For those of you who aren't already in the know with regards to SOPA (aka the Stop Online Piracy Act) I strongly urge you to look it up by way of YouTube or Google, as it is extremely serious and will undoubtedly destroy the Internet as we know it if the bill is approved by U.S. congress in it's current form. Located below is a link which will lead you to a website hosting further links to explanatory videos regarding SOPA and PIPA which will also give you the option to phone or E-Mail a complaint to congress.

SOPA is still relatively new to me as I have only been aware of it for the past week or so. However, since I have been closely following the matter, I am fairly confident that I can still provide my watchers with a summarized explanation: If SOPA is approved by U.S. congress, our Internet will be heavily censored just like China's. If you're grinning as you read this because you happen to reside in a foreign country, keep reading. This affects you too. If this bill is allowed to pass it will cripple the Internet in a myriad of different ways, but since these are DeviantArtists that I'm speaking to and since I am myself an artist by trade I'll only be focusing on the single most horrifying aspect of the SOPA bill that should have every artist shaking their fists with rage. Namely, the fact that we will no longer be allowed to draw whatever we wish anymore.

Depicting copyrighted material (harmless cartoon characters in this particular instance) such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Balto, Kimba, Simba, Celestia, Naruto, Spyro, Sonic the Hedgehog, Toothless, Fievel Mousekewitz, or even Care Bears in my case, will officially become illegal by law and will give their respective owners (Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Hasbro, Sega, Activision, et cetera.) the power to yank the government's chain and force them to automatically vaporize (insert name of website) without warning for posting pictures depicting characters from the franchises they own be it snapshot, wallpaper, lineart or fanart. Just let that sink in for a moment, my fellow art lovers:

THE GREEDY ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY WANTS THE POWER TO DECIDE WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DRAW SO MORE PEOPLE WILL BUY THEIR SHIT.

Does "Communist Russia" ring any bells? Essentially we'll be handing the keys to the Internet to large corporate bodies such as Hollywood for instance and trusting them to make fair and balanced decisions. This, in my mind, is hardly any different from giving the nuke launch codes to the permanent residents of the Sunnyvale funny farm and saying "Just promise us that you won't cause any mischief, okey dokey?"

The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on SOPA on November 16 and December 15, 2011. A vote was supposed to be scheduled for Wednesday, December 21 but it has since been delayed. The Committee is now scheduled to continue debate when Congress returns from its winter recess. Until then, I suggest we all start raising a raucous about this bill whenever and wherever we can on the world wide web. Remember: if SOPA wins, DeviantArt, FurAffinity, Elfwood, The Lion King Archive, Sheezyart, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Imgur, 4Chan, and Flickr among many, many other things are ancient history and we can all kiss our freedom of artistic expression goodbye. Lol, Constitution? What Constitution?

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