What the fuck, Marc Maron?!?!

So I just finished listening to the latest episode of WTF. For those of you not familiar with this podcast, I don't have time to keep bringing you up to speed with the goings-on of the twenty first century. Turn your computer off now.

Anyway, back to the reason I'm writing. I was particularly excited to give the newest episode a listen for a couple reasons. First, it featured someone I'm very familiar with; a person I consider to be a good friend and peer. Of course by now you may know it's Josh Blue. Josh has been a local celeb and Mile-High comedy stalwart since before he won Season Four of Last Comic Standing in 2006. Over the past few years Josh has been gracious enough to take me on the road with him several times and I feel like during those travels I've really got to know him on a personal level.

But familiarity wasn't the only reason I was excited to feed my ears with this interview. As much as I love and respect Josh as a human being and comic, I was excited to hear him placed in the hot seat and forced to face a seemingly inevitable barrage of questions aimed at the controversial choices he's made with his career and material. It would seem that in the eyes of Marc Maron, and his ever-present opinion on stand-up integrity, Josh had some long overdue explaining to do.  Last Comic Standing?! That show fucking sucks. Cerebral Palsy jokes? That's a crutch Josh seems to be content leaning on despite supposedly not needing to.
Staying in Denver? Why would he do that?

I want you to know that I don't/didn't want to see a person I care about slandered and ripped apart; I just felt that after the numerous conversations I've had with Josh over recent years, he's fully capable of justifying and making others understand the motivations and benefits of the road he's chosen to take. If anything, this could only help a skeptical comedy community embrace a talented and thoughtful individual that I feel has
been somewhat misunderstood.

So when the episode was finally posted, I added it to my already full WTF folder, dragged it to my I-Pod, and listened anxiously for the prodding to begin. A prodding that never came. Instead what I got was a Marc Maron that appeared to have gone soft. It was as if I listening to a Midwest housewife interviewing a kid with Downs Syndrome in front of her "less-worldly" friends. Did weed help his mind or where he was at in his life? Are you serious?! Why not just come out and ask him if it fucking hurts to be retarded? God damn it I'm gassy from all the placation.

How many times did Maron dig into Joe Rogan for his choice to do Fear Factor? Josh was on Last Comic Standing! Willingly! That show was a violent shit factory. If Marc had done the research he'd know that Josh won the series. He'd also know that despite what Josh claims, those were not his best sets. The network sold the story and used that to create a star. We all knew it. Why not lay into him about that? If he had, I'm sure Josh would have told him, as he's told me, that's it's afforded him a good life. That the choices he made have allowed him to do what he loves every day of his life. That when all was said and done, he didn't go to Hollywood and milk it for everything it was worth. He bought a home and a place in the mountains, started a family, secured a future for his kids, and lives in the place he loves. Shit, if I was a comic or fan who didn't know him, I'd applaud that for sure.

Forget that last point. It's obvious that was just lack of research on Marc's part. But why not press Josh for his glaring hypocrisy in wanting to be seen as equal while freely admitting to using his disability when it suits his interests? Then poke around about his time on Mind of Mencia, when Josh and Brad Williams were part of a thinly-veiled attempt by Carlos to form a freak-menagerie?

Once again I want to reiterate that I love Josh. This is a truly hardworking, extremely talented, no-bullshit dude. A guy who has given me great advice. A guy who worries about his future. A mentor I learn from. A dickface. A husband. An ego. A father. An opportunist. A fan of the craft. A friend.

I'm saying all this because I see him as an equal, if not better. And he is deserved of equal treatment. And equal treatment for the physically disabled doesn't just mean access to buildings and restaurants or free refills at the bar. It also means being judged accountable for the flaws, contradictions, oversights, and self-righteous musings we're all prone to when in the midst of trying to entertain.

I guess I just feel like that in Maron's attempt to not seem ignorant and uninformed with the things he said, he came across as ignorant and uninformed with the things he didn't.

Lame.

"Neutrality is at times a graver sin than belligerence."

