son Track prior to she and her then-boyfriend Todd eloping, or her grandson Tripp from the liaison of her daughter Bristol with Levi Johnston. Editorial comment: I know bastards. Some of my best friends are bastards. I would not describe any of them as being conniving.