rigorousintuition.ca

<br>I would just like to share something I saw today on Neil Cavuto's Fox News afternoon financial show "Your World". <br><br>In introducing a segment on the passing of Rosa Parks, he said this, and I paraphrase as closely as possible:<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"If Rosa Parks was a stock, can you imagine how much she'd be worth today?!"</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br><br>If that doesn't degrade (and illuminate) on every possible level...well, I'm speechless. I had yet another email ready to be dashed off to Fox, but I doubt they give a fuck. <br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

Why would that bother you? Her own cheering section stripped away her humanity long ago. She's spent the last four decades or more serving as a symbol rather than a person. Like any symbol of a movement, she's much more valuable to her adherents dead than alive, since now she can't disagree with any views that are imputed to her. I'm guessing that over the next few years, we'll see a lot of people telling us what Rosa Parks would have thought and done in situations that she didn't live to see.<br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i></i>

in a Macintosh ad.<br><br>Pisses me off when they use dead people in ads. Disgraceful <p></p><i></i>

More seriously, did Rosa have health problems that were in the news within the last year or so? Her death is giving me major deja vu, in that I thought this was something that already happened. Anyone have any guesses what I'm thinking of -- I'm drawing blanks. <p></p><i></i>

Gouda, I don't know how you can even look at Neil Cavuto -- you get extra points for that!<br><br>But, the story is typical of our infotainment "news" establishment. I remember when Princess Diana and Mother Teresa died within one week of each other. The media talked about Diana as if she were a saint, and Mother Teresa just a footnote (with a tiny fraction of the coverage Diana got). I wasn't really surprised, but it just helped illuminate the corruption of it all. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for me. I turned away from TV news and have never looked back. The only reason I even know the name and face of Neil Cavuto is from watching the Robert Greenwald documentary "OutFoxed."<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

And as far as the dead celebrities, I don't think the families benefit. They use the image, which is either in the public domain or is copyrighted by someone else. I don't think the rights to the person figure into the equation. Which is one of the reasons, I'm sure, why they do it. If you can buy twenty seconds of a John Wayne movie from MGM or whatever, to use in your commercial, well that's a whole hell of a lot cheaper than actually getting an endorsement from a living person. <p></p><i></i>

I'm not much of a moving-images person (film or television) and it seems that's where he made his name. You're probably right about the likenesses of public figures, but if there's a case to be made that you were not a public figure (there's fairly specific legal requirements under American law for public figure status) then things get murkier as to who can do what with your image. <p></p><i></i>

about Abe Vigoda. He's an actor who was on "Barney Miller" and the joke is that everybody always thinks he's dead, when in fact he's not (or did he die? I honestly can't remember right now!).<br><br>Sorry, I work in the film business, so I might know more about this stuff than anybody really needs to. <br><br>I'm really annoyed that they're using dead people to do endorsements now. It's just plain wrong. I'm 99.9% sure that they don't have to pay the families jack sh*t, they buy the images from the copyright holder instead. Which, in the case of, say, Steve McQueen in a race car, or John Wayne in a Western, would be whatever studio owned the film. <p></p><i></i>

said on the air that the London bombings were, to him, a "buyingi opportunity". <br><br>That's all these people think about. Property. <br><br> <p></p><i></i>

<i>More seriously, did Rosa have health problems that were in the news within the last year or so? Her death is giving me major deja vu, in that I thought this was something that already happened. Anyone have any guesses what I'm thinking of -- I'm drawing blanks. </i><br><br><br>Are you thinking of this: <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4448221.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/enter...448221.stm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> ?<br><br>Her relatives sued a musical group called Outkast that used her name in a song. Their theory was that using her name without paying infringed upon their 'trademark'. Parks herself, sadly, had become senile, and was said to have no idea what was happening.<br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i></i>

it rings some bells, at least. I do wonder how my mind mutated that into an early demise for Mrs. Parks, but it fits the timeframe and seems the best candidate going. <p></p><i></i>