Yesterday, I posted part one of my 3-part SOPA/PIPA Vs NDAA series (read it) in which I suggest that all these sites going dark to protest SOPA/PIPA was just misplaced efforts and energy (the indefinite-detention-legalizing NDAA of 2012 is much more worthy of protest, harms more of our core human rights, and is already a law!). Last night over at Mandommag.com, my third post for them went into more detail explaining just how the NDAA is much more of a threat than the SOPA/PIPA bills (read it). But in my post, here on thepete.com yesterday, I also suggested that the reason this movement had gotten so big was not because of how much a threat SOPA or PIPA are (they haven't even passed either house of Congress yet) but because big Internet companies stand to lose a lot of money if they get blocked in the US (aka they're only doing it for the money). Today I'm going to suggest that protesting SOPA/PIPA actually helps the bad guys.
When the War Against Terror (or as I like to call it, "tWAT") began, the USG made sure we were adequately scared shitless by a few thousand underfunded guys in the desert who wanted to kill us. Politicians insisted there would be another attack. They had us so horny to kill terrorists that we were distracted from the fact that both wars, and several laws that were passed, were illegal, unconstitutional or both. We were distracted from the things that matter most to this country--our principles. What were we distracted by? A myth--a terrorist "organization" that had minimal funding and a handful of actual participants. Compared to the Soviet Union, our last major antagonist, these guys were nothing--literal phantoms.
But now we're used to the idea of terrorists and aren't so scared of them anymore. In fact, we're not scared of anything these days. Largely due to the #Occupy movement (which neither party could co-opt like the Republicans did with the Tea Partiers), we are seeing a large, vocal group of Americans speaking out against unjust machinations by the USG and Corporate America. When you think about it, the relationship between Corporate America and the USG is the single most important relationship there is in America today. Without it, just think of how many politicians couldn't stay in office and how many pro-business laws wouldn't get passed, thus hampering businesses' abilities to do whatever they want for a profit.
Coincidentally (or not) here comes SOPA/PIPA threatening to take away huge chunks of our ability to communicate. In a worst-case scenario, it could mean our current Internet utopia would be destroyed. Naturally, we all panic since revolutions around the world were powered, in part, by the Internet. Plus if I can't tweet from the toilet, my day would suck that much more.
Forget that the bill has yet to pass either house. Forget that the president has said he's not too keen on it. Forget that while so many of us are chasing around this literal phantom menace hundreds, possibly thousands, of human beings are being held indefinitely by US authorities around the world RIGHT NOW--and it's entirely legal.
This sends a message to all Americans that you better not show up for that #Occupy rally in town because you could get arrested and held--possibly forever. Since much of the #Occupiers are being looked at by authorities as challenging the establishment, it would only take a nudge, in their minds, to call you a terrorist. Anything you do that could be perceived as a challenge to "America" could also be perceived as making the job easier for terrorists. Thus making you a bad guy, too.
But thank God Google, Tumblr, Wikipedia and other sites made sure the Internet was left untouched because you'll be able to tweet your lawyer from Guantanamo. Oh wait, no you won't, because in Guantanamo there's no wifi, or any other kind of freedom.
So keep on chasing that phantom menace and you just might find yourself dealing with something much worse than the movie by the same name.
Part Three tomorrow...
from a post at thepete.com
