Wednesday, April 4, 2012

If Rosie DiManno plans to become Christine Brennan she needs to step up her game

Christine Brennan is a joke, but at least she did most of her figure skating sob sister act under 6.0, when all you needed to do was crawl up the behind of somebody in the sport (in Christine's case, Lori Nichol) and filter everything through that point of view. When Brennan actually tried to talk skating I believe fans set her straight and in her second book she'd been chastened and cleaned up her fast and loose act a bit.

Now Rosie has a tabloid style. Her personality type trends to the acutely sensitive and suspectible to flattery, and she's hostile and vicious when criticized unless there's a lot of apologetic preliminary bowing and scraping. She writes about female figure skaters as if they're characters in a soap opera. Her prose is so scathingly purple it vibrates.

Or maybe the color is green. (I'm imitating Rosie here with that paragraph break.)

This seldom, if ever, is a valid accusation on the internet but Rosie -  u jellus?

Perhaps emboldened by SC's synchophancy, Rosie has decided she can actually make a sweeping assertion or seven about the actual skating part of figure skating, how it's judged, and how understandable or valid COP actually is. Did she actually become informed about this stuff? Are you kidding? Rosie doesn't get paid to do that. She gets paid to cut, paste and talk out her rear end.

So apparently she got emails (not from me). And responded with a buzz saw. Rosie you are going to lose this one. Go ahead, write about figure SKATERS. When you do, you are really telling the audience more about yourself and and how self-referential you can't help being, even subtextually, but hey, it gets attention. Steer clear of figure SKATING.  There actually are regular people reading who know a whole lot more and are entitled to set you straight.

57 comments:

  1. wow, one of the most cringeworthy articles EVER, righteously lecturing knowledgable people of something she knows NOTHING about...it's actually hard to get too upset because it's just so bewilderingly pathetic

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    1. Anon 7:02

      Agreed. It's hardly worth getting upset about anything Rosie writes and in this case, especially, she shows such profound ignorance. As a reader, I resent that she thinks she writes for me, a skating fan, as if I share these views. I almost think she had to produce something to justify being sent to Nice as a skating reporter. She would have better spent her time hanging out at the beach and writing about the scenery.

      Delete
  2. "They think if they win gold, they are doing everything right, even if Canadians have to use US training facilities to do this."

    LOL... I always wondered about that.

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  3. It's pretty glaring that their champions aren't trained in Canada.

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  4. does anyone know if scott smokes? someone on a Facebook page said there is a pic of him at a bar smoking ...but I've never seen it

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    1. If you go to the post here entitled "Dreams" (close enough) you'll see the picture but who knows if that portrays a habit or just a situational decision.

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  5. Uh oh. The natives are restless! Look out, Oy Canada.

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    1. Is this about those innocent, naive people over there on the V/M fan facebook page?

      Lol. "The blogger is mean. Mean I tell you! Call the police! Make them block the blog!"

      I know some time ago I read comments over there from some other people trying to educate them about the meaning of Public Domain (=Facebook) + Free Speech, but they insist on not understanding.

      They are most entertaining, though, having their little fit because the blog is soooo rude. Hahahaha.

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    2. you know, it's SO sad to see fans that are angry with this blog and with who is writing on it when the main purpose of this site is to make them know the truth. Woah, fans just get obsessed by VM like they were kind of relatives.

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    3. ^although most people don't write sexual fanfic about their relatives. That may not be fair, it maybe more LJ than FB but still. I'd say they see it more as a real-life Twilight.

      I also think the dynamic this blog sheds light on is exactly what gets them riled up. They don't want to admit they've been played for fools.

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    4. ^which is so short-sighted because when the truth is out these fans will just spin that they were the good fans who respected Scott and Tessa's decision and had no problem with what they did.

      So why they huff and puff over something like the blog which they declare is meaningless, beats me.

      Oh right, I forgot. It's because the blog is hilarious. So even that, these fans can't take responsibility for. They don't CARE, they just can't help laughing. It's involuntary.

      Their ego sufficiently covered, they then hitch an open browser window to the blog 24/7.

