At last....

Someone in this thread with a brain...

This is my first post in this forum. Firstly, I'd like to compliment all the others who have posted here - much brain usage has gone into your posts

I am a limo driver in Australia. Our company has a contract with agents in the shipping industry. I had a young Chinese ship crew worker in my car the other day who spoke almost perfect English. He is 22 years old. We were both able to discuss subjects such as world politics, finance and religious philosophy. It was a journey of about 1/2 hour. Towards the end of the journey, I asked him where he learnt English. He replied "I started speaking English about 4 years ago. I learnt it from watching Hollywood movies. One day I would like to be an actor."

I was gobsmacked. I just looked at him with my mouth wide open and told him he was amazing.

One of the things he was passionate about was how much he and his fellow Chinese workers were getting paid in China for what they produce. They work hard, long shifts, and get paid very little for it. They can't afford the luxury items (that they manufacture) that we in the west take for granted.

For me, this gets to the core of the whole thing. What most people want, whether you are Chinese, Australian, American, or from the moon, is equality. A level playing field, and a common respect for each others contribution to society (and the world). If you sit at your computer for 3 months straight and make a really good song that people like, or if you spend half your life in a Chinese factory manufacturing shoes, and people like what you produce, then you should be properly paid for it. In Australia, we have an old saying - "a fair days work for a fair days pay."

In general, the ones getting the raw deal at the moment are those that create or manufacture things. The people making the real money are those that hold the power to sell those things to the public. If you make a good song, and sign a contract with a record company and they then 'release' it to the public, you don't own that song anymore - the company does.

If you are a big player in these large companies, and you are really doing nothing to contribute anything positive to the world, but merely make money because you are in a position of power, why should the general public continue to give you money?

Who owns the internet? Also, is globalization really that bad?

The Internet is the great 'equalizer', in that it allows a single individual to reach his audience *directly* without having to go through the established 'middle man' corporations. That is why record labels and such are so afraid of it.

On the other hand, as with everything, the 'signal-to-noise' ratio is increasing, even on the Internet. There is so much 'noise' out there now, that it's getting increasingly difficult to make your voice heard, to stand out in the crowd, even if you have something amazing to offer.

It is at this point that the 'middle man' corporations are useful, because they have their own channels, reaching millions of people. Take Steam, for instance: if you're a Indie developer, you'll have a very, very, hard time getting noticed out there on your own, even if your game is really good. But highlight that game on Steam for 24 hours and that situation can change overnight.

So, it's not like the middle man doesn't have any value, he has. But because 'he' is the one standing between you and millions, 'he' believes he is entitled to the lion share of the business. Funny that this is the same dynamic as the one between farmers/vegetable producers and the large commercial networks that distribute their products to the consumer.

If they think that will stop it... probably not, or they'll move abroad as well. From megaupload's stats, most of their traffic was from places outside the states...

The rats abandoning these ships will find other harbors.

Perhaps in NZ, but in China, Russia, or eastern Europe? Maybe, but I would find it hard to believe.