See No Evil, Internet Filtering Or Censorship...

I'm strange! I think strange things....I admit it, (By now, that probably comes as no great shock). I like that I can be a little 'different' and get away with it. Yep....I'm 'Strange As I Wanna Be' and some times I'm even more odd than others.... letting my personal Freak flag fly high and proud. Of course, I do try to keep things within the bounds (of my own sense) of 'good taste.' And yes, I do try to be considerate of others. I guess it's working pretty well so far, for all parties involved. No complaints have been registered lately...at least not officially...heh.

I'm American, (and weirdly, sometimes I'm even kind of proud of that fact). So I look at it as my PERSONAL RIGHT to be as odd as I am, not just a freedom. Heck, I even like the fact that YOU can be strange, odd or different too....thats your right. And I like having the option to check out your personal, one-of-a-kind, 'brand of strange' at my own discretion. I like being able to make my OWN choices on whether or not your 'brand of strange' is acceptable to me. As an American, I've grown up being able to do that. Fellow Americans have fought hard and some have given up limbs and lives for me to be able to do that. Because of those sacrifices, I've spent my whole life being able to make my own choices on what is good and bad for me, seeing what fits and discarding the rest at my own pace, in my own way.

Oh yes, even at this age, I still fully exercise my Freedom Of Choice. (Hey, what can I say, it still has urges and it just likes being out and about, getting the fresh air and a good stretch now and again. heh, heh)... I like that something called Freedom Of Expression exists....it gives me the chance to USE my Freedom Of Choice. Its synergistic, they work together, one thing helps keep the other in really 'buff', healthy, usable condition.

What I don't like is the whisper that is currently circulating on the web from country to country about the potential for 'governmental intervention'....Otherwise known as WEB FILTERING. I know that certain carriers (most in fact, to some degree), already impose their own sanctions of what is allowed and what's not via owned networks and adjunct subsidiaries under their control. Google is one who imposes their will and restrictions, AOL was well known in their glory days to prohibit loads of stuff... And now, countries (thats right, I said countries not companies)....are threatening to impose their own governmental versions of "moderation", "filtering" and control. They will add to the restrictions already in place on the carrier channels...(your Internet service provider networks). THEY (the governments), will decide content, what goes on the web and then again, what will be "allowed" to be seen. They will decide what, where, how, when and ultimately... IF.

Now ask yourself this....With filtering how much information will be denied to us? How much WONT we know? How much stuff will no longer get To WE, US...The grownups, ('the people' who pay the bills)? How much entertainment will we never even know exists. How many new discoveries won't be disclosed to us because some big cartel has a vested interest to cover it up and big enough bucks to 'buy out' or otherwise influence the governmental "filtering" process? I suspect lots more than anyone could ever even guess. Gee, Thanks Gov...but really, I don't need you to clean and sanitize my Internet feed, but golly, thanks for offering.... How bout you work on world peace and hunger problems instead?

Internet Filtering is the first step in being able to charge "We The Sheeple" big bucks for content, in other words....If you want more information your gonna pay for it. Byte by byte and bit by bit, its going to cost you. (Remember when some stuff was free kids? Free for the listening radio or hmmm.. how about television? ohhhh yeah, we USED to get that for free!!) Oh, but don't worry! you wont get anything that the big money cartels don't want you to see..no matter how much you pay!

The whole idea of filtering must be stopped! It just smacks so completely of 'wrong' all the way through, inside out, from start to finish and side to side...its WRONG! I suggest we, the people, (rather than adopting that famous "wait and see" attitude that humans are soooo fond of), actually START TO TALK about this! How about starting to exercise our Freedom To Choose right here, right now what we WILL and WONT allow to be taken away from us?

Sounds like this one's got the potential be a real 'battle royal' between US and THEM. And to get to the end of this one, to the last inning, to that final win scoring run....its got to start somewhere.... Because if you don't get in this game and start swinging that bat (and do it with a SERIOUS intent to win), you wont get the chance to do it again later, kids. When this game is finally over, when its all played out and the dust settles...Are you going to be on the team of the gritty, grinning winners? ...Yeah? Then you better hunker down there kiddo and get ready to swing-batta-batta-SWING!

Me? I'll have my lucky socks, my good glove and fresh cleats for this game...and you?
Until next time...