The internet is being attacked again.
You guys all remember SOPA and PIPA, right? The things with internet censorship? The things people even unaffected by united with to fight against? Yeah, those.
This time, they're being a lot more subtle.
It begins with putting sales tax on online purchases. That's right. Minecraft is now 7% more expensive. That DVD you're ordering? 7% more expensive.
Or at least, it will be. It's still in circulation. Which means we can stop it.
I always thought the internet was untouchable. SOPA and PIPA were easily tossed to the wayside. The internet is the haven where outcasts can go, where best friends can be made. A shelter for many of us, a way to pass the time for others.
SOPA and PIPA failed. So now they're taking it slow.
It'll start with a sales tax. By the way, small online businesses... They'll be hurt. You people who sell stuff over the internet? You may be screwed over. 7% is small... but it adds up. It hurts small businesses. The small business entrepreneurs who made up America.
Let me tell you a story.
Sometime in the 1800's, the government imposed a federal income tax. The Supreme Court said, "No, that's unconstitutional, that shouldn't be applied."
In 1911, they overturned that decisions. So, the government said, "Alright, you rich people. You only have to pay a really small amount."
Then it went on. "Okay, EVERYONE has to pay 1% of their income."
In New York, 2013, people pay anywhere from 15%-20% of their taxes as income tax. Their tax? An upwards of 60%.
Small, subtle things. Nothing to cause a rising. People ignored it. It wasn't much.
Oh, they're adding a sales tax. It probably won't affect you. But that is exactly what the people in 1911 said. "It won't affect me."
From small, something grows big. From 13 colonies, the United States became a country. From 13 states, it gained 50. It is the same with the internet.
They'll start with the income tax.
They'll stop when Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr is gone... Or at least, inaccessible to Americans. Which if you're anything like my friends, and you live in America, you should start having panic attacks.
Mark my words, we will live to regret this.
Unless we band together. This is the Internet, for Pete's sakes. The place where we laugh at trolls, cry at assholes, be assholes, share our experiences, cry about real life, together. The place where someone in the U.S. and someone in Japan can be best friends. Where fandoms come to life. Where cat pics and stupidity run rampant.
A fantastic escape for many of us.
But now there's an income tax being planned for online sales. It'll kill small businesses.
It's only the start.
As an American citizen, I feel it is my duty to spread the word. I feel it is my duty to let you know the truth. I feel it is my duty to tell you this:
Today, income taxes are the bill.
Tomorrow, the bill will say this:
"Controversial websites may be monitored for controversial topics, with which they may or may not be flagged."
Vague. You don't really understand it. But let me break it down for you:
Anything the government thinks is 'controversial' (which, for example, may be this blog by a 16-year-old filled mostly with poetry) can be watched by the FBI. If I make another post like this (with this hypothetical and very possible bill in place), the government doesn't agree with it. Thus, it's controversial. I'm "flagged". The blog's shut down. My personal details are found. I'm monitored. Or even it's just shut down. Maybe my internet access is closed off.
Suddenly, someone's off.
That, my friends, is the definition of censorship.
It starts with income taxes and leads to the president having full access to drones... which he can order to shoot anyone, at any time, at any place.
It starts with sales tax and leads to censorship.
Once censorship comes into play, you need to be running like hell and fighting like you are defending the nearest possible things to your heart.
Because once there's censorship, good-bye freedom of speech.
Today it's the second amendment right.
Tomorrow, it's the first.
Spread the word.
Fight against the online sales tax.
Our internet purchases should be between the consumer and producer.
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