Brzezinski’s Lament

Zbigniew Brzezinski (Photo credit: Ted Lipien)

Zbignew Brzezinski is a Democrat who served as America’s 10^th National Security Advisor from A.D. 1977 through A.D. 1981 under the Jimmy Carter administration.

It strikes me as unusual, odd, even disturbing that Brzezinski became our National Security Advisor in A.D. 1977 since he’d already published his book Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era in A.D. 1970.  Why?  Because in that book, he predicted and apparently advocated the control of populations by an elite political class via technetronic manipulation.

According to Brzezinski,

“The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.”

 

“Good luck with that one, pal!”

English: United Airlines Boeing 777 (N223UA) taking off from Los Angeles on Christmas 2010, wearing the post-merger livery combining the United name with the Continental logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The internet has contributed to decentralization of the world.  The formerly centralized powers of communication are increasingly dispersed.  As a result, anyone can have a blog, a video channel, an internet radio show.  With millions (billions?) of internet websites, blogs, videos and radio channels to choose from, the competition for attention is beyond fierce.   Anyone who can attract any audience whatsoever, is doing well.

One consequence of the multitude of internet competitors is huge losses of audience and revenues for mainstream newspaper, radio and TV shows.  As a result, the “system” has lost a primary means of controlling public thoughts and sentiments.  More, stories that would otherwise never be heard (witness Monica Lewinsky’s interlude with Bill Clinton) can not only reach the public but sometimes go viral.  Every so often, a “little guy” can make a big difference on the internet.

 

“Watching the Watchers”

Internet Privacy (Photo credit: o5com)

Here’s a video that explores the internet data mining industry.  It explains  that much of your internet browsing can be tracked by scores or hundreds of anonymous internet entities which seek to create a “profile” of you by following and recording every site you visit.

The implication is that there is no privacy on the internet.

That’s no surprise, but seeing evidence of the lack of privacy is disturbing.

My guess is that there will be a privacy backlash in the next two years that’ll seek to cause laws to be passed to prevent private entities from following us on the internet.  Government agencies, of course, will probably still be allowed to (secretly) monitor us.   In fact, even if laws were passed to prevent government monitoring, I doubt that such monitoring could be truly stopped.

 

Bloggers are Today’s Minutemen

Image by cambodia4kidsorg via Flickr

Here’s a very good audio file that illustrates our gov-co’s precarious position and the growing power of the internet and bloggers to restore constitutional government that serves the people rather than the oligarchy.

audio file

00:08:29

 

Could Internet Games Spawn Political Revolutions?

Image via Wikipedia

The world invests 3 billion hours per week playing internet games.  The 2-minute video below suggests that the reason for spending so much time on games is that too many people are inadequately stressed in our daily lives.  I.e., our daily lives have become so organized and “tame” that they’ve become meaningless, so we’re seeking more “action” in an imaginary world of hi-tech, internet games.

 

Internet Implications

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a nice video introduction to the profound social and political changes that are inherent–and perhaps inevitable–in the internet.  The ideas expressed aren’t new, but they’re expressed in a way that is thoughtful, provocative and compelling.

The internet’s implications for existing corporate and political “top-down” control structures are dire.  Today, those institutions demand more control and more fascism.    This video, however, suggests that if we can get the greedy, fascist pricks out of positions of control, the entire society might flourish rather than suffer extortion and exploitation.

The video implies that we don’t need our would-be leaders and masters.  We are capable of making our own decisions; running our own lives, communities and nations–without some alleged “experts” telling us what to do.

 

A Very Unusual Commercial

Image via Wikipedia

1 minute:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OT5jQCaM8Y&feature=player_embedded