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I believe this is what they call "raising the stakes" and the consequences of this may not be what you want/expect. In fact, taking such an aggressive move may
by OmarIsmail 15y ago
I believe this is what they call "raising the stakes" and the consequences of this may not be what you want/expect. In fact, taking such an aggressive move may hasten the very thing you're trying to prevent.
Let me elaborate. Right now most politicians in the US are pretty out of touch with the Internet, that much we can all agree on. They hear that it's powerful, and they have young staff members saying how the Facebooks and the Twitters are necessary nowadays, but it's easy for the regular politician to not really buy into the hype. Despite that politicians (and nefarious people in influential positions) aren't really happy with the Internet and the whole open thing. Which is precisely why we're getting SOPA. Now, US politician attacks have thus far been limited media copyright and piracy, dabbling a little bit into privacy with the Facebook stuff. These are easy targets.
Now, if these sites take this kind of action, and has the kind of effect that you want - namely kicking these politicians out - you don't think every other politician is going to learn a very big lesson. And I'd hope that we plebes have also learned a lesson. When politicians/people in power have a "threat" that they are actually vulnerable to, they don't respect it and learn to co-exist. Instead they try to destroy, co-op, or otherwise remove it as a threat.
Maybe I'm being cynical/pessimistic, but given the history of humanity and the way people in power behave, I think I have reason to be.
- idonthack 15y agoSo your solution is to let them shut us down now, lest they be determined to shut us down in the future? Wake up. You're late. Politicians have already learned the lesson that you fear they will learn, and they are right now taking the action that you hope they won't take in the future.
- smokeyj 15y ago> When politicians/people in power have a "threat" that they are actually vulnerable to, they don't respect it and learn to co-exist. Instead they try to destroy, co-op, or otherwise remove it as a threat. You're right, SOPA is an attempt to destroy the internet. This is a flat-out attack on the internet as we know it, and I bet the middle east uprising had something to do with it.
- jballanc 15y agoActually, I think you're on to something, but I would go farther. Politicians are not just out of touch with the Internet, they are governing a country that is rapidly ceasing to exist outside the walls of their debating chambers. They do not have control so much as complacency of much of the public, and they seem more than willing to do away with the reality that does exist before letting it supplant the fantasy in which they continue to govern.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- nknight 15y agoMy concern troll alarm is going off. Do you have an alternate plan to kill SOPA?
- jacquesm 15y agoLanguage objection. Just because he may/may not have an alternate plan to kill SOPA does not mean he doesn't have a valid point.
- nknight 15y agoWhat point would that be, exactly? The only "point" I took away from his rambling, defeatist post is that he doesn't think we should fight. If that's his "point", I can't believe you'd call it "valid".
- crististm 15y agoYes, the history is full of such examples. Unfortunately it takes a long time for a revolution to come and make things right again - generations. If this is how the game is set, we don't get a chance. But it's worth a fight.