In your home, there sits a television that can receive literally thousands of channels. It was designed to get those channels. You purchased it at a store, be it big box or small electronics boutique. You brought it home, unpacked it and plugged it in. Then you made a choice.
You chose to use an antenna, which doesn’t cost you a dime, or a cable or satellite company. You picked what you channels you get and decided how much to spend in order to get what you need. No matter what the television was designed for, you get to choose how to use it.
In my desk drawer, there sits an older iPhone. (I recently upgraded to receive my mail faster and to, much more importantly, use the improved and quicker GPS/map when I’m driving in unfamiliar territory.) This old iPhone works perfectly; there is nothing wrong with it.
My daughter’s cell phone was stolen Monday. But instead of just giving her this old iPhone and getting a SIM card that will work with her phone number, I was told that, if I wanted to reactivate that phone, I’d now have to purchase a monthly data plan that gives the phone email capabilities, internet access and GPS. When I told the rep that I just wanted the iPhone to make phone calls and text (exactly what I was paying for on the stolen phone), he told me, “It’s a smart phone. That’s not what it’s designed for.”
Excuse me?
Who are these phone companies to tell me – or anyone – that I have to use something in a certain way? My Honda Accord has (as my husband often points out) a racing engine, which means it’s designed to go reallyreallyreallyfast. I don’t see the arresting police officer nor the judge who sees me in court buying my “it was designed for speed” argument. I have an 8 foot ladder that I sometimes climb only to 4 feet. You have that television designed to receive those thousands of channels, but if you prefer to use today’s equivalent of bunny ears and just get 2, 5, 7, 9, 11 and maybe 32 on a good day, you can!
The Health Care Plan is unconstitutional? HA! The required data plan for a smart phone is just as bad – and that money is going right into the pockets of corporate giants, not into the health of our country.