Miscellaneous > The Lounge
Whats with this protesting European Patenting Stuff?
Doctor V:
Gah, I don't even know where to start to respond to this one.
First, protesting is not limited to liberals. I remember seeing people on the news protesting against a recount in florida a few years ago. Marching, holding signs and all. Your steroetyping all protesters as "long haired tree hugging liberal hippies" is wrong. And I would expect any sensible person, liberal or conservative to be against American style patents. They make life suck more than it has to for me, for you jeffburg, for laborers andfor business owners alike. The only people who would support these idotic patents are very large corporations who want to stifle competition, and for the lawyers who make oodles from IP lawsuits these patents cause.
You claim to be a capitalist, well I think you should read up on some Adam smith and learn more about capitalism. There are good and bad points of capitalism. And to be a capitalist you should understand what they are, what makes capitalism work and what ruins is. Competition drives capitalism, and anything that stifles competition stifles capitalism too. Society is based on business, and businesses exist for the benefit of society.
When things turn around, and society is made to serve the businesses, competition is crushed in courts by expensive lawyers, and the right to 'innovate' is bought, sold, traded and fought over, capitalism fails. When new business are crushed even before they begin because one group owns a business method, the principals upon which capitalism was founded is crushed as well.
And Jeffburg, let me make a suggestion. If you really love America, instead of blindly following along with whatever America's current leaders serve to you as 'patriotism' and 'American', you take a really good look at what is happening in America today from a broad perspective, and admit to yourself the reality that today America is in the shitter and the whirlpool is spiraling down down down. And from there, work towards getting America back in the right direction again.
V
Laukev7:
Exactly what I think, I couldn't have said it better than you, Doctor V.
I am a bit confused about the patent thing, though. Are patents like that everywhere, or only in the United States? As I said, I always thought they were designed to give the inventor credit and a kickstart in the market, not a lifelong monopoly.
jasonlane:
quote:Originally posted by Laukev7: Defender of Canada:
Exactly what I think, I couldn't have said it better than you, Doctor V.
I am a bit confused about the patent thing, though. Are patents like that everywhere, or only in the United States? As I said, I always thought they were designed to give the inventor credit and a kickstart in the market, not a lifelong monopoly.
--- End quote ---
I second that...
No we have patents in the UK, infact I think we invented the concept, I think.
Anyway, the point is that patents are being very liberally applied these days, when perhaps copyright should be applied instead. When people start patenting business models, genes, DNA and in the case of software broad blanket coverage then you get into a pickle.
hm_murdock:
Jeff, Jeff... WTF?!?
I don't get it man, how can you support this?
"people who are smart and work hard"
You mean the coders and project leaders that make hourly wages and might not have a job come next layoff season? These guys you seem to worship, these "corporate moguls" are far from smart or hard working. The only thing they work hard on his their tan and their belly.
We have a word for these people: PIGOPOLISTS
These are the people that unfortunately run this great nation today. Our government had four branches when it started. Forget what they taught in school, it had four.
Executive
Judicial
Legislative
The People
Through the 1960s or so, it was
Executive
Judicial
Legislative
The People
Military
The U.S. Military made up for a large part of the government's decision making, because anything they did had to be weight *AGAINST WHAT IT WOULD DO TO THE BENEFITS OF OUR PEOPLE SERVING THE NATION*.
Now what's our political landscape look like?
Executive
Corporate
Legislative
Corporate
Judicial
Corporate
No branch of our government is free from corporate meddling. The courts have become corporate enforcers, Bush is a corporate tool (Powell and Rumsfeld need to beat his pansy ass), and Congress is a joke. Corps buy congressmen cheap.
Hey, we'll buy you dinner for a week if you vote yes for the DMCA.
Selling America one lobby at a time. So, this is the great capitalism you uphold?
What a piece of shit way to live it's created. I have to work TWO GODDAMN JOBS these days to even live. I can barely afford to put gas in my car. Putting food on the table is even harder. Keeping bills balanced is Hell... for the last week, I've been taking showers at a friend's place because we COULDN'T PAY THE WATER BILL this month because WE DIDN'T MAKE ENOUGH BECAUSE OF PAY CUTS AT BOTH MY JOBS. (before anyone mentions my recent tech spending, that's because of my grandma getting me ready for school)
Both companies posted higher earnings and profits, but my pay went down. Yeah, good 'ol ass-sucking, cumguzzling capitalfuckingism.
I, personally can condone taking money from the rich to provide health care. As long as it's not inhibting their ability to survive, then, so be it. If it were to severely cut into their cash-flow, then, that *is* unfair. In society, each person must contribute. Laborers contribute THEIR LIVES to working in factories for low pay and shitty benefits. Unions came along and helped that, but now the corps are outlawing unions, firing people who bring up the subject, and trying to make unionizing illegal in certain industries. YEAH! CAPITALISM HELPING OUT THE LABORERS.
Then there's the middle class, the part of society I'm so lucky to have been born into. We're the ones who have the most to fear. We're the ones who get the pink slips when profits slip .5% and we're the ones who pay the highest taxes in the U.S. and the ones who really get reamed ALL THE MOTHERFUCKING TIME. We're the ones who work for 20 years to send our kids to college so that they can work for 30 years to send their kids to college, so that they, in turn can work for FIFTY YEARS to send their kids to a half-rate tech school. Capitalism at work for me and you, buddy. Those corporate execs lookin' out for us. I guess they don't want us to worry about having too much money. They probably figure we wouldn't know what to do if we had anything like financial stability or such asinine things like feelings of security and safety.
I pay $1.85 a gallon for gas. Why? Because we went to war to free up oil deposits. That means we have more oil! More gasoline! Cheaper gas? NOOOOOOOO! Texaco and Shell and those goat-groping assraiders couldn't ream us then. We have a surplus so PRICES GO EVEN HIGHER! Thanks again to Mr. Bush and the Pigopolists... AND ALL HAIL CAPITALISM!
Oh well, that's all I need to say now.
[ September 04, 2003: Message edited by: Jimmy James is COOL ]
[ September 04, 2003: Message edited by: Jimmy James is COOL ]
[ September 04, 2003: Message edited by: Jimmy James is COOL ]
jasonlane:
That deserves a standing ovation JJ COOL...
Hear, hear
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