“Net Neutrality”
By Yoko Tamada
“No Longer Neutral”
By me
Well, here we are, one day removed from
Pay-per-view being a possibility
And paper views on the rise
As the Washington Post costs less to have
Printed and delivered than accessed
Without cutting down a tree.
I’m not naïve enough to believe
That change will happen overnight,
Or measurably over any short length of time,
But that is how the worst possible change occurs,
Like a lobster boiled before it even realizes it’s too hot.
My brother, yesterday, told me a theory,
And it made me wary, revolutionary,
For his theory went like this:
If I were an independently wealthy politician,
And I wanted to control the flow of ideas,
What’s stopping me from:
Paying to slow down traffic to free thought
Paying to promote the stories that I bought
Paying to ensure those without the means
Could only see what I believe or at least
Want to be The Truth?
What’s to stop this simple 3-2 vote
From being the latest of stages in
The transformation from a
Democracy to a dictatorship?
For those who read this years down the road,
I think you for paying extra tolls,
And I hope your windows are covered
So those patrolling the night don’t see the light you generate.
Lunch Hour Poetry 