The Digital Revolution

We are at a very important time in the history of civilization. The invention of the internet is as significant as the invention of the printing press, and it has fundamentally altered the social landscape. The internet grew incredibly fast, and it developed into the fifth estate, which is the distribution of power to individuals so we can construct our own realities.

Mass media is the fourth estate, which used to be the sole authority on reality. People who worked in these positions of power were entrusted with great power, and ethics were a big part of it–the responsibility to not alter reality in the process of representing it. This was the agreement between mass media and the public. But then the internet came along and made it possible for everyone to  find the information they needed on their own. Not only this, but people could interact with the information they discovered. On the internet, the consumers of media work with the creators of media to help shape the content. Now we all work together to come to a consensus over how we shape our communal identity. This shows how flawed mass media’s power-distribution is.

Nowadays people approach mass media with the sensibilities of the internet, fact checking what the pundits say and tweeting their responses. There can be no return to the old paradigm, but the people who gained power in the fourth estate are resisting change. As Frank Herbert said, “Power bases are very dangerous because they attract people who are truly insane, people who seek power only for the sake of power.” These people need to be put in restraints–metaphorically or physically–for mass media has made an unholy alliance with our government; they control our country through under-the-table deals that show no regard for the law. The government is not supposed to have this much power. The government is supposed to be controlled by the public; it is supposed to be a reflection of the public. This was the agreement written in the Constitution as the founding fathers tried to emulate democracy.

We do not live in a democratic nation. With Citizen’s United, money became speech, and money is much more influential than language. The system was rigged so that the government only responds to the top 10% of our wealth-earners. This was discovered in a Princeton study through quantitative analysis. We have successfully diagnosed a broken system, and we are standing on the verge of revolutionary change. The entire world will be affected by the healing of our nation–no longer will we let our financial institutions cause the global economy to collapse and laugh at how long it’s taking the Europeans to recover.

We are truly connected to a global consciousness through the internet. We are good at learning from each other. The problem is the establishment of government and mass media has isolated themselves with the petty games they have to play to maintain power: Time Warner is a major Clinton donor and the owner of CNN. CNN censors Bernie Sanders to cover up all the truths he wants to spread through the public.

It’s remarkable to watch republicans when they learn what socialism really is. This is something that the campaign has brought to light–most people just had a vague remembrance of the term, connected with the Soviet Union. But when you explain socialism and the existence of socialist programs in our country, then all the fear caused by their ignorance of the term disappears and I do think they behave more warmly after understanding what socialism means.

Democratic socialism is the right choice to deal with the new paradigm that has been ushered in with the internet. We all have the power to discover the truth by searching through all the information online, and we can build a better society if everyone shares their conception of the world with each other so that everyone can come to an accord as to what reality we collectively inhabit. It is incredibly complex, and we can only approach truths by adopting many different perspectives.

The establishment is firmly entrenched in its perspective, and with Citizen’s United, money became everything. The government has responded to the people who spoke the loudest–the millionaires and billionaires. As a result, the government is not representing you, me or 90% of the other people in our country. The establishment is resisting the change that has been brought on by the internet. But they have to understand that the internet won in the free market, so it’s here to stay.

I hope you will answer the call Bernie Sanders has sent out through his campaign. We are looking at the possibility of a public takeover of the government. We can be sure in ourselves because this is the way the government was built to be. We have to return the socialism to our nation that our founding fathers would have wanted. We are guaranteed our lives, so why do we keep letting millions die instead of fix healthcare? We are guaranteed our liberty, so why are over two million Americans in jail and prison? We are guaranteed our pursuit of happiness, so why can’t we enjoy cannabis?

The government has abandoned us, and we need to get riled up if we are to get the government back under control. We have the power of the internet now, so let us build our movement across the internet until everyone knows what’s going on. We, the public, are taking over our country, and we will force the government to change the same way we did when the internet became a deep part of our lives.

Be strong in your pursuit of the freedom to understand reality the way that makes sense to you!