I love the internet, but I’m sick of people bitching about SOPA. Why? Because it’s all hype and no bite. Hell, I hope they pass the damn law, I honestly do. It would do well to have bibliographies for EVERYTHING(!). I would love that. Sure, my posts would take longer to write, but hey, I have no problem with that. I’m a writing tutor after all.
I can see why people might get their panties in a bunch over SOPA; it’s vague and many feel over-reaching. They say it’s a threat to essential liberties, free speech, democracy, yada yada yada. The same thing happened with the PATRIOT act. Remember that one? Please tell me you do. Remember what happened? A metric f**k-ton of NOTHING. Nothing happened- it went to court, it won, end of story. It’s a sad truth that in the US, very few of our “citizens” (and I use that term as loosely as our lovely Constitution) actually know the *three* branches of government. You know, the executive (least power), legislative (most direct power), and the judicial (that guy everyone forgets).
You see, in a democracy (including a republican democracy), because officials are elected to office, and have limited time in which they serve (technically, but not really) they are often as short-sighted as the people that elect them (that’s us). Judges, however, are appointed (at the federal level). This often gives them a long time to grow and understand how laws are written, and more importantly, how they are applied.
Sure, as written, SOPA can seem dangerous, and some feel it stinks of censorship (or responsibility, as I like to call it). However, the wonderful balance of the Judiciary tempers the shortsightedness of the Legislature and makes sure there are very specific protocol to follow in applying the law. Judicial review (a principle of constitutional law laid out by the first Supreme Court Chief Justice) ensures that over-zealous congressmen, which follows the often whimsical will of the people, from being as asinine as the public they serve.
So please, I don’t want to hear your whining, Internet trolls. Nor yours, Wikipedia, because you should know better.
Aspis of Ares 