Why I’m voting YES on the SAG-AFTRA Merger

I’ve thought carefully about the SAG-AFTRA merger and read arguments from both sides. Here are my thoughts as to why I’m voting YES. In my write-up, I’ve tried very hard to be truthful, understandable, and realistic. Feel free to forward this.

THE “I’M TOO BUSY TO READ IT ALL” SUMMARY

We have to change with the times and vote YES on the merger. Instead of two unions competing for the same jobs, we will have one union with much greater negotiating power. Some SAG health & retirement benefits may decrease but since your earnings won’t be split between two unions it will be significantly easier to qualify for them, which is a completely worthwhile trade-off.

If we don’t merge, I think SAG will lose even more jobs to AFTRA and could eventually be forced to cut benefits, raise dues, and undercut AFTRA’s rates, leading to a “price war” that we all lose.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE MERGE VS IF WE DON’T MERGE:

You want details? You got ‘em!

ISSUE	IF WE MERGE	IF WE DON’T MERGE
Negotiating Power	All union TV, film, commercial, and web projects will be under only one union which would significantly increase our negotiating power. This is HUGE. If you owned a store and the store next door sold the same merchandise, could you ever negotiate with your customers or raise your prices? Of course not, because your customers would just go next door. That’s what’s happening now with two separate unions.	SAG & AFTRA will continue to compete against each other for the same jobs with different rates, residual structures, & philosophies. The danger will persist that a desperate union could undercut the other union’s rates, which hurts everybody.
Qualifying For Health & Retirement Benefits	Our earnings will go toward one union and eventually, one health insurance plan and one pension plan. This is huge. Not splitting our earnings between two unions will significantly increase our chances of qualifying for health insurance & pension credits.	Our earnings will continue to be split between two unions. Currently, it’s possible for an actor to make $9500 in AFTRA earnings and $14,500 in SAG earnings and still not qualify for health insurance with either union. That sucks.
SAG Health Insurance	I think SAG health insurance will indeed worsen, with higher premiums, co-pays, & deductibles. AFTRA’s health insurance is more costly than SAG’s; I hope the final product will be somewhere in between. It’s worth it to lose some benefits from top-of-the-line health insurance in exchange for a greater likelihood of getting that health insurance.	SAG’s health insurance has already worsened in the last several years with continually higher earning thresholds & deductibles and decreased benefits. This trend will likely continue if we don’t merge.
Leadership	Our leadership may make mistakes in implementing this merger	Our leadership may make mistakes anyway, and they’ll do it while/because they’re competing against each other.
Union Dues	Dues may increase or decrease depending on your situation. Honestly, dues are a minor factor compared to the other issues.	Dues will remain as is.

MY RESPONSE TO THE ANTI-MERGER ARGUMENTS:
I’ve read a lot of the anti-merger arguments, some of them valid, and some of them not-so-much. Here are my thoughts:

On Being Pete Hoekstra’s Coolie

The internet (especially the Asian American internet) is abuzz over the Latest Stupid Man, Michigan Senatorial Candidate Pete Hoekstra. During the SuperBowl, he aired this inflammatory commercial featuring an Asian woman bicycling through a rice paddy and then smugly thanking Hoekstra’s incumbent opponent Debbie Stabenow: “Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs!”

I have a bunch of thoughts on the ad itself, including:
1. What kind of a racist, xenophobic moron conceives of, produces, and approves this ad?
2. China owns 8% of the US’s debt; the vast majority is owned by Americans. Where’s the ad showing Americans smugly celebrating American debt to Americans?
3. The ad is clearly aimed at creating hate and fear; does anyone think that the Chinese truly have this smug, celebrational, anti-American attitude? Chinese people just want to work hard and get nice stuff, kind of like…Americans. Or anybody else.
4. Considering this was made for a Michigan candidate, maybe Hoekstra shouldn’t have outsourced all the work on his campaign (website, commercial production, etc.) to companies outside of the state of Michigan.
5. Should I shine a spotlight on this hateful ad, or should I ignore it and let it go away on its own?
6. FOR GOD’S SAKE, DID THEY REALLY HAVE TO HAVE THE GONG AND THE CHING-CHONG MUSIC???

The Asian American community understandably has also put a lot of attention on the actress in the commercial (for her execution of the Chinese accent as well being a “sell out”). I completely get the criticism of her; I wish she hadn’t done it, but mostly, I feel bad for her. I’m guessing that she had no idea of the ramifications of this role. She must have been a little uncomfortable with the character and had to be aware of its Anti-Asian sentiment, but probably thought that it was going to be an innocuous commercial that nobody would think about in Michigan, much less outside of Michigan. And now, much of the internet (especially the Asian American internet) is wondering who she is.

