We Americans may be a captive audience to our reality-TV star who thinks he's an authoritarian, but we are a chatty audience, and our loquaciousness has been our salvation. For nearly a year, we have exercised First Amendment rights like we were working a defibrillator on democracy's damaged heart. We debunked lies, catalogued crimes, demanded justice and created a vast, informal movement dedicated to the pursuit of truth over alternative facts.
But that may be about to end. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission announced it was planning a sweeping rollback of net neutrality, allowing corporations to decide what content is available online while pricing most citizens out of equal access to information.
For nearly a year, America has stood at the crossroads of a damaged democracy and a burgeoning autocracy. If net neutrality is destroyed, we will cross firmly into the latter, and our return is unlikely.
The threat to net neutrality highlights the reliance on social media and an independent press for political organizing in the digital age. Should net neutrality be eliminated, those avenues will likely become curtailed for much of the public or driven out of business due to loss of revenue. Without the means to freely communicate online, citizens will be far less able to challenge the administration. It doesn't matter what cause someone prioritizes: The elimination of net neutrality will impede the ability to understand the cause, discuss it and organize around it.
She's not wrong.
The best bulwark we have against fascism is our 1st Amendment which has now evolved to include our ability to communicate online in a variety of social media platforms.
Including this one.
This is one of those moments in history where a people are confronted with a choice which may determine the survival of their society as it exists in the present.
Just imagine for a moment what it would be like if Donald Trump and his cronies were able to use their connections to big telecom companies to put the squeeze on CNN, MSNBC, Raw Story, Mother Jones, Politico, etc., and quiet their voices to a low murmur in the background.
If you do not think that is ultimately the plan then you have not been paying attention.
P.S. For those of you who do not know who Sarah Kendzior is, here is video of her going off on a representative from Breitbart.
We are dealing with a lot of important issues right now, but arguably net neutrality is one of the MOST important.This video went viral again, so a little context. It's from a late Nov 2016 panel at the News XChange conference in Denmark. I was responding to Matthew Boyle of Breitbart, who is seated at the end of the row. https://t.co/OCMuaglwvD— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) November 26, 2017
We are clever people. It will be harder but we will still overcome . Or leave...the better option. Who would want to live here anyway anymore? So glad to have relatives in Scandinavia!!!
ReplyDeleteMatt Lauer gone! yay! Always thought he was a secret little dick man!
ReplyDeleteTwitler is on a roll.... "So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!" @realDonaldTrump
DeleteWell we got rid of Nixon without the Internet,we can get rid of Trump too!
ReplyDeleteJust have to be more creative.
All the reasons you provide Gryphen are indeed good ones as to why Net Neutrality must remain intact.
ReplyDeleteThe number one reason voters will motivate themselves to the election box though is porn. Corps (mostly run by puritanical types) will charge more if they allow access to ones fave wanking material at all.
I love it. Porn indirectly will save the USA.
'1. Porn sites receive more regular traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter
Deletecombined EACH month.'
2. 35% of all internet downloads ARE porn-related.
5. At least 30% of all data transferred across the internet is porn-related.
6. The most common female role in porn is women in their 20’s portraying TEENagers.
10. Porn is a global, estimated $97 Billion industry, with about $12 Billion of that coming from the U.S.
13. 64% of young people, ages 13–24, actively seek out pornography weekly or more often.
17. A 2015 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally the consumption of pornography was significantly associated with increases in verbal and physical aggression, among males AND females alike."
"We hold the power to change these numbers by being educated and decreasing the demand for sexual exploitation."
" Right now, the porn industry is simply supplying what people are demanding."<EUREKA!
"
This movement is all about changing the conversation about pornography."
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=HOW+BIG+IS+THE+PORN+INDUSRTY&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Wow! that is sick. Its no wonder we have the problems in world. This 94 million want to lay around playing with their member and watching other people have sex. Anthony weenie? prison? Sexual dysfunction, inability to communicate with opposite sex, inability to have normal relationships is clearly related to porn, sex addiction, crime and sexual misconduct clearly related to porn. Where is the DJT porn tape?
