The Free, The Government and the Internet (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe 2.0)

Freedom. A basic right that all men should be able to share. An idea that was radicalized and realized by revolutionaries of the 1700's. Just imagine for a moment. These revolutionaries were advocating for rights that opposed the powers that controlled them. How radical would they have to be? What if such a movement started today? Would you join them? Or would you want to stay under our current Government? My answer is an easy one, but I've given this subject a lot of thought. Many of you may not know that I am a techy guy. I am always trying to code something or do something to make my computer better ( or messing up my friends computers for fun.). Recently I have been following more tech world news too. In the past few weeks, you may have heard of the Wikileaks controversy. What could be more of  a scare? Government threating to censor free speech! In the past few weeks, the US Govt has taken down around 80 domains, based on allegations of copyright infringement. They didn't take the time to check. . This government needs to learn 2 thing, however. Once something is up on the web, it can never be retracted. And all the company needs to do it publish their site to the infinite amount of URLs available.

I urge you to support this movement of freedom of information. While I don't agree with the way Wikileaks made the point of the need for transparent governments, I agree with the point they are making. Please head over to their site, link posted above and support them, or any other push for freedom! We must retain our rights! Help get America back to what it's meant to be!

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Clichés. Something we use everyday. Something I've probably used way to frequently in these blog posts. I don't really like that. Regardless, clichés are an interesting concept in our language and our culture. 


The definition of a cliché:


An expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect


The title of this blog is a cliché. We see them everywhere. Advertisements, novels, tv shows, just about any information medium. But these clichés go much deeper into our culture than just commercialism. The clichés are just that for a reason: they do an adequate job of expressing of explaining something otherwise difficult to convey. They can also express humor, satire, etc.


But if you take a deep look at our language, then you will find everything is cliché. All terms, expressions, everything in our language has been used to the point of losing it's original meaning. Now, I don't mean that "if" doesn't mean "if" anymore, but more on the philosophical side of language, everything is clichéd. 


Our language is a very unique and strange one. Linguists have a field day study language structures we use; the ones have borrowed from others, and the one totally our own. 


I'm not going to say much about this, except that you should think about it. Let the juices flow,  come up with an argument of whether you agree with me or not. 


Have fun with it, tell me what you think!


-TJF