If I hear another unfounded or news-fed opinion about what is happening at any of the dozens of Occupy or Tea Party protests throughout our country, I'm going to punch my son in the face.  Think before you speak.  His future mental stability now rests in your hands. 

That goes for anyone who has created an assumption or bias about the agendas and ideas of those involved knowing full well that they, as well as any person they associate with, have never set foot in an encampment or march, or had dialogue with any of the thousands directly involved.  Because when you voice your inexperienced opinion, all you do is firmly plant yourself in the pavement as another speed bump.  My face will gladly entertain your insights once I see photos of you holding a dated sign by any of the "bongo playing hippies" or "right-wing elderly nuts".  This is not about entitlement or bigotry.  This is about dialogue.  And that is happening right now.  On both sides.  This is a good thing!  Both sides can agree that banks are playing a rigged hand, at a table they've erected, in a gambling hall they operate.  So be a part of something.  Whatever that is.  Because you shouldn't be worried about tea-partiers or occupy protesters, you should be worried about why you're ineffectual.  Don't be another fucking mouthpiece of censure and trite opposition for a nihilistic media that is only concerned with ensuring sponsors don't walk away with their operating budget.

A Facebook debate spawned this and it's irritating.  The point was brought up, as it has been in the media, that a big focus of the Occupy movement is on a lack of jobs and a hatred of corporations. 

"Get a job, you fucking hippy.". 

"Don't like it, don't shop at Wal-Marts or chain stores." 

"America has plenty of money.  People are just lazy now."

I've heard this all.  Heck I've echoed some of the same things in the past.  But now I find myself wondering where this came from?  Any large protest will attract a percentage of the fringe.  Sometimes a healthy portion.  But after watching, reading, and speaking with people involved, I know what some of the main points are.

For the lower and middle class, average household incomes have been on a steady decline. The upper class is continuing to see a rise.  The question being presented is not whether the middle class is dwindling, because we know it is.  It's whether or not people should be taxed more as they get wealthier.   A large, healthy middle class is what made this country the land of dreams.  If we all worked hard, at the end of the day, everyone got to sit and enjoy a slice.  Unfortunately, human greed has changed the emphasis to where it's now less about everyone having a slice and more about everyone clawing to get their own pie(s).

We could work to protect and preserve just the upper class and scorn anyone who doesn't make it there as unmotivated whiners.  There are plenty of great countries with an emphasis on a protected upper class and large struggling lower class.  Great places like Guatemala and Peru.

If we have so much, why is it that money for publicly funded projects continue to decline year by year? Why are schools beginning to fall apart? I'll be the first to shit on entitlement but some things can't be summed up as laziness.

More money is being funneled into the top tiers. That's what Wall Street does. Corporations go public, sell stocks, and decrease pay and benefits to increase profit margins for shareholders. They move call centers and manufacturing overseas to places like China where labor is cheap.  We all know this.  The problem grows when most shares are not owned by thousands of Joe and Jane Smiths, they're bought and gathered into portfolios by hedge funds, vested, and paid out to small groups of very wealthy individuals.

Not shopping at Wal-Mart is part of a solution but it certainly doesn't stop investment bankers from gambling away pensions and 401K's. It wouldn't have stopped Citigroup or Bear Stearns from bundling toxic mortgages and assets to sell, only to then turn around and hedge their bets by purchasing insurance, knowing full well those toxic layers would most likely fail and, because of the aforementioned insurance, be more profitable in the end if they did.  That's unethical and immoral.  These are facts. That's why AIG nearly went bankrupt. That's why the global market continues to teeter on collapse. And that's why people are pissed.

No one is being held accountable. And regardless of what any of you think about "lazy" people sitting in the park, we're arguing about it right now. So it's worked. It's created dialogue. It's a string on a finger.

I wish everyone could see that people are not trying to do harm.  The ends are noble.  Whether or not you agree with the means, as harmless as they may be, what those involved are trying to accomplish is for the betterment of society. 


And I don't care about my spelling or grammar.  Eat fuck.