‘We are the essence of America’
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- ‘We are the essence of America’
Really?
The founding fathers, maybe? Or perhaps the early frontier pioneers, or even members of the Armed Forces who have given, and are still giving, their lives for the people of America?
Nope.
None of the above.
The “essence of America” comprises »»»
Advertising Photographers of America; American Federation of Television & Radio Artists; American Intellectual Property Law Association; Association of Independent Music Publishers; AT&T; Business Software Alliance; CBS Corporation; Church Music Publishers Association; Directors Guild of America; Entertainment Software Association; Graphic Artists Guild; Langley Productions; Magazine Publishers of America; Microsof;tNational Association of Broadcasters; National Association of Stock; Car Auto Racing; National Collegiate Athletic Association; National Football League; National Music Publishers’ Association; NBA Properties, Inc.; News Corporation; Newspaper Association of America; Picture Archive Council of America; Professional Photographers of America; Professional School Photographers Association; Recording Industry Association of America; Reed Elsevier; SESAC; Software & Information Industry Association; Sony Pictures Entertainment; UniversalMusic Group; The Walt Disney Company; and, Writers Guild of America, West.
The RIAA?
Japan’s Sony?
France’s UMG?
Australia’s News Corpse?
If that’s the case, no wonder the country is in such a shit state.
The ‘announcement’ comes in one of the most nauseating, self-serving PR puff pieces ever seen, and which itself amounts to a petition the ‘essences of America’ want corporate minions to sign.
From the Copyright Alliance, it’s addressed to president Barrack Obama and vice-president Joe Biden, the latter being one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the corporate entertainment industry, and it says »»»
We, the undersigned, are just a few of the more than 11 million artists living, working, and creating across the United States. Our work brings significant cultural and economic value to our society – and contributes $1.52 trillion to the nation’s GDP. Yet that value is being disregarded as our rights and incentives to create are increasingly under threat.
Hear us as we speak with one voice about the importance of creators’ rights.
We are the essence of America. Since the founding of our country, our work has provided light in the darkness of conflict, humor in the depths of sadness, beauty in the face of ugliness, and reason in the dysfunction of division.
We serve as the foundation of our communities; you find us in schools, performance halls, libraries, museums, community centers, and movie houses. We enrich our culture with a wide range of creative expression, including music, film, software, video games, writing, photography, graphics, and other visual arts.
We contribute in some way to every single industry in the country. Many of us are self-employed. All of us work hard and pay taxes.
Yet, we are under assault. Our rights to control the distribution, use, and reproduction of our works in our vibrant digital age are dismissed by many who do not understand the value we bring to society. They tell us to work harder, create better, and give our works away. Some think that they should control our works and that they should be able to appropriate, perform, and copy them how they please, without our consent, benefit, or participation.
Our freedom as creators lies in the Constitutional rights we cherish, rights given to us to promote our culture. Without these rights, our ability to pursue our creative dreams and to meet the high expectations of those who benefit from our creative works is significantly diminished. As a result, all Americans will suffer.
Mr. President and Vice President, hear our call. We know you understand the value our creative contributions bring to our society and economy, and we know you can encourage our citizens to respect our rights. Please pursue policies supportive of the rights of artists and the encouragement of our creative efforts. Without the proper respect for our rights and works today, it will become even more difficult for us to create in the future.
Supply your own barf bags.
No need to stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
September, 2009
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September 30th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Same as it ever was.
As usual, they claim to support the CREATORS rights in every public PR statement,
while in court they talk about the RIGHTSHOLDERS rights.
They know full well that most people believe the creator and the rightsholder is the same.
The truth is, the rightsholder, the one who actually gets paid first, is nearly always the LABEL
not the ARTIST or CREATOR.
More self serving bullshit dressed up in a concern suit.
They are right about one thing though.
Corporations are now the ‘Essence of America’.
They own everything, even our Government.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Essence of shit, really.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
The funny thing is that the essence of America is not American. Any way who want an “”essence”‘ Like that.
Call it toxic garbage instead!
Vivendique Univers-Sale: France (You know the country where the citizen are the most racist and xenophobe in the world, in which their companies push their employee to commit suicide, and who put innocent arabic and African children in prison.)
Sony (Japan you know the country who killed million of Chinese and raped so many Chinese women.)
