We Must Stand United
For too long a question has plagued my mind, and I come to you all today, with that question, and a proposal; my dream for the future of humanity. A humankind that casts away the barriers that we have rigidly enforced for centuries; the cultural walls that continue to divide us, and have done so for millennia.
Why are we not yet united?
Since the dawn of recorded history mankind has fought one another; beginning with the nomadic tribes that our ancestors were. Over time, we developed religion and the concept of territory, and we waged righteous war to protect or expand ourselves ever since.
We should not be doing this.
My vision for humanity, the future I can see now, is of humanity undivided. Every race, religion, nationality, social, ethnic and cultural group, coming together and saying simply, “I am a human being”. But those four words are stronger than they appear. In these words we accept our differences and cast the discrimination aside.
I say, revere what sets us apart. I care not if you are Christian or Catholic, black or white, Arabic, Asian, Taoist, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto, Wiccan, Norse Reconstructionist, Australian Aborigine, Islander or any other racial or religious group. I only care that you are human beings.
Revere what sets us apart- but destroy that which drives us apart. Because those who seek to confuse and kill their would-be brothers and sisters for their differences are less than humans; mere beasts that should be put down for the greater good of our species.
Could you imagine a world with a united humankind? A world were German engineering maximises the potential of Japanese innovation? Where art, beauty, sexuality and technology can be freely explored, and the human experience made all the greater? But of course this is a utopian pipe dream… but I can dream; and dreams can be made reality.
In twenty short years we went from low-flying aircraft, to having a man walk on the moon that orbits our planet. Look at the way computers have advanced in the past ten years, let alone the past thirty. Our capability for intrepid discovery and advancement can only be matched by the ambition that drives us to these things.
I say we cast away the chains and barriers that have torn us apart and we embrace our differences with a single vision and purpose for humankind, driving ever onward into the shining future that could await a humanity who accept that peace and unity is the true path.
We need to stand together as a united human race. Because none of us, will ever be as strong as all of us.
A Note To Niche Communities
This rant comes from a region fairly close to my heart. One of my ribs or something. And just as in the book, god created Eve from a rib of Adam, so do I on the internet create a rant from a metaphorical rib. Pretty poor metaphor at that.
Anyway, let’s begin.
There’s a lot of nice communities and subcultures around, and with the dawn of the internet it has become easier for them to discuss and co-ordinate, ranging from quiet hobbyists, to anime clubs, sci-fi groups and the gothic/alternative communities. But the problem with the internet is that people forget that there are other human beings on the internet, too. Or maybe they don’t. I’m not sure how the minds of these people work.
What I am here to discuss is the pathetic in-fighting that ravages these communities regularly. Not only are most of them ostracised from regular society because of their lifestyle choices, there’s an amazing amount of cliques within the damn groups themselves; a subculture that contains all of twenty people could have upwards of three groups of people who treat each other like dirt.
Most of us, if not all of us have been privy to this kind of thing; friend drama, animosity and for lack of a better phrase, bullshit. You all know what I mean, you’ll have that one friend who has an argument or mishap with another friend and then they drift apart and suddenly one or both of them is making you choose between them. Not only is this completely unfair, it’s also entirely too common.
Niche communities should not be doing this. It’s bad enough that they’re rejected from mainstream culture, if they don’t choose to hide it, anyway. These people are the worst; if you’re not going to let your friends be themselves around other people you know, then that too, is unfair.
In-fighting and drama makes for a hostile environment that everyone can feel from the first encounter, and it often makes people feel unwelcome, out of place or even unsafe, and there’s been many a newcomer who’ve never returned due to it. I usually stick it out but even I tend to shy away from groups where I can feel that this kind of thing is happening.
So take a note, please.
- To all of you drama mongers, fuck you and grow up. You’re killing the community with your pathetic shit. And to the drama mongers that drag other people into the drama just because they choose to talk to someone you don’t like? Go die somewhere. The community sure as hell doesn’t want you and I sure as hell don’t like you.
- To the older members, be nice to the newbies. There’s a lot of older members who treat newbies like shit, and that’s gotta stop. I mean, yes there is the long and cherished tradition of hazing new members, but there’s a difference between a bit of friendly spanking and being a complete asshat.
- To people in general; stop being so abusive and bitchy. You may think it’s funny but your sense of humour isn’t always shared, nor is everyone used to it. Your poking of fun might be severe abuse to a more sensitive person.
- Forum mods: I know you have a job to do. I’m a forum moderator myself. But seriously, sometimes people in that position can be utter jerks who overuse the edit button or banhammer. Do nto be one of these people.
- In regard to genuine drama, you know, serious business, keep it out of the forums. I don’t care if you flood each other’s e-mail accounts or anything, just keep it out of the forums. Ignore the other person’s posts if you like. Just keep it private. I’m sick of it.
But you know what? It’s not all bad. Because there are the nicer folk who stay in the communities. They’re the ones who welcome newbs and ignore the drama, even after they get dragged into it. There’s not enough of these good people around. I salute each and every one of these guys. The helpers, the welcomers, the jokers, the people that give advice or just generally go out of their way to make sure that the forum or message board’s atmosphere isn’t completely terrible.
