i am the delicatest of delicate flowers tonight

[phenylic]

disclaimer! this is a super emotion-fueled post

So the Stop Online Piracy Act has been causing much disruption all over my social networking feeds (except LJ so far, thank god). To quote OpenCongress (emphasis mine): 

• This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infringment. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have "only limited purpose or use other than infringement," and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. 

Um, to be honest, I thought that was already a felony, but the actual bill isn't the point of the post. It's the reactions that I've seen. Specifically, this one Tumblr post. Even more specifically, this part (emphasis mine):

• It’s essentially going to make the US as bad as Communist China in terms of Internet censorship. I’m not. Fucking. Kidding. They will literally have the power to block any site from being visited by any US user. They’re going to systematically destroy basically every freedom we have, to protect the entertainment industry’s profits. They’re getting away with it because they’re sneaky and no one is freaking out about it and the mainstream media is hiding it.

So here is the actual point of this post: everybody has buzzwords/phrases and "as bad as Communist China/Soviet Russia" is mine. For me, it falls under the same category as "as bad as Nazi Germany," "as bad as Darfur," "as bad as 'Arab Spring,'" in that it's such an exaggeration and presents a general disregard for the rights that we, as American citizens, are given. When the Declaration of Independence is burned, when the Library of Congress and every artifact of historical, cultural, or national significance are destroyed, when the President tries to take a Great Leap Forward, that's when I'll say we've become as bad as communist China. 

I don't support this act. I think it's poorly written, just like Mississippi's Amendment 26, but I fail to see how this makes the U.S. as bad as communist China or equivalent to the lockdown that happened in Egypt. I fail to see how being without internet is like being in a third-world country. I fail to see why just because you can say stuff like this means that you should. In my opinion, you shouldn't ever make these analogies unless you've actually lived through it and experienced it for yourself because I'm pretty sure you've never seen anything like it. 

p.s. they're protecting the entertainment industry's profits because the companies invested millions into their products. Maybe you've heard of these things called production costs?? and BUDGETS? where do you think the money came from? If you invested tens/hundreds of millions into something, I'm pretty sure you'd like to make some profit off it, too, and I think you'd be pretty annoyed if you found out that people were illegally getting it for free. I get that as fandom, we tend to generally disregard this whole thing because of financial/situational issues and we spread fandom love through what is essentially piracy, but the fact remains that it is still piracy and therefore, illegal, and nothing novel, but whatever right? The government is trying to cut down on illegal sharing! IT'S COMMUNIST REVOLUTION. /sarcasm.

Comments

[oxymoronic.livejournal.com]

Dude, you already know how hard I agree with everything you say here. I just wanted to drop by and say this:

Someone on my tumblr just posted about voting for a comedy actor (presuming American NTAs or something, idk). A couple of their favourites were going up head to head, and they posted a caption which read This is like Sophie’s Choice....

... no. Just no. That's not even funny. I know my example is technically fictional, but it reflects a huge, horrible emotional situation based on a historical tragedy. I just, I'm sat here all angry and thought you might sympathise. >.>

[phenylic.livejournal.com]

FACEPALMING SO HARD. NO NO NO.


i just--idk man! are we being too sensitive? ): argh, i just feel like everyone is judging me for not advocating Stop SOPA as hard as the whole of Tumblr is doing, but I already said that I don't support the bill, I just also hate the way it's being condemned! lskdjflk /rages some more. I just feel really alone on this because even though people on Tumblr/Facebook have been like 'yeah, you're right.' THEY TURN AROUND AND REBLOG LINKS LIKE SIGN THIS TO STOP THE US FROM TURNING INTO CHINA.

some anon said that i'm only this against it because i'm chinese. what the fuck. whoever that is, we're not friends anymore.