She’ll get outted eventually, and I do wonder what will happen then. Will she be contrite and apologetic? Might she be blase and wondering what the fuss is about? I don’t know. But I do hope that people aren’t too hard on her. It’s tough for an actor at any level to turn down a job, much less a beginning actor, especially knowing that if you turn the job down, there will be somebody who will take the job. Turning down the acting job doesn’t eliminate the job–it just eliminates you from the job. A beginning actor also lacks perspective–could this commercial be the start of something big for her? Might this commercial lead to fame? (and yes it did, but infamy isn’t quite the same as fame).

I view her with disappointment, but my anger is reserved for the schmucks who wrote, produced, and approved the commercial. They created a racist message to incite fear and anti-Asian hatred, and they knew what they were doing every step of the way. I don’t hate the player, I hate The Man.

And Pete Hoekstra, you are a Stupid, Stupid Man.

Screw you internet, I want my brain back

Dear Internet:

Screw you. I’m tired of you. I reject you. I’m sick of what you did to my brain.

My brain used to be pretty great–easily distracted, but that’s what made me creative, abstract, non-linear, out-of-the-box, and all those other buzzword adjectives. It also used to be able to concentrate. It used to be able to do work. It used to be able to imagine.

Not any more, thanks to you, stupid internet. I have the attention span of a gnat now. I work at a snail’s pace. And I can wallow in your dopamine-infusing womb for hours at a time.

You know why the days seem so short nowadays? Because the internet sucks up freakin’ hours of them. HOURS! What the hell could I be doing with that extra time? Working out? Finding a cure for cancer? Blogging? Connecting with people who really matter in my life? Writing that screenplay that will finally take me to the next level? I don’t know, because I’m too busy being on the stupid internet.

And let’s face it, my browsing is stupid browsing. Seriously stupid browsing. Probably 70% is on Reddit. Yeah, stupid Reddit. Stupid, stupid, stupid Reddit. Actually, Reddit’s not stupid, but it’s seriously been draining the vitality out of me. And ultimately, what good does Reddit serve for me? Is anybody going to say to me, “Wow, you know all the details of how this stupid conservative news channel reported this stupid incident between this stupid conservative politician with the President? Well, let me cast you in that role/buy your screenplay/pour you a milkshake.” No, instead, all that happens is I give myself a teeny little virtual shot of dopamine when I find an article that I like, a picture that amuses me, or an insightful comment thread.

Ironically, when I surf the web, it’s relaxing, but in an unrelaxing sort of way. Surfing the web is less of a pleasurable respite than a mindless stupor. When I read a book when I’m sleepy, I get sleepier until I fall asleep; when I read the internet when I’m sleepy, I become less awake, but I actually have trouble falling asleep. I’m not as awake as if I were awake, yet, I’m not as relaxed as if I were sleeping–it’s a nether region. The internet is limbo.

Quite frankly, my brain’s gotten addicted to the internet, especially Reddit. And it’s ironic, because I would never allow myself to get addicted to a physical drug. The idea of having to smoke/snort/inject something in me every day to feel pleasure is horrifying to me. Heck, I didn’t even start drinking coffee until a year ago, and even now, I drink only one cup a day max.

But this internet addiction has insidiously acclimatized itself into my brain. And yes, it really is an addiction. And addictions need to be kicked by going cold turkey. Alcoholics can’t drink ever again because one drink can send them right back to their old addiction groove.

Also noteworthy is the lack of imagery my brain experiences when browsing the internet. When I read the internet, the imagery is given to me already, or it’s non-fiction pseudo–news articles or opinions that don’t require any visualization of anything. You know something horrifying? Probably 98% of what I read nowadays is NON-FICTION. NON-FICTION! AS IN NON-FREAKIN-FICTION!!! Non-fiction was the book section that I loathed when I was younger–it was all truth and history and facts and stuff, and I wanted the time traveling, the dragons, and the magical spells.

The brain is plastic, capable of rewiring itself to accommodate the circumstances that it’s consistently subjected to. This is for better or for worse. I’m sure that currently, the part of my brain that imagines and visualizes things has shrunk greatly. I don’t daydream nearly as often as I used to. How in the world am I supposed to be able to imagine the storyline of  a screenplay without a well-toned Imagination? For Pete’s sake, how am I supposed to imagine a better life for myself and the steps needed to reach that life without my Imagination? How could I believe that anything could improve without my Imagination? How could I possibly have HOPE without my Imagination?

