Briton held over wireless broadband 'theft'

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Ill-Informed and Narcissistic

Sir,

I am inspired by your optimism and by your enthusiam for a better World. I wish everyone had such great hopes. And I am also encouraged to some degree by your personal confidence .

BUT YOU ARE WRONG

However, I am discouraged by your lack of perspective and World View. Your one specific example of "bad" democracy was from American current events. And that example was only the tip of perhaps a thousand icebergs that loom ready to sink your Titantic hypothesis: that Americans and American Democracy are so superior. Thankfully, reality is not so black and white: for if it were, it would be clear we are NOT the superior "form" of democracy or government, or culture, or race, or whatever you think this is all about.

Irony runs rampant in your remarks. I believe it is you, in fact, the prototypical narcissistic megalomaniac, the famous Ugly American buffoon, who keeps us from our promise of true greatness. Our European brothers seem not to take us seriously these days except when we omnipotently threaten someone with violence. They feel we have no other authority than this. While once we preached the evils of arrest without charges, and indefinite detention, and torture of suspects ? they know that it is we Americans who are guilty of these things now. Your talking down to them like you have done here convinces no one (except for yourself) of our superiority.

The pinnacle of the irony is in the assertion that democracy is the uniquely superior form of government, and that ours (American Democracy) is the one perfect democracy that everyone should adopt. This simply is not true. Is it not, finally, obvious from the examples of Iraq, Palestine, and Iran that some cultures aren't compatible with majority rule? Even we who have for so many decades now spoken out for Human Rights all over the World... even we fall victim to these same spiritual failures. Many Americans actually believe one has no Human Rights unless they are written down literally and exactly in our Constitution. And if you are not a legal citizen of the US, then you don't even have those rights.

I am sorry for the rage you must feel reading my reaction to you joyful proclamation of Faith in Democracy. Joy is a good thing. And Faith in Democracy is the right attitude in most modernized cultures like ours, derived from the Western European Tradition. But the problem is the narciccism. Narciccism is born from tragedy. It is the tragic adaptation of an individual [small child] deprived of something essential to their well-being. So calm down now; everyone is looking at you. You don't want to be that person with the big ego that others sense is covering-up some hidden inferiority or shame. Take no comfort in the fact you feel there are many who share you views; these views are not healthy attitudes. These fantastic feelings of superiority grow out of a very private and personal place. I am sorry for bringing it up in public.

BUT YOU ARE RIGHT

I can tell we would agree on MANY points, including the issue that likely prompted your remarks here in the first place: this crazy idea that some checking their e-mail on an open Wifi connection is a criminal. Take note, however, this is a problem in the US, too. There are many reactionary people right here in America who feel if a man in a parked car "steals" Coffee Shop bandwidth to check his e-mail, then he should be convicted of a felony. A FELONY! ...that he should lose his civil rights FOR LIFE for "stealing" less than $0.01 of bandwidth from someone who made absolutely no effort to secure their "valuable" property. Mean people SUK, and they are everywhere! "Real Americans" (and, actually, people from anywhere who are passionate about personal liberties) should speak up. Just because some "tight-lipped mommy's little chauvanist" (? from John Lennon) want to go into a rage about some other child touching his toys... well, that is no reason to dispense severe punishment. That is why children need mothers and why some nations need kings. It is not a perfect World. We all should police ourselves first. And we all should offer at least some advocacy to the "accused" because we want to live in a sane World.

Therefore, I thank you for pointing out that not everyone who is accused is guilty. As you correctly point out, the American system highlights this fact by law. But to that I would add this: not everyone who is "guilty" has done anything wrong. Just remember, in an inappropriate democracy, ANYTHING can be illegal.

THE PROBLEM WITH EUROPEANS

Many Americans today smell something rotten in Europe. I believe there IS something rotten there, but I'm not sure yet just what it means.

In America there is a legal tradition that seeks to protect consumers from unscrupulous sellers. Like Europe, we have antitrust laws of various types designed to protect consumers from unfair competition. But in America, the focus is on unethical behavior, not simply fairness. In America, fairness is perhaps irrelevant. In the US, if a supplier cannot compete because of an inherently uncompetitive position (like a lousy product, ...or no product!), then that's tough! The European tradition seems to be that antitrust laws should serve to protect the other sellers from bad times. Most Americans find this view repugnant.

Thus: if Microsoft has succeeded so well in Europe that everyone there prefers Windows on their PCs, then Microsoft is bad and should give away their source code for free. That's what we Americans hear them saying. It makes us so apoplectically furious we want to take our ball and go home! And if Microsoft were to charge for Internet Explorer, then that's okay; but they cannot "give it away" ? not even as an integral component of the operating system. That would be "unfair." (SOooo many times we've thought: okay, you SHOULD NOT EVEN BE ALLOWED to use Windows. You use something else while we stomp your dick in the global dirt!)

Sure there are echoes of these sentiments in the US as well, but they are weak and eventually lose their voice. Why? Because they are inherently destructive ? seeking to force consumers to pay more for less. Here the consumer is king. We are getting a good deal from Microsoft most of the time, and we'll be damned if you guys are going to get it from us for free!

We Americans don't often speak-up about how we feel on these trade matters, or about a number of the other little impedance mismatches between us. But it primes our pump. Someday it will all come spilling out.

Frankly, we don't really care if you throw each other in jail for using each others WiFi that you don't know how to secure. Just keep your hysterical techno-panic to yourselves and try not to blame us for any of it. (We'd hate for you to know how contagious it is.)

Cheers,

Posted by: ProfessorJim   Posted on: 08/23/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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