Once again, here are some more ideas of mine that I couldn’t quite stretch into full-length articles. Nevertheless, allowing these ideas to be forever trapped in the confines of my mind is unforgivable. After all, I must release my special sauce into the world. So sharpen your pitchforks for this latest installment of Scraps From the Cutting Room Floor.
Country Music is a Republican PsyOp
Yes, you read that right, and yes I’m serious; country music is a psychological operation, better known as Psy Op, used by the Republican Party. But first, we need to get into what a PsyOp is. A PsyOp is essentially a mission or prolonged operation that seeks to influence the opposition using unconventional means. This could be through subtly influencing the local culture, broadcasting propaganda, or any other type of mass persuasion technique. Let’s be real, PsyOps work, that’s why governments (including our own) use them.
Now, back to my main premise; country music is a PsyOp used by the Republican Party. It essentially is a tool that unifies the listener to a common core of values. It also serves as great branding; everyone from Archer to Fox has used it to market towards a Southern audience. The Southern audience part is important, because while The Deep South is a Republican stronghold that generally behaves as a unified voting bloc, it wasn’t always like that.
One recent example is the music video of Jason Aldean’s Try That In A Small Town. The imagery in the background is openly pro-militarization of the police, which is a heavily Republican stance. The Rolling Stone, which is basically just an industry think-tank masquerading as journalism, published a list of prime destinations for country music concerts. Surprise, surprise: all of these country music hotspots just happen to be in deeply Red states. Coincidence? I think not! Data-mined from Facebook has also resulted in charts that support my central claim. The Republican Party is deeply in bed with Nashville.
Remember, just because I made this up that doesn’t make it wrong…
GOAT Debates are for Losers
In the past, I’ve exposed the flaws of the GOAT debate in which Michael Jordan fans (generally speaking) refuse to take their argument to it’s logical conclusion. Putting that aside for the moment however, I’ll admit that I’ve used the term myself in other contexts. A thought hit me like a freight train the other day though as my mind wandered; GOAT debates are for losers. More specifically, they are for losers because they inherently involve living in the past.
I can hear the sound of a million pitchforks being ground into a razor-fine edge in the distance as I say that, however that does not make it false. Every time one makes an assertion of Michael Jordan this or Remember when Tom Brady did X, you are by default lost in yesteryear. Jordan and Brady are both retired now, and life has moved on. Yet, their fanbases erroneously cling to how good they used to be, at the expense of enjoying the present. Seriously, people who cannot shut the fuck up about retired athletes, long-dead presidents, exited CEO’s or formerly broadcasted TV personalities are nothing more than two-legged memberberries.
Seriously, imagine paying good money to go to a sports game and then marveling about how good {insert currently grey-haired guy} once was? This is along the same lines as the college professor/veteran/law firm partner/ fraternity member/ long-tenured congress member or any other entrenched interest quipping that [insert thing here] was way harder back when I had to do it. What typically follows is nothing more than a bunch of historical revisionism and metaphorically shaking their fists at the damn kids these days (what else is new?). Think I’m wrong? Listen to a GOAT debate involving Michael Jordan’s name and see if LeBron isn’t spoken about negatively.
Don’t live in the past, live in the future…
On Audiobooks
I’ll admit, as much as I love podcasts, I need something more substantial to satisfy my listening habit. I want to squeeze as much productivity out of my workout/commuting/cleaning time as possible (you know, because I’m a try-hard) that I have started to dip my toes into the world of audiobooks. However, audiobook listeners (and no, Mr. Holiday, audiobooks don’t count as reading) have surprisingly few options out there.
Libraries are a flawed distributor of audiobooks. While many public libraries are lending audiobooks now, their terms can be quite restrictive. For instance, while most library books are lent out for a period of three weeks at a time, audiobooks are generally lent out for only a week at a time. Often, I wasn’t able to finish the audiobook that I had borrowed during that time, and that was in the ideal circumstances; frequent exerciser, lengthy commute, listening while doing weekend chores, et cetera. Thus, the overly stingy audiobook policies of most libraries are part of the problem.
For those blissfully unaware, Thriftbooks is a website that sells physical books at deep discounts. Unlike Amazon, who prides itself on free shipping, Thriftbooks decided to take a different approach; they charge a flat fee on shipping, but they sell books at a discounted rate (sometimes for a literal penny!). On paper, it’s not a bad idea. However, as a former Thriftbooks customer I can say that their Achilles Heel is fulfillment. Thriftbooks has routinely delivered orders several weeks late, or in some cases, not at all. Thriftbooks could hypothetically get into the audiobook game and sidestep their fulfillment problem entirely. However, being the complete hacks that they are, they have decided to stay with physical books and hence leave money on the table.
The most readily available option out there is Audible, as they control roughly 2/3rds of the market. Anyone who has spent any significant length of time binging YouTube videos or crushing podcasts has had to sit through an Audible ad. Essentially, they’re a subscription service that still charges you for the books that you want to read beyond your one freebie per month. We’d be up-in-arms if Netflix charged us the price of a movie theatre ticket on top of their monthly fee every time a user watched a movie. For this reason, they are kind of the worst of both worlds, and hence will not be getting my business!
Thus, I began my search for another audiobook supplier. During my internet surfing, I stumbled upon a new website/app combination called Chirp (#NotAnAd). Chirp is similar to Thriftbooks in that they both sell titles at deep discounts, however Chirp only deals in audiobooks. Thus, fulfillment is a total non-issue for Chirp. Audiobooks purchased on their website can then be downloaded into the app and then listened to on-the-go. I haven’t been using Chirp for very long, though it is a vast improvement over Thriftbooks. However, this isn’t to say that Chirp is perfect; one cannot browse for/buy books in the app. IF Chirp wants to become an industry heavyweight and steal market share away from Amazon-owned Audible, then they need to make the in-app experience as seamless to impulse buys as possible.
To quote a wise Millennial philosopher-“Be good, or be good at it”…
Home Page 