I love the internet. I practically live on here. I'm on Twitter, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Google+ (sort of. I don't post much but I visit it semi often). I am also a gamer.
All of that being said, I like to keep myself informed about what is going on. Twitter helps me with this a lot since everything happens on Twitter. You will probably hear it there first. I also tend to go to some "news" outlets from time to time. I use the quotation marks because some of those places that call themselves news aren't. I'm mainly speaking of Yahoo. Ha! Yahoo. It's all sports and Kardashians over there.
If I want real news, I go to Al Jazeera. Yes, I'm serious. You know why I go there? Because it's one of the few places that is pretty unbiased when it comes to reporting the news. And unlike Yahoo, they actually have news on the SOPA and PIPA blackouts. I just went to Yahoo and their main "news" is about some basketball player's expensive birthday gift, among other unimportant things. On the front page of AJ, stuff about the blackouts. Sure, you can argue that Yahoo isn't really a news source, they are just an entertainment company. I know this. That's why I don't go there for news. (You could also argue that all news outlets are really just part of the entertainment business, I've heard that one too) But Yahoo is a pretty big company and it's viewed by a lot of people, who probably use it as their primary news source.
The point I'm trying to make is that I noticed something last night on Twitter. Someone pointed out that I should search for "wtf wikipedia" on Twitter. I did and I was shocked and saddened by what I saw. Numerous people had no clue what the heck was going on and why Wikipedia went black. Really?! I mean they've only been talking about this for over a week. It's been everywhere in the news (well, the real news. Not Yahoo.). It's been all over Twitter, Facebook, etc. The internet has been buzzing about this for a while. How do so many people not know about this?
Then I started thinking deeper about this issue. Maybe the reason people don't know is because the media is keeping it that way on purpose. Maybe we are purposely being kept complacent because they don't want us to stand up for our rights. I could go further with the "conspiracy theory" and say the government probably has a hand in it and is paying the "news" companies to further keep us in the dark.
Granted, people have free will, they could use their own minds to find real news if they want it. But here's the kicker: a lot of them don't. I'm sure there are many reasons for this, some I've even told myself. "Oh the news is so depressing, I don't want to read about it" "Oh I just don't have time" etc.
That still doesn't explain why people don't know about this. If you are part of a social network, it's been everywhere. The gaming community (which I belong to) has been ravenous about this for weeks. It's not a small thing. Why are so many people ignorant about this?! THIS IS IMPORTANT!
There is no excuse that in this day and age, you should be ignorant about this. No. Excuse. Get your head out of the sand and pay attention! Stop being sheep and start thinking for yourselves or we are going to be in for a very rude awakening.
You have two choices: You can start thinking, living, participating, and stop accepting the crap that we are being fed, or you can go on a live your live in ignorant bliss.
If you choose the second choice, you have no right to complain when things go the way you don't want them to go. No right. "But everyone has the right to free speech!" Ha! Not if it gets taken away because YOU didn't do anything to fight for it!
People, we are strong together. That's why these industries want to take us down. They know we could defeat them if we put our collective heads together. I have seen firsthand the power of social media and people...of the so-called "slacktivists"...and it is brilliant. You don't have to go out and actively protest to be heard. Don't give in to the "news" and "entertainment" industries! Think for yourselves and stand up for your real rights!
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Disclaimer: I know some of this might seem a bit hypocritical as I am sitting behind a computer instead of out there protesting, but I currently have a nasty cold and other health issues that prevent me from doing anything but sitting at home on the computer.I have actually been on Twitter all day retweeting things about the protest or any news about SOPA or PIPA. I have also been educating myself and others on this in the past 24 hours. I feel one of the greatest things I can do to help is to educate people about this since there is a lot of misinformation out there. I also realize that the people reading this already agree with me and are not the audience that this is intended for. I am also aware that this might not reach the intended audience since that one seems adverse to reading, especially long diatribes like this one. This is just cathartic for me so I'm writing it and posting it anyway. I'm ticked off at the way the world is going and I feel powerless to stop it. I'm just trying to bring awareness to this as best I can. I am also not generally prone to believing in conspiracies, but this is just a thought that came to my mind and it makes sense to me, maybe someone else could find some actual facts to back it up. I'd look it up, but Wikipedia is currently down (haha joking!). In all seriousness, I would look it up, but I don't even know where to begin with that.
If you enjoyed this post or it made you think, please pass it on.
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