When Tyler Grady got booted off American Idol last night, he did the thing I see so many students do these days.  He blamed someone else.  It wasn’t his fault for singing a tired song in a clichéd manner.  It wasn’t his fault that his performance lacked energy and sizzle.  It wasn’t his fault that people didn’t vote for him.

No, Tyler Grady blamed the judges for not giving him enough direction.  Please, excuse me while I choke down my urge to smack him.  Give me a freaking break.  I hear this crap from students all the time.  One student, who couldn’t figure out how to type on a word processor, actually blamed the program for putting a space between her last word and end punctuation.  I’ve heard students blame their parents, their siblings, their friends, their teachers, their neighbors, their communities, their environments, their computers, and complete strangers, but I rarely ever hear students hold themselves accountable for their own shortcomings.

I realize that this is nothing new.  People have tried to pass the buck for as long as we have had cognitive functions, but now, it feels like a pandemic with this generation.  They have been so coddled and pampered from conception on that they cannot accept that they are responsible for their own actions.  They are precious butterflies, unique as a snowflake.  They are all winners because if one feels like they’ve lost at something, their feelings may never recover.  How in the hell are these kids ever going to compete in the real world?  In evolutionary terms, they are weak prey, and the strong will devour them because we have weakened them with this precious butterfly nonsense.

God help us when these wimps are running the world.

www.thirdaxe.com

My challenge as a creative person is not whether or not I can create my novels.  Writing has always come fairly easy to me.  No, my challenge is whether or not I can find the way to make it profitable.  While the internet and new technological improvements in printing have leveled the playing field considerably, they have also created a whole new set of issues for us to deal with.

I know the answer lies in diversity.  In this multimedia, digital age, a story has to be expressed in a variety of ways, and that expression may take the forms of artwork, comic books, video games, movies, or even music.  The challenge is to develop as many of those avenues as possible while still retaining the intellectual property rights to your creation.

I’m close to having a major breakthrough.  Too many things have fallen into place in the last year and a half for me not to believe that.  Right now, my focus needs to be on cultivating one or two more avenues to get revenue flowing steadily.  A steady stream with allow for more travel, and more travel with lead to more markets opening up.

I will get there.  It’s just a matter of continuing to strike the anvil.

www.thirdaxe.com

I’ve long believed that the future of this country, if we are to thrive and prosper, will require a transformation from top-down ownership/management to more employee-based ownership.  As the system is currently structured, the few thrive while the many struggle, which is a direct opposite to the spirit of a democratic republic.

If more companies adopt the structure of employee stock option (not just limited to management), more individuals will have incentives to work hard for the good of the company.  Instead of a CEO raking in the lion-share of profits and earning 400% more than the average employee, salaries can become more equitable without losing the inherent competitive edge a capitalist system offers.  Free market competition is a superior system, but when the consumer class becomes  eroded because of stagnant wages, the system breaks down.  In employee-owned businesses, the profits of the company are distributed more evenly, thus broadening the purchasing power of the consumer class.

Here is an article that provides a real-world example:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011111010_birthdaygift18.html