Follow-Up

First off, happy Kanye West Day to all my peeps.

Thanks for everyone who took the time to read my last blog and respond. I'm glad to hear what other people think of the subjects I write about. Even if you disagree with me (or maybe more so if you do). I don't think any of you are retards or anything.

As far as a follow up goes, I guess one thing I can start out by saying is that I'm sorry if the last entry came off as me knocking our country, our system of democracy, or capitalism. That was not my intention at all and I will try to explain myself better later on in this entry.

I will back away slightly from what I said about the DVD prices story (by the way if anyone is interested, here is a link to the original story I read: Warner to sell cut-rate DVD's in China). To say that we should base prices for products here on what is being charged in other places of the world was shortsighted I'll admit, and specifically I'd like to take back what I said about 99/100 people agreeing with me on that argument. I didn't think that part through very thoroughly but you guys brought up good points.

However, I still don't think the huge discrepancy in prices between China and the United States for DVDs is fully justified. I may have understated the standard of living factor, but again, I don't think we can write off a 600-700% price difference entirely to standard of living. Currency exchange rates may not be perfect in accounting for how a product's value varies from one place to another, but they are still generally determined by the open market and aren't completely meaningless (it so happens that China is one of those countries that doesn't allow its Yuan to be traded, but I'm going to try and keep this as simple as possible so I'll gloss over that fact for now).

Looking at it another way, consider that a Big Mac will cost you the equivalent of $1.25 in China, compared to about $2 (regular price) here. It's cheaper, but only 30-40% so. What I believe separates the McDonald's Big Mac from the Warner Bros. DVD is the fact that the price of food is much more heavily influenced by competition and the free market, whereas for a given DVD, Warner Bros. enjoys a monopoly. As we all know, a monopoly works against capitalism and severely limits the "invisible hand" of supply vs. demand.

I know what you're thinking: DVD's are intellectual property and we must protect their rights for creativity and innovation to prosper. A true statement, one that I won't argue, but it only justifies the story to some extent.

Here's a fact: 98% of the US movie industry is controlled by 8 major studios. 80% is controlled by 5 studios. I mentioned the word monopoly earlier, but more accurately, Hollywood is controlled by an oligopoly. When such a large industry can be controlled by only a handful of entities, Joe Schmo Moviewatcher loses. There's no way around it.

For starters, even though these giant corporations are in competition against each other, there are also times when they can get together behind the scenes and agree to keep prices inflated well beyond their true market value. Don't tell me that this kind of thing doesn't happen, because it has happened in the past and I strongly believe that it still happens today to at least some extent. We saw it in the music industry only a few years back, when it took a class action lawsuit to bring the story to everyone's attention.

High prices aren't the only thing that we have to worry about, in regards oligopolies. You can see in the case of today's box office lineup, where the vast majority of movies being released are these big-budget blockbusters. While I enjoy these mindless action movies or stupid formulaic comedies as much as the next guy, the fact is that many independent films that have more artistic merit and may be more deserving to be seen end up being elbowed out of the theaters before they even have a chance to be seen by the mass audiences. Occasionally you will see one of these smaller films succeed, but they are much more the exception than the rule. This by the way is one thing I alluded to in the last blog entry, only I was talking about music instead of movies.

Anyways, my original intent was not to debate the specific issue of DVD prices, though admittedly that is what started this discussion. My broader goal was to point out that I think a lot of things are going on that we often accept blindly as fact without thinking about it.

As far as democracy, freedom, and free-market capitalism goes, here is what I have to say. It may not have been clear from the way I organized the last blog, but I do greatly appreciate that our political and economic system have given me so many things in life that others don't have. I'll restate a paragraph here that may have been overlooked from my original entry, one which was buried amidst my negativity but still says things that I fully believe in:

"On the whole, it's hard to argue with [our political and economic system]. Compared to pretty much any other country in the world today (or in the history of mankind, for that matter), we enjoy a quality of life that is far above that of anybody else."

It is absolutely not a case of me taking our freedoms for granted; in fact, I would argue to the opposite of that statement. I value our freedom so much that I react extra sensitively when I believe my rights are being infringed upon in any way. I value capitalism so much that if I see that a monopoly or oligopoly is suffocating or nullifying the free market, flashing lights and loud alarms immediately go off in my head. I value democracy so much that when forces act to limit its efficacy, I feel the need to at least point it out.

By no means am I saying that democracy is bad, that capitalism is bad. I'm saying is that if we aren't careful, we may be letting a lot of things slip away from our control, and that's obviously not a good thing. I'm saying that if we don't pay attention, democracy and capitalism are fully capable of failing before we know it.

I know there is a point when maybe we should be satisfied with our current situation and just shut up. But the fact that we already have a better life that others do/did should not preclude us from pushing for more, asking for improvement. In the 1950's and 60's, blacks enjoyed a much better life than their ancestors did during the era of slavery. Does that mean it was wrong for Martin Luther King to march against segregation? And now that we have come a long way since those days, if a black employee notices today that he is being passed over for promotions because of his skin color, would we blame him for speaking out because of this?

Of course, the hard part is figuring out exactly what I, as an individual, can do about these things I'm talking about. As you may have figured by now, I don't have the answers or the universal solution to all the problems I observe. If you're looking for a panacea to all the world's ills here at http://dudo509.blogspot.com, I'm sorry to say you're in the wrong place.

It's hard sometimes, for one person to believe that he/she has the power to make a significant impact on the world. Though we've seen plenty of examples of individuals in history who have done exactly that, I have to admit that I feel relatively helpless many times when dealing with things I perceive to be injustices.

It would be great if I could drop everything I had in my life, plunge myself in debt to pursue a law degree, and sue these large corporations for abusing their power in the industry with unfair business practices. Or if I could dedicate my life to researching renewable energy sources as a replacement for fossil fuels. Maybe I could even work my way up as a local congressman up to the federal government level and make myself be heard on a much larger scale. But realistically, I just don't see any of those things happening in my life.

One little thing I did mention, though, is for each of us to stay informed and cognizant of what is going on around us. Now, awareness alone may not solve all of the world's problems, but in my opinion it's at least an important starting point. And this is partly what motivated me to write that entry to begin with, because I felt it might be worthwhile to share some of my observations with people reading my blog.

Beyond that, I guess I'm still figuring out exactly what I can do about the things I discussed. It's an ongoing effort but I do honestly and sincerely hope that someday I will, in fact, be able to make some difference in this world of ours.

Again, thanks for everyone who read through and/or participated in this discussion. If anyone has more thoughts to add, definitely feel free. I'll try to respond as much as I can, but can't guarantee that I'll have a whole lot of time to do so.

*****

Movie recommendation - City of God

I watched this movie over the weekend and I thought it was exceptional. It's a foreign film, subtitled, so keep that in mind. The plot was based on a real story, set in the ghettos of Brazil during the 60's-70's. Very intense movie, realistic acting, and cool cinematography. One of the best films I have seen in a long time. It took me and Olivia months before we found a copy available at Blockbuster for rental, though, that's the only bad thing I can think of.