JackBNimble

edit - double post, my bad

What exactly was so 'scary' in his post? There is nothing whatsoever inherently bad in autocracy, it is a perfectly normal system which emerges naturally in big heterogeneous countries - otherwise they are torn apart by infighting (see e.g. ancient Rome starting from Caesar, Russia starting from Peter I etc). If you actually believe that Stalin/Kim Jong-il/ were man eating monsters loathed by their own people then you've watched too much American propaganda. I think I'd like to hold off judgment on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in...I don't think it's quite fair to condemn the whole program because of a single slip up, sir. It was such a weird, frustrating moment for me when, as someone from the U.S., the Chinese bar tender was talking circles around me, telling me China was the new "land of the free". I was about 16 or something so I could barely follow the rhetoric both sides used, but looking back at their argument it's hard for me not to feel the bartender won. In Deus Ex UNATCO, before you realize what they're really involved with/controlled by, are "super police" and as a white kid growing up in the U.S.A. I accepted that super police would be good by default. The bartender argument was interesting because it planted doubt that UNATCO, as part of the enforcement of the government the bartender was condemning, was an essentially noble organization tainted or corrupted. On another note, I noticed Ross said he's going to be reviewing the Deus Ex series. So maybe we'll be getting Human Revolution soon. I know some of my friends are replaying it on Steam in anticipation of the 3rd one. Oh god wait does he mean he's reviewing invisible war? I literally forgot it existed oh nooooo.

Actually, Vox recently an article (http://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11502464/gilens-page-oligarchy-study) critical of the study Ross used as crux of his argument about plutocracy. It's good that Vox provides criticism of the paper, but it's not like Ross, Ezra Klein, or anyone else built up the basic idea of america having oligarchical characteristics just from that one paper, here's another Vox article on the same theme http://www.vox.com/2014/4/11/5581272/doom-loop-oligarchy It's cool that the criticism of the paper is getting press and thanks for linking to it, but I don't think Ross is overreaching to suggest things like "the rich pay for lobbying that influences our laws". At the risk of coping out with "the truth is in the middle" it shouldn't be controversial to say that the U.S.A. is a democratic country that also struggles with the influence of the rich, and I'd go a step further and suggest the rich are getting richer while the rest get poorer. It's not the end of the world, but Capitalism is amoral. Not evil, I want to stress, but amoral.

Loved the video, clicked for Ross talking about a great game, got a bonus helping of ross as a Vox.com contributor. Not kidding, loved it. I'd be all for political/economical posts/podcasts you might want to make in the future. Something separated from video production so there's not as much of a barrier to create? In the same vein but even easier, toss out some website/book recommendations. Examples 911 - read The Looming Tower. Iraq Occupation - read Imperial Life in the Emerald City Is the world really going to shit - read The Better Angels of our Nature