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Maybe it's just because I work in video and broadcasting, and I have a better grasp on these things than the average person, but I think TV Zimbabwe is run by people who don't know anything about TV and broadcasting. I was reading an article today in the Cape Times online by John Scott. The article is an interview with Solly Solinga, the spokesperson for Zimbabwean TV, which is state-run. Zimbabwean TV has decided to ban the color red from the color spectrum because it symbolizes the opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change. According to Solinga, "We can do what we like with the spectrum, whatever that is." So, their spokesman obviously knows nothing of broadcasting. If anyone knows anything about how a TV screen works, they know that there are tiny red, green, and blue phosphorescent pixels embedded in the glass of a TV screen. An electron gun in the back of a TV fires at the back side of the screen, and makes different pixels glow brighter or darker at the right times to make up the right colors. So, basically, there are basically only three colors on a TV screen that make up all colors. So, with this technology in mind, I read the article in complete disbelief. I had to research to find out if it was satire or not. I found an article on New Zimbabwe online on the same topic, except it wasn't an interview, just a statement about the new law against the color red on TV. Apparently, the deal is that they can't film or show anything that's red, they aren't actually requiring producers or engineers to remove all red from the video signal. That would just be idiotic. Not that the whole idea isn't idiotic, I mean c'mon, really. I started reading further, and found that the current regime in Zimbabwe has also recently decided to start using ox-drawn horse-carts as ambulances, because actual motorized vehicles are too expensive. Their state-run train company has also gone back to using steam engines because the diesel and electric engines were too costly. Is it just me, or does it seem like their dictator should be focusing more on motorized ambulances than how offended he is at seeing his competitor's colors on TV? It just sounds so ridiculously absurd. It's like if we were living in 1982, and Ron Reagan decided to ban the colors red and yellow from TV because those were the colors on the Soviet Union's flag. Give me a fucking break! I didn't realize there were any truly pathetic dictators left in the world. No, I'm not talking about Saddam, I'm talking about the fascists who run tiny countries or provinces like Haiti or Somalia or Kosovo like they're in the Third Reich. At least there's one good thing about living in present-day America: we have no small-minded men with big heads and God complexes running around making decisions. Oh, wait, nevermind...