I don't think you're grumpy, radx. Granted, my posts tend to have that same ominous tone, in general so I guess I'm a grump too. If you really think about the scale of inequality today, the absolute plundering the ultra-rich enjoyed during the recent recession and the efforts to keep money in politics to perpetuate this cycle with brilliant tools like Citizens United, it's hard not to be bleak.

Unfortunately, what we like to call democracy simply does not have the teeth to affect meaningful change. I am encouraged by the relative economic performance from the list of countries that have scrapped first past the post (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation ) except for maybe Portugal, but even with more effective elections there is still an extra seat for the rich in every government.

Even more unfortunate will be the painful revolution the world will endure to either change from capitalism to some other form of economics (maybe resourced-based, a-la Peter Joseph.) If we don't simply slide obediently into greater and greater concentrations of wealth for the ultra-rich, we get closer and closer to revolution. But all it will take will be one upheaval to spur the revolution into action, be it:
- another, even more severe recession (maybe the EU will implode, taking the world economy down with it)
- severe global warming positive feedback loop from the arctic methane stores
- nuclear war

And who the hell knows what else might set people off. Maybe a solar flare will fry all the satellites in orbit and the lack of new tweets will create a world-wide frenzy of irate twats. And who knows when it will happen. Maybe 5 years, maybe 50 years. Since money pulls the strings, I think we're doomed to guess as to the source of VoodooV's "tipping point."

Violence is touched on in the 90's at 43:00 but the focus is on the innovation of Street Fighter 2 and Doom and again it 47:45 with Mortal Kombat, Night Trap and the US Senate Hearings that led to the ESRB rating system. The pace of the narrative is still compelling as this was an important leap forward where game graphics could be represented by photographic imagery. Let's face it, the violence controversy formed a major part of the evolution of video games.

If you can't stand to hear about Columbine again, skip 52:00 to 54:00. Glen Beck chimes in on GTA at 1:11:00, but he doesn't steal the spotlight.

That is the crux, indeed. The cry from the "Generation of Entitlement" during Occupy just doesn't resonate with the masses of people employed in slave-like manufacturing conditions, penniless coffee growers that grow the beans that help the hipsters get out of bed every morning, or the astounding number living through absolute poverty, genocide or civil war.

The problem only grows worse. Occupy, although out of proportion with the global scope of inequality, brought much needed attention to the issue. I think the garment factory collapse in Bangladesh was another eye-opener for the west. Now, what to do about it all before the nukes get launched....

I was referring to the 1% of the west that was the target of the Occupy movement. If you want to point out the global wealth disparity then yes, we do enjoy our cheap Walmart crap. We then indeed come out far ahead of the poverty seen around the world, with the global 1% comprising people in USA, Canada, Japan and Brazil, etc. with an average annual income of just $34,000.

I think we can safely assume that the 1% talked about in this vid aren't worried about the international poor. The point is that they just want to keep the domestic disenfranchised out of their fantasy mansions (after the inevitable looting of Walmart is complete.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU

Are we supposed to be surprised? When the shit hits the fan and the world economy implodes, of course they'll be ready. The 1% and the crazy survivalists with their gun stockpiles, that is.

World leaders are cumulatively an agency for international corporations. NATFA, MAI, TPP, and every g8, g12, gWhatever summit are all secretive meetings with the same end result: to break down barriers to trade and facilitate greater corporate profit. These agreements give corporations the power to supersede local labour, environmental and trade laws and they have been layering one agreement atop another for years.

Thank you to Wikileaks for exposing what protesters on the ground have always known but weren't able to prove. Once thought of as lunatics, they are now the most sane among us. It's going to be a sad world if we don't stand up to corporate money in politics, although they'll be keeping us happy in the meantime with cheap goods and entertainment and status-quo, happy-happy news reporting from mainstream media.

What a great idea! The transit fare loss is offset by the modest health benefit of participating riders!

Expanding on this, perhaps engineers could harness the kinetic energy and charge a battery that powers the ticket machine (or just feeds back into the grid.) That idea might make more sense in a stationary bike context, but I'd love to see more of this.

Total sausage fest. It's modern-day Gymkata!

http://videosift.com/video/Gymkata-Best-Film-Ever

Look at that mo-fo go! Nature's majestic snow plow.

There are frequently "free trade" bilateral investment treaties signed behind closed doors. I protested the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) in 1997 when I was in college, but it was the French in 1998 that eventually blocked its adoption.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilateral_Agreement_on_Investment

These are the worst examples of the oligarchy protecting its own interests and extending the status quo, keeping their corporate taxes low and their profits high through tax loopholes and the threat of legal action wherever safety or environmental concerns threaten the bottom line. This is why countries are going broke (including the USA,) not because of "foolish" government spending.

This won't work for me personally with a wife and kids, but I'm impressed by the idea. I think the concept was born out of the desperate need for affordable housing in metropolitan Vancouver BC, where housing prices put even the most modest house far out of reach for most families.

"Historically, Western cities have had a housing-to-income ratio of around three. In Vancouver in 2011, that ratio hit 10.6; the median house cost 10.6 times the median income. Only Hong Kong was less affordable, with a ratio of 12.6."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/23/canada-house-prices-vancouver-2nd-least-affordable_n_1224207.html

Sigh. Amour.

I see your point about the delivery of these lefty messages. Almost without fail, they pull at the heartstrings with moody scores and images of the helplessness of the poor, the beauty of pristine nature and the ugly rot that underlies our way of life. I certainly don't have the ability to produce anything approaching the quality of this video, flawed as it is as a tool to convert non-believers.

I see this as the real challenge moving forward: the creation of a universal message that speaks to people who are unaware or in denial about our impending collapse. Somehow, one of us with the charisma of a Lincoln or a Mandella, has to present that universal message. Present it, and for God's sake find a way to not make it sound like the whining of a "bleeding-heart liberal."

I admit that my wording made my point more of a personal attack and not what I had originally intended. I disagree that the level of hyperbole of the presenters in this piece robs the entire thing of its relevance or truth.

When you discount their points of view as mere mumblings, you yourself sound like the ignorant party. My impulse to perceived ignorance is to attack...from the safety and anonymity of my desk

I admit that my wording made my point more of a personal attack and not what I had originally intended. I disagree that the level of hyperbole of the presenters in this piece robs the entire thing of its relevance or truth.

When you discount their points of view as mere mumblings, you yourself sound like the ignorant party. My impulse to perceived ignorance is to attack...from the safety and anonymity of my desk