[mookiemookie]

You want to see something funny...read Fox News' version of the internet blackout story. Talk about a slanted view.

It says about Wikipedia's blackout:

But the online encyclopedia's blackout is a line-in-the-sand action -- and it isn't sitting well with some of its volunteer editors.

"Some"? How many is "some"? It presents this fact like there's a huge controversy because Wikipedia just went ahead and made this decision on it's own. It didn't. It was voted on by Wikipedia editors. So obviously "some" is a minority if the motion to black the site out passed.

"My main concern is that it puts the organization in the role of advocacy, and that's a slippery slope," said editor Robert Lawton, a Michigan computer consultant who would prefer that the encyclopedia stick to being a neutral repository of knowledge. "Before we know it, we're blacked out because we want to save the whales."

It's a slippery slope all right - a slippery slope fallacy. If Robert can't tell the difference between making a statement about an issue that affects the existence of Wikipedia itself and one that doesn't, he's got some issues.

The article goes on to say:

The shutdown adds to a very vocal body of critics who are speaking out against the legislation. But the bill's many supporters -- including the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and News Corp., the parent company of FoxNews.com -- argue that those critics simply misunderstand the bill.

Great, so it presents their side of the argument - that these people are uninformed whiners. But it says nothing about the critics of the bill - webmasters, net security experts, even Vint Cerf, one of the guys who worked on the Internet while it was still a DARPA project. I think these guys know what they're talking about. No mention at all of the intellectual cache of those opposed. Just repeat the same stock answer the SOPA proponents use when any criticism is levelled against the bill - "oh you just don't understand it."

And then, counting it out we have a one sentence quote from a Google spokesperson against SOPA, and another one from Jimmy Wales about how Wikipedia is still neutral. But then we have quotes from Chris Dodd, Robert Lawton, Timothy Lee and Dick Costello who are all critical of the blackout. Fair and balanced, hmm?

Social news website Reddit.com is shutting down for 12 hours on Wednesday as well, but most companies are staying up.

Oh get that? Most sites are staying up. You hear that guys, everything's cool because most of the millions of websites that exist are still up. We can still see the menu at Jim Bob's Pancake House, and Aunt Nelly didn't blackout her website full of the kid's pictures. Just nevermind these small time whiners like Google, Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, Boingboing, Wordpress...