This "dumbing down" of America has been carefully orchestrated by the top 5%. The fact that only corporate entities show interest in politics is directly related to the fact that politics is only interested in corporate entities.
I heard the following phrase literally thousands of times growing up in America.
It doesn't matter who you vote for, they're all going to screw you. or
I just vote for the person I think will fuck me over the least.
In 8th grade, my history teacher told me he was voting for Clinton(his first term election), not because he believed in his stance on the issues but because he always voted for the person he knew would win.
This is a fucking history teacher for christs' sake.
In America today, your vote does NOT matter.
I used to be proud to be an american, till I grew up and realized I had swallowed a little bit too much of the bullshit. When my government represents my interests, I will once again be proud of that government. It probably won't in my lifetime.
America has to go through some kind of radical change.
I was being facetious. I'll not move to China any more than I would move to Cuba.
On the other hand, the vote that I cast during election does not matter. I can cast my vote for whomever I feel is the closest to me on a variety of issues, but even when a new congressman/woman senator whatever gets voted in it's only a few years till they're on the corporate payroll. No matter how strong their convictions or how much they promise to "change the government from the inside out" they cannot hold out against the lobbyists.
My solution, outlaw corporate lobbying. It's the only real solution to the greater evil. Not DRM, not copyright law, not global warming or any of those things. Taken individually these are all threats to our way of life. The fact that none of us can influence any politician 1/100th of a percent as much as Microsoft, or Sony, or MPAA or any corporate group is the real crime.
I would gladly give up my "right" to copy a movie, or cd if MY interests were being looked after in washington.
My interests are fairly simple, I wish to do whatever the fuck I want so long as it harms none. I want to listen to cd's I purchase on whatever device I want to. I want to watch movies I buy wherever I feel the need to watch them. I want to use my xbox as a cheap ftp server that can also stream the movies I've purchased to any tv in my house.
According to the current rules in place, none of these things I want to do is legal.
The arguments that the protected content is not worth paying for doesn't float with me. If it's worth stealing, it's probably worth shelling out a few bucks for. But take Vista for example, if I pay $600 for the top of the line version. I cannot use it in the manner I see fit. I must use it according the their rules, and those rules are so strict, and the measures in place to make sure that I don't break them are so prohibitive that it does not make any sense for me to pay that much for it.
I'm not saying I've never downloaded software/music/movies. I have, I've downloaded tons of IP. But everything I've ever downloaded was either complete trash which I've deleted, or something I have a legit copy of.
IP, copyright, DRM, these are symptoms of the much more dreadful disease of corruption. And corruption at the highest levels, as bad as it currently is can only lead to revolution. This country is not old enough to be in the dire shape that is in. In a mere 230 years we've gone from We the people, to screw the people.
"America has to go through some kind of a radical change". --MH
I've been reading/. for a while, but never saw a need to sign up and post till I saw this article.
I think it might be time to relocate to a place that caters more to individual rights than America has become... China comes to mind, maybe some former soviet state.
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This "dumbing down" of America has been carefully orchestrated by the top 5%. The fact that only corporate entities show interest in politics is directly related to the fact that politics is only interested in corporate entities. I heard the following phrase literally thousands of times growing up in America. It doesn't matter who you vote for, they're all going to screw you. or I just vote for the person I think will fuck me over the least. In 8th grade, my history teacher told me he was voting for Clinton(his first term election), not because he believed in his stance on the issues but because he always voted for the person he knew would win. This is a fucking history teacher for christs' sake. In America today, your vote does NOT matter. I used to be proud to be an american, till I grew up and realized I had swallowed a little bit too much of the bullshit. When my government represents my interests, I will once again be proud of that government. It probably won't in my lifetime. America has to go through some kind of radical change.
Yes and there is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard....
There is only Another Fist
I was being facetious. I'll not move to China any more than I would move to Cuba.
On the other hand, the vote that I cast during election does not matter. I can cast my vote for whomever I feel is the closest to me on a variety of issues, but even when a new congressman/woman senator whatever gets voted in it's only a few years till they're on the corporate payroll. No matter how strong their convictions or how much they promise to "change the government from the inside out" they cannot hold out against the lobbyists.
My solution, outlaw corporate lobbying. It's the only real solution to the greater evil. Not DRM, not copyright law, not global warming or any of those things. Taken individually these are all threats to our way of life. The fact that none of us can influence any politician 1/100th of a percent as much as Microsoft, or Sony, or MPAA or any corporate group is the real crime.
I would gladly give up my "right" to copy a movie, or cd if MY interests were being looked after in washington.
My interests are fairly simple, I wish to do whatever the fuck I want so long as it harms none. I want to listen to cd's I purchase on whatever device I want to. I want to watch movies I buy wherever I feel the need to watch them. I want to use my xbox as a cheap ftp server that can also stream the movies I've purchased to any tv in my house.
According to the current rules in place, none of these things I want to do is legal.
The arguments that the protected content is not worth paying for doesn't float with me. If it's worth stealing, it's probably worth shelling out a few bucks for. But take Vista for example, if I pay $600 for the top of the line version. I cannot use it in the manner I see fit. I must use it according the their rules, and those rules are so strict, and the measures in place to make sure that I don't break them are so prohibitive that it does not make any sense for me to pay that much for it.
I'm not saying I've never downloaded software/music/movies. I have, I've downloaded tons of IP. But everything I've ever downloaded was either complete trash which I've deleted, or something I have a legit copy of. IP, copyright, DRM, these are symptoms of the much more dreadful disease of corruption. And corruption at the highest levels, as bad as it currently is can only lead to revolution. This country is not old enough to be in the dire shape that is in. In a mere 230 years we've gone from We the people, to screw the people.
"America has to go through some kind of a radical change". --MH
I've been reading /. for a while, but never saw a need to sign up and post till I saw this article.
I think it might be time to relocate to a place that caters more to individual rights than America has become... China comes to mind, maybe some former soviet state.