I’ll remain part of these communities because I couldn’t imagine life without a decent amount of similarly like-minded folk around me, but it comes at a cost, and the cost is dealing with fuckholes like those noted above.
Oh Just Die Already
I think this government is going to great lengths to absolutely infuriate its population. Or maybe it’s just me. Although I really don’t see how they could be offended by my letters I’ve sent to them; I wasn’t in the least abusive. Harshly critical, but I’m not going to be cuddly for the benefit of xenophobic bigots.
Anyway, I know for a fact that this isn’t only pissing me off. Let me give you a rundown of the situation. There’s a woman who destroyed two livers by means of drug addiction. I’ve heard seperate reports but the constant drug seems to be heroin and ritalin. She swore to change after her first liver transplant. Well, she didn’t. She’s now got a failing liver and is crying out for help.
My opinion? Screw her. And not in the fun way. She knew the consequences of drug addiction and faced one of the worst results once already. How many vital internal organs do you have to do before you realise that drugs aren’t good for you? So her addiction has destroyed two livers and she’s attempting to generate sympathy to raise money for another transplant.
Well it worked, somehow. Some gorramned politician decided to give her a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar loan to go towards flying to Thailand because nobody in Australia or New Zealand will give her the transplant operation. I’d like to shake the hand of the people who rejected her from the transplant list. There are children who urgently need liver transplants, people who haven’t gotten that chance to live yet. She’s already had a second chance and she blew it.
Many people have argued against me, saying it would not be fair on her children for people to just let her die. I can see where you’re trying to come from with that argument. But the fact of the matter is that she’s an addict who’s more or less killed herself twice over already, and god knows what else she’s done when she’s on her highs. Who’s to say her children aren’t better off without her.
And now a decent amount of you will have just kind of stared in shock at your computer screen or iPhone or other internet browsing device. Well I don’t care. This woman has failed the game of life and it’s about bloody time she suffered the most extreme of consequences for her actions. There’s a reason she was rejected for another liver transplant; she doesn’t deserve it.
I mean, I’ve never touched heroin, ritalin or anything much else that’d even come close to raping my liver the way she did. She gets AU$250,000 for destroying two livers. You’d think I would have least earnt a cookie by now. You hear me, Australian Government? I WANT A COOKIE, DAMMIT.
Knowing is Half the Battle.
Okay I think I’ve ranted enough on why the Net Filter is bad and I’ve just done little else except link you to sites like NoCleanFeed without explaining what it is. So here I go. And just to warn some of you, I’ve put some of the key points into Bold Formatting just for you tl;dr folk.
The Great Australian Internet Filter is referred to as the Berlin Wall or even Apartheid of recent years. It is an Australian Government project to create and enforce a mandatory firewall that, on the public face of the concept, blocks out child pornography and horrible nasties like that. Which is something I can get behind, I really can. I despise those types of people. But the public face of the Internet Filter is a lie.
In secret, without informing the public, the government has twisted this once-noble sounding project towards another agenda; forcing their own political, moral and philosophical ideals onto the Australian people. At the bat, because the government obviously doesn’t realise that the adults of Australia are adults, content that would be given a rating not suitable for children would be blocked. That’s all that’s been said. So is that an R18+ rating or anything above M15+? Would like some clarification.
Clarification that I won’t receive because the government are keeping the project quiet. And when it is mentioned, it is typically only referred to as blocking child pornography. We’re being lied to about the true nature of the filter. This filter that is blocking Gay and Lesbian content, websites that discuss Harm Prevention to Recreational Drug Users and any webspace that offers discussion of the Geopolitical Causes of Terrorism.
There is, in essence, a Blacklist of websites that will be blocked. This blacklist, while outdated, is up for viewing on Wikileaks. But I do warn you, it has been made clear that reading the ACMA Blacklist on Wikileaks is a crime on a federal level. As a legality I cannot condone reading the blacklist. But for myself… do as you will, and I hope you don’t get caught.
There will also be a panel of sorts that decide what is and what isn’t acceptable for Australian viewing on the Internet. First up on the chopping block is Social Networking. There is a significant chance that Australia will lose the Myspaces, Facebooks and Vampirefreaks’ of the world, just because some idiot teenage girls lied about their age met up with forty year old axe murderers.
And rumour has it that Adult Dating Websites like RSVP and Lavalife, who go so far as to advertise on television, will be banned, for the same reason. Some idiot kid lies about their age and meets up with a psychopath or pervert and the internet gets blamed. The mistakes of a few should not hinder the lives of the many, especially when the few in questions are liars or are just plain asking for trouble.
On the same lines, Adult Content is being blocked. All adult content. From sexuality pages on Wikipedia, just because they have medical pictures of nudity, to pornographic websites. Yes, you will lose your porn from the internets. Because apparently Australian adults aren’t adult enough to decide what is suitable for them.