      I don't think it's about being played for fools - it's how so many Scott and Tessa fans want to control the narrative, especially about their private life. They've enjoyed speculating and interpreting. They get pissed when they can't bully somebody back into what they want said, the way they want it said. That's all it is. It's really not about Scott and Tessa at all. It's just fans trying to "win" over someone else.

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    5. it isnt about ego or tessa and scott at all or anything else you people have been saying, cant you read? - cuz its pretty clear what it's about from the posts in addicted... the regular fans being targets of this blog when there is no real rhyme or reason for it and the living in fear of the blogger posting they're faces and names on this site.
      I am personally terrified that is going to happen again and that's why i haven't been active in the group since the stuff was posted with Emily. i, personally, have never attacked you, as well as others, yet you come out of left field with attacks on the us, the bystanders, and you have such the upper hand cuz we dont know your identity like you know ours in addicted so its not even like we can fight back in the same manner! its all so dirty :( i would love it if i could quit trolling addicted, but until there is an "anonymous" option to post under in there, i'll have to troll it up for fear of blogger getting mad or vengeful or whatever is the issue when they deside to post peoples identities :(
      ahh to be able to hold control in your hands and say "♫♪♫♪ tra la la - I'm going to remain anonymous but will post other peoples facebook pics and names cuz i have control and can do what i want without thinking about anyone else cuz fuck everyone else they're just a title for my post if i want them to be. la dee da da ♫♪♫♪ "

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    6. Now, when you say "trolling"....

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    7. Ha! Anon 9:55, I like your post. I think you've hit the nail on the head, especially with your last sentence.

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    8. I see videos and photos reposted and linked all the time, seldom with proper credit, seldom having asked the creator or author. Why should the original creator/author mind that someone grabs something they spent time on and posts it without credit? It was on the internet! Despite this lack of courtesy, I don't see the creators/authors having a meltdown, nor do they stop creating and posting material.

      Somehow posters on certain sites want to post what they want (their opinions and comments) on a public space, comment on things said and done on other public spaces, but not have THEIR stuff re-used on another public space.

      A lot of fans chat as if they're having an exclusive personal fan discussion when it's out there for the world to see. At the same time, they make like the skaters don't read and react to it either.

      A lot of fans also want to be free to say what they want while enjoying control over what other people can say or how they can react.

      There was one instance when I published a screen cap of a fan's public wall post, and some around demanded it be removed. It's PUBLIC. It's not private. It's public domain. As a courtesy I took it down, and nearly had second thoughts, as taking it down was not an entitlement and yet the reaction to taking it down, originally, didn't seem to get that it was never a private post in the first place, and some people had trouble grasping that nobody can demand immunity from their public stuff being linked or reposted or commented upon.

      It's amazing how many people rely on bullying and peer pressure to control what other fans do and resent when those tactics are taken away.

      The stuff on this blog is discussed in contexts I don't control, and I'm not having a fit over it.

      The internet is all ABOUT that. Isn't it?

      Everything on Scott and Jessica's original facebooks was public. Fans liked to say it was private because they wanted to believe they were seeing private things, and so fans were taken for a ride.

      Tessa and Scott are public figures. This blog is about Scott and Tessa's dealings with the public and fans, especially on the web, where a lot of their lying gets done, working around the mainstream media.

      The media takes quotes that are posted on the internet all the time, and uses them. So does this blog.

      And isn't it interesting the fixation on the anonymity of the blog. Bottom line, makes it hard to bully when it's someone's blog and who they are isn't known.

      So yes, that's what it's all about - it's about people wanting to post what they want without anyone getting to react (no matter what it is they post) or comment, and they want to be able to achieve this by bullying the person who engages with them. But controlling what other people say isn't an entitlement. Some people want all the entitlements on their side and the restrictions on other people's. It's funny because they think it's "wrong" somehow that someone can say what they want on their own blog, and comment on public material, even though they do the same thing! They just don't want to have to read things they don't like.

      Here's a suggestion: stand by what you post. Who the hell cares if "the blog" refers to or reposts something someone else posted somewhere else. That's what a public forum is about. It's what the internet is about. This is one blog and one person's opinion. Anything reposted here is already public - I'm not making it public. Have some faith in the fact that other people can form their own opinions. To paraphrase William Thompson - free expression is a positive.

