Tila Tequila got pelted with garbage at the Insane Clown Posse’s Gathering of the Juggalos.  Of course we decry the injury of a helpless little girl…or do we?

I’m not condoning the injury of another human being, but I hate Tila Tequila.  Because of her insane desire for fame complemented by a complete lack of talent and the complicity of the media in aiding her on her way to "stardom".

She claws her way above the fray, saying look at me, LOOK AT ME!  Quoting her MySpace statistics.  People see her number of friends and do their best to imitate her, buying spins along the way, as if success was something that had nothing to do with intrinsic talent, but pure desire and marketing.

Suddenly, Tila’s everywhere.  She’s got her own show on VH1.  And a sequel.  She’s gay, she’s straight, she’s the fiancee of a deceased socialite, she’s dating a sports star.  Hell, she’s won, look at how much I know about her!

A triumph of marketing.  Tila Tequila is a star!

Or is she?

In the last century, there was a giant moat around the entertainment industry.  The press too.  To get across it you had to hire handlers, make heinous deals with middlemen in order to get the attention of gatekeepers, who let you through.  And once you gained passage, you were a member of an insiders club, forever a made man or woman, part of the clique, looking down upon the little people.

Record executives may have gotten fired, but soon thereafter they showed up at a rival company.  Outside the system, the hoi polloi screamed, they wanted their chance.  But no one inside the castle trusted anybody outside of it.  I mean if you started letting people in willy-nilly, then what would happen?

But that’s exactly what happened.  A combination of reality television and the Internet allowed no-talents to crash the party.  And after decrying this storming of the castle, the usual suspects, the royalty inside, decided to accommodate these intruders.  Better to let a few gain access than try to vigilantly maintain the gate, and after all, these newbies could be used for profit, unlike their predecessors, they were willing to do absolutely anything to make it, they would do as they were told, because they knew this was their only skill, completely lacking in talent.

But what those inside the castle didn’t recognize was the growing power of those outside the moat.  Suddenly, you could write a blog and reach a constituency if not equal to that of the newspaper, more interested in what you had to say.  Yes, the Web was an endless series of niches, hobbyists rallying around every arcane interest known to man.  Not that those inside the castle liked this… The royals believed in the mainstream, creating a sausage that could be eaten by everyone.  But suddenly, few wanted the mainstream sausage, they wanted the offerings of the Kogi truck, the taco, the exotic concoction based on quality.

But you can’t read the above story, because the old guard either doesn’t know it or doesn’t want to publicize it.  They don’t want to acknowledge their loss of power.

Then we have events that illustrate this wide crack, this disconnect.  Like that flight attendant sliding out of the Jet Blue airliner.  The mainstream press said he was breaking the rules, the public said flying is a disaster and my job sucks and finally someone stood up to the man and I’m showing you what side I’m on.

What side you’re on…  Suddenly that’s extremely important.  Are you inside the castle, or out?  It’s fascinating watching the newspapers and record labels and concert promoters claiming that normalcy is right around the corner, that the good times are coming back.  They’re never coming back!  Because the public has contempt for these institutions, and can rally around self-created niches, creating their own scenes, in charge of their own destinies, you expect them to give this up?

So Tila Tequila "performs" in front of the Juggalos.  She’s got a gig, she’s getting paid, isn’t this how the system works?

Absolutely not.  Because commerce is now secondary to trust and credibility.  Those on the other side of the moat, the audience, have now seized power.  And they’re raining shit, pelting crap upon that which is shoved down their throats, which they disapprove of.

Make a flawed product and suddenly there’s a Website, decrying Dell Hell.  The old guard says they deserve a profit.  The masses say they deserve service, a fair deal.

The old guard says music must be expensive and scarce.

The masses laugh and just take what they want, without paying for it at all, feeling fine about the process.  The old guard tries to institute guilt.  But who’s going to feel guilty after overpaying for crap for years?

The only way the royals can survive is to open the gate to the castle, fill in the moat, walk into the morass and find a new business model.  But this is too scary, they’d rather fight this revolution of the masses via invective and legislation and dollars.  Yes, the funny thing is the royals are much more pissed than the public, because they realize they’re in danger of losing everything.

Meanwhile, the public laughs, because people now know they’re in control, that they’re the puppeteers controlling the fat cats in suits.  It’s hysterical to watch the old guard squirm.

The old guard says to play by its rules.  To sell out and be malleable.  But then you end up with Tila Tequila.  Hated by the audience.  Or Top Forty wonders who cancel dates.  The royals say they’re needed, but is this really true?  Who needs an entitled, entrenched group which refuses to embrace new ideas and continues to shut out innovative thought?

The future isn’t whores, people who will do anything to make it, but talented folk performing for the love of it, gaining fans one by one.  It’s not only musicians, but bloggers, everybody building a home online, where it’s not about marketing so much as quality.

Tila Tequila is a non-story.  She’s trumped up by the old guard so we won’t realize how they’re screwing us, she’s a diversion from the real issues.  But what the royals don’t realize is we now understand the game, we’ve educated ourselves online, we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore!