An Open Letter

EDIT:

The videos are back. For now!

If they disappear again, my chagrin is back on.

Sincerely,

Comrade Kevin

_______________________


Dear YouTube Fascists/Totalitarians,

I'm not so much annoyed that you removed the three videos I had put up on my website that spread LAUGHTER and HUMOR into an increasingly cynical world.

Oh no. Not at all.

Perhaps I'm just fuming at the premise behind your actions. The theory that somehow media is meant to be controlled, closely regulated, and if need be, removed by the wealthy and the powerful who seek to make the most profit possible. Maybe I'm just, I don't know, ODD, but I would think a video that promotes a show which up until now did not have mass popular appeal would effectively promote and extend interest in said show rather than restricting their access to only those capable of affording expanded cable. Hell, if enough people LIKED your show, someone would realize that the money to be made by catering to the desires of increased viewers would vastly outstrip the desire to force them to pay additional money to subscribe to your channel.

You see, it just doesn't make good business sense to do what you did, YouTube. You may think it does, but it really doesn't. The premise behind capitalism is that expanding markets and not restricting access to a favored few is the key to success. Perhaps you fail to recognize that practices like yours inevitably lead to lowered profits, decreased audiences, and financial ruin. What you're doing has been tried before and it was called NAZISM and STALINISM. I need also remind you that both FAILED.

But that's not how you think. People aren't paying for this so obviously they are getting entertained for free. You're not making money in the short term, you say. You're not getting people to buy the inevitable $50 box set of the first season, you say. They're not agreeing to pay for expanded cable, you say. The masses must conform, you say! It's all about the bottom line, you say.

God forbid you take into account the larger picture.