Text Comments Out In YouTube "National Discussion" of Health Care 287
theodp writes "While the White House has invited the nation to Join the National Online Discussion on Health Care Reform, it is currently only accepting 20-30 second YouTube video responses — text comments have been disabled. Which raises a question: Should a video camera be the price of admission for participating in an open government discussion, especially when issues may hit those with lower incomes the hardest? BTW, the response-to-date has been underwhelming — 101 video responses and counting — and is certainly a mixed-bag, including a one-finger salute, a talking butt, a woman "Showing my Apples", and other off-topic rants and unrelated videos."
It's an attempt to filter out the crazies (Score:4, Funny)
Apparently it's not working.
Re:Boo. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:thank god (Score:3, Funny)
This (and this [xckd.com])
Sometimes I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry (Score:3, Funny)
I think I'll cry.
Re:"national discussion"? (Score:0, Funny)
All I can say is beware of Health Care.
Michael Jackson was murdered by a white doctor. Same old story, as old as mankind: the white rulers can't stand to see a successful black man.
You will be missed, Michael. Great father, great musician, great man.
Re:You do not need a camera to post vids on youtub (Score:5, Funny)
You are the person who invented sending four line comments in powerpoints aren't you. Now we have your ID we are going to hunt you to the ends of the internet. You can't run and you can't hide. Our advance team is in Montréal already. They will be arriving at your home soon. Stay there so that at least you die surrounded by the things you know.
Re:Easy answer (Score:3, Funny)
This is simply not a serious barrier comparable to e.g. owning land which separates people into demographics (landowners vs renters) having legitimate and distinctly separate policy interests. Not being able to produce a video in order to comment on a stupid Obama Youtube stunt doesn't really place you into a protected minority. Youtube is a private entity, and private entities are free to discriminate. And a direct societal benefit is gained by discriminating against the wider class of people unwilling to produce a video- like myself, with better things to do. It cuts down on the number of responses from ignorant bastards like me, who would just show up and post something similar to the GP.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have worked very well.
Re:One-finger salute, talking butt, 'see my apples (Score:3, Funny)
Sitting in front of a computer in your underwear is NOT a fancy suit. Yes, it's fancier than a birthday suit, but it's still not fancy.
Re:Then write a letter (Score:5, Funny)
Dude, I'm sure he gets letters from everyone. So if you really wanna make an impression, you need to give him a present. I think a chocolate gun would be a good present and you should run up to him really fast to give it to him.. because he's so busy.
Re:Sounds bytes (Score:2, Funny)
His modus operandi became evident when he ignored the highly voted Internet town hall topic of legalizing marijuana.
Are you serious? Of course Obama didn't make weed legal even though it's quite popular in some circles. Popular opinion doesn't dictate good governance!
Re:Support Universal Single Payer Health Care!!! (Score:3, Funny)