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I have this problem, and I don’t know what to do about it.
This is it: Every time someone on Facebook posts something about net neutrality – and it doesn’t matter which side on the issue they’re on – I want to take my laptop and fling it like a Frisbee through the nearest window.
Which would be dangerous for any innocent passersby below. Plus, it’s a company laptop.
The NN issue has always been around, but has surged to the top of the news cycle again now that the FCC has announced an idea and Presidente Obama has expressed an opinion about it. And so my Facebook page is filled with new variations of the same hysterical memes that floated around the first few times NN has come up.
They read more or less like this:
Pro-NN: CORPORATE AMERICA/COMCAST WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE INTERNET!
Anti-NN: THE GOVERNMENT/OBAMA WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE INTERNET!
In other words, it’s pretty much the same recycled conspiracy theories, although the “Net neutrality is the Obamacare of the Internet” is a new variation that certain Republican politicians are now kicking around.
Ha ha. No, Ted and Marsha – net neutrality is nothing like Obamacare. The comparison is as inaccurate and stupid as it is lazy. Not that it matters – it’s a cut-rate talking point that’s more of an excuse to slap Obama and Obamacare around.
That said, this doesn’t mean the pro-NN’s conspiracy theories about Comcast are validated. It just means their conspiracy theories are less crazy.
I’ve written about this before, and I don’t really have anything new to add, except maybe this:
What really bothers me about the NN debate, I think, is that most people I know are resorting to conspiracy-theory bullshit to make their point when they actually don't have to.
There is a genuine and rational argument in favor of net neutrality, and I fully agree it’s the best model for internet innovation.
But there’s also a genuine need for traffic prioritization to make real-time streaming and other services work properly. And it’s not unreasonable for ISPs to charge companies differently based on that. The balance has to be struck to ensure that process is done fairly and transparently, so that Comcast or AT&T or anyone else can’t throttle competitors or railroad customers (and as I’ve said before, I don’t believe they plan to do either, but there’s no harm in regulations making sure they can’t if they ever decide to do so for some weird reason, like if Lex Luthor becomes CEO of Comcast or something).
But no one is talking about that. They’re just screaming conspiracy theories at each other. Which means that the US is going to be the only country on Earth whose policy on net neutrality is going to be based on which batshit conspiracy theory the FCC chooses to back.
That may still result in a workable net neutrality policy. But it’s depressing to think this is what passes for debate in America now, and that we’re basing important policy decisions on which paranoid conspiracy theory gets the most support.
*drops mic*
Neutralized,
This is dF
This is it: Every time someone on Facebook posts something about net neutrality – and it doesn’t matter which side on the issue they’re on – I want to take my laptop and fling it like a Frisbee through the nearest window.
Which would be dangerous for any innocent passersby below. Plus, it’s a company laptop.
The NN issue has always been around, but has surged to the top of the news cycle again now that the FCC has announced an idea and Presidente Obama has expressed an opinion about it. And so my Facebook page is filled with new variations of the same hysterical memes that floated around the first few times NN has come up.
They read more or less like this:
Pro-NN: CORPORATE AMERICA/COMCAST WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE INTERNET!
Anti-NN: THE GOVERNMENT/OBAMA WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE INTERNET!
In other words, it’s pretty much the same recycled conspiracy theories, although the “Net neutrality is the Obamacare of the Internet” is a new variation that certain Republican politicians are now kicking around.
Ha ha. No, Ted and Marsha – net neutrality is nothing like Obamacare. The comparison is as inaccurate and stupid as it is lazy. Not that it matters – it’s a cut-rate talking point that’s more of an excuse to slap Obama and Obamacare around.
That said, this doesn’t mean the pro-NN’s conspiracy theories about Comcast are validated. It just means their conspiracy theories are less crazy.
I’ve written about this before, and I don’t really have anything new to add, except maybe this:
What really bothers me about the NN debate, I think, is that most people I know are resorting to conspiracy-theory bullshit to make their point when they actually don't have to.
There is a genuine and rational argument in favor of net neutrality, and I fully agree it’s the best model for internet innovation.
But there’s also a genuine need for traffic prioritization to make real-time streaming and other services work properly. And it’s not unreasonable for ISPs to charge companies differently based on that. The balance has to be struck to ensure that process is done fairly and transparently, so that Comcast or AT&T or anyone else can’t throttle competitors or railroad customers (and as I’ve said before, I don’t believe they plan to do either, but there’s no harm in regulations making sure they can’t if they ever decide to do so for some weird reason, like if Lex Luthor becomes CEO of Comcast or something).
But no one is talking about that. They’re just screaming conspiracy theories at each other. Which means that the US is going to be the only country on Earth whose policy on net neutrality is going to be based on which batshit conspiracy theory the FCC chooses to back.
That may still result in a workable net neutrality policy. But it’s depressing to think this is what passes for debate in America now, and that we’re basing important policy decisions on which paranoid conspiracy theory gets the most support.
*drops mic*
Neutralized,
This is dF
