Obama can. But will he?
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Having a realistic cynical attitude and view towards all politicians everywhere, my rose-tinted glasses faded, cracked, and turned to dust long before the ‘Golden Years’ of the Clinton White House.
As an American who’s been living overseas for close to two decades, I have perhaps a unique perspective of my country, as well as an informed up-close experience of my host country’s population’s perception of the US.
Although all of the debates (what were there, like a hundred or so?) were televised on the Criminal News Network (CNN) and many other channels where I live, I didn’t watch a single second of them, nor did I read transcripts or care to hear the opinions of lamescream news readers.
Repetitive rhetoric without substance is not my cup of tea. I prefer to get news and information from honest and reliable sources, such as The Daily Show, where Jon Stewart, the most trusted name in news, hands the truth to me plainly and unashamedly.
Over the years on p2pnet we’ve heard from many freshmen and senior members of congress, as well as those who’ve endeavored to take their places on both sides of the aisle, and on all sides of the p2p issue.
We’ve heard from the corporate lobbyists who pay off the politicians, and we’ve heard from their lawyers who defend the practice of bribery.
We’ve heard from and about the thousands of innocent families all over the world being sued and threatened by money-grubbing studio bosses. And p2pnet, its readers, and contributors have in several cases banded together more often than not, to offer moral support, help with legal costs, and in some cases free legal services, all of which have resulted in a fair share of positive precedent-setting verdicts by fair and enlightened courts.
And of course, we’ve heard (directly or indirectly) from the RIAA and MPAA corporate mouthpieces and notable personages, such as the uninformed RIAA shill Sheryl Crow, who continues to spout the cartels’ lies that the artists are losing money because of p2p.
Despite an open letter to Ms Crow on this website, and numerous emails to her through her own website, management, and lawyers, she has refused to participate in an open and honest discussion with p2pnet and its readers concerning filesharing, fair use, and so-called copyright infringement.
We also learned that ‘W’ had an iPod which contained copies of copyrighted music, the origins of which were never fully explained, or subsequently questioned by the lamescream media.
But we’ve also heard from many well known, and lesser-known performers, most of who are enlightened and not against filesharing of their music, TV shows, and films,
One band I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing exclusively for p2pnet are ‘The Commitments’, one of the most famous, recognizable, accessible, and humble groups of artists around. In our interview, they unanimously and without reservation stated they aren’t against filesharing.
Ken (Derek ‘The Meatman’ Scully) McCluskey unashamedly told me, ‘You can get our music over the internet for free, and we don’t mind. So any people that wanna get on the internet and have our stuff for free, or whatever, go ahead.’
‘The Commitments’ have sold more than 16,000,000 albums worldwide, but they aren’t millionaires. ‘To be honest with you, the last person, or persons in the pecking order, and to get the residuals, is the artist’, Ken told us. ‘The lion’s share goes to the record companies. The record labels aren’t interested in artistic endeavor, or the music or anything. They’re interested in the money.’
More than a billion people have seen ‘The Commitments’ film, voted ‘The Best Irish Film of All Time’, and has secured a position in the UK’s best 100 films of all time. But the band and other actors in the film receive absolutely no royalties from dvd sales.
Most recently, the enormous response to Joss Whedon’s mini-epic, ‘Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’, shown (and shared) for free worldwide on the net, sold online at iTunes, and now available on dvd, has again proved that a shared file doesn’t amount to a lost sale.
Not to mention the many, many independent performers and film makers who give their music and films away on the net for free, because they know that will eventually translate into sales of albums, dvds, ticket and merchandise. It’s common sense and it’s the new business model that the cartels need to embrace if they want to continue stuffing their pockets. That is, after they’ve paid out all present and past due royalties with interest. Just ask Peter Jackson whose royalties from ‘King Kong’ the studio stole.
Which brings me back to the Obama/Biden bandwagon (one foot on board and one foot firmly planted on the cold, hard ground of reality).
