The Death of a Free Media

Media, as far as I see it, is splitting into two groups. There is 'mainstream media' - the cable news channels that benefit more from telling you what your opinion is than reporting news. Then there's the internet. For me, it's mostly Reddit, particularly, the /r/politics subreddit. Reddit operates because of its community. People submit stories, and other people upvote the stories based on their importance. I guess you could say its community is liberal, but I prefer to think that facts have a liberal bias. I'm slightly ashamed to say it, but I get most of my news from reddit. When you get your news from community-driven internet sources, there is no filter. You are cutting out the middle man. And in an America where news organizations can legally lie to its audience, it is our responsibility to cut out the middle man.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security shut down 82 websites for piracy with no court order. In terms of free distribution of information that's actually important, this isn't all that notable. But it sets two crucial precedents: that matters of copyright are now matters of security, and that the government can shut down web sites whenever it chooses. This is terrifying.

Media worldwide is currently going on a jihad against Wikileaks. A U.S. Representative wants to label wikileaks as a terrorist organization, completely unaware that terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation. Whether or not you agree with what Wikileaks is doing, using language like this is irresponsible and downright dangerous. What's even more dangerous is that mainstream media has thrown objectivity out the window and is once again asking "how high?" after the government says to jump.





The world has just entered the digital age. The digital age, by easily distributing information to people, will give more power to people. Think about the last time something like this happened: the printing press. The printing press was catastrophic for the power structure. The masses became smart enough to begin questioning religion, and so we get the Age of Enlightenment. That was followed by an age of worldwide revolution throughout the 19th century led almost entirely by an educated populace. Whenever people gain knowledge, the status quo loses power. What we're seeing now is the status quo catching on, and so it's trying to stamp it out before it can gain a foothold. Their goal is to control the digital age. I'm not saying it's some worldwide conspiracy, they're not doing it consciously. It's just what people will naturally do when they're at risk of losing power. I honestly believe that humanity is standing on crossroads right now. This is where we decide whether we'll be the humanistic utopia of Star Trek, or the braindead phantasm of Brave New World.