Saturday 12 October 2002

Jenny points to Alan Graham’s idea to send a once-read book to your Congressman—glued shut—to point out how copyright extension hurts people. They wonder which book. I think Uncle Tom’s Cabin may be the book. It is in the public domain now, but imagine if this book had not spread the way it did. Until this book came along, slavery was a states’ rights issue. This book made the moral case against slavery, in a way that may have been maudlin, but effective. It shut up northern sympathizers (I know New York and New Jersey were strongholds for these bastards) with the Southern cause, and helped erode diplomatic support for the Southern states abroad. It was published serially 150 years ago, to a very limited audience of avowed abolitionist fanatics who subscribed to Washington National Era. Imagine if these people had not been able to pass on their used copies to their compatriots or their enemies; it would never have gotten the attention that it did, enough to catch the attention of a publisher. The book went on to sell throughout the world. I think it fair to say that the destruction of slavery was intimately tied to loose standards of copyright protection. Some more history 11:50:34 PM    comment [] Perhaps the reason I don’t write more (any?) poetry is because I devote my creativity to much more important aspects of my life, such as devising interesting new excuses for being late to work. Seriously, I was brimming with ideas after the Dodge Poetry Festival 2002; in fact, I was cobbling together iambs and trochees on the way home. Two days later, driving to work, in the same echoing chamber in my head, I was trying to sound out some plausible reason for coming in forty minutes later than usual. 10:04:05 PM    comment []

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