What is it with people? My WP dashboard linked to Lorelle’s entry lashing out at bloggers for failing to be up in arms over a ruling in Brazil that happens to be unfavorable to Wordpress.com. DeviantArt is still frothing over the SquareEnix contest (it’s already over, folks! Enough!) and the Orphaned Works bill, which sounds like it needs some overhauling, but that’s another post.

I don’t have the energy to be outraged over everything that comes along. At some point, the human psyche gives up and says, “You know what? I don’t care anymore. It isn’t worth it.” I have to pick and choose the things that matter the most to me, and the rest of it has to be left to others who care more. Erik Stell has a good entry along the same lines.

I don’t live in Brazil. I don’t know anyone in Brazil. I don’t use WordPress.com for anything except an Akismet key. I don’t support the “freedom” to post porn on publicly-accessible websites. I’m not apathetic, I just recognize the futility of outsiders trying to change another country’s policies. Brazilians who care enough can fight for their right to Wordpress.com in their legal system, but they’re the only ones who can.

You want to get fussy about freedom, how about fighting for Chinese rights to Wikipedia, or LiveJournal, or any number of other websites? How about the fact that I do have a friend in China, and this friend must be careful not to write explicitly about our common beliefs, because the filters will catch it. How about the fact that this friend can only have one external email contact, so that the Chinese government can better monitor the messages? All my emails have to be routed through that one person, rather than going directly to my friend. What, exactly, do you propose I do about that? I certainly don’t want to do anything that would endanger my friend, and I have no political power over China, so what do you suggest, Miss “Bloggers are apathetic”? If the Chinese government hasn’t heeded any of the countless news articles and broadcasts and objections from foreign governments, the latter of which actually have the power of war to back their orders if they so choose, what makes you think a bunch of angry bloggers typing condemnations will accomplish anything more?

Besides all of that, we have enough problems with tech-ignorant judges and politicians right here at home, and there are limits to what we can do about that, too. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so much influence any one person can have.

The solution is simple; until Brazilians get things changed from within, those who want to blog will have to choose another site, whether they purchase hosting and set up their own WP blog or move to another format. Blogs with a large Brazilian audience will have to make the same choice, or choose to lose the Brazilian segment of their audience. It’s called facing the situation that exists and adapting to what you cannot change. It’s called LIFE.