Yeah, my takeaway from this is also: President McKinley -- Turning Point.  They just don't make presidents like President McKinley anymore...

I'm sorry that I cannot provide all the details you'd like about his company.  The microfranchise program is but one aspect of their financial services. 

Very astute.

Ugh.  That "wealth inequality" video just popped up in my Newsfeed again, even after I posted my article.

Maybe I should have made mine a cartoon.

Oh, that's nice of you to say.  Thanks for reading!

I think you're onto something.  It's a shocking visual, but a total non sequitur.  Most of the people upset by it aren't actually upset by "wealth inequality."

Exactly!  I'm not sure people get that.  When it comes to investing, why should we expect a large part of the population to be involved in that in the first place?

You raise a good point.  And I like the way you refer to it as a "smokescreen."  The way wealth and power are being knotted together is problematic.

Thank you for joining, though!

People don't go to a bar to be educated.  

I ended up accepting either Soviet Union or Russia -- didn't want to be a stickler.  For those who asked, I host at the Argonaut on H Street in NE on Wednesday nights.  It's a particularly literate crowd that doesn't mind categories like "Communist Countries."  Yet there are also fun rounds.  This week I did "Sports Movies You Could Comfortably Watch With A Child Or Parent In The Room" because I accidentally saw part of Slap Shot recently.

As to Troy's comment, what strikes me as so odd these days when people unabashedly make their ignorance known is that most of us have encyclopedias in our pockets.  It takes two seconds to look something up on a phone.  If anything, you'd think looking like an idiot would be even more embarrassing now.

There are universal values in classic Disney films, but it seems strange to call them "family" values.  I can't think of a single fairy tale that features a traditional family.  But that's just a quibble.  To Paul's initial conclusion that Disney would be upset: he wanted people to dream and his company still encourages that.  

I agree, e-mail writing is getting a bad rap.  It can actually be really wonderfully done.  I think the sheer volume of it, though, and the fact that many people send e-mails from their phones, means that it can be sort of spotty.

Apologies!  Thank you for the compliment.  I've been conditioned to see hostility where perhaps it isn't.  I am glad that you decided to keep writing, paid or not.  The motivation to communicate can be stronger than monetary incentives.  Perhaps that's why writers have been taken advantage of in the shift to online media?  Publishers know we will write no matter what...

I am reading this as slightly sarcastic.  Because I did say "no one edits."  Who knows if you mean it sincerely?  Who knows if I was exaggerating for emphasis? So, here is another problem with the way we assess the value of words on the Internet:

Tone.

I think you are right when it comes to style, but not content.  Someone who writes well will receive traffic, yes, but someone who writes about idiotic hot-button topics will receive more, regardless of their skill or talent.  And that seems to be part of Gelernter's thesis of "Internet Drivel."  It's not just that people write poorly--what they are writing about is not worth much.