We’ve kind of touched on this on Wednesday, and here we go again. As you know, Megaupload has been shut down last night, which got a lot of people upset because they lost their favorite place to share “large family photo albums” with their friends, which really fucking annoys me. It’s people like those that risk the whole structure of the internet because they lost their favorite place to get free shit from, and their voices are the loudest. People who actually understand the full implications of SOPA and PIPA and whatever else there is will always get blamed of being thieves because of same people.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think extreme copyright is good for anyone. Imagine a situation where megacorporations (haha, mega) actually control everything on the internet. Imagine their greedy asses then. I can bet you $5 right now that this website would have probably never existed, because same companies would probably want to charge us for whatever shitty photo of a band or musician we put up on this website. Can’t post photos of their slaves. Imagine Garfield Minus Garfield in such a world. It would probably be called Garfield Minus Garfield Minus Garfield minus whatever else was in the original comic.
On the other hand, we’re in a situation where the average retard that can barely turn the computer knows how to find every new music album, TV show or movie for free. I don’t give a shit how entitled you feel, that ain’t right.
I could go on and on, and I could paint this picture in a thousand ways, it would probably always turn out grey. Corporations will always be too greedy, people will always find way to pirate stuff… I did however want to post thoughts of Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) and Dez Fafara (Devildriver), as well as Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen here because unlike you and me, they actually live on music, and their words have more merit than some douchebag who feels pissed off because he couldn’t leech the latest Twilight movie, and screams about how his internet rights have been stripped. Make the jump for a series of quotes taken from Twitter (and a statement by Avildsen), and thanks to ThePRP for doing my job and compiling them.
Dez Fafara:
“Feds shut down “MEGA-UPLOAD” ! Good ! Shut down all sites pirating COPYWRITTEN material ! Fuck your PC view ! It’s illegal &it’s killing underground art-taking the food from my kids mouths,& putting thousands who create distribute and perpetuate art outOfBusiness”
“Yea let’s bitch and moan that you can’t get music or movies for free anymore ! The word is thief I believe !”
“Pirate COPY written material to profit,to gain revenue from adds on there sites and the artist gets nothing ! CEO of mega was making 110Mill”
“And the Artist that says I would rather be poor than let these sites be shut down is ignorant and pandering and PC and Wrong and a Liar !”
“But Dez I downloaded for free then came to a show ! How does that pay back the record company ? O yea – that’s why the labels want 360Deals”
“If I download and I like it I go buy it ? Go to iTunes listen for free then pay if you want it – it doesn’t work backwards sorry #truth”
“If it wasn’t for illegal downloading I would have never of heard of your band? Fucked up logic”
“I sat here for days listening to this shit from all you and artists I admire some of which are so flawed Privacy on the Internet? Hilarious”
“O in these economic times it’s tough so we steal CDs and movies #Thief !”
“A-story Clouds over calif had 1 million views on utube and our label removed it I was stoked as you should go to the artist or record site”
“You people throw the word Government around like you have privacy-Sorry to inform you big brother has got you from day one Socialsecurity #”
“What have we learned That privacy is false that thinking your securing privacy on a world net is false that Stealing material is wrong”
“And to all the news sites that pick up on these conversations from myself or other artists put our words on your site so u get more cash”
“For adds u owe us ! Cause this site @evilriver is COPYWRITTEN under the heading #imOn2U”
Randy Blythe:
“I would like to see some of these fucks look into their own data bases, catalog everything there, then release a statement w/#’s. #’s that show EXACTLY how much of their content is copyrighted material & how much is stuff that falls under public domain. These websites are not some sort of altruistic creative expression charities. They are multi-million dollar BUSINESSES.
It’s all about money, & the few that REALLY make it. Don’t even fucking kid yourselves that it’s anything else. People are all like “fuck the music business fucks!” AS IF the owners of these file sharing sites aren’t just digital oil sheiks themselves. WAKE UP.”
Ash Avildesen:
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
-Abraham LincolnI write this letter as a proud AMERICAN.
I am completely against the SOPA bill being passed in the United States because it is stealing our rights to free speech, information and expression.
Make no mistake that entertainment being free and stealing someone’s art are two different things. Make no mistake that a policeman arresting a multiple-DUI offense drunk driver who fails a breathalyzer and a cop pulling you over because you swerved from texting on your phone while driving are two different things.
Beyond any idealistic “beautiful internet anarchy” BS that so many people claim is the “evolved” way of thinking – the truth is that mentality is the furthest thing from the evolution of human consciousness, just like SOPA
is the furthest thing from our 1st Amendment and stealing is the furthest thing from social evolution.Is our government so foolish to think that the masses wouldn’t see right through the SOPA agenda?
Is the majority of our society today so shallow and neanderthal that we have convinced ourselves because we can’t hold something in our hands that it is not as real, as valuable, as important as something
that is in physical form?We all know you can hold a DVD or CD in your hand, but not files on your computer. Now ask yourself: what’s the point of creating a philosophical separation of the two, other than shameful personal convenience? Can you hold the laughter and happiness watching a great comedy gives you in your hand? How about the excitement of an action movie or the sadness from a drama? How about the emotions that get stimulated inside of you from a great song or album? Are these feelings any more or less real depending on how you experience the art?
A lot of Americans are pissed off about the current state of our economy and the unemployment rate. When was the last time you researched what our country’s biggest exports are? It’s time every citizen educates themselves on just how important our art, i.e. our entertainment – is to this country. Movies, Music, Books, Video Games… So crucial yet so vulnerable… because humans are no longer forced to hold them in their hands in order to enjoy them.
What if there were real life pirates who were stealing American ships full of Chevrolets and Fords being exported to other countries? What would we do? Are they terrorists? What if they’re Americans? What if they’re not?
When I was a kid and didn’t know any better, I stole CDs from Best Buy.. I stole candy bars from the store. I stole beer before I was old enough to drink. I would have stolen a car if I knew how to hot-wire one. Then I grew up, became an adult and evolved – as a human being.
FUCK SOPA. FUCK COMMUNISM. FUCK STEALING. EVOLVE.
REMEMBER THAT THERE IS NO WALL STREET WITHOUT YOUR WALLET
AND YOUR OWN PERSONAL CHOICES.OCCUPY YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
WORK HARD, BE HONEST, RESPECT YOUR NEIGHBOR, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND BELIEVE IN TOMORROW. BELIEVE IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO SAVE THE CONSTITUTION.
DISREGARDING THE VALUE OF ART IS NOT EVOLUTION.
DISREGARDING THE GREATNESS OF FREEDOM IS NOT EVOLUTION.RESPECTING ART, YOURSELF AND YOUR COUNTRY IS EVOLUTION.
EATING HEALTHY, BEING CREATIVE, EXERCISING YOUR BODY AND HAVING A CONCERN FOR THE WELL-BEING OF ALL YOUR FELLOW HUMANS ON EARTH IS EVOLUTION.
It starts at home.
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”
-Abraham Lincoln”
