Fun With Dick

I am going to be intentionally vague. A couple months ago, a guy gave a TED talk. Because I don't wish to use his real name, we'll call him 'Dick'. The talk Dick gave was partisan, said nothing that hadn't already been said a million times before, didn't really say it all that well, and just really was not up to standards. TED didn't want to post it- they only post so many talks, opting to host a 'best of' selection on their website, and this was decidedly not 'best of'. Dick threw a hissy fit, went to the media and made a scandal and a half about it screeching about censorship. Yesterday, TED posted the talk just to get Dick to shut the fuck up.

I am not TED. So Dick goes straight down the memory hole. His talk will not be posted here, the topic will not be posted here, his real name will not be posted here. He's lucky he gets to be Dick and not, say, 'Skeezix'. And I think it's safe to say that TED will not be inviting Dick back. Believe me, I watched the thing. You're not missing anything.

It's just really unfortunate that something as nice as TED has been hijacked and dragged into just one more screechy political yakfest. I've seen some people say they liked TED... until this happened and now they've lost respect for TED. Not Dick, the jerk that was angry for not being told his speech was just the best thing ever when it clearly wasn't. TED's the one that somehow lost respect.

Just for those of you that have seen the talk, but not too many other TED talks, here's an example of the standards TED usually asks in order to get posted. This is Tali Sharot, talking about how our brains are hardwired to be optimistic. This is what a TED talk should be.



Now go away, Dick.