First off, a HUGE find that started with a great post on Good.is: The sultry tones of Mela Lee and the Magnolia Memoir Ensemble performing, Don’t Explain:
Because, seriously, how can you not find this number simply amazing and inspiring? The awesome news is that they just signed their first record deal with Peak/eOne Music, so we get to hear more from them!
This is one of the ways that we make our world beautiful again: sharing the inspiration that’s inside each and every one of us.
And now onto my thoughts on unraveling the cognitive dissonance that the world is suffering from:
The world out there is full of inspiration being created by individuals everywhere. I wish that this was happening with every person on the planet, but it’s not (yet). We are currently in a fight to create the world that we all dream of, against a small number of people who don’t want this to happen. But the great news is that the voices that want the inspiration are getting louder, and the people who are behind these voices are starting to make the world change just a little bit towards the better side (Blackout Wednesday was more proof that our numbers are getting bigger). And that change is truly wondrous, though it is quite painful of a process to have to go through. Pain created by those who refuse to see the collective future because they cling only to the past. They’re the ones who force creatives to work themselves to death with little comfort or reward. They’re the ones who take incessantly and still demand more. They’re the ones who refuse to contribute, because they have little to contribute that actually betters mankind and the world.
To these people, I say that your time is coming to an end, and we all know it (including you – that’s why you’re so desperate that you’re cheating). Rules are meant to be broken, and we’re breaking yours because they’re in the way of us bringing the world together. As a matter of fact, we are making new guidelines that respect one another, and already follow them. We can’t hear you because you’re not saying the right things. If you keep it up, no one will include you in this new world and we probably won’t cry over your loss. But know this: your loss is up to you and not us. If you want to change to fit in, then we will welcome you.
TorrentFreak has a really great post on how we can all work together on our first step to protect our free speech, but I just wanted to share the guidelines that they want to try:
I’m borrowing this blueprint from the Green group in the European Parliament (where, in turn, it came from the Pirate delegation). Let’s try this for a legislation package in Europe, the United States, Australia, and everywhere else we can:
- It must be made absolutely clear that the copyright monopoly does not extend to what an ordinary person can do with ordinary equipment in their home and spare time; it regulates commercial, intent-to-profit activity only. Specifically, file sharing is always legal.
- Free sampling. There must be exceptions that make it legal to create mashups and remixes. Quotation rights, like those that exist for text, must be extended to sound and video.
- Digital Restrictions Management should preferably be outlawed, as it is a type of fraud nullifying consumer and citizen rights, but at least, it must always be legal to circumvent.
- The baseline commercial copyright monopoly is shortened to a reasonable five years from publication, extendable to twenty years through registration of the work in a copyright monopoly database.
- The public domain must be strengthened.
- Net neutrality must be guaranteed.
- Levies on blank media are outlawed.
- Overall, it must always be clear where the line goes; “the courts will sort it out” areas are not acceptable and tantamount to outlawing.
Sharing is what the new world will be about. No more selfish “me, me, me”. WE get that we need one another, and we’re going to help one another get to that foundation of fairness. This is a good start towards fixing some of our problems that are being caused by a few people’s refusal to enter the 21st century. We do not respect their methods of copyright or patents, as they only favor the select few. I for one can’t wait until they all realize just how many millions they’ve pissed off around the world. WE all agree on what the real world should look like: free and democratic, and full of innovative inspiration.
There are even similar discussions about necessary change happening on Ted: How do we get corporations out of government? and on Techdirt: The Internet Begins Discussing About New Found Powers and more. Plus TPB actually has a pretty good point in their press release about Hollywood and status quo:
If you want to get something released, you have to abide to their rules. The ones they created after circumventing other peoples rules.
The reason they are always complainting about “pirates” today is simple. We’ve done what they did. We circumvented the rules they created and created our own. We crushed their monopoly by giving people something more efficient. We allow people to have direct communication between each other, circumventing the profitable middle man, that in some cases take over 107% of the profits (yes, you pay to work for them). It’s all based on the fact that we’re competition. We’ve proven that their existance in their current form is no longer needed. We’re just better than they are. – The Pirate Bay
p.s. Thanks for listening to this diatribe. This election year is really annoying the heck out of me. And I hope that Mela Lee and the Magnolia Memoir Ensemble don’t mind sharing the page with my thoughts, as I find them truly inspirational!