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    9. P.S., that said, I went over to where this "problem" was being discussed, and several people seem to feel they are of personal interest to the blog when the blog has never mentioned them or used anything they've posted.

      I'd also remind people, however, that once you YOURSELF have publicized something, Canada's "privacy laws" don't protect you. Facebook that's public = pulicizing something.

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    10. Yes, I'm pretty sure that once you post pictures of your family/boyfriend/pet/whatever on Scott's wall, you can longer cry "but it's private information!".

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    11. Blogger, it's amazing that you think others resort to bullying when frankly, this is what your blog is all about. You are equally the bully. So don't accuse others of frankly, what you do yourself. That is all.

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    12. I went over to the place where a discussion of this was taking place, and it was interesting to see people up in arms claiming they were in fear over something that had never happened to them. There was one case where someone's very public post was screen capped, and after some consideration, I removed it. Where is all this OMG my public stuff that I post on a public space including my public photos will be used on the blog? Do people feel left out or something, because it hasn't happened.

      Bullying, btw, is trying to control someone else. Not refusing to be controlled. The distinction is tough I guess.

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    13. In addition, I really hope that those who are complaining about something the blog has never done to them are themselves very careful about including other people's material in their posts. I hope they don't comment on things they read on the web, nor take the material someone else has created and include it in one of their own posts somewhere. I hope they stick strictly to what they have to say and never ever talk about what someone else has said somewhere else.

      I especially hope they've never downloaded stuff they've seen on what they think are "private" facebooks and created photo hosting accounts and shared them there, or passed them around and talked about them, sharing their take on them, or hinted about it in public in that "I'm not going to talk about it except I'm going to talk about it" way.

      Some people feel so strongly about privacy rights and how important it is that nobody should republish what they publish, I'm pretty positive they return the favor and never republish, analyze, and comment on what others have published.

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    14. The blogger's self-righteousness is amazing. You deflect in one breath, justify in the next, then decry the audacity of others doing the same thing that you are doing. The pot calling the kettle black. And by your own definition of bullying, you don't think you're attempting to control the actions of others? People are not bullying you - they are confronting you on your observations, which you brazenly put out there. I would understand that you would find that distinction hard to determine.

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    15. ^fascinating...do these people not realize that every single person on the face of the Earth who has a facebook account can see their comments anyway? So what in the world is different here? that some person has an opinion? well guess what, the case in question, PLENTY of people had opinions...there were the cheers and congratulations on fb, and the alarm and concern of a bunch of others. The whole tantrum over there is very disturbing.....I don't know much about the law regarding this topic, but enough to know that the discussion over there is nothing more than gobbledygook.

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    16. Anon two above, although you've said similar things many times a discussion with you and me is impossible because we can't agree on basic terms. Your idea of what constitutes bullying and control is, IMO, absolutely opposite of what the terms actually mean. I assume you disagree, but it's also obvious we're never going to reach common ground to even debate or argue. If you want to splatter the comments section with fulminating over the blogger's opinion of the blogger's own blog, suit yourself but it's not on topic and you can enjoy what no doubt you'll consider censorship as the comments go to spam (if they continue to fulminate pointlessly).

      Legal points, if people are bored enough to act out about how there must be a law to censor shit they don't like or disagree with (that's all it is - they don't like it. Nothing more to it.):

      I'm answerable to google. If google feels the blog violates TOS, they can take it down.

      Google is answerable to the law. If someone feels google is wrong in leaving up the blog, they can notify google or have a lawyer do it or file an action.

      In fact the only people who could do it are those who are the subject of this blog and they're a bit hamstrung by the fact that in order to file an action (if google is not going to take it down) you have to tell the truth.

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    17. im amazed its so hard for you to understand that you are a terrorist... people in that group and scott page are living in fear of you. does that make you feel good about yourself? that you're essentially no better then the terrorists who made 911 happen? do you understand that?

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    18. ^LOL oh pleeeease be sarcasm, so sad that it conceivably might not be

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    19. Anon at 2:43, are you f*cking serious? I don't always agree with what's presented here but I'm kinda glad this blog exists. Tessa and Scott have lied about things in the past, what's not to say that they aren't still lying about things now??

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    20. Anon 2:43

      BWHAHAHAHAHA

      The blogger a terrorist? People in fear of the blogger?

