big fat virtual protesters

Bethel makes the point that the Internet provides a harmless release valve for social outrage that would otherwise topple imperious or incompetent governments, and she feels that our governments actively encourage virtual worlds in which we vent our spleens at virtual governments rather than the real-life ones -- and in passively protesting in this way, rather than being out there marching with placards, we become fat and ineffective citizens.

"Why do you think that the Internet has been left alone -- without any government constraints on what, in some cases, is downright vile criminal behavior?" asks Bethel. "I'll tell you why, it's because the Internet provides a harmless release valve for all of our outrage at the government's erosion of our rights and failure to keep to its part of the social contract."

"All of the outrage that our ancestors once used to behead imperious kings, topple incompetent governments and strike out on their own for independence we are now releasing harmlessly into the ether -- having no impact whatsoever on our governments, but quite an impact on ourselves in terms of fat gained from spending hours online."

"Because our complaints to our representatives and government departments are ignored, we get online and vent our anger in discussion groups and blogs," explains Bethel. "Because we never meet our fellow dissenters, except online, we are powerless to form any group capable of being a real-life threat to the arrogance and hubris of what are now our political masters, not our public servants."

"We vent, we rant and rave and then we switch off our computers, calm down and go about our daily lives until the next outrage from the government makes our blood boil."

"And then one day, when all of our rights have been removed -- and every pleasure known to man has been banned -- the government behind the government will show its face," says Bethel. "It won't be pretty, and when we whisper together, how did this happen?, we may remember how we put up with so much, swallowed so many lies and went along with every one of the changes foisted upon us -- most for our good, of course -- and how feebly we protested or supported those who were being persecuted as we stuffed our faces with food to fuel our virtual protests."

"The only life we will have left to call our own will be lived in a 'virtual world' -- as so many of us are already experiencing, especially our children," sighs Bethel. "In the virtual world we can cowardly act out being the type of citizen we would like to be in real life, and our political masters encourage this to the point, actually, of providing free Internet access."

"In Orwell's masterpiece, 1984, it was drugs that turned us into weak, cowardly and acquiescent citizens," says Bethel, "but we never saw the Internet in this respect, did we?"

"We thought it was a power of good that would lead to greater freedoms," says Bethel, "but it has weakened us in the most insidious of ways. The more time we spend online, the less we exercise ad the fatter we become."

"From time immemorial, there has been a ruling class and a slave class and what happened last century was a blip in history," says Bethel. "All of the rights we fought for and won last century are slowly being eroded. Our success is leading to our downfall because no society can operate successfully when it is top heavy and too privileged -- and the rest of us are bottom heavy and becoming more and more useless every day."

"What I'm trying to say is that right now there are too many of us wanting too much and resources are getting thin," explains Bethel. "When our population was smaller we were able to turn the tide and call the tune because our labor was needed -- and our work was labor intensive. Now, with every job that goes offshore -- or is taken by a guest worker -- our rights become irrelevant and what work remains is soft, just like our bodies."

"When all of our real-life rights have been eroded, and the only life we have to call our own is in a virtual world, our political masters will interfere with that world, too," says Bethel. "Moles will enter our virtual worlds and enslave us there, too, and when we are totally demoralized we will make easy slaves."

"A virtual citizen is just that -- an illusion -- but an overweight body is anything but."