[KLUG Advocacy] Re: And the Spam Wars continue...

[Peter Buxton]

They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice
'Cause they think that it's treason

On Tue, Nov 19, 2002 at 01:13:40AM -0500, Robert G. Brown wrote:

> I'm not exactly sure of the mechanics of this (I can ask any one of a
> number of people in the UK if there's some great demand for it,
> there's lots of stuff on this topic online). It is apparently not
> possible to buy a TV or radio without showing your licence document or
> paying the tax. Operating a TV or radio without a licence is a serious
> crime, and a pub can have the equivalent of its alchoholic beverage
> licence revoked if it is operating a TV or radio without a licence.

Not to mention the episode of _The Young Ones_ where Rick tells Vivian
to "eat the telly!" as the BBC/police are outside waiting to inspect
their receiver permit.

"Ah, the old eat-the-telly trick, eh?"

I, too, despise watching ads on something I pay for. Ads in movie
theaters and DVDs are a start of an ugly trend, and I would support a
law that requires such DVDs have "THIS DVD CONTROLS WHAT YOU MAY WATCH"
printed on the cover in 1/2 inch type. AOL figured out that invasive
popups drove their customers away; I hope that like rejection will
change the mind of DVD makers.

> In the USA, federal communications law says almost nothing about
> receivers.  What the Brits did is very different from the choices we
> made, very early on. I offer it as something of an instructive
> contrast.

But not one I wish to follow. There is no part of government free from
the threat of being bullied by any part of the population. (I doubt
anti-abortionists would wither and die if their big donors stopped
giving; it isn't just money per se. If you oppose some policy, there is
no substitute for an active intelligence in opposition.)

The entire legal system is under the control of government, and very
heavily subsidized. (Most civil suits aren't, e.g.) It, too, is often
accused of unfairness and is subject to being required to enforce policy
and not "mere law": mandatory arrest in domestic disputes, the War on
Some Drugs, hell, even the entire desegregationist legal battles across
the country 40 years ago were policy-driven, and those policies came
from groups outside government who imposed their ideas upon government.
Which is, primarily, what it is there for. A government incapable of
accepting and enforcing policy, even over short-term hostility, is no
government at all.

I read about how women are freer in post-Shah Iran, but the Iranians
interviewed admitted that much of this new freedom is due to the
weakness and relative poverty of their government rather than enlighened
policy. Well, that's good for the suffragettes, but lousy for all those
Iranians who died fighting Iraq -- had their government been stronger,
it may have better prosecuted that war.

I think I prefer my government to make good policy, not
government-approved broadcasts:



I was tuning in the shine on the light night dial
Doing anything my radio advised
With every one of those late night stations
Playing songs bringing tears to my eyes
I was seriously thinking about hiding the receiver
When the switch broke 'cause it's old
They're saying things that I can hardly believe
They really think we're getting out of control

(CHORUS) 
Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice
'Cause they think that it's treason
So you had better do as you are told
You better listen to the radio

I wanna bite the hand that feeds me
I wanna bite that hand so badly
I want to make them wish they'd never seen me

Some of my friends sit around every evening
And they worry about the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
And the promise of an early bed
You either shut up or get cut up, 
They don't wanna hear about it
It's only inches on the reel-to-reel
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
Tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel

(REPEAT CHORUS)

Wonderful radio
Marvelous radio
Wonderful radio
Radio, radio
(FADE)


"Radio, Radio"
Elvis Costello
_This Year's Model_
1977


N.B. Elvis Costello is hardly anyone's idea of a Thatcherite.

-- 
for gpg key: http://killdevil.org/~peter
Would you rather live as a normal citizen and no demigod
in Roddenberry's Federation or Lucas' Empire? - D. Brin