      LOOOOLLLL

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    21. Anon at 02:43 pm, are you serious? Last I checked, the blogger wasn't flying planes into buildings and KILLING PEOPLE. I think *you* might be a terrorist though, because you are killing me with laughter and your idiocy.

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    22. 02:43 Do you actually know what a terrorist is?

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  6. where is all this fanfic of them I hear about? I've never been able to find any...does anyone have a link? lol

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    1. It's at the Livejournal Virtue/Moir community. It's all pretty much locked so you have to be a member to view it. Some of it's pretty decent... *shrug*

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  7. "Fans liked to say it was private was private because they wanted to believe they were seeing private things"

    Well if that isn't it in a nutshell. The fans are so protective of what they think is private, just because they have been accepted as a friend on facebook, and think they are privy to something special that no one else is. But the facebook information is plotted, scripted, fictionalized.

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  8. [just because they have been accepted as a friend on facebook, and think they are privy to something special]


    Oh no! You mean those very private and intimate kissing pictures weren't really private and special? But but but....it's "kissing!" It must be real! And it's on facebook! Double real!!!

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  9. http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/04/10/19614121.html

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    1. Thanks for the article. I have no doubt that London can host a great event - however for Skate Canada to "blackmail" the city into raising local funding - it's just shows that Thompson and Wilkes have absolutely no skills or imagination to do this themselves. WTH...What does Thompson, Lavoie or Wilkes do all day? Geez...Shaking my head...

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    2. I'm really curious to see if the $38 million in spin-offs comes to fruition, and upon what that figure was based, particularly when a mall ponying up $60,000 is described as a major sponsor. I know that in New York, the mayor lobbyed for tax breaks for the film industry and the community felt they did not get the "spin-offs" the mayor had forecast. The economic benefit to the NY is coming from new filming facilities being built, not location shoots or events.

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  10. It looks like someone mentioned the blog on Scott's fan page, but all those posts were mysteriously removed! I saw something last night that said "Stop deleting my posts -- you need to do something about that site Scott", but now even that post has been removed. Did anyone else see it? I doubt Scott is the one removing the posts (if that is what happened), so I wonder who is doing it?

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    1. I'd be willing to bet that someone else is policing Scott's page but I have no doubt that Scott did know about whatever was being posted there. I do recall seeing that comment about posts being deleted before it also vanished.

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    2. VM and SC's reactions to this blog have been only about deleting posts and hiding facebook pages and twitter accounts.

      Hey guys, where is any evidence that the blogger may be lying?

      Doesn't look like they have any, except for persisting with the tried and true - profile pictures of Scott-Jessica and other various photos and reports on facebook. Since IMO the facebook stuff has been shown up as "plotted, scripted, fictionalized"...well, there goes that tactic.

      Is there anything else?

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    3. At this point, I'm not sure there is anything that they can do to convince both the people who think they're already together and those that want them to be together that they aren't madly in love.

      I don't think that Scott and co have any interest in addressing this blog. Until it can provide anything beyond vague suggestions, I suspect that's the way it'll stay.

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    4. "Until it can provide anything beyond vague suggestions"

      I think this blog has provided a whole lot more than vague suggestions regarding the main premise.

      I agree the idea of a pregnancy (and baby) is more like a suggestion, albeit not based on thin air.

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  11. "I don't think that Scott and co have any interest in addressing this blog. Until it can provide anything beyond vague suggestions, I suspect that's the way it'll stay."

    How vague is this blog, really? OC has given the timeframe they supposedly got married, as well as the time a baby was supposedly born. She has also repeatedly said they are definitely married and are parents. What is vague about "Scott and Tessa were married in Monaco in the fall of 2009"? It's either true, or it isn't. If it isn't true, why doesn't Scott just reply to the poster on his fan page and say "I know about that blog, and what it says isn't true"? He came out pretty quickly and said "Tessa Virtue doesn't have Facebook" when someone was trying to impersonate her. What OC is saying about Tessa here is far worse than what that Facebook impersonator was doing. Why doesn't he call OC out?

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    1. Geez. I didn't say that I didn't believe anything here, just that there really isn't any concrete proof. I could make up a timeline for a marriage/baby as well and have just as much evidence to back it up as has been presented here. That's what I meant by vague.

