Camus and Net Neutrality

Today's quote comes from French author Albert Camus.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."

Yesterday a federal appeals court ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to enforce net neutrality on internet providers. If the court had upheld the FCC ruling we would have been moving towards an unfree world. On the surface net neutrality seems to be for freedom but in fact nothing could be farther from the truth. Supporters of net neutrality say that to support my freedom of speech all internet providers must provide a connection to my blog for all of their customers for a single set price. I say this is ridiculous that is like saying Barnes and Noble must stock and display my book to support my freedom of speech. If Comcast only wants to sell access to only Facebook for $10 a month or access to only Facebook and Google for $20 a month that's their right to do so; they would quickly go out of business as people want to view more of the internet but the government has no right to stop them.

Words of Truth

Today's author is the sole survivor of human experiments conducted by a totalitarian government. He then went on to extract revenge on those who conducted the experiments eventually causing the downfall of the government when he blew up the Parliament Building. Today's author is none other than a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. Today's author is V.

"Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense."

I will be the first to say that something is not horribly wrong with our country, but something is wrong. We are submitting more and more to the government because we are afraid. We fear terrorism so we allow the government to create new agencies that have almost unlimited power to spy on and arrest us. We fear disease so we set up an agency that has to approve every product on the market and can regulate virtually every industry. We can still say what we want but how long will that continue if we are afraid and are robbed of our common sense?

So how can we stop this slide down the slippery slope towards Totalitarianism? With words, we need to remind each other that war, terror and disease are temporary but a loss of freedoms and liberty are not. Words offer the enunciation of truth and an open dialog amongst concerned citizens will be the only thing that will save us; if it ever comes to Totalitarianism we will only need to look into the mirror to see who lets us fall.

American Inclinations

My quote today comes from another Frenchman but is actually a real person. Frederic Bastiat was a philosopher in the 1800s who wrote about the purpose of government.

"They [Socialist writer] assume that if the legislators left persons free to follow their own inclinations, they would arrive at atheism instead of religion, ignorance instead of knowledge, poverty instead of production and exchange. According to these writers, it is indeed fortunate that Heaven has bestowed upon certain men — governors and legislators — the exact opposite inclinations, not only for their own sake but also for the sake of the rest of the world! While mankind tends toward evil, the legislators yearn for good; while mankind advances toward darkness, the legislators aspire for enlightenment; while mankind is drawn toward vice, the legislators are attracted toward virtue. Since they have decided that this is the true state of affairs, they then demand the use of force in order to substitute their own inclinations for those of the human race"

Now I assume that we can agree that certain humans don't have better inclinations than all other humans and that the government shouldn't tell us what to believe or tell us we need to be enlightened. So I would ask why do so many people believe that America has better inclinations than other countries? If legislators don't need to tell us to yearn for good, to be enlightened, or to be virtuous why does America need to tell countries to like freedom, to hate despots, or to be enlightened?

Freedom and Chains

Today's quote comes from a very different author, he was born in La Barre, France in 2305. He went on to become a galactic explorer, diplomat and the captain of the USS Enterprise. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is the person I'm quoting today.

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

Captain Picard is talking to an internal investigator who is attempting to charge Picard with treason because of his defense of a suspected saboteur.

Picard is spot on though, if a speech or a thought or a freedom become unnecessary, if in the name of country, security or morality why is the next speech, thought or freedom any more important? Why should it be respected more than the first one? Every speech, every thought and every freedom should be held dear and protected at all cost.