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I am a member. Not, as the banner at the national site says, "A
card-carrying member" (white letters over a red background, for goodness
sake!) because they haven't sent me my card yet, and even when I get it
I'll prefer to think of myself as a flag-waving, liberty-bell-ringing,
patriotic member of the ACLU.
But I am not without concern for my new-forged affiliation. Oh, I'm
getting out there, getting as active as I can with the local chapter,
and attended the local affiliate's
membership conference a couple weeks ago; no one can accuse me of
complaining from the sidelines. But just because I'm jumping in feet
first doesn't mean I'm jumping blind---or leaving my critical faculties
at the door.
Which brings me to pizza. You have to see it to believe it. Not that the
point is wrong, not that the issue isn't important. Just that the
delivery is so bad. Too long. Too, well, frankly literate and
understated.
So, here's the challenge: take the same idea, do it in 25 seconds,
and give it some punch.
I think, besides the staggering length of the piece, the worst part
is that the "victim" takes it all so blithely. He's more upset about
the price than the intrusion, as if the composer wanted to send the
message that the intrusion is really a lesser issue.
It is a hard one to parse. Elsewhere I've argued that intellectual
property as we know it must evaporate in the face of technology that
makes creation and distribution of content literally child's play. Does
that same reasoning mean our privacy should likewise evaporate?
No. Do not let such an apples and oranges argument fool you; the
cases are not sufficiently analogous. Copyright laws are supposed to
promote useful arts and sciences; current law stifles innovation while
making traditional content providers ever richer (and more powerful
culturally and politically.) Those laws must change. But the princples
of liberty, including the right to be let alone, are not being served by
these new uses of information gathering and processing and distribution;
instead those principles are being sold piecemeal while the same old
white men get ever richer (and more powerful culturally and
politically.)
Listen up, ACLU, it is more than just pizza. We
can, and desparately need to do better than this. |