[oxymoronic.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. I'm looking on the signal boosting of this as journalism - and in good journalism you document the concept, say what's wrong with it and what can/should be done to combat it at the personal discretion of the reader. You do not use scare factors or associate something simple with something huge and devastatingly wrong which is against human rights. (That's not to say journalists don't do the latter, but it's bad journalism if they do so.) You certainly do not emotionally blackmail people into responding by using provocative imagery relating to Communism/Nazism or the like. It gets quick results but for all the wrong reasons, and often gets the wrong results.

You're doing the former, you're so not in the wrong here. The issue with a social networking site like Tumblr or facebook is as soon as one person says "OMG NAZIS" everyone remembers and shares that phrase, and they forget what the actual purpose/content of whatever it is they've taken umbrage against, however rightfully or wrongfully.

You're not alooooooooone. The internet is full of people "writ[ing their] snide bullshit from a dark room because that's what the angry do nowadays" (akhdkfhfdg sorry couldn't resist using that quote) and unfortunately it's their voices that you've heard.

And I'm not even going to touch on the "ew you're Chinese" thing. Because. The answer is obviously one huge, glaring no, gtfo and gdiaf.

[phenylic.livejournal.com]

alice, you are the bestest ♥

Tumblr is just basically the TMZ of politics. of Fox News politics. they think the are the most socially progressive movement to have ever existed, but they're not. and the fact that the tumblr staff is PROMOTING it is so not helping. ): at my statistical probability post because percentages calm me down.

[oxymoronic.livejournal.com]

I am glad you think my words have some value. >.>

I agree with you sfm about Tumblr :) (although lol je ne comprends pas les American references >.>) I haven't actually heard anything about it recently, I take it it didn't pass?

also dndfghfkghfdg Generation Kill marathon y u leave me a shaking broken wreck

[phenylic.livejournal.com]

your words always have value!

EE.UU. es muy frustrante |: Fox News es la noticia tonta. It's basically the laughingstock of news. Like, the parody of CNN except, they're serious. IDK. i think they said it hadn't been decided on yet, but w/e I tumblr-savior-ed anything to do with it, SO. XD

STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED WATCHING IT orz. i keep saying i'm going to write brad/ray fic for you and then i'm like I'VE STILL ONLY SEEN LIKE 3 EPISODES THOUGH.

[oxymoronic.livejournal.com]

hahaha at least you think so, my tutors would disagree fervently :P

Ew. Sounds a bit like channel 5 news here... although I am pretty sure we don't have anything quite so ridiculous as Fox News. BBC is the standard which is really quite neutral, ITV tends to be a bit shock-factor focused but not really, Channel 4 is quite professional and liberal and "asks the unasked questions" and then Channel 5 kind of dumbs it down, I guess. But nothing that's as biased as your stations (or from what I understand of them). I thought it was happening soon, I shall have to keep my eyes peeled (although why do I suspect it'll all go quiet on the results front? Seeing as it's not ~dramatic~ enough or w/e.).

VIVI I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON WHY I WANTED TO MARATHON IT WITH YOU dnfhgfkdjgh you must. You MUST.

[phenylic.livejournal.com]

i need a news station that will dumb everything down for me. FOX IS JUST DUMB. and i get so distracted watching CNN because ANDERSON COOPER IS JUST SO ADORABLE ): It was supposed to have happened/has happened, but I guess it went unresolved? IDK MAN, the chances of Congress actually being in session long enough to deal with this is highly unlikely. they're probably going to shove it on some intern's desk and then find it ten years later and go LOL REMEMBER WHEN

i know alice I KNOW skdjflkjsfj

[oxymoronic.livejournal.com]

lol C5 has a tendency to make reports on like Z-lists and their opinions. Which is entertaining but not very informative. lol, typical Vivi to get distracted by goodlooking men :P (says the hypocrite). Oh American politics, why u make no sense?

[phenylic.livejournal.com]

BUT JUST LOOK AT HIM ;_;



lmao who cares about politics, I HAVE ANDERSON COOPER