---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 23:33:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: jon <jonATscribble.com>
Subject: mtv vs napster
while taking a break from cspan coverage of 5-minute-chunks of
the world leaders talking at the un (!), megan and i paused for
a non-musical (thankfully) moment on mtv music awards.
this was a "skit" like they do, i guess. one of the wayan brothers
acting like some college kid downloading stuff on napster. suddenly,
lars ulrich(?) from metallica walks in and the "kid" starts acting
all star-struck: "metallica is so cool!", etc.
lars starts ranting about napster, then he and presumably other
band members begin sticking napster logo stickers on everything
in the kids dorm room and trashing it, smashing everything.
it ends with the kids girlfriend coming in and lars slapping a
napster sticker on her butt as he proclaims, in a patronizing
parental tone: "sure...sharing is cool ... when its not your stuff."
megan and i were floored. the "humor" in the skit was muted at best.
it was clearly just a message. i guess i would have put money on
where mtv stood on this, but this was just ridiculous. not to mention
the fact that if you stripped away the napster context, you are left
with the wonderful message of "dont share" among others, sure, out of
context, but pretty lame nonetheless.
there are so many levels on which this "metaphor" fails completely,
not to mention, of course, the underlying foundation that i (and, i
am guessing, most of you) disagree with in the first place.
it was just plain disturbing. that was like 2 hrs ago, and i was
stewing so much i had to send this email.
the lawyers and "intellectual property" battles rage on, i guess.
i wonder how "mtv viewers" felt about it? what a crock.
it somehow fit nicely into the un talks about "fixing" the worlds
hunger, diseases, poverty -- from a mix of people who both meant it
and who were just puffing hot air.
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