Yep, I'm learning about it due to Wikipedia's blackout.
Here are a few points I'd like to make, since we're going to drag down every site owner out there by letting this shit pass.
I think music companies should be able to sue each other NOW. I've been noting lately how many songs sound a lot like others, they're just rearranged in some way, or only using a small piece of what's in another song. But by that logic, as soon as someone hums one note, you've committed copyright infringement. By even talking about it, you've committed a crime, because you might encourage someone to go out and listen for themselves, or buy the other party's music, thus not buying the original party's music.
Every time you utter a single word out of the english language, you are using someone else's ideas. What is the difference between Intellectual Property and an Idea? Not much. The big difference is that IP is officially owned by someone and ideas are up for grabs. Copyrights and other such official registrations are bullshit, really, for many things, because it really only belongs to the first person who /registers/ it, not the person who originated the concept. So it's unfair to begin with and simply capitalizing on more shit.
Every time you paint, you're copying someone else's work. Trust me, that zig zag you just drew? Some little kid drew that in kindergarten, and I guarantee that an artist could sue a little kid if they really wanted to simply by copyrighting their freakin' work.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
America is turning into a sue-fest, where creativity is being recognized, swiped, capitalized on, and then the thief cries wolf when someone does it to them. Now, I'm perfectly happy to pay someone who has toiled and troubled, if I like it. I am also willing to pay MORE to someone who has perfected someone else's work because you know what? If the person who created the thing in the first place could do it RIGHT the first time, I would have given THEM my dough. I want to honour people who deserve it by supporting them, not these wannabe creepshows who want everything for doing nothing, or for doing very little. Making a quick buck, though... it's the American Way. Right?
Where do you draw the line between an original work and common knowledge? Who should be allowed to make that determination? Where do you draw the line between a government that has a few laws in place to prevent mayhem and one that controls everything we do or say? But beyond all of that... This is the biggest question I want answered: Why is the government being allowed or encouraged to even THINK of having a law stating that the non-responsible parties are going to be held responsible? This brings me right back to my eighth-grade science class when there were like 40 kids and three in the very back whom I didn't know (nor care to know) were talking. The entire class got punished because of three people and we were told that it was because none of us told them to shut their traps. In other words, the teacher, instead of doing her job and yanking their sorry asses out of class and marching them to the Principal's office, held us responsible for their actions. You know what I did after that? I talked incessantly the rest of the year, to make up for the injustice.
I learned that business is not your friend. It's a good thing to have it - it causes some healthy competition, jobs, income, and that nebulous thing we call "economics." But your employer is not there to protect you. It's there to purchase your services and it tells you what to do while you're under their thumb. You have to sign non-disclosures, hand in your urine samples, and all sorts of other things so they can protect themselves, their rights, etc. WE HAVE NO RIGHTS. Seriously. When we get right down to it, we are slowly signing what few we have left, away, but simply not paying attention, standing up, etc.
I don't give a damn about the Wall Street shit that's been going on. That, to me, is pathetic. Permitting more suing, however, has got to stop. Holding the non-responsible people responsible is not going to work, it'll cause a revolution, it'll cause goodspeak, it'll cause 1984 to finally happen.
"You're crazy." "I'm not crazy, now listen--" "Insanity is characterized by stating one is not crazy." "Okay... so what if I state I /am/ crazy?" "Then you've taken the first step to recovery."
Did you know that some bright dumbasses have released 3 million mosquitoes into an area so they mate with the females and die off? I know, I know, we're "protecting our fellow peoples by preventing disease from spreading to them through infected mosquitoes." Yeah, okay, that's great. For now. Then their grandkids starve because you didn't think of the chain effect of killing off another critter's food supply. Did you know that dragonflies eat mosquitoes? It's their staple diet. I have a better idea. Let's compete with them over the mosquitoes instead. Mosquitoes eat blood, right? Thus if you eat a mosquito, you're getting protein and iron. Let's be more efficient by eating the mosquitoes ourselves.
Morons. Stay the hell out of our lives. Unless, of course, you wish to fix the English language by yanking all websites, periodicals, and other publications that have blatant typos in them. Start with this one. Please.
~w
ps I'm pretty angry about this. Can you tell? I think there are reasons I tend to stay away from the news. Thanks, Wikipedia, for making me too angry to even write coherently. I believe in your cause, I do, but dammit, I really wish I didn't have to know about more of this stupidity.
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