Obama, America’s ADD and Net Neutrality

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With everyone so inundated with life in the Internet age, do they really know what net neutrality is? Dorri Olds breaks this most serious issue down for us.
With everyone so inundated with life in the Internet age, do they really know what net neutrality is? Dorri Olds breaks this most serious issue down for us.

When I first heard of net neutrality, I didn’t know what it meant, so I Googled it. Millions of results came up, but before I land on the answer, I’m interrupted. Brrring. Oh, nice, an e-mail from my friend. Aw, it’s a photo of a cute puppy and a link to a video. I click on the link, which takes me to a YouTube video. I see suggestions for similar videos. I mindlessly keep clicking and watching cute puppies.

Uh oh. I realize an hour has gone by. I try to remember what I was looking up in the first place. Then I get a text from a client about a new project. As I’m replying, I get a few tweets and a retweet. Oh, isn’t that nice. I thank them for the #shoutouts and RTs. Then my iPhone shows off 10 new Facebook messages. The first one is my husband about which movie I want to go to. I Google movies.

All of us are so inundated with pings and brrrings and pokes and posts, it’s like we all have attention deficit disorder (ADD). We are so easily distracted. I do love technology and gadgets and yes, cute puppy videos, but I’m growing concerned about how many Americans are having information ADD to the point that they never get back to reading and learning anything.

Do enough people even know what net neutrality is? I’ll tell you what, it’s a serious issue, and keeping it protected is what you want. It means Internet service providers enable access to all content regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking information, products or websites. With net neutrality, you’ll have continued free access to any website. Without net neutrality, large corporations with tons of money will decide what you see online. There’s a good word for that: It’s censorship.

Read more: FCC Vote to End Net Neutrality Means Nothing

President Obama spoke out about the importance of maintaining net neutrality. You can read his full statement, and watch this clip:

Sadly, the president does not have the authority to tell the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) what it has to do. If I still have your attention, there are a number of articles from The New York Times about the issue. And before one goes frothing at the mouth about the evils of Obama’s presidency, it would be so smart to actually read what’s going on before ranting. Yes, people want a better economy but, like toddlers, they yell, “I hate you!” when they don’t get something fast enough.

It took many years for the Republicans to create the economic crisis. It’s not Obama’s fault that your money is still lining the pockets of the 1 percent. Now, with more Republicans voted in, don’t be surprised if they ruin the economic progress that has been made. And definitely don’t expect them to fight for your Internet freedom.

Read more: Election Results: Welcome to the Ford Administration 2.0 

You know, the shock hasn’t thawed for me yet about the Nov. 4 election when America displayed its continued determination to shoot itself in the foot. This brilliant cartoon by John Jonik sums things up well. Notice the middle picket sign: “Limit Our Internet Freedom!” Oh, yeah, great idea.

Jonik
© John Jonik

What sickens me most is how Americans don’t want their opinions disrupted by facts. My father once said that honorable men aren’t successful politicians because they don’t toot their own horn enough. Too bad many Americans are still busy blaming Obama for everything while he fights to give us all a better quality of life. Let’s look at his list of accomplishments.

Wait. Brrring. Aw, look at that cute puppy video!

Dorri Olds is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine

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