Prev| Next| Index 2/15/96, joee@li.net, ny, usa

A few thoughts regarding freedom and the internet

     By j. ercole, joee@li.net.

     Before I share a few of my own thoughts about democracy, freedom,
     the internet, and the CDA I'd like to point out what should be a
     very obvious point of paramount importance: Be responsible for
     acquiring some knowledge of your own regarding the CDA. Don't
     take anyone's word for anything. Research and read at least some
     of the vast resources available concerning this and similar
     issues; empower yourself by discussing and defending "both" sides
     of the debate. In short, refuse to relinquish the vast creative
     potential of critical thought - - - to anyone.

     It's difficult, if not impossible, to overstate the coercive and
     corrective power held at this time by governments and
     corporations. On an hourly basis, Corporate entities and
     governmental agencies manifest enormous influence on our actions,
     thoughts, dreams and aspirations. We are unique creatures,
     reacting differently and unpredictably to similar stimuli. We
     act, react and interact with political, spiritual or economic
     structures in different ways. Some prosper and flourish while a
     great many suffer. Perhaps we are constitutionally incapable of
     realizing wholly fair and just institutions. Perhaps no human
     structure or process can be wholly free of arbitrary prejudice
     and caprice. Nevertheless, powerful, frequently inscrutable and
     sometimes imperceptible forces are continuously wielded, subtlely
     or less so, by trans-secular entities created, but no longer
     completely controlled by human beings. Unpredicted and frequently
     undesired emergent properties or characteristics actualize from
     the gestalt of the many new relationships and interactions
     generated and sustained by cutting-edge technologies, evolving
     social milieus, "reinvented" government agencies, revamped and
     revisited religious and philosophical institutions, et cetera, et
     cetera. We navigate new waters with old maps. We dream of
     stability while desiring change. We impose decency standards on
     the internet and hope for the best.

     Frequently, in attempting to understand the societal forces at
     work we "parse", for the sake of convenience and the betterment
     of our understanding, the influences and intentions at work: This
     problem falls under governmental auspices, while that is a matter
     best handled by schools. By "farming-out" our crises in this
     piece-meal manner we tend miss the less than obvious connections
     between both convergent and divergent events. For example, we
     might be tempted to view the CDA and all it's ramifications as
     primarily a "political" event. One might choose to see it as
     good-intentioned though misguided social policy. Someone else
     might interpret it as a blatant and crass assault on our
     fundamental liberties. Another might believe, and with some good
     reason, the policy a necessary safe-guard for children.

     On the surface, these divergent views might appear to have some
     merit. Soon enough, we discover our discourse bogged-down in the
     same, protracted trench warfare of the "abortion question" or
     "the proper size of government." Sadly, we are compelled to
     expend effort slogging through these quagmires if we choose to
     right perceived injustices. E-mail must be sent, web-sites
     blackened, representatives contacted, and votes cast. "Classic"
     methods of activism must play an important role. Otherwise we'll
     invariably get, and be disappointed by, the government we settle
     for. However, the internet is nothing if not about seeing the
     forest for the trees. The net invites and nourishes tangential
     inquiry as well as linear pursuits. Hyper-text media encourages a
     longer and broader view of things. Stepping back, one finds
     oneself less tempted to mistake symptom for cause. The internet
     teaches many, critical lessons to the observant: There are many
     roads and many paths to the same destination; everything is
     potentially connected to everything else; freedom is not a gift
     bestowed, but a journey undertaken. No one can make this journey
     for us or prevent us from undertaking it ourselves. If this is
     read as naive optimism, so be it.

     Too many people work to avoid or discredit these lessons. Some
     wring their hands and lament destructive and amoral "market
     forces" or bemoan civil societies' "crisis of values." Some drift
     through a world of insecure and unfufilling employment , unsafe
     streets, marginalized sub-cultures, and dispossessed families.
     Others revel in possibility, cyber-surfing the "third wave." It's
     a diverse network of possibility and interaction. Nightly, the
     anointed enter our homes through television and other forms of
     media. These so called mavens and pundits vacillate, equivocate
     and bicker incessantly. Some political, spiritual, and
     intellectual leaders brandish platitudes while others offer a
     unique and useful vision of the travail ahead. Floodwaters of
     opinion, fact, information, and analysis wait to be dammed off
     and put to use irrigating a parched land. We live in times of
     feast and famine. We live in times of pestilence and war. We've
     lived to see The First Horseman Of The Apocalypse --- The Brady
     Bunch Movie --- ride. Damned to live in interesting times, we
     barter and trade our own hopes and ambitions while looking with
     apprehension towards the young. As you no doubt have already
     imagined, the message we find there is, at best, mixed.

     The best and brightest young minds raise irony to the most
     exalted reaches of the pantheon. The boundless energy of youth
     turns to pastiche, self-indulgence and solipsism. At the same
     time, diverse pairs of sharp and critical eyes, --- tamed, wild,
     far-seeing, myopic, formally educated and self-schooled --- peer
     fearlessly or blandly (but, always, matter-of-factly) into the
     abyss. The intellectual and spiritual "badlands" of Sartre,
     Kierkegaard and Nietzsche finds itself populated anew by rebels
     and reactionaries experiencing "the void" as just another
     sub-division of the "vast nursery (nee wasteland)" of their
     youth. Casual visionaries and pioneers an evolutionary-leap or
     two past jaded. The super-sane took "a wrong turn at Albuquerque"
     emerging from their rabbit holes --- beachchair and suntan lotion
     in hand --- at the edge of the world. Wearing sunglasses and
     gazing into the long twilight of their souls we can almost hear
     them mutter, "this sure doesn't look like Pebble Beach." Punk
     prophets --- neuromantic and otherwise --- with a lean and hungry
     look, corrupting and co-opting icons and symbols both sacrosanct
     and shallow. Know ye this: Despite all, they know the hour and
     they know the day.

     The internet, like all information, yearns to be free. Knowledge
     itself, quite apart from our efforts, unceasingly strains to free
     itself from all restraint. How we choose to participate in
     information's' struggle is up to each of us. This "wave" of new
     technologies and knowledge some of us ride is going someplace.
     Although there will always be questions about where and how, some
     principles remain, if not certain, at least useful: Explore all
     there is to know about the subjects and areas which interest you;
     relentlessly question authority; seek to understand power, while
     remaining wary of its' seductive and corrupting nature; know
     thyself.

     Keywords: "new york", "usa".

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