The NDAA and SOPA Will Turn Us Into the Maldives

This is likely the future if the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Stop Online PiracyAct (SOPA) were to be used together.

Blogger Ismail Kilath “Hilath” Rasheed's blog was shut down based on the accusation it contained material that was determined to be anti-Islamic. He was then thrown in jail for taking part in a demonstration in favor of religious tolerance for four weeks.  His blog is still offline, probably permanently, and Reporters Without Borders has called it "A threat to the Maldives' young democracy."

All it took for Rasheed's blog to be shut down and Rasheed himself to be thrown in jail for a month was criticizing religion.  What do you think this kind of thing, now an actual nightmare thanks to the NDAA and SOPA have been passed, will mean for American citizens? Anyone who still thinks the American people are protected thanks to the Constitution doesn't seem to know that right was lost at the end of last year thanks to President Obama signing the NDAA.

To say that what Rasheed's going through is the same as what Americans may suffer is laughable.  American citizens haven't yet been driven so far to the right that they are willing to kill mass amounts of people for religious or political reasons - yet at least - but they are willing to let two laws that can be used to censor people either virtually or physically go by without a second glance or a mass uprising.  If this was any other country the United States would be ready to declare sanctions against the government responsible for it.  However on its own soil this kind of bill passes without a peep from almost anyone short of alternative media and blogs.

Currently there are several ways one could wind up being a victim of this legislation and you barely need to do anything.  First is the law in several states that if you cause "economic damage" to a company you could be considered a terrorist.  This one is pointed toward, but not exclusively, animal rights activists who reveal the horrid conditions animals face in factory farms.  Another is if you release something the government or military doesn't want to be known, such as the case with Bradley Manning.  The government didn't want the tape, known as "Collateral Murder" to get out to the public, especially the American people.  For leaking the information, which needed to be done, Manning faced a long time in jail and after horrific treatment at the hands of the military, is getting a trial at Fort Meade.  These are just some of the more famous cases of the government or those in the higher commands of power overstep their bounds when it comes to detention or censorship of ordinary citizens.  The longer the NDAA and SOPA last, the higher the chances for people to be abused.  All it takes is a matter of time.

Rasheed would probably love to live in this country at this moment and that's a sad thing considering we are blindly and proudly walking into the same kind of regime under which he is presently suppressed.