The irony overwhelms me
Mar. 16th, 2009 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsOne of the middle schools in my district is named "Sylvester," named after some local luminary of times past. The school is ruggedly built and only slightly delapidated, a fairly depressing and typical example of the architecture of forging children into productive adults. I went there recently to survey the place and get my impressions of it and the other middle schools in my district.
I looked in the library. The collection was woefully small, and in the "nonfiction" section someone had donated an awful lot of bibles and other works on Christianity. I was looking for any hints of intelligent design or other forms of woo on the shelves.
On one wall was a poster about "Know what's right, and what's wrong, about copying!" There was a stack of pamphlets from the Recording Industry Association of America explaining to young minds how illegal copying takes food out of the mouths of the hungry children of recording engineers.
And yet on every wall, and on some of the school's handouts-- including the map of the premises-- there was a certain cartoon character, often badly painted, peering out at me. He was everywhere, in posters six feet high sometimes, dozens of copies, framed, pinned taped or sometimes just painted directly onto walls and doors. And absolutely nowhere was there a ™, a © or an ® followed by the name of a certain studio.
I am torn by the notion that one does not do well by suing one's fans. And I'm delighted by the contrast between the IP maximalism of the library and the egregious trademark violations going on everywhere else.
I looked in the library. The collection was woefully small, and in the "nonfiction" section someone had donated an awful lot of bibles and other works on Christianity. I was looking for any hints of intelligent design or other forms of woo on the shelves.
On one wall was a poster about "Know what's right, and what's wrong, about copying!" There was a stack of pamphlets from the Recording Industry Association of America explaining to young minds how illegal copying takes food out of the mouths of the hungry children of recording engineers.
And yet on every wall, and on some of the school's handouts-- including the map of the premises-- there was a certain cartoon character, often badly painted, peering out at me. He was everywhere, in posters six feet high sometimes, dozens of copies, framed, pinned taped or sometimes just painted directly onto walls and doors. And absolutely nowhere was there a ™, a © or an ® followed by the name of a certain studio.
I am torn by the notion that one does not do well by suing one's fans. And I'm delighted by the contrast between the IP maximalism of the library and the egregious trademark violations going on everywhere else.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 05:00 am (UTC)And I'd also mention that the library is way lacking.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 08:37 pm (UTC)And on the walls near the entrance, they talk about illegal sharing, copyright, etc.
Someone pointed out to them the irony. Now the posters are of people who worked there smiling and pointing.
*snerk*