At 5:59 AM -0400 7/10/10, dhbailey wrote:
You misread the quotation attributes, John. I didn't say that at
all -- my post was quoted by Blake Richardson, who then went on the
tirade against stupid things done in the name of copyright
protection.
I am most definitely arguing that 2 wrongs make a right, although I
believe that Blake wasn't saying that either, simply pointing out
why a whole generation seems to think that it's okay to share music
without paying anybody.
OK. Sorry for the misattribution. I wondered at the time, but
couldn't figure out the nested quotations.
What bothers me about this entire exchange is the simplistic idea
that (a) there is a single cause for ANYTHING that people do; (b)
that we can identify that cause (and therefore figure out how to fix
it); and (c) that we can even talk about "a whole generation" or any
other artificial and arbitrary grouping of what are at bottom
individuals who make their own decisions and have their own thoughts.
The bell-curve of human characteristics is just that, a curve, not a
barrel in which everyone is exactly the same.
(And yes, I've had teenagers--FOUR of them--and we all managed to
survive the process!)
If there IS a single problem, it's obviously the one we've all been
aware of all the time: the progress of technology has made new
crimes not only possible but really, really EASY! If the people who
thought up Napster hadn't done it, someone else would have because
the potential was there. The law has not kept up with technology.
In fact it probably CAN'T keep up with technology any more. The 18th
century lawmaking process doesn't work any more, but nobody has come
up with anything better. And 19th century enforcement methods don't
work any more, either, in the face of the kind of massive resistance
they seem to be facing, from breaking speed limits on up.
You and I understand the law, and the reasoning behind it--at least
to the extent that anyone but a dedicated copyright attorney CAN
understand it. The system is broken, and lawmakers can be bought and
paid for to favor big contributors. (This is news to anyone?!!!) So
it has ever been, back to Hammurabi and long before. I know what I
SHOULD do and I try to make sure my students understand what THEY
should do, but do I go to the copy machine to solve a problem? I
plead the 5th!!!
But two wrongs still don't make a right, never have, never will.
Even though both Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. seem to have
proven that they can. The difference is the willingness to stand up
for what you believe in, accept the consequences, and use those
consequences to prove the unfairness or immorality of what you're
protesting. I don't see that in the children (of any age) who
conspire to pirate private property. Theirs is not a great moral
crusade, just what you'd expect from a bunch of spoiled brats.
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[email protected])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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