Conservatives' opposition to Net Neutrality directly contradicts their own demented narrative.
For the past 20+ years, conservative outlets such as Fox news have been convincing their viewers that "the media" is somehow "controlled by liberals" ..it isn't, of course, but let's pretend for a minute that it is.
IF the media is controlled by liberals intent on foisting their agenda on "real Americans" then WHY are your leaders now suddenly trying to convince you that the major media companies who provide your internet access should have free reign to decide what websites you see, how quickly or slowly you'll see them, and how much extra those websites might have to pay to reach you, their audience?
…imagine a world where foxnews.com and theblaze are slowed down, won't load and the videos on them constantly stop to endlessly "buffer" while msnbc and rachelmaddow load quickly and stream flawlessly...
THAT is what a non-neutral net could mean - based on your own understanding of what and who "runs the mainstream media"
…of course that understanding is completely flawed and wrong. The truth is that ALL of the media you see, hear or read every day is owned by one of just SIX huge, multi-billion dollar conglomerates, and if you imagine that any of them are controlled or run by a bunch liberal socialist hippies, that makes zero logical sense.
The only people who will gain from a non-neutral net are the telecoms that supply you with your broadband service. Period. Without net neutrality laws in place, they will be allowed to charge some websites more to reach YOU the consumer… that is bad news for any small business / job creator who is trying to launch a new business on the web and it is bad news for EVERY American, whether you're conservative or liberal or somewhere in between.
Time/Warner and Comcast are seeing their business model crumble because people are tired of paying $100s per month for TV/Cable service. People want to watch things on the Web instead because it is cheaper - which sounds like free enterprise and 'healthy competition' to me - but the cable companies see it as a threat to their monopoly. Luckily for them, they ALSO control your internet service, so, for example, they want to control how fast (or slowly) YOUR netflix account runs. If it runs slowly enough, you'll get frustrated with it and decide to keep your hyper-inflated cable TV connection. This isn't a 'maybe' This has ALREADY HAPPENED.
HOW IS THIS good for ANYone but the cable companies?
HOW IS THIS good for any average TV and web consumer?
HOW IS THIS good for any new business/job creator that wants to get their product or service to you via the internet?
Everyone hates their cable provider (they are pretty much the only business with an approval rating lower than Congress') …so why do you trust them?
Isn't it more likely that a greedy monopoly is trying to hold on to an out-of-date business model - at the expense of the American people, than it is that net neutrality is somehow a vague, unexplained 'liberal plot' of some kind?
Now ask yourself: Why are some of our representatives in Congress trying to spin this as a 'vast liberal plot' or a 'government takeover' of the internet when what a non-neutral net really is, to anyone who understands even the BASICS of this technology, is a money/power grab by one of the sleaziest industry groups in the world?
Ask those people so vocally opposed to Net Neutrality to disclose how much money they've received from the cable & telecom industry. THERE is your answer.
A NEUTRAL NET BENEFITS EVERYONE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM. PERIOD.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is either uninformed or lying on purpose. …ask yourself why.