“I want all of you to get up out of your chairs.  I want you to get up right now and go to the window.  Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’  I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’  Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to … stick your head out, and yell, and say it: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Back in 1976, newsman Howard Beale, played by actor Peter Finch in the movie Network, uttered these immortal words that, for those of us who saw the movie and Finch’s riveting performance, have stuck with many of us for a quarter century.

Back then it was a grand idea as, in the movie, thousands rushed to their windows and did just that.

Today it’s really happening.  And it’s a good thing!

Bloggers now take down selfish companies.  Egypt’s people stage a peaceful revolt and take back their government.  Bank of America abandons its plan to charge customers a $5 fee to use their debit cards for purchases. Only a month earlier, the bank had announced the new charge, immediately setting off a huge uproar from consumers.  The Occupy Wall Street movement grabs the attention of millions and whether you’re for it or agi’n it, you have to value it as the great American dream of free speech in action.

Netflix‘s video subscription service lost 800,000 customers in the third quarter —the biggest exodus in its history— even as its earnings rose 65 percent.

The losses were larger than management had previously warned. The unwelcome surprise, contained in financial results released, was compounded by a forecast calling for millions of Netflix Inc.’s DVD-by-mail subscribers to cancel the service in reaction to dramatic price increase that took effect last month.

The bad news bruised already battered stock as the shares plunged by more than 26 percent.

Netflix lost its luster among consumers and investors by raising prices as much as 60 percent in the U.S. and bungling an attempt to spin off its DVD-by-mail rental service.

The people spoke.  The people acted.  The people won.  The people sent signals.  They got up off their chairs, went over and opened their windows, stuck their heads out and shouted, “WE’RE AS MAD AS HELL, AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Why is this so possible today 25 years after Network?  Because we now have a tremendously effective network called the Internet.  Instant communication banding together the peoples of the world.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and a plethora of other social communities organizing hundreds of millions of people to form a voice of the people.

We’re not always doing it right yet.  We’ve still got a lot to learn, but we’ve now got this amazing tool that makes peaceful revolution possible.

Let’s use it.  Let’s send a signal.  No longer do we have to take it on the chin from big business.  No longer do the rich have to get richer as the poor get poorer.  No longer do dictators have to control entire countries.  No longer do we have to throw open our windows and scream our protests into the night.  We, the people, now have a tremendous meeting hall.  It’s called the Internet.

Use it.  Send a signal.