 Wysłany: Czw 5:09, 12 Gru 2013 Temat postu: Wikipedia wimpy protest |
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| Wikipedia wimpy protest
Chamber of Commerce supports SOPA, while opponents (including Google, which reported second quarter profits of $2.5 billion in June) call it an onerous attack on free speech Wikipedia's action is pretty wimpy as far as protests go. Twentyfour hours is nothing in the geologic time of protests. Coming in the week that Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., a man who laid it all on the line by orchestrating protests, marches and even hunger strikes to help enact legislation that affected humanity, Wikipedia's effort smacks of a publicity stunt. One doesn't have to go far back in time to see the face of real protest or sacrifice. From the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, it's everywhere and protesters often suffer. Wikipedia, the online dictionary founded by James Wales, joins Reddit and dozens of other sites in the 24hour Internet blackout. They call it a political protest. But the move feels a lot like that of a typical cable TV company threatening to pull a channel or a kid who takes away his football and goes home when he doesn't' get his way. What would Cesar Chavez do? His United Farm Workers protests and calls for a grape boycott went on for years. Like Gandhi,[url=http://nikefreetilbud.hcslnet.com]nike free[/url], his hunger strikes went on for weeks. The Montgomery bus boycott of the '50s lasted nearly a year and resulted in a Supreme Court decision against racism. President Richard Nixon was forced to declare a state of emergency when postal workers in the northeast went out on strike in 1970. In 1981, President Reagan fired thousands of striking air traffic controllers. The Solidarity Movement in Poland started by Lech Walesa's shipyard protest helped bring down the Soviet empire. The protest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing was a shot heard 'round the world and, in truth, was much more than an iconic photo of one man standing against tanks. In other words, real protests have real consequences for its participants. blackout? Maybe someone trying to find out what "SOPA" means, but no one is going to die. Face it, Wikipedia is a less factchecked version of the dusty old World Book encyclopedias that were a refuge for middle school and high school students on the night before their term paper was due. Wikipedia goes dark OK, call a librarian. Problem solved. Conversely, who needs SOPA or PIPA? Just sic Louis Vuitton on them. That company polices and protects its property aggressively. But if Wikipedia's gesture is a little wimpy, so are the legislators and politicians backing away from the controversial bills even with the removal of contentious provisions that would've allowed blocking websites. Oppponents of the legislation say they're defending freedom, always a winning strategy. But really it's about free stuff or is that stealing?. |
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