On Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:08:01 -0400 valdis.kletnieks@xxxxxx wrote: > On Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:41:24 -0400, Laurelai said: > > > People seem to think that since the US Gov did it that makes it ok, > > well I do not think it does. Especially when they throw kids with > > small botnets in jail for being mad at the system cause its crooked. > > You're a little bit confused here. It doesn't matter what "people" > think. It matters what "the people with more rifles, mortars, tanks, > and ammo than you" think. > > Unless you come up with a way to level the playing field. We are not so savage that we decide who is powerful by military strength. Money plays a much bigger role in deciding power in our society; people with money have significant influence over the military and paramilitary police, and many make decisions that affect millions of people every day. Chris Dodd basically stated an expectation that laws can be bought after PIPA and SOPA failed, as if the money the MPAA had donated to politicians was supposed to guarantee that those politicians would do what the MPAA tells them to do. Armies and wars are expensive and need to be paid for, and money is how we pay for such things. Law enforcement (i.e. the use of guns) is rarely needed to maintain the power of money; most people accept the laws that surround money and try to follow them. People pay taxes when asked politely, they pay fines and damages that courts assess, they repay loans when legally obligated to so, and so forth. Disputes over money are almost always settled without violence and without the need to call in the police, even in cases where people broke the law. Even violent criminal gangs need money, despite being in possession of guns and despite a willingness to make use of those guns. Alexander Dumas stated it better than I can: "What I mean, my dear fellow, is that I shall do more by myself with my gold than you and all your people with their daggers, their pistols, their carbines and their blunderbusses. So let me do it." (The Count of Monte Cristo) -- Ben -- Benjamin R Kreuter UVA Computer Science brk7bx@xxxxxxxxxxxx KK4FJZ -- "If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them." - George Orwell
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