The New Age of Civil Rights

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men should have Wi-Fi.

Sound a little awkward? San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom doesn’t think so. Newsom, the same renegade politician who performed illegal same-sex marriages, has effectively made meaningless the term civil rights:

Wireless access can be seen a basic right that should be available not just to business professionals but also lower-income citizens. “This is a civil rights issue as much as anything else,” Newsom said.

I suppose it is likewise a fundamental right for everyone to have computers with which to use the Wi-Fi. And surely at least 1 GB of RAM has been given us by God.

Once upon a time civil rights meant things like “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In California, it seems, absurdity has been added to the mix.

UPDATE: Prosthesis also has some good thoughts on the matter.