Petitions don't work. The Founding Fathers knew that...
Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
11–20 of 84 posts
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#12I expect that this petition will be just as effective as all the others.
Governmental e-petitions: ignoring the public more efficiently than ever before. Actually now in britain we have it set up so whenever one of these gets 100,000 votes, it must be debated in parliament. One of the few useful or interesting things cameron has done. Of course they are quite rightly not bound to do anything more than debate it, and in the long run it will probably just be a more efficient way of shutting…
I think that makes it a bit worse. Those debates are more than good enough for a lot of people who don't care much. "Oh look they debated things! Welp, back to the grind!"
Even worse, if enough petitions get that many votes, it could be spun as a problem for politicians who want to get things done, "The public keeps wanting us to debate these stupid issues! We can't get to the more important things!" Yes it sounds far-fetched, but some newspapers will sink that low...
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#13I created an account in order to sign this, but when I try to sign in I get a 404 -- using Chrome. Anyone else get that?
I got it as well, in FF. Most of the time, these things get a one-strike-and-adios policy for me, but on this it seems important enough to try again later...
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#14I don't understand this fascination with internet petitions. Hasn't it been demonstrated to the point of absurdity that our government does not care?
Before anyone claims "OH, so we should just do nothing instead????". Posting a dubious e-signature to an internet petition does nothing. There are people out in the streets sleeping in parks getting pepper sprayed and arrested because the government can't simply ignore it (unlike every single internet petition).
Filling out a whitehouse petition is like getting punched in the face by your boss then slipping a folded piece of paper into the complaint box he put in the break-room next to the donuts.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#15Everyone is mentioning how petitions don't work, which I agree with.
(Sidenote: I think it is an extra step worse that the government put up a website for petitions, and still ignores their own system. Random petitions (e.g. "\signed" forum posts) are one thing, but this is more like toying with people.)
That said, I think this petition has something important that other whitehouse.gov petitions don't: in that, under SOPA, there is actually technically a possibility that the government would censor itself (via whitehouse.gov), which is pretty funny if you think about it.
Edit: I suppose I mean "funny" in a darker sense.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#16Can't sign in or register in Chrome 15 ?
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#17I don't understand this fascination with internet petitions. Hasn't it been demonstrated to the point of absurdity that our government does not care? Before anyone claims "OH, so we should just do nothing instead????". Posting a dubious e-signature to an internet petition does nothing . There are people out in the streets sleeping in parks getting pepper sprayed and arrested because the government can't simply ignore…
The fascination is with poisoning the well. A lot of people have the interest and energy to do exactly one thing politically, and in this age of OWS and global uprising it's in the interests of the status quo to eliminate the effect of this low-hanging fruit. The people who create and post internet petitions are evil and/or stupid, without exception.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#18I don't understand this fascination with internet petitions. Hasn't it been demonstrated to the point of absurdity that our government does not care? Before anyone claims "OH, so we should just do nothing instead????". Posting a dubious e-signature to an internet petition does nothing . There are people out in the streets sleeping in parks getting pepper sprayed and arrested because the government can't simply ignore…
Did you read the petition? It seems like you're missing the joke in this one...
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#19I don't understand this fascination with internet petitions. Hasn't it been demonstrated to the point of absurdity that our government does not care? Before anyone claims "OH, so we should just do nothing instead????". Posting a dubious e-signature to an internet petition does nothing . There are people out in the streets sleeping in parks getting pepper sprayed and arrested because the government can't simply ignore…
Internet petitions establish in everyones minds that people are for the petition. That's a real effect, whether it is to de-legitimize the government's "reaching out" campaign of the online petitions, or to bolster support by showing other supporters how many others out there support their cause. It's not real in the sense that it will do the thing that the petition is for, but it's real in the sense that it builds support for the thing.
Re: Whitehouse.gov petition to veto SOPA
#20I was on a conference call w/ Zoe Lofgren (CA congress woman who is on the Judiciary fighting the hell out of this bill) and a bunch of NYC tech companies last weekend and she said petitions are essentially ignored, and instead to make phone calls to your reps and directly into the capital. This isn't to say don't sign this, but if you are really concerned, the absolute bottom line is phone calls. Anything you can do…
This. Still, as long as Obama hasn't signed NDAA yet there should be one for that too.