BMG (Germany the country of Hitler. No Coment.)
EMI (England the country who persecuted the people of Ireland for so many years and still continue today.)
Only Time Warner has something to do with America until someone blow up their headquarter since it is a tumor on the US landscape that no citizen from the land of the still free can tolerate.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
“. . . Since the founding of our country. . .”
THIS IS NOT YOUR COUNTRY YOU PARASTIES!
Get out before we call the exterminators!
September 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I might be flamed for this but..
The essence of the USA is corporations rule and are above the law. That’s what is happening. Corporations sacrifice humans through stress, tacking many positions into one to save money on headcount, bending/breaking the law to decrease overhead, buying legislation (Sen. Dodd, where’d you get that $13 million in campaign contributions again? Right, Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac, et al.), etc..
That’s the essence of the USA, aside from “we have the power bitch, now do as we say” with the military might, all the while crumbling their own economy.
Before you flame, realize the essence is NOT a representative of the people, of Americans. Though if more were aware beyond their own little world and more would stand up and fight with their pens (voting obviously, not Jason Bourne’s fight in Paris) things would change and the essence would perhaps represent the people.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
“As usual, they claim to support the CREATORS rights in every public PR statement,
while in court they talk about the RIGHTSHOLDERS rights.”
Tell that to the lawyers, judges and legislators and lobbyists.
Through the laws and handout money they own the politicians and the country.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
So who wants to rewrite this, except the essence being the customers/users/clients as opposed to the corporstions and their minions
a start:
We, the undersigned, are just a few of the more than XXX million customers/clients/consumers living, working, and consuming across the United States. Our consumption brings significant economic value to the very corporations who are trying to screw us over – and contributes $XXXX trillion to the nation’s GDP. Yet our value is being disregarded as our rights and to use what we have purchased are increasingly under threat….”
September 30th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I don’t want your America.
September 30th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
wtf do they want now? did they not just get a pro-ip bill plus a copyright czar? I lost hope for the USA a long time ago.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Robert:
Actually, if you want to get down to the really meaty bits, corporate rule isn’t the “essence” of America:
The “essential” American quality, is a unique ability for mass self-delusion:
“Equal protection under the law” (except for blacks, women, the indigenous tribal populations, Chinese immigrants, etc.)
“Land of the free” (except for “subversives” and “commies” and “rag-heads” and assorted other subhumans)
Iraqi “Liberation”
“It can’t happen here” (in response to U.S. being included on a top-ten list of “Electronic police states”).
The “essence” of America is that “Little Hussein” monkey-guy shopping for (Chinese-made) yellow ribbon refrigerator magnets at his local Wal-Mart.
Why exactly does anybody expect anything else, at this point?
October 1st, 2009 at 7:33 am
Oh look, more tripe from corporate America. Obama would do well to remember that the $1.52 trillion mentioned didn’t come from the entertainment industry, but actually came from the working class. You know, the folks working for minimum wage at places like McDonalds and Walmart, people who have to work more than one job just to feed their family and pay the bills. They are the very same people whom the entertainment industry is maliciously attacking and calling pirate scum. They represent the vast majority of Americans and are the deciding factor as to who gets voted into power and who doesn’t. Should the entertainment industry choose to continue on it’s self destructive path, then I say let them die. After all, making mistakes is how we grow and it’s not like that $1.52 trillion would suddenly vanish if the corporate moguls of the entertainment industry were suddenly toppled from their ivory towers. It originated from the working class and therefore would simply find it’s way into other sectors of industry. Culture will always exist in one form or another. It does not require the entertainment industry for it’s survival. The consumption of corporate entertainment is not essential to our well being. If the industry behind it does not wish to adapt as every industry eventually must, then perhaps it deserves to die so that something new can fill the niche it leaves behind. It’s simple Darwinism at it’s most basic folks.
October 1st, 2009 at 9:37 am
Comment Rave #1
Well, I just did some quick numbers – and I couldnt get to 1.2 trillion dollars. Doesnt matter how I cut the cake.
Whatever, so actually that meant that the content industry paid 300 billion in taxes last year.
Oh goody goody.
Because if they didn’t, (and they didnt) then their proof of income as a valuation for the business is flawed and the argument should be thrown out.