DeleteRon Jeremy and donny dotard dRUMP
Delete'eat your heart ons'
tHIS is SEXy>
'Polk Salad Annie'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrA-ciIa5Do
9:31am
DeleteNearly as many women watch porn as do men, so your judgement is a bit flawed there sister.
Put on your Amish cap and go back to your cave, obviously you're not ready for this brave new world, that and I bet you are extremely sexually frustrated, your writing identifies you as such.
The only thing that should be removed is fox no news, brietfart fake news, RT propaganda and put the brakes on all countries that do not have secured net. Secure the internet, hold servers responsible and demand internet providers have secure service with NO junk mail, scam mail, phishing, etc and NO fuzzy mamma bear skanko playing fool or dotard rigging elections and playing chess with sneaky liddle kgb drop outs.
ReplyDeleteCensoring those you believe to be your enemy is still censorship.
Delete4.47 odd comment. Seems the nasty dirty Viagra fueled type free for all to pollute and contaminate society with their nasty tacky garbage is the problem. And the dotard of the ring is sitting in our white house illegally, illegitimately and accused of rape, assault, and rigging elections until removed and charged with treason and espionage. The nasties will head back under the rock and into the closet. Nobody wants to watch lousy nasty filth porn with lousy nasty bad actors with zits on their ass.
ReplyDeleteHow exactly is my comment odd 5:51 AM? Because I support sex workers?
DeleteYou sure like to make sweeping statements speaking for everyone. If your words were truth the porn industry would be going out of business. Based on usage numbers, the southeast alone proves you wrong.
By the way - I must say this. Porn is NOT the same as Sexual Assault. To equate the two proves your inability to use critical reasoning skills.
Grey One, you're invited to dinner at my house any time! I like the way you think.
DeleteI support legal prostitution. I do not support political propaganda on porn sites. The sex industry makes plenty of money on addiction to their site. Call it old fashion grey but sex is personal and private to most. The lack of respect for women comes from lack of morals and decency. You have made your liddle pointed comment to generate discussion and that is good. Freedom of speech is number ono in usa. Freedom to lie is not. Freedom to commit rape on a drugged person and tape it is not. But you are not free to harm another. The is no freedoms to distribute harmful propaganda to mold our election or society and prey on the citizens of the usa. Americans have the freedom and power to stop the harmful ways of sick minded sex addicts advertising dangerous propaganda to infect and damage our youth and society.
Delete5:51am
DeleteSeems like you've been watching the wrong porn sister.
OT:
ReplyDelete"New details have emerged on how the former national security adviser allegedly lobbied for a foreign business deal."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-nuclear-plan-white-house_us_5a1e1b73e4b0dc52b02a2261?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
The two MOST important issues of the Trump administration are Net Neutrality and the COURTS, I.E. judges he's appointing.
ReplyDeleteEverything else can be reversed or fixed.
But those judges are sitting on the bench in lifetime appointments.
And once Net Neutrality is gone it will take an act of Congress to bring those protections back. We can't depend on that happening.
Net Neutrality is the camel's nose. Once it's gone, they will whittle away at the First Amendment until it is essentially gone too.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sarah-sanders-cnn-white-house-christmas-party_us_5a1e0287e4b0d724fed48333?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
ReplyDelete"CNN has decided its reporters will not be guests at the annual White House Christmas party as the network continues to feud with the Trump administration.
“In light of the President’s continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as his invited guests. We will send a White House reporting team to the event and report on it if news warrants,” a CNN spokesperson told HuffPost.
When White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders got wind of CNN’s decision, she could hardly contain her excitement."
Disgusting.
There aren't words that are bad enough to describe the depths of disgust this administration creates.
This does make one look at what many of us already spend on access and content.
ReplyDeleteWe pay $200/month for fast internet and cable and two premium channels, $8 Netflix ,$10 Hulu, $10 Apple for Music $100/annually for Amazon Prime for free shipping plus all of their content. Add onto that what will probably be another $100 for "full" internet content and that ends up being close to another car payment.
I wonder if this will backfire since so many are already paying so much for what we only use 10% of? Either that or companies such as google will balk at users having to pay a fee for their content and then tie this up in court for years?
It will be interesting to see how it plays out if it comes to pass.