A few rambling thoughts to introduce my first video blog done on the new camera with thoughts on the camera to follow. For those who aren't into watching the videos this post covers the same ground. For those who don't like to read, jump straight to the video.
This video is a response to some stuff happening on YouTube right now. There were quite a few openly racist and even proudly Nazi users on YouTube who were posting some fairly hateful videos which is against YouTube policy, not to mention common human decency. One fairly prominent user started a chain of anti-racist messages that I took part in, there's about 50 videos in the chain right now. Speaking out against racism and similar cowardice is an important thing. Then I got a message (presumably because I was part of the anti-racism chain) asking me to join a campaign to have Nazis banned from YouTube.
At the risk of being unpopular and having to hand in my left-wing credentials, this is not something I feel I can be part of. My main reason is I simply don't agree with censorship - first because it usually ends up getting wrongly applied and second because I don't think it works. Things that are "banned" don't disappear, they go underground and continue to thrive. Also, since being granted honorary freedom of speech rights by Sandra I want to preserve those rights and I can't really celebrate my rights by depriving someone else of theirs. I believe the answer to "bad" free speech is more good free speech to counter it, not the suppression of speech that I disagree with.
If I was in charge... Make that when I take over the world, this won't be an issue. I won't ban anything that doesn't deserve it. In the meantime, I don't trust the sort of prick that tends to be in power. They're gonna fuck things up and extend the banning to things and people that don't deserve it. Like me. I've heard rumours that I occasionally offend people. Pathetic, weenie, loser fuckwits to be sure but they're out there.
And probably the most annoying part of banning Nazis is it gives them a false sense of credibility. They enjoy being able to say they're being oppressed. There's nothing as annoying as hateful oppressive fucks acting like they're the underdogs. Let them have their say and then point out how fucked up their attitude is. Racism is just so astoundingly stupid it's incredibly easy to refute. There are people, however few and however stupid they are, react to something being banned by thinking "Oooh, there must be something to this, 'big brother' doesn't want me to know about it."
So shine a light on these cockroaches, don't let them hide in the dark places. That's the way they like things.
So far as the new camera goes, Adam at the camera store showed his integrity by suggesting that I didn't need an expensive video camera to do the sort of things I've been doing. So I went for a better quality digital camera that does better video than my previous one. And it also hasn't had its microphone blown out by me shouting at it yet. This saved me a shitload of money and I avoided giving any money to the bastard company that fucked me around with the video camera I originally wanted.
The white balance and colours seem much more accurate in the new camera. Which isn't as good a deal as it sounds at first. Now you can see how pasty white and sickly my complexion is. I actually looked healthier when there was a bias to yellow colouring - I almost looked like I had a tan. The contrast is also better and it does a better job in low light too. So all up it's a pretty good deal. And if I decide I want to get more serious about making films in a year or so, the cameras will be cheaper and better. Sweet!
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