All that ends now. I have not touched reddit in 2 or 3 days. I read a Heinlein short story “Requiem” this morning (SPOILER COMING)…

…a wonderful little piece about a rich old man whose dreams of landing on the moon were always deferred by the practical necessities of life. I visualized him struggling in pain as his decrepit ribs cracked under the rocket’s acceleration. I saw him wincing as he exited the spaceship. I saw him resting on a moon rock, gazing out at the moonscape, seeing the blue earth in the distance nestled in the endless black sky, knowing that the pain in his body didn’t matter, that nothing mattered but the contentment that he had finally reached the moon.

And along the way, I had the thought: hey, our atmosphere the only thing that prevents us from seeing a black sky during daylight? Pictures from the moon taken in its daylight still feature a black sky and stars. I assume our atmosphere lets in and reflects the blue light that makes for a wonderful sunny day, so without the atmosphere, we’d still have that same harsh, stark white light that is always seen from the moon. So good job atmosphere: without it, our world would look much uglier. And also, we’d be dead on account of that no air to breathe thing. I’m not saying that that thought is Plato-esque or anything, but it’s definitely not something I would have had if I weren’t imagining scenes from this story.

I know that practically, I can never be rid of the internet entirely–I still need it for email, keeping in touch, and buying things cheaply, and keeping up with Stanford sports (that is not going away). But the mindless browsing stops now. I’m getting my brain back.

The Best Fan Mail Ever

EMAIL 1:

Subject: Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus

Dear Vic,

We fucking loved your movie.

-Lee, Lee, and Joel

———————————
EMAIL 2:

Salutations Vic,

The line, “The intersection of individual paths, whether random or calculated, is what creates or destroys…,” has us bamboozled. What the fuck does this mean?

Also, we were rooting for you to get with her the entire time.

Regards,

Lee, Lee, and Joel

P.S. We still fucking love your movie

———————————
EMAIL 3:

Greetings from Socorro, NM,

To culminate our trilogy of emails tonight; we enclose a gift.

Enjoy,

Lee, Lee, and Joel

P.S. We were rooting for you.
P.P.S. We still fucking love your movie

You Know NOTHING About Mascotting!!!

“So Vic, you used to be the mascot for the Chicago Bulls? What a coincidence–I used to dress up as a character at Disneyland!”

I have this exchange not infrequently. And I try to handle it graciously, usually with something like, “Oh, that’s cool.” But really, what I’m thinking is: YOU FOOL, DON’T TRY TO COMPARE YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH MINE BECAUSE YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MASCOTTING!!!

Professional sports mascotting is the Big Time. It’s The Show. It’s the greatest venue for a mascot, and it requires an extreme level of creativity, athleticism, fearlessness, and the ability to perform physical feats while breathing in only your own carbon dioxide. Putting on a costume at Disneyland involves putting your arm around people and posing for a camera.

So Mr. “I Wore A Goofy Costume,” I ask you: Have you ever had to veer 60 degrees to the left in a series of backhandsprings in order to avoid a referee that suddenly stepped in the way? No? Then you know nothing about mascotting.

Have you ever laid on the ground desperately hyperventilating for oxygen for 15 minutes after running a flag the size of New Hampshire around a basketball court 6 times? No? Then you know nothing about mascotting.

Did you have to wear a mouthguard while slam-dunking off a mini-trampoline to insure that you don’t knock your teeth out on the rim? No? Then you know nothing about mascotting.

Did you have an agreement with your assistant that if he ever saw you motionless on the ground for more than 5 seconds that he had to IMMEDIATELY rip off your costume head because it meant that you had passed out from lack of oxyen? No? Then you know nothing about mascotting.

Did you spend hours smashing and re-gluing pine boards for your karate skit? Have you racked your brain for sketches and videos to entertain crowds? Have you run into a spectator-accomplice carrying a monster bag of popcorn? Have you thrown a cake at an opposing fan only to hit the old lady-accomplice in the row below him? Have you pretended to rack your testicles by falling on a rail while actually racking your testicles in the process? Can you get a an entire section of crowd to cheer and hush all on your gestures? No? Well, guess what? IF YOU WORE A COSTUME AT DISNEYLAND, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MASCOTTING!!!

Just because you occasionally wear a Lakers jersey, it doesn’t make you Kobe Bryant.