File Sharing Suppression from the Religious Right...big surprise.

You know, considering the view of the Religious Right on so many other issues, I'm not surprised that they have taken this point of view on file sharing. However it's an interesting reason that they cite, "File-swapping services make pornography easily accessible to minors, the social conservatives submit." This is not even close to the reason the mainstream entertainment industry cites for dissapproving of file sharing: stealing.

Let's weigh that for a second. Which is more dangerous to a child: telling them that stealing is ok, or telling them that sex is ok? Regardless of which reason you cite, it's laughable to think that you can own an idea. Almost as silly as you think you can own a piece of the planet. My land...my ideas...mine, mine, mine! Seems immature to me.

Historically, fundementalist theocrats have been successful because they were able to supress thought. Of the small sliver of the population in the Middle Ages that was literate, the majority were priests. Mass was performed in Latin, but most of the church's patrons at that time did not know what the priests were saying. I submit that it is no different today. The world has expanded greatly since those dark ages, but the cost of being both socially and cognitively literate is still high. Thus, any technology...any advancement that causes people to think is a threat to fundementalism. A threat to thought supression. The Naltrexone of the Masses, if you will.

I suspect that unless we allow for the free exchange of ideas, that we will eventually be driven back into those dark times. Into a neo-fudalism theocracy...now there's a scary thought!