The Copa. (Don’t Fall in Love.)

Lyrical snapshot from Barry Manilow’s smash 1970’s hit or pithy, incisive double entendre about last week’s sad, little piece of legislation from our Do-Nothing Congress which was ultimately and thoroughly castrated by one very farsighted activist judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit last week. More accurately, it’s the smash hit ruling of the 2000’s passed down last week following it’s failure to pass the House nine years ago. It is, of course, H.R. 3783 - The Children’s Online Protection Act. Even its august-sounding name rang of high mindedness and good intentions and challenged skeptics, dared them really to show their faces in opposition. Yet, in the end it went down in flames. Of course that’s exactly what was needed - some abstract, Feel Good name that touched on all that is sacred and pure in our country. Like, hmm, our children! After all, who wouldn’t vote for it? The Bill was the perfect crystallization of the times - propaganda as political discourse: “You’re either with us or you’re against us!” “We have to fight them over there or we will be fighting them over here!” “Wanted: Dead or Alive!” And even beyond its epistolary shallowness (if you read the bill, you’ll see how subversive it really is), it allowed Americans to think – if even for one brief second – that the personification of our darkest fears (fears so horrible we couldn’t even talk about them let alone debate whether the bill actually addressed the issues at hand) was sent to the dustbin of legislative history. The bill did NOT protect children. What it did was filter out important information that young people need access too – health, sexuality, etc. – all in the guise of protecting children from online predators. Of course, who doesn’t want safe children? But let’s not ever again consider throwing the baby out with the bathwater. That wouldn’t be very safe at all.





--MOC BLOGGER