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Shall We Pity the Entertainment Industry?
It may be hard to say yes or no, but what the SOPA debate and others like it have come down to is this:
1. The current media distribution model is not working for some companies.
2. They perceive their model as failing because of illegal acts.
3. These so called illegal acts are so pervasive that everyone and their brother has taken part of them on occasion, if not often, for almost a decade.
So do we then:
A. Ask the government to step in and help these companies implement their ideal business model with more crackdowns and legislation?
or
B. Allow the market, or some other force, to make these companies accept the current reality and either adjust and create a new model that is profitable or simply parish the way of the horse buggy and cassette tape?
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Gowtham Sunkara 500+
Creating media is not an easy task. Lots of money and effort is put into it. We can't just expect them to give their content away for free. I think SOPA came out of the media industry's sheer frustration at being helpless.
On the other hand, I do believe that media companies should try to adapt to the changing consumer demands rather than trying to coerce them into their path.
Mark Meijer 100+
I don't care what the motive of any industry is, its only right of existence is the extent to which it serves society. Not the other way around.
Gowtham Sunkara 500+
I am not saying SOPA in its present form is right. I was merely pointing out one of the reasons for its existence.
Mark Meijer 100+
It's moot either way. If the masses are clearly moving on, then the industry can either pack up or move with them. Don't even mistake it for a negotiation. The old model is already falling on its ass, all they can do is draw it out and make it that much more painful for everyone. And the only reason they're doing that is because they refuse to, as you say, adapt to change. That's not my problem, it's theirs. I'd much rather have my tax money go to their unemployment, than to be forced into an abusive totalitarian straightjacket in the hopes of preserving obsolete business.
A lot of people's livelihoods also depend on organized crime, but that doesn't mean we should protect those "jobs" for their own sakes when it hurts everyone else. The entertainment industry, along with pretty much any other industry, as well as government, is slowly but surely becoming indistinguishable from organized crime. You can play their game if you insist, but I think you should get your priorities straight first. Society does not serve industry. No human being exists for the sake of an abstraction, sanctioned or otherwise.