Free People Read Freely

theharemuses:

Looks like Google and other tech firms are on our side against SOPA. I guess there’s hope that the bill won’t pass then.

(Also:  Link to the petition against SOPA at WhiteHouse.gov.  It needs 6000 more signatures by the 30th.)

The Stop Online Piracy Act isn’t banned books related, however, it is all about censorship.  For those unaware of what this act being pushed by the music and movie industries entails, if put in place as it is written now, this act would give copyright holders the ability to shut down any website, in its entirety, if copyrighted material is found.

The site would not be given the opportunity to take down the material or ban the person that posted it.  They do not pass go, do not collect $200.  The site would simply be blocked/shut down from use by all users.  The act would target many popular websites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr.  The technology used to control the internet, should this pass, is akin to the protocols used in China and Iran.

It doesn’t take much and it may not seem like much, but I urge you all to at least sign the petition if you can.  I think for a country whose first amendment to its constitution includes “freedom of speech”, this is something that must be stopped.

prsw:

In 1973, the Drake, ND School Board ordered 32 copies of Slaughterhouse-Five burned. Vonnegut wrote a letter to the town, which can be read in its entirety if you visit the above link.

(Source: jyhslibrary)

macydrox:

My favorite part: 

“In my writing I do not always agree with what occurs, nor do I linger in the mud for the sheer sake of it. Also, it is curious that the people who rail against my work seem to overlook the sections of it which entail joy and love and hope, and there are such sections. My days, my years, my life has seen up and downs, lights and darknesses. If I wrote only and continually of the “light” and never mentioned the other, then as an artist I would be a liar.

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real, and I can’t vent any anger against them. I only feel this appalling sadness. Somewhere, in their upbringing, they were shielded against the total facts of our existence. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist.”