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Maturing Net Grows More Slowly
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC has an article covering the slowing growth rate of
Internet traffic." From the article: "Growth rates in some territories was staying high, said Mr. Mauldin, at 76% in Asia and 70% in Latin American but even these were down on 2004. Currently the amount of traffic flowing between nations is approximately one terabit per second. If growth rates hold up this is likely to hit three terabits per second by 2008. Much of the growth over the last few years has come about because of the rise in the popularity of file-sharing that encourages people to swap and share large media files, said Mr. Mauldin. "
I am writing this letter because I take issue with some of Pat Robertson's inveracities. For openers, Robertson's apothegms were never about tolerance and equality. That was just window dressing for the "innocents". Rather, if Robertson wanted to, he could declare martial law, suspend elections, and round up dissidents (i.e., anyone who does not buy his lie that he has the mandate of Heaven to destroy our moral fiber). He could rob, steal, cheat, and murder. And he could feed us ever-larger doses of his lies and crackpot assumptions. We must indubitably not allow Robertson to do any of these. He claims that might makes right. Sound suspicious? Scornful is a better word. Now, more than ever, we must see through the haze of immoralism. I want nothing more -- or less -- than to empower the oppressed to control their own lives. To that task I have consecrated my life, and I invite you to do likewise. Some of the facts I'm about to present may seem shocking. This they certainly are. However, when Robertson hears anyone say that it's the worst types of intolerant lunkheads there are that make grotty incendiarism possible, his answer is to reward those who knowingly or unknowingly play along with his refrains while punishing those who oppose them. That's similar to taking a few drunken swings at a beehive: it just makes me want even more to convince sophomoric, frightful blackguards to stop supporting Robertson and tolerating his ebullitions.
I proudly adopt this stand. To a lesser degree and on a smaller scale, his "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude is pathetic, because it leaves no room for compromise. One of the things I find quite interesting is listening to other people's takes on things. For instance, I recently overheard some folks remark that Robertson oppresses his critics by crushing them, expelling them, pauperizing them, and cutting them off from families and friends. I'll probably devote a separate letter to that topic alone, but for now, I'll simply summarize by stating that any rational argument must acknowledge this. Robertson's snooty, unruly jokes, naturally, do not. No matter how bad you think Robertson's disquisitions are, I assure you that they are far, far worse than you think. I don't mean to imply that the world has a surplus of stupidity, but it's true, nonetheless.
It is disgraceful that, with a wink and a smile, Robertson has signified his approval of lackadaisical Philistines who alter laws, language, and customs in the service of regulating social relations. Do you understand the implications of what I have been telling you? Are you awake? Then you probably realize that he has compiled an impressive list of grievances against me. Not only are all of these grievances completely fictitious, but Robertson throws the word "phoneticogrammatical" around as if it had the same meaning to everyone. Now that that's cleared up, I'll continue with what I was saying before, that the unalterable law of biology has a corollary that is generally overlooked. Specifically, there are some basic biological realities of the world in which we live. These realities are doubtless regrettable, but they are unalterable. If Robertson finds them intolerable and unthinkable, the only thing that I can suggest is that he try to flag down a flying saucer and take passage for some other solar system, possibly one in which the residents are oblivious to the fact that everybody is probably familiar with the cliche that Robertson's gofers remain a small isolated minority, except during times of economic or social stress, when a mass following develops to blame pompous pillocks for the problems besetting society. Well, there's a lot of truth in that cliche.
Only Robertson can praise an institution that is as misguided and disagreeable as he himself. Equally important is the fact that we should agree on definitions before saying anything further about Robertson's antihumanist exegeses. For starters, let's say that "fetishism" is "that which makes Robertson yearn to use cheap, intemperate propaganda to arouse
Nono, I was going for funny.
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