The paradox of free expression.

The paradox of free expression.  

I find myself conflicted over what Wikileaks is doing. On one hand I am all for sticking it to big government and informing the citizens of what their tax dollars are paying for but on the other hand I feel Wikileaks are reckless as well. I was profoundly disturbed by the actions of our troops in the video as they are laughing while they slaughtered all these men in the streets. It is reminiscent of the feeling I got as I was watching the film Restrepo, and one of the men takes out a man with a high caliber gun and describes his body blowing into pieces. War is war, however and if I enter a war zone for any reason I have to accept that I may get caught in the cross fire and possibly die. I do not like war, it is disgusting and evil but it is sometimes a necessary evil. Sometimes I feel like we call something a war when in reality it is just a slaughter. It seems like we need to find some reason to use our new war machines and we will come up with all kinds of reasons based in self preservation to use our powers of annihilation. We always talk about how gracious we are and yet we are the only country to have ever dropped an atomic bomb on an entire city of civilians. Oh wait, we did that twice with both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Our country is stretching itself thin financially on military spending and if we learned nothing else from the grand empires that have preceded us we should have learned that this ideology will not be sustainable indefinitely. We are one of the populations that can be the most negatively affected by what Assange is doing, though and I feel his work stands to tare apart fabrics of our society as well as global relations. I realize that many Middle Eastern governments are corrupt and that we are in bed with several of them but we have also seen the chaos that erupts when these people are removed from power. We have watched it time and time again from the Shaw in Iran to Saddam Husain. Our military does not just protect us, they protect small countries that could be devoured by larger more aggressive ones. They protect crucial water ways and ports that are at risk from pirates. I will stay cautious though and save my judgment overall.

This is a little humor from our boys as they hold this useless piece of land and get shot at every day in the real life movie documentary, Restrepo. 

I believe in the freedom of the press but I also think the press needs to be responsible and realize the lives that may be at stake. The story should not be more important than the lives they may be putting in jeopardy. I think that with the invention of the internet journalism has become the butt of one big joke. Once upon a time, people were glued to the television and trusted the media but now you can know the truth with absolute certainty then report it and there will still be people calling you a hack. Technology has made it too easy to fool people and as many people realize this they just stop believing anything they see or hear. I mean, if so much can be faked how are people to know what is real or not without in depth research that they are not likely to do. 

On net neutrality, I am still a bit confused. On one hand I want all information to be accessible and on the other hand I like EASY. I am truly old in the game of technology. I pay top dollar for my internet provider because they make finding things easy and provide all the things I like. I pay for Apple products because they glob all my music, videos and picture in one easy to use place. I don’t want to alienate the younger generation here, though by making the wrong choice on who to support in this debate but the truth is it confuses the hell out of me. I’m not even sure I understand what net neutrality is, no matter how many people explain it to me.  

I do not believe the government should be fully transparent. There is a reason we elect our leaders and that is to lead. "Of the people, by the people, for the people" does not mean that the people are in charge of all things. The people should elect leaders and then they should let them do their job. They would be far more effective and decisive if it wasn't for all the nonsensical chatter brought on by none other than the media and their freedom to say just about anything in order to sway public opinion.  

My thoughts on copyright rules are that they are just silly. Intellectual property should be nontransferable meaning, when an artist dies or if they choose to release it freely then their ideas should be fair game.

Isosine is my favorite mash-up artist and here are a couple of my favorites. I hope I don't get in trouble for this. 

There is another really good one that keeps getting pulled from You Tube called "We are coming undone" It is a mash-up of Tylor Swifts song Never Getting Back Together and Korns song Coming Undone. If you can find it, it is really good. I just don't want Taylor Swift to have me running scared like I'm a bat at OzzFest.