Internet games that aren’t suitable for children are being blacklisted, thank you very much Michael Atkinson. You are a bad person with outdated ideals. Retire from politics, you useless, hypocritical heap of sagging flesh.
This Net Filter will slow the Australian Internet by up to 87%. That’s a terrible loss for any internet speed, but especially in Australia, because our country’s connection is already equal to, or even lesser than, third world nations. For those of you who wish to challenge this, look up Uruguay and then return to me with your apology and admittal of being wrong. Our internet substructure is terrible, and purely because it is 100% owned by Telstra.
“But there are proxies and ways around it“, some will say. And this is true. Proxy websites and non-Australian Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) exist, but they will be more hindrance than helpful, as they slow down your connection even further. 87% of the typical Australian Internet connection’s maximum capacity is worse than dial-up. Worse. Than. Dial-up. That is an atrocity.
The Net Filter epitomises everything that is wrong with western society at the moment. It has gone to show how much influence the church really has within Australia, and it disturbs me that I didn’t know the amount of pull they have.To go so far as to block gay and lesbian content and discussion?
We are not being given a choice. The Net Filter is Mandatory. We were not offered a vote. We were not given a say. We are barely being let know about what is happening here. The government knows we would be outraged if we heard about this. For the most part I’ve encountered complacency and ignorance; but I wish to change that. Let it be known that Australians didn’t bend over and take this laying down. Other countries wouldn’t. Americans would be up in arms, fighting tooth and nail (and shotgun) to defend their rights to view the Internet in its uncensored glory.
The Net Filter violates several articles of the United Nations Charter. The articles in question being Articles 2, 6, 12, 19, and 28. And that is just at first glance, with a minimal amount of study. I am sure that with time, study, effort, and heavy books and a decent team of companions, I could find so much more wrong with this in legal terms.
The Net Filter is a very real threat to Australia, a threat that grows greater with each passing day, and it goes unnoticed by the many. You need to spread the word. We need everyone to know about this before it is too late. We need to make the people of Australia realise that this is going to happen, and that the government won’t just back down from it! We need to throw away this complacency that has allowed the Australian Internet Filter to progress to the stage where it is only a matter of weeks before it is implemented!
The government have proven they don’t care about small numbers of complaints. If they truly cared about the Internet, we would have a decent substructure for it. We need to show the government that the whole of Australia stands against this horrendous mockery of justice! This is one of the most un-Australian moves the government has ever made.
We need to fight for the rights that the government are trying to take from us. Protest. Spread the word to your friends and family. Join the Facebook groups. Join the message boards. Read the websites. Do everything you are willing to do in the name of protecting the Internet from a Big-Brother government that is beginning to show the true colours of a budding fascist regime.
So, in short, just do what you can. Spreading the word is all I ask. I have a comment box, please use it. I want to hear what you have to say. The Bold Formatting was used to illustrate key points in the arguments for your ease of use.
We all need to come together as one and fight the filter. Because none of us, and I mean none of us, can do as much as all of us.
The Great Internet War
The past decade has seen the rise of the internet into the mainstream, and eventually, our daily lives. Now we’re seeing advertisements on television that give you little more than a URL and a name as a reference. An unparalleled information tool used the world over, from solving meaningless trivia between friends to helping school students cheat on essays and reports.
From Yahoo, to Google, to Wikipedia and YouTube, the internet has offered enterainment and information resources to the world. With the advent of social networking and dating websites, you can even have a paradoxial life based around being an antisocial shut-in.
Free downloading though, seems to be one of the most popular uses of the internet, and why not? Nearly-perfect anonymous downloading of things that would otherwise cost a lot more money than you actually have.
Downloading things isn’t illegal of course, but downloading copyrighted content is. Although in past years, its really seemed like downloading anything has been an offence to someone somewhere. A major scare campaign against illegal downloaders has shaded the facts and made a major example of anyone caught and found guilty.
In the past few years there has been an ongoing crusade against The Pirate Bay, one of the most popular bittorrent websites. The Pirate Bay Crew have a great sense of humour, and post their replies to angry, threatening letters on their webpage. But the Pirate Bay lost their legal battles and the website was purchased by a company.
More recently, Mininova have lost their legal battle and now have a strict filter to prevent copyrighted content being on their website.
But more information on these events can be found on Torrentfreak. This isn’t why I’m here.
Between censorship, the copyright battles against P2P and BitTorrent technologies, the near stigmata of playing online games and a media frenzy against any website that has attracted attention to itself, (see the media hatred against gothic websites after a girl was found dead), the internet has been a battleground in the past few years.
With the Internet Filters of the world going ahead as planned, the commercialisation of the internet, and the media’s ignorant attacks on certain websites and social groups, it seems that the battlegrounds are spreading across the internet, and the defenders of this online world are rarely, if ever, able to defend it.
We seem to be losing everything that makes the internet such a valued tool in modern life. If censorship goes ahead as planned it could set a dangerous precedent and spread across the world.
My friends, we are in the midst of losing The Great Internet War.
