I wish SOPA would have passed

[SonicKoala]

Yes, I know, it didn't. Furthermore, this isn't even my opinion...or at least, it wasn't until I read this interesting little rant:

http://maddox.xmission.com/

Essentially, the author is suggesting that protests such as the blackout yesterday, and the subsequent "victory" which resulted from it, are failing to address the key deficiencies inherent in the American system of government, the most notable being the rampant corruption and general incompetency of those politicians who supposedly represent the people. Something like SOPA (or PIPA) passing could serve as a means of jolting the American populace out of their idle, apathetic stupor, possibly leading to far more significant and longer-lasting change.

In general, I agree with what the author is saying - it doesn't take a genius to recognize that there are major issues inherent in American politics which need to be addressed, and perhaps something as drastic as the passing of a bill like SOPA is the very thing needed to effect the change so sorely needed. On the other hand, I was rather impressed with the SOPA protest, and evidently, it certainly wasn't for nothing.

What do you guys think? Come on, don't be shy. DISCUSS!

 

[Lilani]

Didn't? What do you mean it "didn't" pass? It hasn't even been voted on yet. It's been temporarily shelved, but the main sponsor of the bill wants to begin hearings again in February.

 

[WeAreStevo]

Ugh. Oh Maddox...you are both funny at times, and just a complete shit other times because it inflates your already astronomical ego.

On the surface, protests (such as Occupy Wall Street, wikipedia shutting down for half a day) don't really work (in the sense that he seems to believe they are intended to do). What I mean by this is that when people sat outside of Wallstreet (or in my city, Oakland, shut down the port) the government, 2% and banks didn't collapse and say "ZOMG! We're so sorry! Here's all your demands."

Ergo, the protest (in Maddox's opinion) was a failure and a waste of time.

However:

Occupy Wallstreet (love 'em or hate 'em) has got the nation talking about income equality. Change will not come overnight. Rather, the dialog needs to be changed and refocused. I believe in these respects, the occupy movement has done just that.

And wikipedia shutting down for half a day? Hell...there's an entire meme dedicated to that, which includes SOPA). What this has done was brought to light the issue of the 1st amendment and censorship on the internet. Actually, as a result of the blackouts, some senators have changed their stance. Even the might Maddox has changed and edited his post to say "no longer supports SOPA." I suppose that is because they suddenly had a change of heart. Not because a ton of people got outraged when they couldn't access wikipedia. People with something called a vote.

Finally, a more concrete example. Remember when Go Daddy! was in full support of SOPA and then they lost hundreds of thousands of customers? They changed their support out of fear of losing more customers.

Maddox has a way of taking his point of view, making it overly machismo with a hint of humor, and BAM! People are willing to follow him like he's the pied piper.

Long story short, I think the protests were successful, because they are bringing attention to the issue of SOPA.

And if anyone was "inconvenienced" by the temporary outages...

 

[SonicKoala]

Didn't? What do you mean it "didn't" pass? It hasn't even been voted on yet. It's been temporarily shelved, but the main sponsor of the bill wants to begin hearings again in February.

Thank you for your valuable contribution to the thread.

 

[Lilani]

Thank you for your valuable contribution to the thread.

I do my best :3

 

[renegade7]

3 days ago no one in my school had heard of SOPA. Now I do not have a single classmate who think it's a good idea. I'd call that pretty damn successful.

 

[crazyarms33]

I don't know anyone who is favor of SOPA. Regardless if it passed I doubt this thread would be allowed. As far as alerting the masses to gov't corruption...I don't think that there has been a single government in the history of earth that has ever been free of corruption. Is that saying we shouldn't try to alert the people? No. Will the corruption manifest itself in different ways? I say yes.

 

[SaikyoKid]

I do agree with you that the government here in the US has gotten to be pretty much flawed in many respects and corrupt in even more. However, I don't feel that making the majority of us who do care suffer because of it isn't the right thing to do.

If SOPA were to pass, and the best case scenario happens where people see the gov. for what it is, so on and so on, then it could possibly take ages for anything to happen for the better. All the while, SOPA and PIPA would be in effect causing the rest of us to suffer for who knows how long. And you know all the while the big company lobbyists will be fighting tooth and nail to keep the laws that way.

This black out certainly has succeeded. There's bound to be a lot more people now who have at least SOME idea of what's going on in congress right now. (even if some of them think it's Obamas fault or whatever) Honestly, if even a small percentage of those people actually learned something from this then I consider that a win. Long story short, we now have far more people with knowledge of what's going on and SOPA's still has not passed. As long as it can stay that way I'll be happy.

And on a small side note, it's still up for voting later next month I believe and PIPA's pretty much upon us right now. So there's still a chance it may pass. So yea, make of that what you will.