One Blogger’s Take On SOPA

Today, parts of the internet blacked out in protest of SOPA. At first, I was completely on-board with the idea of blacking out my site to show that I am against SOPA. There are far too many things wrong with the bill for it to pass with the way it is currently worded. The more I read and the more I thought about it, I realized that blacking out for the day was not the best way for me to make my voice heard. If anything, blacking out for the day would silence my voice.

As much as I would love to think that BubbaMack going dark is going to be noticed and make a difference, the simple fact is that it’s not. What WILL make a difference is putting my opinion on here for everyone to read in hopes that others will look into the bill and its flaws and contact their representatives.

Even though I’m 34 years old, it wasn’t until a year ago that I fully understood the power of one’s voice. Living in Wisconsin, life was very interesting in the early months of 2011. There were protests that I can only compare to the pictures I have seen of Vietnam protests, although much more peaceful. It was the people making their voices heard that forced some short term concessions and a long term look at the changes that were being proposed. If those thousands of people shut up and shut down, the changes which were being proposed would have passed swiftly and there would have been immeasurable long term consequences for our state as well as others that decided to follow suit.  Oh, and yes, I’m being purposely vague on the issues because I don’t want to start a heated political debate and I’ve learned that even a year later, this is a hot topic.

So, today, it was not quite business as usual for me. I did my normal work and then I took time to contact the lawmakers who are supposed to represent me. I put it in personal terms for them, letting them know what was at stake for our family if this bill passes and I was unfortunate enough to get caught up in the midst of a SOPA shutdown.

I would be out of work. Part of the joy of where I am right now in my career is that I have fewer “eggs in my basket” because I now have larger eggs than I had a year ago. Yes, I know it was my choice to work  from home and have an internet based career, but honestly, it was the best move for our family.

Last year at this time, I was dealing with the front wheel coming off my car while driving home from work, struggling to pay any of our bills, never knowing where daycare money or grocery money would come from and being away from my kids over 10 hours a day and seeing my husband for a few hours one day a week because of our schedules.

A year ago, we had just gotten approve for Medical Assistance and I was in the process of filing for daycare assistance and FoodShare. The car breaking was like a sign to me. I didn’t have the $1000 to fix the car, I dreaded the thought of having to rely on the state for assistance in providing for my family and I did something about it.

How many other families can relate to a story like that? We are all sitting here doing what we need to do to make sure that our families are taken care of. For many of us, that means taking the plunge to create a blog and monetize, use the talents we have been given to write for others and design, etc. What happens if we have to constantly live in fear that the sites we work for/with will be shut down? Or even worse, what if we’re lured into a false sense of security and it happens with no notice?

SOPA is definitely scary and it’s a very real threat to the livelihood of many bloggers out there. The key is, we need to make our voices heard, NOT silence them!