A week ago, America reacted.
Thousands – from bleary eyed internet trollers with stacks of empty Mountain Dew cans to CEOs of major companies – united to voice their frustration with Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Websites shut down. Twitter exploded with #SOPAblackout tweets. Google even changed their banner to the black rectangle commonly used by censors.
The protests (sort of) worked. Congress tabled the bill, though similar proposals will likely resurface.
America’s reaction is understandable and warranted, but it still frustrates me.
Turns out, threatening to hamper someone’s ability to download Kid Cudi’s discography or post screenshots of Arrested Development to their Tumblrs is the only way to inspire national, bipartisan protests over the government’s usurpation of our rights.
Yes, SOPA and PIPA affect more than just hipsters and their beloved internet. Like many college students, I participated in the protest with many a frustrated tweet. However, our reactions show that something is fundamentally wrong with our perspective on our rights.
We’ve somehow missed the dozens of attacks on our rights from a government rapidly growing into a police state.
Currently, the government can legally throw any American citizen into Guantanamo Bay indefinitely without trial simply on the suspicion that the person is involved in terrorism.
Just a few weeks ago on New Year’s Eve, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. The bill allows the government to imprison suspected terrorists indefinitely. Even if the suspect is an American citizen.
The vague language of the bill gives the government the ability to deny fair trial to anyone suspected of supporting any group “associated” with Al Queda or the Taliban. Rather than receiving the trial the 4th Amendment is supposed to guarantee, suspects are tried via military tribunal.
If the government deems you a terrorist, you lose your rights.
This is just one example of how the government has destroyed our freedom. SOPA and PIPA are simply the logical next steps in a long line of incredibly successful attacks upon our freedom.
Where were we when the NDAA gave the military the option of unlimited imprisonment? Where were we when individual health-care became mandatory? Where were we when “hate crimes” bills passed?
Chances are, we were on Youtube.