When Google got rid of the Spammers,
I didn’t object; I wasn’t a Spammer.

When they threw out the affiliate marketers,
I breathed a sigh of relief; I was not an affiliate marketer.

When they ‘zeroed’ in on the Text Linkers,
I thought it was okay; I didn’t use Text Links.

When they went after the PPP Posties,
I was glad; I wasn’t a postie.

When they removed the ‘Do_Follow’ers,
I double checked my links; I used a ‘no_follow.’

When they banned my blogspot blog,
there was no way to appeal.

Editorial: Readers, we live in a digital age, and with the increasing amount of control that is being exercised ‘for our good’ on the Internet and Media in general, I felt it appropriate to ‘borrow’ the basic poem to highlight how the Internet is becoming not a place of freedom, opportunity and enlightenment; but rather a place where the will of a few (without legal basis) can be exerted for economic reasons on the people who ‘use’ the Internet daily, yet there is little oversight, control or democracy on those very entities other than market forces. Is this what we want? How much will our rights have to be diminished before we make the Internet a constitutionally protected area?

*This poem is written ‘after’ the original composed by Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 -1984) in response to the continuing NAZI pogroms of the 1930’s, and expresses his frustration that so few people realized what was going on. It in no way diminishes the suffering experienced by the various groups of people who were savagely discriminated against by the NAZIs. There have since been a number of variations written and published in many countries. For those who suffered mightily in World War I, the 1930’s (In Asia and In Europe) and World War II, let us not forget their suffering. But be reminded that if we make the same mistakes again, that their suffering will have been for nothing.