Doesnt the Government and banks require taxation filings to prove income in America?
Otherwise it’s called a low-doc loan application and really isnt all that good for the economy.
I did some quick numbers on the approximate demonstratable value of P2P to the USA economy and I came up with $626,496,816,264
(Which in reality is the numbers of multiplying the australian value by 16…. but its close enough.)
So RIAA – here’s the Gauntlet – you publish your figures proving that number and I will do the same here….
BTW – empirical proof – Neil Armstrong wrote secret memo to Whitehouse – Moon is actually made of Fetta cheese (and the empirical proof is in all those nursery rhymes.)
October 1st, 2009 at 9:46 am
Coment Rave #2
Just go ahead and sign the petition boys and girls.
Petition my butt!
I signed up as Tom Koltai – Economist Research Reports about P2P
And even changed my addy to Reno NV
But…… all I got every time was…..
Regardless of what I put in there it says…..
Error:
The reCAPTCHA wasn’t entered correctly. Go back and try it again.
So if it’s a real petition – why doesnt it work ?
I thought Hollywood could have faked this one better than that…….
October 5th, 2009 at 5:38 am
Your contribution to our culture??….ALL i see you contribute is brain rotting profanity filled crap music and movies that depict people breaking 50 laws in 2hrs 20 minutes with absolutely no consequences!.
Way to go!!.
Give yourselves a BIG pat on the back for contributing to the moral degradation of our society and no doubt hastening it to it’s demise!!.
Better give yourself a pay rise while there’s still time to spend it!.ASSHOLES!….See it’s rubbing off already!.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
from iceboreer on wiliam patry’s blog : http://moralpanicsandthecopyrightwars.blogspot.com/2009/09/we-are-copyright-alliance-hear-us-roar.html
Dear Copyright Alliance,
We, the undersigned, are just a few of the more than 304 million people living, working, and consuming across the United States. Our support allows you to bring significant cultural and economic value to our society and helps you to contribute $1.52 trillion to the nation’s GDP (oh, yeah, and we’re responsible for that other $12.32 trillion, too). Yet the value of our support is increasingly under threat as you attempt to extend the rights we’ve granted you to unjustifiable levels.
Hear us as we speak with one voice about the importance of the public domain.
We actually are America. Since the founding of our country, we are the ones who have provided you with subsidies ranging from direct support of the arts through government grants to the use of our airwaves at little or no cost. We have provided a free society in which your ability to express yourselves has seen little constraint, granted you a monopoly in your works so that you could reap rewards from them greater than would be allowed were there competition, and provided the infrastructure that you need to get your goods to market and to enforce your rights.
We provide the schools, libraries, museums, community centers, and many other venues for you to display your work. We use our hard-earned dollars to purchase the music, film, software, video games, writing, photography, graphics, and other visual arts that you produce.
We contribute in some way to every single industry in the country. Many of us are self-employed. All of us work hard and pay taxes.
Yet, we are under assault. All that we asked of you in return for the things we have given is that your works be allowed to enrich our society; to promote new understanding; and to be used, after a fair period of time, as the basis for new creations and further investigation, freely by all, as part of a vibrant public domain. Yet, our generosity, while surely also self-interested, has been used against us by those who seek to abuse their limited monopolies. They tell us that we must continually pay, long beyond any term necessary to incentivize their creative work, and extend their rights beyond any limit that could be considered reasonable. They tell us that we can’t media-shift the works we’ve purchased for use with modern technology because of a problem called “piracy,” which they claim, but can never show, harms them. Worse yet, some think that they should have this control over works they never created, but merely purchased from authors—the same authors from whom they have wrested the right to renegotiate deals and to whom they would deny the right to recapture their works.
Our freedom as citizens lies in the Constitutional rights we cherish, particularly in rights given by us to promote our culture. Without these rights, your ability to pursue your creative dreams and to benefit from your creative works would be significantly diminished. As a result, all Americans will suffer.
Copyright Alliance, hear our call. We know you understand the value a rich public domain brings to our society and economy, and we know you can encourage our media companies to appreciate the rights they’ve been given. Please pursue policies supportive of the rights of the citizens of the United States and the encouragement of creative efforts inasmuch as they benefit society. Without the proper respect for our rights, it will become even more difficult for us to incentivize creation in the future.