Dafuqer7
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Rest in Peace, Stan Lee.
1 min read
You were and still are an inspiration to us all.
Excelsior.
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Thoughts on Article 13 passing
5 min read
The EU's new copyright directive has passed without any amendments, and far more support than the first time. It's a terrible fact, but I do believe I should say something that ought to be cause for slight and very cautious optimism, and which may give you hope in this trying time.
Do note that this is gonna be a long one, and will be explaining some recent politics. You might get confused if you don't follow them. I will feature a TL;DR version at the end.
I won't have to explain how terrible Article 11 and Article 13 are (I assume you already know), but I will explain my theory on why they are so terrible:
The EU and the legacy Mainstream Media are getting increasingly desperate.
I've noticed the EU has been on a downward spiral in recent years, with several recent events shaking its very foundations. These events include Brexit (even though Theresa May seems to be doing her best to completely nullify that) and some member states like Poland, Hungary and most recently Italy rejecting the EU's policies (especially regarding the migrant crisis) This is in adition to euroskepticism being on the rise alongside populism and nationalism all over Europe. These feelings by disgruntled citizens are shown in the recent rise of right-wing and nationalist parties, like Germany's AfD, or the rather mixed elections in Sweden, both countries usually seen as prime examples of what an EU country "should" be.
They continue to rise in popularity despite the mainstream media doing their best to slander them and label them as Nazis, racists, sexists and other Social Justice buzzwords that are almost meaningless nowadays.
The unelected officials of the EU and the Media don't like this, and are indulging in behavior that has been shown throughout history among tyrants and power-hungry leaders. Whereas before they were able to use subtle tactics to slowly rise to incredible power, they become incredibly confrontational and hostile when that power becomes threatened; they use any and all means available to destroy their opposition as soon as possible. And this exact paranoid and desperate mindset was their downfall every time. They revealed their true face, and lost the power they gripped onto so hard.
The EU's leadership is hardly different. Thanks to a certain few internet shitposters who decided to become active in politics, it's been revealed that the EU parliament is primarily staffed by old men who do not understand nor care about the things they are legislating, and are just there for the power their positions allow. Like the aforementioned tyrants, they want to keep that power at all costs. But in the pursuit of that goal, they only sped up their inevitable demise. They think the ordinary people are too stupid to notice their increasingly authoritarian behavior. Unlike countries like China or North Korea, the people of Europe did not experience indoctrination all their lives. They are for the most part well-educated and are familiar with concepts like freedom of speech. They will not stand for this. However, while the normies may be still sleeping, Article 13 will give them a very rude awakening. It helps that these new laws directly clash with human rights and the constitutions of several member states.
This is why I believe that Article 13 sealed the EU's fate. It will likely be just as terrible as predicted, but it will not last.
In fact, I predict one of two possible scenarios will happen:
1) The various social media and other internet giants, like Google, Facebook, Instagram and others, will decide to cut their losses and just leave the European market, unwilling to pay the price for the minor transgressions these laws persecute. Then, all the normies living in EU member states will notice they can no longer access these wildly popular sites, and there will be a massive outrage which will foster further hatred for the bloc and fuel those that want to leave it.
2) The other, and more likely outcome, would be that the aforementioned internet giants comply with these new laws and implement them everywhere. Since it's impossible to manually cover the massive amounts of information pouring in across the entire web, they will likely implement algorithms and bots that automatically flag and remove content. And as sites like YouTube show, these bots are FAR from perfect, and aside from removing their intended target, they will take down a very large number of unintentional content, and there is no way this will go unnoticed. This will likely spark an even bigger outrage than in the alternate scenario, which will rage across not just EU territory, but in the US and other countries as well.
It's this reasoning that I believe that this draconian copyright law is a storm before the sun. I have little doubts that this law will be terrible and very restricting, but it will not last for long. It will turn people against the EU and either directly or indirectly contributing to its dissolution. I'm not saying it will be sunshine and roses, but I am saying that things can get better. However, I may be mistaken. Time will tell.
TL;DR: The EU is already falling apart, and this legislation will speed up that process. It will be bad while its in effect, but its effect will not last long.
That's my take on this entire debacle. Feel free to give me your opinions.
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(Emergency) Save the internet
2 min read
Time for the EU version of the battle for Net Neutrality.
Back in July, there was a vote on Articles 11 and 13, laws which are supposedly to help protect copyright across the EU, but in reality are very open to abuse and exploitation.
Article 11, also known as the "Link Tax" is a law that will make social media pay for links to mainstream media websites and articles, effectively making hyperlinks impossible and would ruin the internet as we know it and completely strangle the flow of information. This will kill alternative media and almost any website.
Article 13 is just as draconian, as it will make social media sites liable for ANY copyrighted content, which will most likely be managed by algorithms. As YouTube's algorithms display, your work will be taken down by a bot unless it's 100% original (and maybe even then). This means that memes, remixes, clips, GIFs and other user-generated content will be practically illegal.
Even worse, it's been revealed that most of the MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) are old people who are unfamiliar with how modern technology and the internet function. Their hands are very unfit to handle something like the internet.
Thankfully, this has been stopped back in July, with the proposed laws being shut down. However, it was just delayed for amendments and other modifications, and the final vote for these mass censorship machines will happen very shortly: On September 12th, 2018.
So to all people who live in EU countries, email and call your MEPs and explain the situation. Be polite, and show them you will not stand for this.
More information here: saveyourinternet.eu/
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It's time...
1 min read
...to make an April fool's joke that pulls a bait and switch by making you think I'm about to leave dA but am actually doing something completely innocuous.
Ayy Lmao.
Ayy Lmao.
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Big update about SFM
2 min read
I wanted to inform you that I will likely not be making any SFM art for now, due to several factors, the biggest of which is the following:
On March 7th, the Hard Drive I stored Steam, along with SFM, all my games, and all the custom content I amassed over the years of using the program (including stuff that is now almost completely unavailable), has been essentially put in a limbo; The disk still seems to be working fine, but it cannot be accessed via computer due to the connectors burning out. And I cannot have the disks transferred into another drive unless the other drive is of an exact model and capacity as the old one.
Even worse, this happened one day before the deadline for the 7th annual Saxxy awards, meaning everything I did up to that point has been flushed down the toilet.
Still, I didn't give up hope. I got on another computer that had SFM, and after about 12 hours of animating, I managed to churn out an entry video mere minutes before the deadline. You can watch it (and maybe even vote?) right here:
I have a new (albeit empty) hard drive, with double the capacity (2 TB compared to the old 1), and will keep trying my best to find a way to get all my stuff back.
Also, in some minor news, I topscored on the national English language competition, so I guess I'm now the #1 Englishman in Montenegro.
On March 7th, the Hard Drive I stored Steam, along with SFM, all my games, and all the custom content I amassed over the years of using the program (including stuff that is now almost completely unavailable), has been essentially put in a limbo; The disk still seems to be working fine, but it cannot be accessed via computer due to the connectors burning out. And I cannot have the disks transferred into another drive unless the other drive is of an exact model and capacity as the old one.
Even worse, this happened one day before the deadline for the 7th annual Saxxy awards, meaning everything I did up to that point has been flushed down the toilet.
Still, I didn't give up hope. I got on another computer that had SFM, and after about 12 hours of animating, I managed to churn out an entry video mere minutes before the deadline. You can watch it (and maybe even vote?) right here:
I have a new (albeit empty) hard drive, with double the capacity (2 TB compared to the old 1), and will keep trying my best to find a way to get all my stuff back.
Also, in some minor news, I topscored on the national English language competition, so I guess I'm now the #1 Englishman in Montenegro.
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