Something momentous will very likely happen this week, something ominous. So ominous that the kid that grew up reading mythology, medieval literature and fantasy, will somehow find it hard to believe if the sky doesn’t darken or the earth become sick as nature herself reproaches the nation for the wrongfulness of the path it has started down. I am referring to the potential signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). No one wants to hold up funding for the military, but it contains other provisions that are simply contrary to the very essence of the American nation’s soul. I get a lump in my throat and tight chest every time I think about this bill.
President Obama, once the hero of the narrative who came to office President Obama who “came into office pledging his dedication to the rule of law and to reversing the Bush-era policies” (Andrew Rosenthal, “Politics of Principle,” NYT, Dec. 15, 2011), is likely to sign the law making indefinite detention of American citizens a permanent fixture of American law. They will also be subject to military tribunals. Maybe we’re not quite at the point of using the Bill of Rights for toilet paper, but we’re at least using it as a dinner napkin.
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Tag Archives: SOPA
Congress Busy on 220th Anniversary of the Bill of Rights
US Senate voted 86 to 13 in favor of the NDAA for FY 2012
On this, its 22oth anniversary, Congress was once again in session, theoretically doing the peoples business, though I am not so sure that is what they were doing. Here are two things that marked the day for them. You be the judge.
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The Internet Blacklist Bill and International Studies
Today, Congress held hearings on the PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). There’s probably not too many reading this that would argue with the goals laid out in the titles of those two bills, but don’t be deceived. It’s not the objective of the bills we object to, but rather the means. As the Vimeo blog today notes, both bills
would give the power to the government and content owners to censor and block websites that host even just one piece of content that allegedly infringes a copyright…a much more severe House bill was just introduced and is set up to pass soon if we don’t take action NOW. These bills threaten the very essence of the web and the communities that have risen from it.
As an area studies scholar and someone who believes that in general open and free communications between cultures around the world is a good thing, I’d like to point out another objection to this law. It has the potential to greatly complicate my research and the free flow of knowledge by throwing up barriers to information that the internet only recently opened. My research delves into constructions of identity through literature, popular culture and the performing arts, and it always a great relief when I find useful research materials online. The internet has made music videos, movies, the popular press, and so much more available to me online from my living room or wherever my computer is.
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