      Jess's pic is back to the solo pre-Worlds one. I guess she has to figure out which couple shot to rotate back in for WTT.

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    2. ^team's been announced and D/R will go to WTT (only one team allowed)....I wasn't sure there wouldn't be a D/R are "injured/wanting a break" so D/W could go *rolls eyes*

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    3. "I didn't say that I didn't believe anything here, just that there really isn't any concrete proof."

      And that's why if Scott said "the blog is a pack of lies, I guess that's what happens when you become famous" most fans would take his side and take the blog to be no more than the ramblings of a crazy fan. The longer it sits unaddressed, the more people will start believing it.

      It's not that hard to believe that Scott and Tessa are really nothing more than good friends. Torvill and Dean have already set the precedent of two people who look like lovers, but are only best friends. Look at this montage of T&D kisses
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJJpF6hhxIA

      If you don't know anything else about T&D, wouldn't you believe it if someone told you they were/are a couple?

      Are V/M like T/D? Or are they not? They say they aren't. OC says they are 100% lying. Why not address it head on?

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    4. I should have written "They say they aren't [a couple]."

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    5. "Why not address it head on?" "It" refers to the blog, not the relationship question, which they've answered hundreds of times already. The blog makes damaging assertions in other areas besides the relationship question anyway, such as deliberating hoaxing fans for the sheer pleasure of it.

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    6. "Torvill and Dean have already set the precedent of two people who look like lovers, but are only best friends."

      Torvill and Dean are not a parallel example. It was known that Dean had affairs, and of course he did marry - twice - women who were not Jayne while still skating with her. And Jayne also married a guy who was not Chris. Added to that, off the ice they really did relate to each other as just good friends, even brother and sister.

      Tessa and Scott's behavior off-ice, on the other hand, does not come across as platonic and never has. Scott has documented a "relationship" on facebook where half the time he looks like he wishes he were anywhere but next to that girl in the photo (Jessica) and where all their "together" time is as part of big family crowds in the parents' homes. When they're "seen" together off-ice they're practically looking past each other, and for five years + of being in this "very serious" relationship, they're not only not behaving like two people in love, they've done nothing to further the relationship in ways that would be most natural if it were real. Tessa's supposed SO's also reek of fake, and like Scott and Jessica, outside of some social media and the requisite standing or sitting next to each other for a few minutes at some public event once or twice, the "relationships" are non-existent.

      V/M are most certainly not like T/D and never have been.

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  12. So, here's a question: What can be done to push Scott and Tessa into honesty? Anything? I don't think I can take another two years of Jessica. Can someone just stalk them for a week or two and come back with answers? (Kidding.) (Not really.)

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    1. This blog has been brutal in its analyzing of every little thing V/M and Co have put out. If this has not pushed Scott and Tessa to be honest, I'm not sure anything will. And unlike the Anon who said its because there is nothing but vague suggestions, I would submit it's because they simply don't want to be bothered with honesty and all that would imply for them personally in relating to the public. They must know the game is up, but for some reason they're convinced in the strength, or rightness, of their self-made "barrier between us and the public."

      It's just too bad no one told them they're now grown-ups, and hiding behind a wall of lies is not only a bad example, it's not how mature grown-ups manage life.

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    2. "Being grown-ups"should also apply to Jessica. She could be the mature one and decide to stand on her own two feet, her public persona being about what's real in her life and not using the umbrella of "Scott Moir's girlfriend" as a crutch.

      Something tells me hell would freeze over first.

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  13. "And unlike the Anon who said its because there is nothing but vague suggestions, I would submit it's because they simply don't want to be bothered with honesty and all that would imply for them personally in relating to the public. They must know the game is up, but for some reason they're convinced in the strength, or rightness, of their self-made "barrier between us and the public." "

    That's what I think. Too much trouble. Also, look at the brains behind this operation. William Thompson is a pompous ass. He talks down to fans. To sponsors. To entire cities. He is an obnoxious tool talking to one of the few cities in Canada guaranteed to turn out for a figure skating event. His communications style is to lead by reminding whomever he's speaking to that it's a privilege we're getting his attention at all. He did it on fsu and he did it in London (stating the things SC was doing that it wasn't obligated to do.). And what kind of CEO says "Nice try"?

