Why? Because they recently passed a law making broadband Internet a legal right.
Of course, it’s mostly symbolic, because around 96 percent of Finnish homes already have at least 1 megabit per second broadband.
But the act of making it a right gives everyone involved a very clear mandate to get those last homes wired up, and sends a very clear message that broadband Internet has joined the family of basic services like electricity, telephone service, and running water that are considered vital for all dwellings to be even considered part of modern society, and not just a luxury for some.
I doubt a lot of countries will be following suit, though, as for most countries, a big commitment like that might get you into some serious trouble. In Canada (Happy Canada Day!), we got ourselves into major trouble in the past by promising to bring things like telephone service and electricity to all Canadian homes without quite thinking that through first. There’s some Canadian homes in some mighty remote places, places where it costs the utilities a millions dollars to reach just half a dozen houses. Whoops.
Still, I’m glad to see this story. I certainly consider the Internet a basic necessity, but then again us shut-ins are likely to do so, aren’t we?
It’s like basic cable for people on welfare. It’s not a literal necessity in terms of whether you’ll be alive tomorrow, but come on, people with a lot of time on their hands need SOMETHING to do!
Entertainment : The story of Zach Anner
Jul 17
Posted by MegaWordMan in Entertainment, Internet, Links, Video | 1 Comment
I’m fairly late to the party on this, but the story really touched me, and so feel compelled to blog about it.
The first thing you have to know is that Oprah has launched her own television channel. This was completely inevitable. Her ego continues to grow, and after she launched her own magazine, it was obvious that having her own television station was next. I figure after this, the next logical step is nationhood.
In order to attract publicity and get content for her new television network, Oprah launched a contest where people could upload videos to her YouTube channel and pitch ideas for a brand new television show starring themselves to Oprah. Whoever got the most votes would win.
Enter Zach Anner. He’s a very funny guy from Austin, Texas who has cerebral palsy (the sexiest of the palsies). Here’s his audition for the Oprah contest.
That, my friends, is the full package. Funny, sympathetic, likable, and with great screen presence. Even if I was nothing but a coldhearted television exec with dollar signs for blood and ratings as my religion, I’d want to give this guy a show. Audiences will instantly love him. But, to quote LeVar Burton, you don’t have to take my word for it.
Because shortly after uploading that audition, and with the help of a few celebrity endorsements to get the ball rolling (including John Mayer, Harry Knowles, and The Hoff himself, David Hasselhoff, his audition clip exploded all over the Internet, and he went from 3,000 votes in Oprah’s contest on the morning of Friday, June 11 to a staggering 2 million votes plus by the evening of Saturday, June 12.
That put him well in the lead by a comfortable margin. The Internet had seen Zack Anner and they loved him. There was no question about it.
But that’s where this story takes a sad turn, because somehow, mysteriously, a contestant named Doctor Phyllis got a sudden surge of 300,000 votes in a twenty minute period, and surpassed him.
A lot of people on the Internet are crying foul, and suggesting the vote was rigged. It’s probably impossible to prove whether or not this is true, but it does leave a bad taste in the mouth of a hell of a lot of people, and there’s considerable anger and people saying “Oprah Winfrey hates disabled people” all over the blogscape. So what about the competition?
Here’s some Doctor Phyllis for comparison.
I have to admit, she’s not without charm or talent. She seems downright dull and generic compared to our boy Zach, but I can understand how she might win, being, let’s face it, Mini Oprah. Her stories are pretty boring, but she has her persona polished and delivers well, and those sudden 300,000 votes could very well have come from her legitimately getting the word out about herself and mobilizing voters.
There’s certainly nothing to suggest that there’s no way she could not have gotten those votes legitimately, so throwing around accusations of vote rigging and diabled person hating is, in my opinion, quite premature and downright irresponsible.
Sure, the cooler, funnier, more awesome entry didn’t win, but that’s mainstream mediocrity for you.
In response to the rigging rumours, Zach said this : “I sincerely doubt that Oprah would do anything like that. She’s probably too busy building schools and helping children to even notice someone like me. ”
That is brilliantly passive-aggressive, don’t you think? It sounds like he’s being really awesome and noble about the whole thing, totally taking the high road, but there’s that bit about “someone like me” at the end that kind of turns the knife of guilt on Oprah. Well done.
Myself, I figure somebody will give this guy a show, or at least he’ll make the rounds of the talk shows and gain a huge profile as a comedian because of all this. So don’t worry about Zach, he’ll come out alright from this, one way or another.
Like I said before, I’d give him a show in a heartbeat. I’d say the travel show idea works. He can travel with a crew, and riff, and play up to the camera, and play to his strengths, and they can edit together his strongest material into a half hour weekly show, and I predict it could be a huge hit.
I also noticed that he talks almost exactly like Emo Phillips. Here, compare :
Now, Zach talks that way because he has cerebral palsy.
What’s your excuse, Emo?
Tags: comedy, controversy, doctor phyllis, oprah, popularity, zach anner