An appeal to our visitors

For the past ten years, I have operated an independent website at this address. For the past six, the operations of 4d2 dot org have met the current legal definition of an Internet Service Provider. I am proud of the fact that we have provided hosting to a number of individuals and groups who might not otherwise have had a voice on the Internet.

Perhaps this “mission” of ours has become less important and less interesting as Internet presence has become cheap and ubiquitous; however we are still receiving requests every few weeks from people who are interested in joining us. Even though our members have often posted contentious material, we have never placed restrictions on the free speech of anyone we have hosted, thanks in large part to the freedom of speech enshrined in the constitution of the United States of America, from which we operate.

Today there is a distinct possibility that we will lose those freedoms. At this moment, the U.S. Congress is debating the “Stop Online Piracy Act” bill. Disguised as an effort to combat online piracy, this bill will in fact grant the government broad-reaching power to censor and control the Internet in unprecedented ways. It places onerous restrictions on small Internet Service Providers like us — restrictions with which we have no reasonable means of complying. This bill will require us to adhere to a government-mandated “blacklist” of forbidden websites, preventing our users from accessing these websites by any means within our control. Because we provide Internet access to our customers via shell sessions, virtual desktop sessions, proxy systems, DNS lookups and other means, we will be required to comply with these unreasonable restrictions if this bill becomes law. For our administrative staff of one, this is an unmanageable burden.

Every major Internet advocacy organization has spoken out against SOPA. The creators of the Internet have even expressed their categorical opposition. Yet, the future of the Internet — a revolutionary open forum which we have all helped shape into what it is today — is being decided even now by a group of politicians, most of whom do not know the difference between a website and an inbox. If government truly does derive from the consent of the governed, there is no evidence of it today. The future of a medium rests squarely in the hands of people who do not understand, do not care, and answer only to their corporate benefactors.

I am writing this note because I believe our online home is under genuine attack by my government. Although 4d2 dot org has been my project, I like to think that a piece of it belongs to all of us who have used it as a meeting place over the years. If SOPA is passed in its current form, the future of this project is deeply uncertain. As a U.S. citizen, I cannot legally fail to enforce the restrictions imposed by SOPA, but as a conscionable and reasonably intelligent denizen of the Internet I categorically refuse to enforce them. If this bill becomes law, I may be left with no reasonable option but to shut down 4d2 dot org, at least in its current form.

I would like to encourage all of you who are citizens of the United States of America to read more about this bill, and if you agree with me to write or call your Congresspeople and express your displeasure with this bill and for the appalingly broken process that has brought it to the floor of the House.

Sincerely Yours
Michael Proctor
December 15, 2011
michael@4d2.org

 I always assumed vegetarians got their protein at the same store where they got their self-congratulatory, moralistic, righteousness.

I love you assholes. But you’re still just making emotional appeals for a lifestyle that has never actually happened naturally at any point in human history.

I think there have been some really disturbing trends in U.S. politics recently, and when I look the social forces behind those changes I can’t help but get the feeling that a large portion of Americans are increasingly unconcerned with the factual truth of pretty much anything. To put it another way, the national dialogue is no longer about who’s right. It’s about who’s loudest, or most passionate, or prettiest, or some other factor that I don’t even understand.

Don’t get me wrong, people have always been fickle and I know that. But through most of our history as a country there has been a general respect for facts, in the sense that an argument obviously contradictory to the facts is seen as a weak argument. This seems not to be the case anymore. What I think has happened is this: Those who hold opinions contradictory to the facts have begun saying things like, “Can anyone really know what the facts are?” in a way that causes people who profess to know the facts to appear arrogant or self-righteous. It’s been shockingly effective.

Let’s take a current political example: the crisis associated with the fact that the national debt is very large and growing rapidly. Our current president has made no discretionary spending decisions that have served to increase the debt; in fact last year he reduced federal spending by 2.4%. He has not substantially decreased or increased tax revenue. Yet, the national debt has increased by 12.5% under his watch. An intelligent person, wondering what confounding factor might have caused this result, would do a little bit of research and discover that his predecessor enacted tax cuts estimated to cost $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years and provided no direct means to fund those tax cuts. They would also find that the current president attempted and failed to discontinue those tax cuts.

