First, the obvious:
Go Daddy runs horrible, sexist Super Bowl ads. PETA members and others who think animals should be treated kindly are fully justified in canceling their Go Daddy accounts because of founder Bob Parsons’s
elephant shooting this past spring.
In addition, those who believe, as I do, that Go Daddy was on the wrong side of the
SOPA issue, should also have no qualms if they cut their ties with the company before it changed course.
All of that is fine. What’s troubling, however, is the anger against the company for not fully internalizing the opposition to SOPA. It seems as if nothing short of a
North Korean-style show of emotion will convince Go Daddy haters at this point and that’s just weird. People even got ticked off that it took Go Daddy a full four days — and this was over the Christmas weekend mind you — to
get off the House’s list of SOPA supporters.
SOPA, as most of you know, is a bill that Lamar Smith (R-Texas) introduced in the House in October. The intent of the law is to block websites from distributing copyrighted content they they don’t own. There are probably many who believe that even this is going too far, but I think most reasonable people would agree that those who create content should be paid for their work and shouldn’t be ripped off. Website operators who are up in arms about the bill should also take a moment to consider whether they themselves would want their content to be plagiarized or pirated elsewhere.
For many, myself included though, SOPA methods for combatting piracy go way too far. Simply put, it seems to put the onus on website operators, rather than law enforcement. It’s a “shoot first, ask questions later” type of bill that would disrupt the web’s economy and give the government too much power. The backing of the bill by a Republican illustrates the overpowering influence of money on politics — the GOP is supposed to be against a government-imposed solution like this.
Despite this fact, Go Daddy was within its rights to support SOPA. If you run a company and your beliefs run counter to the majority, you should be able to voice your opinion. Go Daddy did and suffered the consequences, including widespread anger on the web and a call for a boycott. In fact, the opposition worked so well that Go Daddy
completely reversed its decision.
End of story?
Unfortunately not. Now that Go Daddy has unequivocally opposed SOPA, haters are still up in arms because the company seems to have only done it because its business was at risk. Wasn’t this the point?
As it stands now, people seem to be angry at Go Daddy for not succumbing to groupthink. It’s as if just thinking differently than the majority is some sort of crime.
This, unfortunately, is a common phenomenon of the social media age. For instance, on Thursday, Kelly Clarkson was called to the carpet for
tweeting her support of GOP candidate Ron Paul. Most of the criticism involved newsletters that were published under Paul’s name in the 80′s and 90s. Paul has disowned the content in those newsletters and whether you believe him or not, the truth is that there’s plausible deniability. Clarkson should be able to offer her opinion on Paul without getting excoriated on Twitter.
Speaking of Paul, I believe a libertarian philosophy should rule on the web. People should be able to say whatever they want and deal with the consequences. But there should also be some respect for other people’s opinions. Otherwise, one of the things that makes Twitter great — unfiltered access to your favorite celebrities’ thoughts — will become a thing of the past as publicists take over.
Similarly, all of us will suffer if entrepreneurs feel that they can’t take unpopular stands from time to time. In their heart of hearts, the people who run Go Daddy may have a different opinion about SOPA than you do, but, at this point, they’re not going to do anything about it, so who really cares? Punishing the company for a thoughtcrime is very
1984. Let’s not carry that into 2012.
, не прочитав во постот
