money & guns

Cnet’s Don Reisinger just did something awesome.  Don’s been pissed about getting pushed around by lawmakers and corporations for years and finally decided to use his public influence to make his voice heard.  Here’s a brief excerpt:

How many times must we hear that video games cause violence before we stand up together and stop the spewing of inaccurate ideas? How many times must we listen to the RIAA tell us that college students are the root of all evil as it pertains to piracy before we tell the organization that it’s wrong? How many times must we listen to public interest groups allow families to get off the hook instead of blaming them when “security concerns” are revealed to the public before we tell them the truth? How many times must we listen to people who have no knowledge of the technology industry restate the misguided ramblings of lawmakers before we vote for change?

Read it here.

Finally, a public voice for individual responsibility.  I salute you Don.

There are some poitns still to be flushed out though and I’ve been planning on expounding similarly for a while but for now I’ll just say this: no matter what kind of country you live in, be it a “democracy” or a dictatorship, responsibility for change is ultimately in your hands (come find me if you think that was an abuse of emphasis).  Power, once obtained, is not given up freely.  Once a phone company realizes it can rip you off, it will.  Repeatedly.  And count on the RIAA to take every single cent it can from whoever it can.

Stand up, and if you have to sit down, don’t do it without a fight.  Put your money where your mouth is and try to only do business with ethical companies even if this means forgoing certain products and services.  Walk out of a store if you think they’re giving you a bad deal and tell them why.  Enough for now…