a waste in any case
a waste in any case
Posted Feb 1, 2006 6:05 UTC (Wed) by cventers (guest, #31465)In reply to: a waste in any case by b7j0c
Parent article: iPods for Senators
May I ask what makes you think that?
I figure that at the least, Senators would be interested in playing with
their new toys that they've heard so much about before deciding to toss
them off to some subordinate.
Posted Feb 1, 2006 14:02 UTC (Wed)
by jhardin (guest, #3297)
[Link] (1 responses)
I agree, and what makes me think that is the following:
1) the iPod won't be a gift from a close family member.
2) the iPod will be received as part of a broad, planned lobbying (yes, it *is* lobbying) effort.
That reduces the "purity" of it, and destroys the subtlety of the strategy.
If you want to do this, then get together a group of people from *your own district*, buy it yourself, load it with music (perhaps the project might publish a suggested playlist), and give it to your senator/representative *directly*. *Then* they might pay attention to it the way you want and it might have some positive impact, and it will be a little less likely to be dismissed as some fringe group trying to buy political favor.
Posted Feb 1, 2006 18:30 UTC (Wed)
by Max.Hyre (subscriber, #1054)
[Link]
Yes, the gifts might
be rejected for being over-limit, but, IIRC, the
President can keep stuff (and it can be pretty impressive
stuff when given by another head of state) by accepting it
for the American People, and leaving it behind when leaving
office.
Yes it might be given to a staffer.
Yes, a couple of dozen may already have come from other
directions.
Yes, we could give them to our individual
congresscritters.
But, all that is immaterial. It's being done by a cute
little organization of copyright geeks (sorry, that's how
the media will see us), and it's
notably original---not a trip to Hawaii or something. That
means we can get onto the press's radar screen, even if only for
a thirty-second sound bite, and that's a Good Thing.
If that bite is snappy enough,
one which might arouse some folks curiosity, we're
way, waaay ahead of the game.
Don't kill it by the death of a thousand cuts; either donate
or at least don't discourage others. This is precisely
the sort of thing that gets people noticed, and heaven
knows we need to be noticed.
Posted Feb 1, 2006 17:59 UTC (Wed)
by b7j0c (guest, #27559)
[Link] (2 responses)
every representative and senator has probably been gifted five ipods already. they are cheap enough to get under the radar and are ubiquitous enough in the press for potential gift-givers to think its something everyone would like.
if you want to implement change in our society you have to see government as an obstacle, not an ally. i'd rather donate money to DVDjohn.
Posted Feb 1, 2006 18:44 UTC (Wed)
by elanthis (guest, #6227)
[Link] (1 responses)
... and do what about it?
Take up arms and revolt? Shoot people? Because we can't download music and share it?
The government is not an obstacle, it's simply a problem. Obstacles, you avoid. Problems, you fix. The government needs to be convinced that we are right. There is no other viable solution. None.
(Western) Government exists for the people. It was founded by the people. In order to serve the people. The US government wasn't founded so our fore fathers could control us, it was founded because any sufficiently large group of people require governence in order to coexist and work together, just like an Open Source project needs a maintainer. Our government as, in some (but only some) areas, strayed. Ignoring it will not fix any problem. Only by realigning the government with the interests of the people it was founded to serve will improve the state of affairs.
Anything else is unenlightened anarchy.
Posted Feb 2, 2006 7:10 UTC (Thu)
by b7j0c (guest, #27559)
[Link]
convinced you are right about what? that free music is neat? i doubt you would find one lawmaker who would find issue with your desire to freely copy media if that is what the original author authorizes.
you have two choices in govt - one branch of the property party or the other, to paraphrase gore vidal.
> May I ask what makes you think that?a waste in any case
We want it to be exactly as proposed.
It's the press, not the present
> May I ask what makes you think that? a waste in any case
"you have to see government as an obstacle,"a waste in any case
>> The government needs to be convinced that we are right. There is no other viable solution. None.a waste in any case