EDITED: I’m self-deporting my own post. If you didn’t see it, don’t worry — you didn’t miss anything interesting or any juicy Firebagger-on-Obot combat. It was just a dumb rant about targeted advertising that vomited up for my consideration a TLC show about an unfortunate dude with an awful medical problem.
Being the cynical, self-absorbed jerk that I am, I focused on the prurient shit and passed right over the fact that TLC is exploiting — and I am helping them exploit — someone who may very well have asked to be in a freak show, but only because that’s the only way he could get the help he needs with this country’s cruel and fucked-up healthcare system.
A couple of comments made me think about this in a new way, and I appreciate that. I apologize for subjecting earlier viewers to the original post. Please transfer the “assholes” and “general stupidity” tags from the targeted online marketing team to the author. Thanks.
flukebucket
Well, if nothing else that guy has balls.
Violet
It’s the apostrophe that really makes the ad work.
David in NY
And you’re informing us of this why?
Bill in Section 147
TLC Unveil is the author Betty. Catch up with it.
Violet
It sounds like this is a real thing. That poor man.
WereBear
It is The Learning Channel.
For all we know it is a precautionary tale against persisting with Nunchuk lessons when one has no aptitude.
mistermix
You must be listening to a lot of AC/DC.
The Thin Black Duke
This is not the first thing I needed to see in the a.m. before coffee.
dan
This is nuts.
scav
Well, that’s one way of helping me go cold turkey on the site for a few hours. The intertubes increasingly provide their own antabuse.
dexwood
Damn, I was having such a good morning before seeing, and thinking about, this post.
Amir Khalid
@flukebucket:
That unfortunate man needs treatment so he can be up and about and getting on with his life, not to be gawked at. There is nothing that being exhibited as a freak on television can do for him. Pandering to voyeurs is the worst thing you could do to a person in his situation. What has become of The Learning Channel?
WereBear
@Amir Khalid: Except… in America, it might be the only way he could afford treatment.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Violet: It is the real thing. The article I read noted that a couple of surgeons declined to treat, one telling him he wouldn’t survive and another suggesting castration was the only option. Not a clue how I got to the article when it was published, but I did. CNN snippet below:
@Amir Khalid: I agree that freak shows are heinous (who doesn’t?), though it does appear that media publicity was helpful in this instance.
MattF
They put your browsing history into their algorithm, and the algorithm chokes, says (in a teeny ‘fly’ voice) ‘help me’. That’s a good thing, actually.
flukebucket
I wouldn’t think that castration would be particularly difficult. What has been the hold up?
WereBear
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Sadly, exactly as I surmised. I even (mentally) got the diagnosis right.
Any kind of lymphedema is tough to treat.
Matt McIrvin
I am getting a huge number of ads for the cell phone I just bought. Yes, you figured out that I wanted one of those, because I already bought one!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Ted Cruz is now a RINO?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/truly-in-lord-of-the-flies-territory
Holy fuck is the House GOP nuts.
MattF
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I think this is the House GOP’s way of inviting Cruz to perform an unnatural act on a nearby orifice.
shortstop
@Violet: (snerking happily)
shortstop
@Amir Khalid:
It stopped being a publicly-funded educational channel and is now subject to the glories of the free market.
Tone in DC
I hope that dude gets the surgery. That is one hell of a way to have to be.
The Learning Channel has been shitty for a while now. As have so many other channels that used to be decent. I’m not surprised, I’m just disappointed.
sparrow
@Amir Khalid: free market programming for over 30 years… but that didn’t stop the washington post from publishing a silly op-ed saying that the government sucks because of TLC. yeah.
Morbo
It looks like the Syrian town of Azaaz near the Turkish border started the day flying Al Qaeda’s flag. And it sounds like negotiations between AQ and the FSA have broken down meaning that fighting has resumed.
Citizen_X
HAWT.
gbear
@Matt McIrvin: Same thing happens at Amazon. You buy a greatest hits album by an established artist and suddenly 27 similar greatest hits CDs by the same artist show up on your recommended list. Same thing happens if you buy an album that has more than one version. You buy one – the others show up. Annoying
As for the actual thread topic: I need brain bleach. Badly.
pharniel
Best (and by ‘Best’ I mean ‘most morally repugnant’) targeted ad fail was when I was reading an article on various tribal bullshit in regards to sexual assault in India and how the police were called in and Were Not Amused.
