The Bernard Charles Show

I have been attending some very awesome classes this semester. All teaching me the  vital ways of where we stand as a people in this digital age. 

Today, there are bills in the works of being passed. They are called Protect IP and Stop Online Piracy Act deemed the Internet Blacklists Bills according to AmericanCensorship.org.

These bills are an act to try and allow the internet to be controlled. And to allow the entertainment industries the ability to sue and punish those online stations that share their copyrighted materials and call it infringement.

I don’t have the bills in front of me, but Tumblr when you log on certainly is in an uproar to prevent these bills from passing. They have at the top of the screen a link to petition your local representatives to shoot down these bills. Additionally, they went as far as to make you wonder what is going on by censoring all of your Dashboard posts. So you can experience censorship full force. If you were like me, you are bound to see the call to action link posted above in order to fix this immediately. Clever I must say! 

So, this is America’s future. And since I am America’s Future Talk Show Host, I must urge you as an average citizen that lives in the digital age to call your representatives about declining these censor bills. 

The internet is a valuable tool for people to connect, learn, and grow. So if sites like Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are prevented from utilizing the number one digital media tool then we are surely going to head in the direction of 1984, The Hunger Games, and Children of Men. 

However, as America’s Future Talk Show Host, I am compelled to also know that the world wide web has been made into a commodity. So because the internet can be a money making machine for advertising and online stores, there are people out there that want to control it. With this control like other media platforms, the creativity will be trimmed, opinions will be monitored, and finally reality will be skewed to keep you begging for more. 

I have learned about this idea of control and money during my Media Law, Pop Culture, and Intro to Mass Media classes and came to the conclusion that for those who have faith know that the Internet will be sustained as being “free” though you still have to pay the service provider. There is too much at stake for the United States, supposedly founded on the principle of democracy and freedom, to want to control the Internet.  But for those who are not aware of this, telling your representative to reject these bills will surely help alleviate some stress that you may have if Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube, and others were to be stripped of their first amendment rights.