Promoting ‘real change’
As reported by p2pnet and elsewhere, president Obama has selected pro-RIAA/MPAA lawyers to the US Justice Department (Tom Perrelli and David Ogden) who share the same pro-cartel views as admitted plagiarizer Vice President Biden, and will continue to look for ways whether legal or ethical or not to arrest and imprison mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, and corpses who have done nothing illegal by sharing legally purchased ‘product’.
People who were already struggling before the current recession.
Having started his campaign from a grass-roots level, promoting ‘real change’ and a ‘Yes We Can’ attitude, pundits claim Mr Obama ‘ignited’ voters young and old.
He used every form of media (electronic, analog, and digital) to get his message out. With infomercials, radio addresses, books, interviews, and GooTube channels, he ran on a mandate of ‘Change’, and of allowing and enabling people everywhere to be informed by using new technologies technologies which should improve and enhance their lives.
It’s safe to assume that with two young, impressionable children (and with all of the unnecessary media attention that’ll be thrust upon the youngsters daily for the next four to eight years), the Obama household probably has at least two iPods or similar media players at their disposal.
Will we be told where their portable music and video files originated from? Will they provide verifiable proof that they obtained it ‘legally’ with permission from the copyright holders to make copies for use on more than one media player or computer?
And will the lamescream media notwithstanding the traditional 100-day Honeymoon – take time out from their lovey-dovey cooing to even ask?
It’s doubtful, to say the least.
With the US and the world on the verge of an inevitable depression; with more families losing homes than there are buying them; with thousands of innocent people losing jobs because of corporate, banking, and government greed, what message is being sent by appointing people who will do whatever they can to imprison people for sharing legally purchased entertainment and information, and who will also help to blackmail other governments to do the same to their own citizens?
The message is clear: ‘Business as usual. No Change at all.’ The old adage is still true: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I can hardly wait to see who will head the FCC and what immoral and illegal extortionate tactics they’ll use to force people to buy ‘product’.
Mr Obama says, ‘We Can’. But realistically, can he? And will he?
He’s a politician. Politics, greed, and corruption walked down Pennsylvania Avenue today. Unfortunately not many people saw it through their shiny new rose-tinted glasses.
I want to get both feet on the Obama/Biden bandwagon. I really do. I want to see and experience the changes promised by the new government. I want my perception of politicians to change, knowing that what I believe in, what’s fair and what’s right has been realised by the powers that be. I really do.
And I really, really, want to be proud of my country. Really I do.
Soon after Baghdad fell during the recent illegal war, Euronews broadcast live, uncensored coverage of bombed out, injured and homeless Iraqis trying to get needed emergency aid packages of food, water and medicines.
These pictures were also shown on US lamescream networks. But what they didn’t show were the American soldiers standing in their way, pushing them back and yelling ‘We’re here for your fucking freedom! Now get the fuck back!’
Fast-forward to Election Day, 2008: Euronews broadcasts live, uncensored coverage of expats around the world celebrating the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President.
These pictures were also shown on US lamescream networks. But what they didn’t show was the American woman in London, a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, crying and screaming with joy, ‘We did it! We fucking did it!’
Two uses of a word that for some is distasteful, but to most is a useful and often necessary tool to convey emotion when other words fail. Two instances which portray to the rest of the world the truthful sentiment behind the government and its supporters at that time.
In the first instance, ‘proud’ was not the emotion I felt. It was shame. In the second instance, I just laughed, knowing that it would never make onto the lamescream media.
Lastly, I want to see the cartels defeated. I want to see the government and police removed from peoples’ bedrooms. I want to see the continued growth of free sharing of entertainment and information across borders without fear of being debt-ridden or imprisoned.
And when that happens, I want to jump on the bandwagon and scream from the top of my lungs, ‘We did it! We fucking did it!’
I really, really, really, fucking do.
Also see my Open Letter to Barack Obama.
catflap – p2pnet
January , 2009
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