introspective snapshots - Latest Comments in My Rant on Loren Feldman

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

PageCovery — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:57:34 -0000

Real nice video move. Well, freedom of speech has its limit to certain extent too. Picking on a race of people isn't freedom of speech, that is troublemaking.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Nathan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:50:52 -0000

Yeah, without a link, I can't really evaluate the "facts," other than this: Feldman had a deal with Verizon; some stuff surfaced and caused a ruckus; Verizon pulled out. You seem to be saying that allowing this to happen means that we'll never have edgy comedy again. I don't buy it.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

PurpleCar — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:29:46 -0000

I'm happy for this to come to light (a year later!) because I'm discovering more black voices on the net. And if you think that's 'racist' of me, you don't understand the role power has in any culture.

The other day on Plurk Scoble wondered why there seemed to be more women on Plurk than Twitter. What ensued were endless sexist jokes that offended and disgusted me. Maybe you white guys out there can imagine what that feels like, being reduced to someone who makes tech decisions based on colors or something inane like that.

There are things that I say to my friends of all races and they say to me that would make any stranger's skin crawl, but not one of us would say them 'out loud.' Perhaps Loren thought he was pushing the envelope, I don't know. Joking with friends at home is fine, but there are some struggles that just aren't over, and no public jokes about them are acceptable.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:25:35 -0000

It's definitely a fine line. While I believe most folks have good intentions, sometimes they fail to consider how things come across to other people -- they end up setting themselves up.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

leigh — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:08:27 -0000

I don't think Kawasaki's intent was to slander, but i thought his comment was stupid. Sure if he's at a dinner party telling a story that's one thing, but context is everything and when one is a public figure, rightly or wrongly, you have to be more cautious about what and how you say something.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:47:57 -0000

Vince, oh I know.

I only found out about these videos a few weeks ago. It's shocking that the recognition has come this late but it's better late than never.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Vince DeGeorge — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:43:18 -0000

The whole thing was embarrassing (and sickening) to watch. If he truly has that perception of the black community, then I feel sorry for his ignorance. He must live a miserable life being so detached from reality.

I'm also glad he was exposed for who he really is and Corvida took the stand she did, opening eyes and ears. The biggest shock to me through all this has been the fact that only recently was there a big ruckus about this guy and puppets. Puppets. THIS was out there, but people focused on puppets. Crazy.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:18:43 -0000

Great quote. Thanks for commenting

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

wvrearvumirr — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:16:54 -0000

Personally, I couldn't watch the video all the way through. In my lifetime I have found that anyone that needs to drop that many "F" bombs to get their thoughts across....doesn't have a thought worth projecting.

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

Stay true to yourself!

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

DJ Wait — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:23:36 -0000

Mark, I don't see how there can be any "facts" beyond the video itself. It's clearly in poor taste. The idea that it was meant to highlight an issue with the lack of black tech bloggers is ludicrous. Don't defend it. Loren does some funny stuff. This crossed the line. There's no excuse and no defense for it. I think the biggest mistake here is that he never sincerely apologized. If you don't own your mistake then no one can forgive you.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

gregorylent — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:13:56 -0000

any talk about race from anyone is racism

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:51:10 -0000

Sorry if that`s how it came across -- wasn`t my intention.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:47:22 -0000

It didn't sound like Kawasaki was trying to mock or slander Jews, to me. Thanks for verifying this Dave.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:44:57 -0000

You also clearly contradicted those statements elsewhere in the post. I apologize for my confusion.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Rahsheen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:34:38 -0000

The difference is, those guys are actually funny.

Everyone keeps complaining about how this moron is being censored. He's not being censored. He can go peddle his crap anywhere he wants. Verizon just wanted no parts of the guy. You can't blame them. It's strictly business.

This is one company, with one service, who decides they don't want to carry the guy being called racist by a lot of folks.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:31:18 -0000

I stated clearly that:

a) I wasn't calling him a racist
b) I never said he had NO talent (just that his crappy work didn't involve using talent)

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:28:37 -0000

It's not, if you actually read up on the facts of the case. That's why it's looking like a stretch to you, most likely.

Everyone is responding off emotion with this one. I've hashed out the facts a million places as this conversation has migrated across the blogosphere, so I won't do it again here.

Bottom line is that, yeah, you're paraphrasing what I said a bit, but is essentially right.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

dave — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:27:23 -0000

Kawasaki has told me the story of how he learned how to sell in the diamond business in L.A. and he says it with the greatest of respect. He also sprinkles Yiddish through his conversation, and he gets it right. He's does a pretty good impersonation of a Jew, for a goy.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:25:52 -0000

Everything you just said here in that comment is true. It doesn't prove anything I just said wrong.

Just because you don't get the larger point doesn't make Loren a racist. It means he didn't do a good job making his point. It also doesn't mean he's talentless, either. Many people find him funny for things other than just this one video (in fact, most people find him funny for things other than that one video).

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Nathan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:24:40 -0000

The logic here seems to be -- keep Feldman off V-CAST, and you're preemptively censoring the next Carlin? Seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:23:29 -0000

He's lucky I wasn't on video and as upset as he was. It wouldn't have been pretty :P

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:22:08 -0000

Thanks Corvida. Agreed.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Shey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:21:34 -0000

I don't buy that. I know a lot of people who are gut-wrenchingly funny and not the least bit offensive or racist.

I'd think it would be respectable to aspire to make a career out of something positive.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:16:28 -0000

"I’ll tell you why: there’s no talent in being offensive."

Two words: George Carlin.
Two more: Howard Stern.
Two more: Chris Rock.
Two more: Bill Maher.

You start applying social pressure to punish folks simply for being offensive, and you'll end up with a bland and sparse culture.

Re: My Rant on Loren Feldman

Corvida Raven — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:10:31 -0000

lol the video clip at the end was a slick move. I don't understand how any can come to his defense and that freedom of speech move seems like pure bs to me.