You may not know or care that Al Gore is involved with Current TV. What is Current TV?
Current TV is an independent media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. The cable television network went on the air at midnight EDT (4:00 UTC) on the morning of August 1, 2005. A second network, operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland started its operation March 12, 2007, for Sky in the UK and Ireland and on Virgin Media in the UK. A third network, operated in Italy started its operation February 8, 2008, for SKY Italia subscribers and later for 3 subscribers. . . . Users (called VC2 Producers) contribute three-to-seven-minute “pods”, which are on a variety of subject matter. The content is filtered by registered users, on Current’s website through a voting process, but pods are ultimately approved or disapproved by Current’s on-air programming department, VC2 makes up a portion of the material aired on the channel. Users can also create Viewer Created Ad Messages, or V-CAMs and Current TV promos which are small promotions for either Current TV or the general topic of VC2. The channel has exclusive broadcast rights for all media in perpetuity on viewer-submitted pods, and in some cases outright ownership of the pod and its raw footage, although this is negotiated on a pod by pod basis. Along with a plethora of VC2 content, Current also produces a variety of programs internally . . .
This all sounds well and good. I suspect that most of its user-generated content is either boring or filled with juvenile humor, if it is anything like the stuff one sees on YouTube. I must admit to not being interested enough to go look before the picture above started spreading through the web. You see, the picture above comes from one of their programs, and is truly offensive. In a slam at birthers, a cartoon was created that supposedly shows two scientists discovering that a monkey is carrying a “stupid” virus that makes formerly intelligent people believe ridiculous things. That monkey becomes ground zero for the spread of a vicious epidemic of stupidity through the conservative news media and into many conservative people. One can see people holding one opinion and then the virus hits and they do an about face.
Now, one would think that would be an offensive enough premise. But, no, the cartoon descends from juvenile humor into the truly offensive. You see, “twilf” could simply stand for “Tweep I would like to follow.” I am sure that will be the claim that will be made by Current TV. However, there are two other meanings to that terms, and both meanings are vulgar in the extreme. If you are interested Google™ it and be prepared to be quite offended. It may very well be that those who produced this cartoon made the same mistake that the Tea Party people made when they began to talk about tea bags and used a verb version that turned out to be well-known urban slang for something else altogether. I certainly hope that it is that type of stupid mistake. However, given that this is a slam cartoon, I can easily see someone deliberately slipping in a double entendre knowing that they could claim innocence while, in actuality, putting in an extremely rude and offensive slam.
While I doubt that it will happen, I would certainly like to see Current TV remove this particular frame in the cartoon. But, if this is the level of programming that Current TV exhibits, it is not surprising that they have recently had to lay people off.
I am tired. I am tired. I am very tired of folks on either side of the fence calling each other out of their names. If I call you out of your name, I demean myself much more than I do you. By that action, I have public let the world know just what sort of human being I am. ‘Nuff said.