LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: C4IS <C4IS@EISA.NET.AU>
  To  : linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au
  Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 11:00:44 +0930

Re: new I'net bill (Mark Newton next Independent MLC...?)

Look, Mark...

I like some of your recent, shorter arguments on this issue.

Now, why not do what "No Pokies" MLC Nick Xenophon
has done in the Pokies debate...

i.e. run as an independent candidate.

If IT people aren't getting their view aired in this
state and/or country today...

why not help air them tomorrow?

I'm sure that you've got the name recognition
that it would take (in the world of the techies,
at least)

BTW, if this seems such an odd idea, consider
that a guy in the disabled community has - for
many years - been working on a new political
party of his own, as well as attending meetings
(e.g. local council, et al.) to get up-to-speed for
future campaigns.

(I think he may actually have run once or twice
already... it's good experience...)

Anyway, why not get in there and speak/push
for what you believe in... I know you're not the
kind of guy to do anything that even approaches
civil disobedience... and - who knows? - this
may be just the thing that we need...

More IT-cluey pollies in there...

Try it... you'll like it...

(And - hey! - Just look at how much power
some independents have got... Harradine
at Federal and Xenophon at State level...
just because they're free to vote as they
wish...  You could enjoy the chance to help
'fix' things... and - since you would be speaking
as "one of them" - it might just be easier to
take on-board some of your ideas... i.e.
from within... so to speak)

You'll never, never know...
if you never, never go...

:)

PS This is a serious suggestion...
NOT a satirical paper...


As I've asked before...

Do you want to be EFFECTIVE
at creating positive change...?

Or... do you want to sit off on the
sidelines and insult the powers-that-be?

Somebody like you (or you... or you...
- meaning other Linux SA readers...)
might be just what we need to get
the message out that there's a lot
more to be gained from all this I'net
stuff than most people know...

Maybe it would be a better thing to
- for some of us to do - to show people
some of the Internet's best side...

i.e. rather than look like a 60's-style
demonstration (burning things)...

Educated Users of Internet (who are
taking advantage of all the informa-
tional aspects of the 'net) would be
much less ready to accept the extra
cost/slowness/untenability in this law
and it would be voted down in future.

Keeping the public ignorant of the
Internet's other (more positive) fea-
tures - in a place like SA, at least,
helps no one...

these are scary times... Y2K, etc.
and people might not receive the
demonstration (with burning books)
as well as some person-to-person
exposure to the benefits of the 'net.

Any ideas on this suggestion?

I guess I feel like it would be
more productive to spend some
Open-to-the-Public meetings on
"What the Internet can do for You"
- or the like - than learning some
trivia about Linux, e.g. once a qtr.

Maybe a new organisation should
come into existence (to the extent
that Linux SA has... i.e. in spirit, if
not in Associations Law reality...)
whose main purpose is to Educate
people about the Internet (of course,
you could sneak in some of the facts
about the impossibility of censoring
content after getting people aware
of the benefits, now, couldn't you...?)

-- 
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