Re: Logic
That phone in your pocket...how many people were raped, tortured, maimed and killed for the tantalum and niobium it contains? How many children were maimed, worked nearly to death or otherwise victimized to assemble it?
Those banks that ruined the economy, how many people actually went to jail for their actions? How many members of any government were even mildly rebuked for violating various civil rights?
The fourth amendment of the USA is now null and void within 100 miles of any border. Who went to jail for tearing up their constitution?
People murdered in Iraq? Afghanistan? Haiti? Kosovo? Darfur? Burma? South Sudan? and on and on and on. Some of the murderers, rapists, torturers and maimers wore American flags. Some wore British. Who goes to jail for ordering a napalm strike on a civilian village, or illegally invading a country and causing a million deaths?
Oppress an entire gender, or people for the colour of their skin. Abuse, demean and torture people for their sexual orientation or even just their physical appearance. Who goes to jail? All? Some? Most? Any at all?
If you commit a crime by yourself you go to jail. If you commit that same crime in large enough numbers you get off scott free. This is the lesson of hundreds of thousands of years of human history. What's more, legal isn't moral and moral isn't legal. Neither bear any relation at all (except coincidentally, on occasion) to "ethical."
Your votes don't count.
Voting with your wallet doesn't count.
Protesting in the streets amounts to nothing.
So what does that leave? People need avenues for having their voices heard and for enacting change. Real ones that actually work.
When 95% of the US population supports restrictions on automatic weapons and mandatory background checks for any firearm then it should fucking well happen. When it doesn't then the system is flat out broken.
When a whistleblower releases information about government malfeasance then that individual should be protected, not persecuted. When the laws favour keeping the citizens cowed and in the dark the system is flat out broken.
Paypal made a choice, people responded in a peaceful manner. Nobody was raped, tortured, mailed or killed. Nobody was abused or traumatised. One person alone is a criminal. Thousands or millions taking such peaceful, non-violent action is a legitimate attempt to find and exercise a means of protest that is actually effective.
The people deserve a voice. Hundreds of years have gone into silencing the "official" means of making your desires known. I see no problems whatsoever with inventing new ones.
Morally and ethically, at least, there's a fuck of lot less blood on the hands of someone using LOIC than on those of the people who sold you your cell phone.
It's interesting, however, see where your priorities are. Subservient respect for authority and damned be the people. Nice.