J.K. Who?

I think a lot about the dark ages. They are called the dark ages because so little is known about them. This happened because literacy was so low that no written word was kept.

I think of today as the modern dark ages. Everyone knows at least a little about classical music even if it only to name Mozart and Beethoven. Everyone has heard of Shakespeare and Dickens, even if they know little about their work. Why? Because anyone can copy it, change it, make it their own. Now with copyright laws at modern standards, the red Italian plumber can only appear in licensed Nintendo products, movies cannot be shown without express consent, you can't play music even at a charity event without writing your soul over to the RIAA in a contract of your own blood and you had better believe you will never see a Harry Potter book without J.K. Rowlins name on the cover.

If the system breaks down, all these figures will be lost within a generation. I guess that is a small price to pay for no-one to know who Celine Dion or Britney Spears are. Yeah yeah I know, "Leave Britney Alone". I could also live my life not knowing who he is either.