This country is eroding out under us as our government strips the citizens of Constitutional rights.
Today, I took my friend Chris’ advice, I joined the EFF and ACLU. My next step is get hooked up with the Maryland Democratic Party and see what I can do to help.
For the record, Maryland’s primary elections are Sept. 12, 2006 and the general election is Nov. 7, 2006. I plan on voting in both (electronic voting machines nothwithstanding).
I urge you to take action: do some, or all of the above; leave me a comment about other ways to make a difference; or simply take action on your own.
If we start acting like we care about what happens in this country, maybe we can make it a better place (again).
BTW: for those who are wondering what’s gotten into me, check out this and this.
I enjoyed the wired articles, but I’m still left with an all too strong “and what do I do about it”? The most my vote can do is ensure that Maryland remains one of the most leftist states in the Union, which is apparently insufficient. Given my citizenship, I very strongly consider leaving the country when I graduate, but I just can’t help thinking that’s the coward’s solution.
Well Rob, joining the ACLU is a start – I assume you’re already a member of the EFF.
As far as a more global change, if Maryland can elect a republican (useless, waste of space, incompetent) governor, then we still have some issues to worry about locally.
Good call… I think I will join the ACLU. Another group that I like (that I forgot to mention) is MoveOn (http://www.moveon.org/). They will periodically send out a mass mail saying:
– Here is issue X
– here are some aggregated news sources that make you understand X
– you can click HERE to sign a petition or auto-mail your congress people
And when you register they auto lookup your congressman (both branches) by your
zip code, and then setup their mailer to auto mail them with a text-editable message.
Good stuff, also worth checking out.
– Rob
.
I checked out MoveOn, and joined up there as well.
Good for you, buddy!
Good job man.. We need more people out there fighting and protecting our rights
Thanks for reminding me to join the ACLU, Sandro.
But I think the Wired articles you linked to are crap. You could claim that the increased standard of living afforded by technology is responsible for apathy (which I don’t think is true either), but claiming that people don’t care about the Iraq war because they have iPods?
Nobody cares because nobody is affected in any discernible way. More importantly, it has never been otherwise. The Americans of today are (IMHO) somewhat *less* apathetic than those of 40 years ago. But we’re not facing any danger more serious than slightly elevated fuel prices.
You know Nate, I think people are more apathetic then they were 40 years ago; hell I think they’re more apathetic than 20 years ago (which I actually remember). The difference is that people are less educated and less informed, and I believe it’s partly the fault of the school system, and partly the fault of the media.
The school systems failure probably stems from the fact they are given the role of baby-sitter more than educator. Increasingly, the school systems are asked to meet more rigid educational guidelines that are dictated by what is testable, than what is best for the student. Add to this the failure of many systems to increase budgets at the rate of inflation, and the failure to compensate teachers adequately, and I don’t see how the school system can provide effective education.
From the standpoint of the media, somewhere in the last 30 years it became more important to entertain the masses than inform them. The second the TV news media became the primary source of world information in this country, the world was a worse place for it. Newspapers tried to keep pumping out reliable journalism, but the writing is on the wall, entertainment rules the minds of the masses; Tony Long was right about that much.