Jesse Connors! Quit MySpace.

This blog is more for the Christian community out there, and any discussion (Believer or no) that may stem off this will be much appreciated. Have you ever witnessed a fellow Christian who is "Fighting the fight" but it doesn't quite sit well with you? For the last year or so, I've been keeping tabs on a group on myspace that is petitioning against ol' Tom's advertisements. You know the ones, the True advertisements, Match, MateOne, and a handful of horror movie
sequels. Sure, I wouldn't mind if Myspace used a little bit more sophisticated advertisements, but I don't think a group with 87,000 people and a man pointing his finger is going to cut it.

Even with a group of 87,000 people, that is only %.005 of the MySpace user-base. You would probably have better luck talking to a State representative about ad filtering in real life, than to go up against the giant with a small number. Yeah, Spartans did it, but they were bad-A. This leads me to believe it's really just a power trip for the group leader. A group of 87,000 people is braggable, but it probably isn't even close to Tom's yearly income. If that 87,000 were political leaders and otherwise important people, you may have luck, unfortunately it's just a bunch of 16 year old Billys and Sallys.

The group also seems to have a brutal circle with their agenda, sucking people in and keeping them there. First of all, none of them are keen on the idea of quitting MySpace. Actually, the hero of the group calls you a loser if you quit, I quote from his mini-faq:
'Myspace is free so if you can't tolerate the advertising
leave.' TRUTH: If you believe this you have no backbone! You are like a
piece of rubber in the water. You are like a wave tossed in the sea. Don't be
a loser and run away from indecency! - Jesse Connors

"Don't be a loser and run away from indecency?".... Would you rather have me embrace it? Wait a sec. I thought Myspace was a website and not real life. It's a Social Network, the scum of the Internet. It is the epitome of fabricated relationships. I do not understand how removing the temptation makes you a loser. Here's a segment from one of the most heroic stories in the bible:

Genesis 39
6a Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
7 and after a while his master's wife took notice
of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" 10 And
though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her
or even be with her.

11 One day he went into the house to
attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.
12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come
to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the
house.

So I guess by those standards, Joseph was a loser? I bet Joseph didn't have MySpace. In this part of the story, he stuck up for what he believed, and when the going got tough, he ran. He ran because he knew he was not big enough to overcome by normal means. I cannot stress enough that it is not cowardly to egress from a situation that is larger than yourself. But in
Jesse's example, you are a good for nothing, lowdown, piece of crap for quitting a social network. ....okay.

Jesse also does not endorse the use of Ad blocking software. There is software readily available that simply blocks ALL advertisements on the Internets. I think it's pretty genius stuff. You don't have to look at True ads anymore, and the Internet magically gets ridiculously fast. Here's what big Jesse has to say about these.
[Tom Change The Advertising] *does not* indorse the use of ad
blocking software or browsers. Why? Well, advertisers pay big money to sites
like MySpace to reach their users. If everyone blocks the ads, advertisers
will stop paying that big money and sites like MySpace (which cost big money
to run) will have to charge users or simply shut down.

Ok, here's the deal. MySpace is NOT going to shut down. No way, no how. Not until a more popular method of social networking emerges. Even if their entire user-base used ad blocking software, they would still have text ads (by Google) that still display, just can't get around those. Secondly, they wouldn't make the user pay. That would be the equivalent of shooting
themselves in the foot. What would they do? They would probably try different advertisers until there is something that users can settle with. If everyone blocks ads, True will stop paying big money. NO WAY!!! This again, makes me feel like Jesse is bypassing a convenient, acceptable method of ad riddance for creating a false battle to make his name more popular.

Alright, alright, so what exactly am I getting at? The motives seem really weird with this group. Absolutely messed up. There is no war. There is no battle. Heck, I'd go as far as to say there isn't even a debate about MySpace's advertisement. First of all, I cannot stress enough that
MySpace is just a social network. That is all it is and you are a bad example of human if your life and relationships with others depend on it. Also, MySpace is not subjecting you to view their ads. This is a personal issue for you to decide. If you have an issue with the ads, find means to bypass it (up yours, Tom!!! heh heh!) or just quit MySpace entirely.

Our society has enough problems in real life, if you want to make a real difference, get out there and live outstandingly. Turn heads, make people wonder what they stand for. You don't need to make a statement to be heard. You don't need a direct response from a person to know they listened. Jesus showed what he stood for by actions. The only time he was vocally offensive
was against corrupt religious leaders and against corruption under his Father's name. Otherwise he spoke to people through actions and in a loving manner, which in turn, actually made people want to know what he had that they needed.

Just my side of things, however. Maybe I'm off my rocker. If you would like more information on Jesse's ministry, please visit http://www.tomchangetheadvertising.com/. Buy a shirt while you are at it.


Download an ad blocker.
If you are interested in Ad Blocking software, Download this man's software: http://everythingisnt.com/hosts.html. He keeps his software up to date, so if you start seeing ads again, re-download his latest version on his website. I use this and it's great. It
also does wonders for speeding up the Internets.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Christianity, Jesse Connors, Myspace, Petitions

posted at 4/4/2007 Open this article in a new window. 3 Comments


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