These are the facts of the issue; there are no statements of opinion involved. Because the facts are quite clearly that the President has done nothing to hasten the debt crisis, and in fact has attempted to prevent at least one possible cause (the tax cuts), in a normal universe someone making a claim that the President is at fault carries a substantially increased burden to prove his claim. If he presents no compelling evidence, or no evidence at all, to support his claim, he is dismissed as either a lunatic or grossly misinformed.

Yet in America today both opinions are given equal time and attention in the media, as though they are equally valid and predicated on equally valid assumptions. Worse, close to half of Americans seem to agree with the assertion that the President has caused or hastened the debt crisis. It bears repeating, so I’ll say again that in this case, the assertion is totally, demonstrably false. Unless new facts are presented, there is no rational reason whatever for anyone to agree with it.

We have apparently become so concerned with pleasing everyone that we are no longer willing to tell people when they are being silly. As a result, our own national Silly Party is rising to prominence, claiming legitimacy, and making news headlines. They have no obligation to prove anything they say and are free to base their claims on their personal preferences without regard to external factors.

As for those of us who still believe that ideas can be incorrect, at what point do we have an obligation to stand up and start calling people on their crap?

I had three thoughts upon reading the article.

1. Since when do we, taxpayers and voters, go to businesses and demand they police themselves? This is the role that government and law are supposed to play on our behalves. Yes – we should protest crappy labor practices. And I understand that when it comes to mortgages, people have no choice which bank is servicing their loan, so they have a right to be pissed when practices aren’t standardized or the businesses aren’t policed. But the way to fix those issues will almost never be to go to the businesses – which is guaranteed your business anyway. It’s to change the government and change the laws and change the way lobbying fucking works.
2. You want to talk about foreclosures? I look at foreclosures every day. 98% of foreclosures happen for 2 reasons: Divorce and Medical Expenses. The other 2 % are just straight fraudulent bullshit. Our country could do one, totally simple thing to lower the number of foreclosures — universal health coverage. But no – let’s not talk about real solutions to problems. Let’s just blame the big, bad businesses for shit like foreclosures.
3. There were pictures of children protesting along with adults. If you want to take your child to a protest and talk about an issue, great, awesome, fantastic. If you want to give your kids a sign and have them chant along with everyone — that’s despicable to me. In my mind, there is little difference between this, the Westboro Baptist Church, Hitler Youth, and dragging your kid to religious services every holy day before they leave your grasp, hopefully in favor of a wider world. Training your child to think involves exposing them to as many thoughts as possible, and teaching them how to disregard positions logically. Anyone can disregard total crazy Westboro Baptist. But the less-crazy from the outside stuff is the most dangerous.  I guess all I’m really trying to say is – talk with your kids, but to stick any political or religious idea irretrievably in their head is horrid. To stick it in their hand and let people take their picture… well…

Anyway, those were my thoughts. But I was at work, digging through foreclosures. So, you know.

At least, that’s the way the issue is being portrayed in the media. Let’s not pretend that this is about something it isn’t. The real issue here is that the Republicans in the Senate are absolutely refusing to pass any budget unless a number of ridiculous riders are attached to it, including the stripping of federal funds from Planned Parenthood. It’s a blatant scorched-earth tactic, and the latest in a series of mind-bogglingly irresponsible maneuvers that I can only assume are intended to bring about the Rapture sooner rather than later so we can all ascend to heaven. Worse, the Republicans are being thoroughly disingenuous in claiming that the real disagreement is over budget cuts. It isn’t, and a quick review of the Republican proposals will show that for the most part, it hasn’t been.

In my opinion, the Republican Party lost their moral authority long ago, but this is the latest in a series of moves that I can only describe as cruel. Nobody loses when we spend 0.000005% of our gross domestic product on the health of our women. Nobody. The only reason to oppose this is pseudo-moralistic political grandstanding on a factually unrelated issue (abortion). That Republican leaders would allow the wheels of government to grind to a figurative halt rather than give up this grandstanding only serves to demonstrate their utter contempt for the people. They are completely unfit to lead. Anyone who votes for them based on their message is being hoodwinked, and anyone who votes for them based on their actions is willfully contributing to the ongoing crappification of our country.

We desperately need a responsible third party.