Pot Calls Kettle Black

This is funny. A court in the Netherlands has come down hard against "infringing" on copyright. But in making its decision, the judges knowingly took text from a legal activist's blog and copy-and-pasted this material into their judgement. This is plagiarism! This is illegal. So you have the odd fact of some judges coming down hard on somebody appropriating somebody else's copyrighted material while they themselves are in fact stealing copyrighted material!

What makes it especially juicy is that the judges are idiots who have taken a particularly "hard line" view of copyright protection which no normal person would. So while they were willing to harshly judge others, they simply ignore their own misuse of other's materials. A perfect case of the pot calling the kettle black, or of seeing a mote in another's eye while ignoring the beam in one's own eye.

But of course, the judges are part of the elite, the rich, and the powerful, so they are allowed to pass judgement on other mere mortals for their errors. But it isn't clear that the high and mighty judges will be called to account for these very same crimes. That's the way life works. The pecking order lets the guys on top peck at you and you can peck at those below you, but the guy at the bottom simply has to lie down and allow everybody else to peck him because he is powerless and has no protection. So "copyright laws" will allow the powerful to thump you over the head with "the law" but you won't be able to use that same law to thump the powerful over the head.

The power and beauty of the law is summarized best by Anatole France:

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

...If you want to hear about justice delayed and justice denied, but after 40 years justice finally served, then listen to this.