Well, I better blog before it’s too late. Free Speech doesn’t truly exist now, but what we call Free Speech may be non-existent if it’s up to our Federal government. Thanks Big Brother. I didn’t want to expand my knowledge base anyway. Let’s go live in caves, beat each other with sticks and pull women around by their hair. That way we can continue be the dumb Americans that all the other countries say that we are.
The internet is a our worldwide library--constantly changing and expanding with new information. It’s amazing! Our government wants to keep it from us.
Do you ever wake up with a song in your head, but you can’t remember the name of the song or the artist? Or you can only remember part of the lyrics and they keep going around in your head on a repetitive loop. So you Google the lyrics that you do know and click video search. And there it is! Or maybe you want to hear The Gummi Bears theme song http://youtu.be/BRTSZZgCUik or some obscure show that you watched as child like The Charmings http://youtu.be/sRLYJHUeoFE . Even my conservative Republican father has searched for songs on the internet. There was an older song on an Axe commercial. He recognized it from the past, but couldn’t remember the name or the artist. He found it on YouTube. I bought it for him, so he could listen to it on his Mp3 player. The song was “Can’t Seem to Make you Mine” by the Seeds. http://youtu.be/MwaS1EyZgWc
I buy songs based on what I listen to on YouTube or Pandora. I legally download my songs from Amazon. However, Amazon only allows customers to sample a snippet of a song. I can’t judge whether I like a song or not based on a 30 second instrumental intro. PIPA & SOPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act will eliminate my window shopping. It’s not like MTV plays music videos anymore.
Apparently, these new laws will eliminate Wikipedia too. How many of us have searched Wiki for a general overview of some random subject? Arguing with a friend over the age of an actress. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stana_Katic Different types of avocadoes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocados. The Price of saffron. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron Jewish beliefs verses Muslim beliefs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_religions The population of Wales. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales
I search. I watch. I browse. But I also buy things. Electronics. Kindle Books. Real books. Used Cds. Woot shirts. Indian spices. Shoes. Clothes. I’m more likely to buy things if I’m a satisfied, informed consumer. I don’t need the government to mark things out with their gigantic black sharpie. I have even bought used items from strangers on Craigslist http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/ like the Sleepy Hallow leather chair that sits in my living room. Jacks & I sold her rusty Chevy S-10 with the help of craigslist, so we could put a down payment on a new car. Craigslist is like one of those classified boards in the store or in the paper only better. You can reach more people of interest. But the government wants to shut that down too. It’s not my fault people are selling sex.
I don’t know what the government is so angry about. Occupy Wallstreet isn’t my fault. It’s not my fault they gave hand outs to corporate conglomerations. People still don’t have jobs. Or health insurance. The government continues to dig our country deeper into debt—borrowing from China and Social Security. And they want to punish us? No system is free of corruption whether it’s the internet or the government. Maybe they’re the ones who need to be shut down.
Not only is Big Brother trying to destroy our means to obtain information, they are trying to eliminate our ability to communicate with each other. They aren’t shortening and eliminating our language like George Orwell’s 1984, but they are trying to close in our social circles. Angry blogs, boycotts and protests aren’t as effective without the global audience that the internet provides. They know we are dependent on technology. They are trying to control us—control what we say thus controlling what we might think.
There are many websites out there with which I don’t agree, but that doesn’t mean I think we should shut them down. If it’s Free Speech, then we have to accept the good, the bad and the neutral whether that might be websites from Pflag http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=194&srcid=-2 to Westboro Church http://www.godhatesfags.com/ to Switzerland http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html It’s about choice. I should be able to choose what I do and don’t read. Or what I do and don’t say, write or purchase. But obviously, The Constitution is only a piece of paper in a museum. It has been for a while. It’s just the next step to our Dystopian future.
Now might be a good time to exercise the right to buy a gun before they make that illegal too. You can’t fight back without weapons. That’s what Big Brother is counting on.
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