Barack Macbeth's 'Murder' of Net Neutrality (News, Switzerland)
"Pictures are louder than promises. They are also, unlike words, more easily turned into gold. For instance, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a decades-long lobbyist for mobile networks and cable operators (that says it all about Barack Macbeth - that he would appoint someone like this to direct a government agency), allows Netflix to have faster and more efficient data transmission - at higher cost, of course. Inequality as usual in the United States, and now on the Internet as well. You think that is unimportant, irrelevant, and the 'normal course of events?' You are so very wrong."
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler insists his new proposal for a more 'open Internet' will not harm the Web and threaten free acccess now protected under net neutrality.
Announcement:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. agency for media and
telecommunications, recently announced that it intends to abandon network neutrality. Those
who pay more will get better network access. It's high time to consult
Shakespeare.
Prominent
Internet activist and law professor Tim Wu is saying these days that
Barack Obama personally swore to him that he would defend a cost neutral Internet.
What if a presidential candidate promised the Black community, putting his own integrity
on the line, that once elected, he would defend integration at all cost, only
to introduce an unequal voting system?
When
Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, he knew nothing of Barack Obama, and yet the first
Black president resembles this literary anti-hero like no other. Macbeth
clearly saw what needed to be done, and with eyes wide open, set about doing
the opposite. Not unlike Obama. Both - the literary model and the real-life
American president - revel in a kind of inferiority complex colored by a
certain willingness to commit violence (see Obama's saber rattling with respect
to Russia) and a narcissistic claim to exclusivity ("I can"). Both
Macbeth and Obama are encouraged in their actions by "enablers." For
Macbeth, it's his "lady," and for Obama, the rulers of Wall Street. No
one in 2008 thought the "Scottish play" would run in Washington again
and again. In 2007, Barack Macbeth - like his model - still had what it takes
to be hero as well as villain. As with Macbeth, Obama's first murder (drones)
and his first lie (Guantanamo) were the initial sparks for later acts of
inhumanity. Lady Macbeth - a.k.a. Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner
- knew exactly what this weak-minded man wanted and needed - and gave it to
him.
Instead
of finally curbing Wall Street in its role as tail wagging the dog of trade and
the real economy, Obama's first act was to introduce a state health insurance
plan that allows American bio-capitalism to continue running rampant, anchoring
capitalism in the human body as the future gold standard.
This
truly monstrous act, not unlike Macbeth, removed all barriers to further
betrayals, lies, intrigues, and power. Those familiar with the negotiating strategy
for TTIP, the U.S. free trade agreement with the E.U., and
with the result of those negotiations, know that Shakespeare's characters were
sitting directly across the conference table. At first glance, violence just
looks different.
In the case of
Macbeth, sex drives the plot, whereas now, greed and money are the primary plot
engines. The Wall Street Company knew, like Lady Macbeth, that if her lord took
the first step toward evil, a deeper wade into the "river of blood"
would occur as a matter of course, until "returning" to being a
decent politician would be as hard as "continuing to step
through the river of blood."
Macbeth
divides our family, as does Obama. There is the classical socialization
faction: "he can't help himself." Among sympathizers, there are of
course the old sexists: "Without the lady, never a murder." Or the
observers: "Politics is always a dirty business." Those with some
knowledge of the philosophy of law, on the other hand, see only a one
responsible individual, even if his guilt could be spread over several
shoulders: It's the main character who gives the play its title.
Barack
Obama has broken, denied, and turned every campaign promise into its opposite -
other than the introduction of universal health insurance (which, as previously
mentioned, primarily benefits bio-capitalism - but that would be a detour to
Shylock and The Merchant of Venice -
perhaps another time). And now, in the last few weeks, the final blow: Barack
Macbeth as murderer of net neutrality.
Pictures
are louder than promises. They are also, unlike words, more easily turned into
gold. For instance, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler,
head of the regulatory board for media and telecommunications, a decades-long
lobbyist for mobile networks and cable operators (that says it all about Barack
Macbeth - that he would appoint someone like this to direct a government agency),
allows Netflix to have (yes, those with House
of Cards, according to media reports, Obama's favorite show) faster and
more efficient data transmission - at higher cost, of course. Inequality as
usual in the United States, and now on the Internet as well. You think that
is unimportant, irrelevant, and the "normal course of events?" You
are so very wrong.
Under
Barack Macbeth's protection, what Wheeler is proposing is nothing less than the
introduction of a two-class voting system. Permit a momentary digression to
Orwell: "Some are more equal than others" After all, why should
literary pigs use different arguments than real ones? ["Some pigs are more
equal than others" is a quote from Orwell's Animal Farm].
Premium
service, alias, premium $$$. Americans are actually allowing themselves to be taken for the fools that the U.S. entertainment industry has been showing them for years. The result of all the bread and circuses is that Americans no longer appear to have any clue about what politics is all about. Obama
was hoisted into office with a beauty that hasn't manifested itself in the United
States since John F. Kennedy. That politics would turn the beauty of "Yes,
we can" into "Yes, we can screw you" has stunned nearly
everyone. How can he? How can he? How can he? Lies for self-preservation are
one thing, but to do the opposite of what one has promised violates every human
and higher commandment. Obama is proof that the opposite of "the good"
is often "well-intentioned."
By
May 24, 2014, Americans must succeed in submitting
100,000 signatures against Internet inequality to the White House. Then,
the court that surrounds Barack Macbeth will at least be forced to adopt a
position on what's happening. But as Shakespeare would likely say, "Hell
is empty, all the devils now own the Net." Thanks, William! (Based on
Shakespeare's original quote:"Hell
is empty, the devils are all here.")
