Online Dictatorships

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this rant do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Forget the Box Media Collective, or any of it’s members. Having said that, on with the rant.

Good morning everyone, I hope this cold Monday finds you in good spirits. There is spirited rioting going on in a few dictatorships in the Arab world, where it seems that many of the residents have been trying to subvert and topple the governments due to being exhausted by the tyranny thereof. As a result, they have blocked the internet and cell-phone communications in Egypt, leading to a fiery, bloody protest and a battle against the people by their own dictatorial government.

Speaking of dictatorial governments and the internet, the CRTC has recently announced that they will allow a metered usage for internet users, limiting severely the level of access by way of very high and stiff charges for “Overuse.” Considering that the major internet providers in Canada are also the major Cable/Satellite TV providers, and more people are watching online instead of watching cable, and using cellular telephones instead of land-line telephones, this is a way for the rich CEOs to stick it to the little guy all over again, protecting their obese incomes while making the general population pay through the nose for basic services.

Since the main benefactors are TV providers, I believe that the corporations behind it are truthfully trying to get people to remember the box. I’d very much prefer to forget the box entirely, as thinking outside the box just simply is not enough. There is a group called Open Media where you can sign a petition against this bill online. Also flooding the CRTC Complaint department with complaints might help block this bill from passing.

Sign the petition here!

A colleague of mine at Forget the Box wrote an article about the current problems protesters are facing, including the cutoff of all internet and cellular telephone services in Egypt, and I couldn’t access Forget The Box until another article was posted. I’m not entirely convinced that this was coincidental.

I’m also not sure if the Egyptian government does get toppled, that the replacement government will be any better than the current administration that the people are currently trying to overthrow. Democracy might be a nice concept, but I strongly suspect that there will be another dictatorship, this one worse than the current one, to replace the current government. Tunisia was taken back by the people, and what will probably become another dictatorship with rigged “democratic” elections.

Maybe I’m wrong, I hope I am, but it seems to me that very seldom is a dictatorship ever replaced with any form of true democracy. I also believe in communalism, communitarianism, but not communism. I do believe in free enterprise, but I also think that the playing field is quite unfair. It tends to slide towards those who have money, in a rather biased fashion. Because of this, along with increasing cost of living, unemployment, and increasing poverty, the crime rate is on the rise.

Having said all that, I have noticed a lot of pre-season for-sale signs in some of the wealthier areas of Montreal.