Then I notice that the banner adds are for ‘young desperate Asian girls’ and ‘Indian hotties’
Displeased I am internet. Displeased indeed.
shortstop
@pharniel: Ugh.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
I’m trying to figure out how the hell I’ve started getting Christian Singles ads everywhere.
I figure it’s either the algorithms choking on my browsing history (with tasty oddities added for their delectation) or a huge “we’ll be the default when the algorithm fails” buy.
ericblair
@Tone in DC:
It’s network decay, a well-understood but nasty phenomenon. Warning, tvtropes link, so don’t follow it if you’ve got anything else to do today.
Betty Cracker
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Me too, and I’m neither Christian nor single.
john b
i may be remembering this wrong, but i swear i heard about this somewhere else, that it was at least partially produced by the BBC and that the american version is far more censored than the BBC version. so much for the “TLC is so shitty now” aspect.
TooManyJens
Relevant to a conversation we had the other day about whether Pope Francis would finally change the Catholic Church’s stance against contraception: No, but he would really like to talk about other things for a change.
kbuttle
I didn’t see the original post, but you’re a classy lady, Betty Cracker. So much of what’s ducked up about the discourse in this country is that once people are challenged on something, they dig their heals in and go instantly defensive even to the extent of doubling down on their original point. May have felt easy, but taking a breath, reconsidering your initial reaction, and falling on your sword for it is so. fucking. rare. Good on you.
kbuttle
Love that auto-correct caught me on past tense but not adjective.
Betty Cracker
@TooManyJens: Damn. I loathe the Catholic Church for many reasons, but I am reluctantly becoming a huge fan of this pope. Love the pontiff, hate the church?
@kbuttle: Thank you!
gbear
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
I’m getting the christian singles ads everywhere too. I’m assuming that it’s because I added Joe. My. God. (a mostly GLBT news site) to my favorites and check in there every day. You might be getting them because of your handle…
Mnemosyne
I have a lunch today with someone in a department I desperately want to work for (the department, not necessarily the person — that’s one of the reasons I’m having lunch with him, to see if we could work together). My bosses are fully supportive of this but I really suck at networking, so I’m nervous as hell.
The Other Bob
Turns out the guy with the huge junk is NOT a gun owner.
TooManyJens
@Mnemosyne: Networking sucks. Good luck!
Jane2
@Betty Cracker: As a Catholic by birth (you can leave it, but it never leaves you), and an historian specializing in Catholic social action, I too loathe the Vatican machine, and think this Pope slipped under their radar somehow and either is actually a positive force, or the anti-Christ. I’m hoping for the former.
And good on you for deep-sixing something…hard to do.
Seanly
It’s criminal that the richest f’ing country in the history of the world can’t make sure that people get the medical treatment that they need.
Another problem for that unfortunate man is that even if he has his underlying medical issue resolved, most insurance wouldn’t then cover the plastic surgery to remove the stretched out skin (though maybe the cost estimates of hundreds of thousands of $$$ include that).
RE: TLC – I stopped watching when they went from the silly home improvement shows to the shows celebrating all those over-breeding and multiple wife a-holes. Speaking of over-breeders, WTF is wrong with the Duggars – there’s now these creepy stories them about controlling their 20-yr old daughter’s dating like it’s 1542?
The Other Bob
@Seanly:
Agreed. Although I might tune back in when the guy with the four wives finally gives it up and admits he’s gay.
PurpleGirl
Missed the original post but figured out from the comments what it was about. TLC’s corporate owner — Discover, Inc IIIRC) — also has Discovery Fit and Health. They showed either the show in question or a similar one recently. I’ve seen a man with this same problem on one of the buses I take. I feel so sorry for him and the fact that most doctors are not inclined to help him.
Betty Cracker
@Seanly: Speaking of over-breeders…
ranchandsyrup
I guess it is true. Nothing good happens when you wear a hoodie.
Jennifer
I figured from the edited post that the original was about the 132-lb scrotum. That show premiered 2 or 3 weeks ago.
And FYI, 132lb scrotum has its own twitter hashtag.
johnny aquitard
Thought that pic was a gag. Guy’s real? Jeez. That poor man.
That said and despite genuine sympathy, I just couldn’t help thinking of that dude in Ow My Balls.
That may make me a bad person but I am resigned to it.