ku # 1159 ~ another reason to hate the technocracy (a rant)
Friday, July 27, 2012 at 12:04PM ;)
Shoreline trees ~ Bog River Flow / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenI have written, on a number of occasions, about my displeasure (to put it mildly) about the never ending upgrade treadmill which the technocracy class has us all running on, some of us at full speed. One upgrade begets another upgrade, and another, and another, ad infinitum. At times, it makes me want to yell, "stop the world, I want to get off".
The technocracy class has figured out how to use the now defunct Detroit auto industry planned obsolescence shell game to a T. Except now, the shelf life of digital technology products is measured in months.
That said written, there was a recent article in our local newspaper which really set me off. It reported that, by the Fall of 2013, movie studios will no longer be releasing movies on film. They will be released as copy protected hard drives only. A format that mandates a theater to have digital projection or, if not, drop dead. Just close the doors and send everybody home.
So what, you might be wondering? well, here's what ...
In our region there 12 small town theaters. Theaters which serve small local communities and which operate on slim margins. The $100,000USD price tag for a digital projector, + relayed costs for screen (for 3D) and sound system upgrades, are way beyond these theaters to absorb. While the theaters have banded together to find a way - primarily through NYS Community Enterprise grants - to acquire the $$$$$ to purchase the digital projectors and upgrades, there is a very real possibility that these theaters will close.
In our little village, we have a theater which was abandoned but resurrected ( a few years ago) by a local couple. It was resurrected by a lot of sweat equity by the couple and other locals and businesses. The theater has turned out to be a valuable village asset, not only for the people it serves but also by its position as key element in the Main Street revitalization. To lose it would be nearly unthinkable.
In light of this situation, a study was undertaken to determine the economic impact of these theaters upon their respective communities. The findings discovered that, collectively, the theaters represented an 8.4million dollar (per annum) contribution to the regional economy. That number reflects not only the income generated by the theaters and the salaries they pay, but also by related economic activities - eating in restaurants before or after a movie and, by their draw, additional traffic and expenditures on their respective Main Street business districts.
That's a whole lot of money to lose, not to mention the approximately 100 jobs that would disappear.
Why might this happen? The answer simple - the technocracy class doesn't give a shit. It's no skin off there collective self-centered noses, noses, I might add, which they can seem to see beyond. A great example of modern day "let them eat cake".
But there is another method to their madness. The studios have stated that they will help - whatever that means - the theaters acquire the projector / sound / screen upgrades but ... only if the theaters give the studio a say in the operation of those theaters. That sounds more than a little bit like extortion to me.
In any event, I'm hopping / spitting / sputtering mad as hell. Nut jobs think the government want to run their lives when, in fact, the technocracy class (and some their corporate brethren) is already doing a pretty fine job of it.
A pox on all them and their families.
Reader Comments (3)
I don't mind the occasional semi-abstract nature image and this one is a gem!
At one time in our not to recent past, "advances" of this type would NOT have been permitted. Allowing the market to be the entire influence of the way we do things leads to precisely this type of abuse. Should the status quo hold, another small community will need to find a different way to, well, be a community as they are shut out of a medium thanks to the antipathy of the marketplace and the lazy governmental indifference that permits it.
A long time ago, some founding father-dude figured that incorporating a national communication network was imperative to a fledgling democracy, making universal access to this network a mandatory aspect of it, regardless of the (market) costs of servicing remote areas. The historian Daniel Boorstin noted that this system (US postal system in case you haven’t already figured it out) was a key to the development of our nation.
As wing-nuts continue to highjack the country, usually invoking the founding fathers’ traditions, I wonder when they will realize (if ever) that they are being gamed by monied interests who are laughing at them much more loudly than any liberal ever would.
Same thing happening over here. While it is indeed symbolic of this day in age, I really don't care anymore. There are maybe two or three Hollywood movies a year I can stand watching, and sadly, those are the only ones that sell tickets in the small towns of Arctic Norway...