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Monsanto's Harvest of Fear
Cognitive Dissident writes "Intellectual property thuggery is not restricted to the IT and entertainment industries. The May 2008 edition of Vanity Fair carries a major feature article on the mafiaa-like tactics of Monsanto in its pursuit of total domination of various facets of agribusiness. First in GM seeds with its 'Roundup Ready' crops designed to sell more of its Roundup herbicide, and more recently in milk production with rBGH designed to squeeze more milk out of individual cows, Monsanto has been resorting to increasingly over-the-top tactics to prevent what it sees as infringement or misrepresentation of its biotechnology. As with other forms of IP tyranny, the point is not really to help the public but to consolidate corporate power. Quotes: 'Some compare Monsanto's hard-line approach to Microsoft's zealous efforts to protect its software from pirates. At least with Microsoft the buyer of a program can use it over and over again. But farmers who buy Monsanto's seeds can't even do that.' and '"I don't know of a company that chooses to sue its own customer base," says Joseph Mendelson, of the Center for Food Safety. "It's a very bizarre business strategy." But it's one that Monsanto manages to get away with, because increasingly it's the dominant vendor in town.' Sound familiar?"
If these farmers don't like the new genetically modified seeds, they can keep planting the old garden variety ones. Research is not cheap, and any commercial company is in the business of making money.
Is copyrighting and DRMing (GRMing?) seeds ethical? Millions of dollars are needed to design the original transgenic, so unless farmers are willing to buy these once for the full price (say 1000 seeds for $20,000 each) it makes perfect business sense.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
large landowners and their abuses breed things like the npa in the philippines (aka "the nice people's army"). nominally communist/ socialist, the npa in turn loses it's ideological rigor and becomes just a vehicle for kidnapping and extortion to continue the brave existence of camping and robbing people in the jungle. meanwhile, every election cycle in the philippines, it seems the 200 peso note grows scarce. it is joked that this is so because they are all being used to bribe the votes for the local politician, entrenched in the local power structure that supports the local landed gentry. endless cycle
this is the state of humanity, unfortunately, but these cynical, borderline misanthropic observations are thoughts that lead us to inaction, to believe human progress is impossible. no, progress is possible, or we'd all still be living under feudal kings
so i reject the hopeless implicaitons of your thoughts, as should you. change for the better is real, it has happened, is happening, and will happen. never forget that
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Oh yeah... those poor, pitiful farmers. Who extort artificial price structures for their commodity's from the federal governement... who extort subsidies from the federal government to NOT plant a particular commodity... and when times are good - as an example this year and corn production... they cut back planting to impact commodity prices.
Agribusiness sounds pretty similar to MS and its ilk. Screw 'em... all of them.
you know it would help if you responded to what i actually wrote, rather than respond to the weird demons in their head
what i am saying has absolutely nothing to do with abolishing it, nor did it ever. read, interpret, then respond. don't: read, creatively extrapolate off of deeply rooted fears, then respond. k thx
oh, ps: you're a hysterical twit
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
rule of law is not something that exists in and of itself. if it doesn't have an organic affinity with whomever or whatever it is being imposed upon, if its rationale for existing can't be logically defended, enforcement of it is bound to fail, no matter how much you redouble your efforts. the concept that ip law is overstepping its bounds and serving runaway corporate greed rather than the common good is readily appreciated, evne by you and your fellow nazis, i dunno. therefore, you can recognize that rethinking an approach, an alteration of the law rather than cracking down with something fundamentally flawed, is a better course of action
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
what a bunch of protectionist assholes. european opposition to gm has nothing to do with ethics, not business ethics, not biological ethics, none of that. it has to do with the peculiar european phenomenon of protecting their farmers from the slightest global hiccup. sure other countries are protectionist, but europeans take it to a fetishistic level
europeans pretend to care about starving africans. if europeans would stop protecting their pampered farmers, and allowed african produce to enter their markets unfettered, african economies would bloom, and europeans would pay less for their food
but then assholes farmers will firebomb a mcdonalds in france. the gm issue in europe is pure propaganda. the fearful propaganda about frankenfood is exactly that: low iq propaganda
europe is morally bankrupt on the issue of gm food. when europeans open their agricultural markets, and stiff their pampered farmers, then they can lecture us about gm food. until then, fuck european farmers and fuck europe on the issue of gm food. holding back economic progress in the third world. let european farmers die off please. romantic notions about farmers in europe and the food they make is a fucking propaganda joke
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
"they are human beings, just like you and me.
Yes, they are human beings, and as human beings they are entitled to the same rights as everyone else. Because everyone else is also entitled to these rights, everyone is morally obligated to serve only themselves, and not infringe upon the rights of others. Such infringements include forced property redistribution through taxation and selective restrictions. If you want to help others, feel free to donate and ask your friends/family/neighbors to donate as well - spread the word! - but don't influence the government to commit rights violations.
"if your view of the third world is that hopeless, then you are a misanthrope."
The only misanthropes - ie, those who hate/distrust mankind - are those who believe man to be inherently evil and corrupted, incapable of thinking for themselves, requiring a government to do the thinking for them. It is only those who hate mankind would freely suggest violating inalienable rights. The same people who distrust the uncoerced, free trade of productivity among rational individuals, you will find shouting for the government to force people to hand over their productivity to regions made unproductive through corruption.