Vox Populi & Governments

[Ray Dillinger]

On Tue, 13 Mar 2001, J.A. Terranson wrote:


>If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they
>should give serious consideration towards setting a better example:
>Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of
>unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in
>the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and 
>elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire
>populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate...
>This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States
>as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.


These tactics are as valid today as they were when Niccolo Machiavelli 
first set them down on paper.  Why should we expect that they will become 
ineffective any time soon? 

I had hoped that the internet would change the dynamics of the vox 
populi, by allowing people unintermediated discussion with one another, 
the space to develop ideas fully and learn that they were not alone in 
holding particular ideas.  I had hoped that the Internet would stop 
the ancient tactic of isolating and ostracizing those who think 
differently, and allow them to create forums of their own and try 
to evolve some kind of interacting functional cultures together that 
incorporated their different ideas, providing a huge set of alternatives 
to the prozac culture.

Somehow, it all seems to have gone to shit.  Advertisers have infiltrated 
every corner of the web, and people who think differently are being 
drowned out almost as effectively there as they are on television.  
Censorship is running rampant, and tolerance is at about the lowest 
ebb it's been in my lifetime.  The "mosaic culture" that the internet 
was supposed to enable keeps having bits of it cut off, and the new 
cultures that people who shared different ideas were once building 
have fallen victim to the same stupid FUD tactics and divisive tactics 
and agents provocateurs and crap that have been used against similar 
groups in meatspace since Machiavelli's time.  Well, to be honest, 
since before that.  He was just writing about established practice.

It is not, evidently, possible to enable public participation without 
giving the majority the tools to engage in a tyranny over the minority.  

Julf was forced to roll over to the scientologists. 

Countless ISP's who've allowed "anonymous" customers to put up web sites 
have been forced to roll over when some LEA put kid porn up on their 
servers. 

Even Freenet is subject to this attack; if it gets too big for the lions 
to be comfortable with, they'll just put a whole bunch of illegal crap 
on it (copyrighted software and kid porn for starters) and then have it 
shut down (by making it illegal to run, monitoring networks for freenet 
packets, etc).  If they make the legal exposure bad enough, they can 
keep the number of people using it so tiny that it's worthless.

I dunno any more.  I used to think that if I could create things that 
made it possible for people to communicate, we would eventually find 
out what Earth's people (as opposed to its governments) wanted -- that 
governments would have to respond to vox populi instead of dictating 
it.  Now, with the crap I've seen in the last year, it just doesn't 
seem worth it.  The Internet Pedophile scare is obviously orchestrated, 
ditto the Internet Terrorist scare.  The nation states are dictating 
vox populi again, instead of the other way around, and the last 
american presidential election was a sick joke.  In the only remaining 
superpower on Earth, We've got a thief as head of state, a crook in 
the DOJ,  and the supreme court is nothing but a bunch of rubberstamp 
conservatives.  Despite all my best efforts, and the best efforts of 
hundreds or even thousands of others, there seems to be no way to 
give the people their own voice any more.  No matter what we do, 
these (untranslatable) are taking it over.

There's a point at which the futility of it becomes overwhelming, 
and I just want to start pitching bombs or something.  A visceral 
emotinal release of the frustration, if nothing else.  And I bet 
that's why terrorism is on the rise; there's less and less of a 
way to work within the bounds, so frustrated people are being 
driven outside them. But if I did that, of course it would be 
just digested into pap for the masses and used as an excuse to 
outlaw everything I believe in.  And I won't allow myself to be 
used in that way if I can possibly help it. So there's going to 
be no bomb-throwing for me, much as I sometimes think I'd enjoy 
it. 

All I ever really wanted was governments based on the will of 
the people.  But it turns out the people have no will and 
the governments can tell them that their will is whatever the 
hell the governments want it to be.


				Bear
			feeling discouraged today.