SOPA and PIPA

I'm sure you've heard by now about SOPA and PIPA, and if you haven't please get out from under your rock because I'm not going to try and explain everything about them here.

I do want to get something straight, though: Piracy is wrong. It is stealing and a crime. Period. But giving massive power to the government so they can censor the internet is far, far worse and extremely dangerous. Politicians have been throughout history notoriously corrupt when it comes to power. Every abuse they can get away with they commit. Even then, men in general are corruptible when it comes to power, so it is unwise to trust anyone with much power. Because the internet is one of the only things outside of the government's reach, entirely free from restrictions and regulations that might hamper it, and allows for the free flow of information to everyone who can use it, giving the government power to interfere with this is downright dangerous and not acceptable.

To summarize, piracy is criminal, but overpowering the government is dangerous to our freedom and success as a people.

Also, I am a little disgusted by how much attention this has gotten. 7,000 websites went on strike against this thing and why? Because it threatens peoples' freedom on the internet. But what is the rallying cry? Not "protect freedom!" but "save our entertainment!" Yes, people are concerned about their comics and "LOLs" and stupid, wasteful junk which they waste their time on. I'm going to let you in on a little not-so-secret-secret: there are much bigger things to worry about. What disgusts me is that the biggest fuss and worry have been made on this, while threats to personal rights, self defense and other infinitely more important things have been ignored or remained invisible to people. If this is the real state of America, that we are willing to work ourselves up in defense of our ability to waste time but remain unwilling or unable to see and prevent threats to our basic rights, then I worry for the future. It is pitiful.

Seriously yours,
Josh