The whole TED Talk business is mildly amusing to me. Generally speaking, I love the idea. Give a smart guy a half hour to talk about a subject of his choice and you have a great hour of TV/Interwebs, assuming the usual assholes pack it with commercials. I’m not sure I’d travel to see it, but watch it on-line, if it is someone I find interesting.

But, they are not doing these things for plebeian slobs like me. These things are aimed at upper middle-class white people looking for grace. That’s what these things are – special services for the faithful to get some inspiration and some absolution.

A good example of this is one I found in my twitter feed for some reason. Apparently, someone hates me.

[ted id=2059]

The talk itself is stunningly awful, but the comments are hilarious.

Totally inspiring – the cadences swelling and receeding just adding to a magical presentation

Jane Thurnell-Read, the womyn who posted that is easily inspired.

Amazing, beautiful and powerful. Also a good reminder to listen to those silences each and every day. Because when there is silence, it not consent, it is not agreement, and often it hides a sadness or fear, or as Clint indicated shame. And nothing addresses these better than listening. And speaking up. I am so inspired by this talk. Thank you.

andrea eichhorn, the womyn who posted that nonsense must have taken a hit of acid before watching the video.

Thank You Clint. Your passion and common sense leap from your words and the screen. We have two ears and one mouth that we mostly use in the wrong proportions. Silence is all powerful, it fills us with awe on a mountainside or in a forest, but is awkward and feared when we are not alone. Listen for it. Embrace it. It gives us time to think, order our thoughts, remember that germ of an idea that needs time to grow and allow you to see that stranger or friend that needs your kindness.

Huw Edwards, the dick who posted that gem, must be one of those guys who plays the emotionally available guy shtick. His pic says he’s a bit long in the tooth for that bit. At 20 it goes over well with the hippie girl with the nice rack. At 50 you sound like, well this guy:

 I watched this earlier and then today I passed a homeless guy. I live in the centre of town and someone threw some food in a bin and he tried to get it out. He couldn’t because the bins only have small holes at the top, I guess to stop urban foxes pulling everything out. So he grabbed a stick and started trying to poke it in the bin to get the food, he sounded exasperated that it went in the bin when he could have had it. He was sitting right there outside the local convenience store with a little paper cup with a couple of coins in it, but I guess the guy never thought to give him his half eaten food.

I thought about what you had said and walked up to the guy and said “My name is Robert, what is yours?” He responded “Randal.” I immediately thought, what high hopes his parents must have had for him as this is quite a posh name in Scotland. But what I said to him was “can I get you sandwich from the shop?” he said “yes.” So I said “what kind would you like Randal?” he responded “ham and cheese.” So I got him the sandwich, it left me just enough to get some milk for the morning and so I skipped getting some sweets to watch a movie with at home, my usual weekend treat. I gave him the ham and cheese and shook his hand before I left and said “look after yourself Randel.” He smiled and said thank you and I left feeling a good deal better than I have in several days.

I’ve never acknowledged a homeless man by name before. I’ve given money, food or a bottle of water, but I’ve never asked their name.

I’m alone and have no one to speak to, but at least I have a roof over my head. No one ever asks my name anymore these days either, and there was a time I performed for hundreds of people every night. But, now I know no one, and so I know what it is to slowly become invisible to others.

As I walked home I remembered a poster I once saw for the homeless, that had a play on words that said – we don’t just want your change, what we want is real change.

That comment is the most liked comment on the post. It’s what I mean by this crap being a religious experience for old white people. He watched the video, had his religious experience and then went out like an apostle to minister to a bum he spotted on the way home. Then he posted it on the site so his co-religionists could praise him. The only thing missing is  chorus of “amens” from the congregation.

Here’s a link to Clint Smith. The first thing that should jump out to you is he is working on a PhD in education at Harvard. This is how the Ivy leagues makes their grad schools balance out the Chinese and Jewish guys filling up the STEM fields. They created doctoral programs in nonsense fields like education and womyn’s studies.

You’ll also note that he is a “slam poet.” That’s where exhibitionists scream at the audience in gibberish. In another era, these guys would be wearing a beret, playing folk guitar poorly while the audience smoked reefer. Now, it is old white women with long dangle earrings drinking twenty dollar chai tea while some idiot screams doggerel at them. If you think there’s nothing worse than free verse, go to a poetry slam sober. In the old days a guy could at least get laid at something like this.