“it’s unfortunately a pretty famous misquote”. It is indeed, as I’ve said a couple of times in p2pnet.

But why “unfortunately”? As you say, “the intent stands”. And that’s the point.

Cheers!

As cool as that sounds, it’s unfortunately a pretty famous misquote. I think the intent stands, though, and as you said could easily be applied to any head of the “content industry.”

Here’s the original:

“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.” pg 43, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ’80s (New York: Summit Books, 1988).

“Instead what we have is 99.9% lawyers, who understand the value of lies, deceit,money, and never leave office.”

When Hunter S Thompson said “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs” he could just as easily have been referring to politics.

Cheers!

For example, in a democracy the day when you pay your taxes, April 15, would be a day of celebration, because you’re getting together to provide resources for the programs you decided on. In the United States, it’s a day of mourning because this alien force—the government—is coming to rob you of your hard-earned money.

I’m not a corporate boy by any means, but I think Noam is out of touch with reality here. First and foremost, the U.S. tax code is very complicated, and if you make mistakes the I.R.S. is very unforgiving and has been known to dole out harsh fines. I had a friend of mine get screwed by them, as his soon to be ex wife filed married but filing separately the last year of his marriage. He was unaware of this, and thought she had taken care of his taxes, until he got dragged in front of the IRS for not filing. They were up his ass for years after that, until he had to hire a lawyer to get them off his back, after already having paid them an enormous amount of money in fines. A lot of people make various mistakes, have to deal with the I.R.S., and I can tell you NONE of them are looking forward to April 15th as “a day of celebration” and trust me that has nothing to do with corporate propaganda. As far as “getting together to provide resources you decided on”, since WHEN did I decide to invade Iraq? If you looked at polls, the majority of people were NOT in support of that occupation yet we are still there, paid for by tax money. So no, I’m not dancing with joy over having to wrestle with cryptic tax laws and then seeing my money go to MANY endeavors I in no way endorse or support. Sorry for the off topic post, but there was no way I could let a comment saying the only reason I’m not throwing a joy party on tax day is because I’ve been brainwashed by corporations.

“NC: …In fact, a rather striking aspect of business propaganda in the United States is the demonization of government, starting after the Second World War.

The Second World War ended with a radicalization of the population in the United States and everywhere else, and called for all kinds of things like popular takeovers, government intervention, and worker takeovers of factories. Business propagated a tremendous propaganda offensive. The scale surprised me when I read the scholarship—it’s enormous, and it’s been very effective. There were two major targets: one is unions, the other is democracy. Well, [to them] democracy means
getting people to regard government as an alien force that’s robbing them and oppressing them, not as their government. In a democracy it would be your government. For example, in a democracy the day when you pay your taxes, April 15, would be a day of celebration, because you’re getting together to provide resources for the programs you decided on. In the United States, it’s a day of mourning because this alien force—the government—is coming to rob you of your hard-earned money.
That’s the general attitude, and it’s a tremendous victory for the opponents of democracy, and, of course, any privileged sector is going to hate democracy. You can see it in the healthcare debate.
The majority of the population thinks that if the government runs healthcare, they’re going to take away your freedom. At the same time, the public favors a national healthcare program. The contradiction is somehow unresolved. In the case of the business propaganda, it’s particularly ironic because while business wants the population to hate the government, they want the population to love the government. Namely,they’re in favor of a very powerful state which works in their interest. So you have to love that government, but hate the government that might
work in your interest and that you could control. That’s an interesting propaganda task, but it’s been carried out very well. You can see it in the worship of Reagan, which portrays him as somebody who saved us from government. Actually he was an apostle of big government. Government grew under Reagan. He was the strongest opponent of free markets in the post-war history among presidents. But it doesn’t matter what the reality is; they concocted an image that you worship. It’s hard to achieve that, especially in a free society, but it’s been done, and that’s the kind of thing that activists in the IWW have to work against,right on the shop floor. It’s not so simple, but it’s been done before.”

Are we comparing the drugs scene to the music industry?

The comparison is valid, I’m comparing the mentality of the RIAA/MPAA to the mentality of the war on drugs crowd. I won’t get into the Harrison act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Act, or America’s first drug czar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger here, suffice it to say that the war on drugs has been conducted by the U.S. since the early 1900’s, has failed, yet continues to this day. As for the people in the drug trade with guns, it’s the very illegality of drugs that promotes this, you don’t have people shooting other people over the sale of alcohol, although you most certainly did during prohibition. Over the years various strategies have been tried, none have worked. The mentality of the RIAA/MPAA is exactly the same, even before napster they were complaining about home taping and vcrs.

Where can the cartels go from here?

According to this p2pnet article they made 15.8 billion dollars. http://www.p2pnet.net/story/34470
That’s a lot of lawyer/lobby money, so I suspect if three strikes passes and doesn’t work, or fails they will be pushing for something else even more odious. I was not happy to see that 15.8 bil figure, as it means those assholes will be around for quite some time to come. Believe me Jon, I would LOVE to see those dinosaurs drown in the tar pit and become extinct, but 15.8 billion dollars is a pretty heft branch to help them crawl out of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT saying people should roll over, all I’m saying is don’t underestimate the enemy.