    Look at the ideas Team VM came up with on their own. What's wrong with Jessica holding a newborn Moir baby as a means of convincing fans she's part of the family? Where's the offense in that? What's wrong with the Dominican and Xmas spew? What's wrong with Debbi Wilkes commandeering the KC at an Olympic games to oversee a hoax/photo call? What's wrong with sticking Jessica in the front seat of a buggy and parading her down the main street of Ilderton? And then what's wrong with Scott complaining that someone set up a fake Tessa Virtue page (He said it was "so not cool"?). These people are seriously myopic.

    What's wrong with setting up fan pages and fan outreach and not doing a damn fan thing whatsoever - no Worlds, no GP, no Olympics, no celebrations, no sightseeing, no nothing - except Jessica? ("Our trip to Monaco!" and all those photos after NOTHING from either Olympics or Worlds still amazes.)

    What they think is we don't get it. We don't get it. They're special.

    What I believe is they think backwards, as usual. Having romantic, young, attractive gold medalists is new for THEM, not for the public or for any professional sports management organization. This is all about them and their opinion of themselves, and they project it onto us.

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    1. Tessa said recently she hopes she and Scott are remembered as nice people.

      What does that mean to her? Nice to whom? Most of this sham has been not nice. It's been meanspirited and disrespectful. It wears its low opinion of the public on its sleeve. It has gone out of its way to do so. Even that rigid mise en scene at Skate Canada was insulting. Scott's facebook has been contemptuous at different points, and completely unkind. I think this is unintentional on Tessa's part and on Scott's part, but it still is what it is. If they can't perceive it, how nice are they? Is nice = manners? Or behavior? Or is it a matter of being nice to the right people but other people don't count, or barely count as people?

      Delete
    2. Tessa Virtue: "I always say at the end of the day I'd rather people say that we were nice people instead of great skaters."

      She said that after she participated in this interview:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP-h4cgXDQc

      Newsflash, Tessa: When someone refers to a person's best friends with the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt," a nice person wouldn't suppress a laugh, smile, and then JUST SIT THERE SILENTLY. A nice person would would SPEAK UP and say that while she is confident that if she skates her best, she has a good chance of winning, she could never think of her best friends with contempt. After all, these are two people who cried with happiness for her when she beat them at the Olympic Games. What definition of "nice" allows you to think of these people "with contempt," Tessa?

      Or course, a nice person wouldn't laugh in response to that phrase either, but I don't think for a second that Scott Moir would rather be remembered as a nice person than a great skater. He's a competitor, and he's proud of it. There's nothing wrong with that.

      There's a whole lot wrong with a woman lives in a delusional bubble and believes she's a nice person when her actions indicate the complete opposite. What makes you think you will be remembered as a nice person, Tessa? You can't even spare the time during a medal ceremony to clap for your fellow medalists. Let's not even get into what's covered in this blog.

      It's easy to remember you as a great skater, Tessa. But nice person? Good luck with that.

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    3. I do think that at times Tessa's brain is so busy churning out sound bites that she doesn't really hear what someone has said. So if the interviewer chuckles, she'll chuckle. It's so mechanical and so things like you describe occur. I don't think she was laughing with contempt, just aping the tone. They really would do better with authenticity - they have churned out so much weird by not really listening. All they do is wait for the question to end so they can put out a canned response.

      The nice thing. I think everyone concerned with this situation often confuses manners with nice. I'm not drawing a parallel, but some awful people have had wonderful manners and been quite considerate on a micro level (home life, etc.) while not so much on a macro level. At the same time, some cranky, brusque types have been GOOD people.

      Good is not the same as nice. I think nice is manners. I think good is character. Good isn't situational. There's a set of values and you live by them. It's not I don't care, I treat the people who count really well, but this entire class of other people I exploit, manipulate, set up and work over - it's okay cause they're mostly anonymous. That's not good.

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    4. "Good is not the same as nice. I think nice is manners. I think good is character. Good isn't situational. There's a set of values and you live by them."

      So could we call Oprah and Elvis "good" and "nice" for the sake of a base line? :P

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