You're right. It was 2011 when SOPA/PIPA were being considered. The internet is almost exactly the same as it was then. The biggest internet businesses and ISPs from then are the biggest that exist now. Other stuff related to the internet has happened in the interim (Snowden leaks, for example), but that's not super relevant in this context. The same companies that stand to profit from changes to net neutrality now are the same as in 2011.
As dire as the situation in Washington may seem now, democracy hasn't fallen. We as the citizenry haven't lost any power we had back then. If anything, we have more now given the surge in online activism (that also leads to real life activism more readily, at least from my perspective).
> As dire as the situation in Washington may seem now, democracy hasn't fallen. We as the citizenry haven't lost any power we had back then. If anything, we have more now given the surge in online activism (that also leads to real life activism more readily, at least from my perspective).
Ehhh let's not assume the future is alright quite yet. The prez did just fire the guy investigating his campaign's links to a foreign adversary.
I'm not saying there aren't issues now, or that everything will be fine, but as it stands now it's not like we've lost any of our rights as citizens in the past 6 years. We can still protest, vote, conscientiously object to laws, so on.
Throwing up our hands and saying, "Welp, the world is different now. Nothing we can do," is exactly the mindset that will lead to the loss of our ability to have an impact on government.
It is this kind of thinking that will get us in trouble. Once you stop fighting they win. Make enough noise and they have to listen. They still don't listen make them hear with your votes. Never stop fighting for what you believe in!
We absolutely have a say. Without our vote, these characters are out of a job. No job means no lobbying money.