Why America Has a "Free Press," but Want to Regulate the Internet
December 22, 2010
Today the government controls the media - no, not directly. The government doesn't tell the New York Times what stories to publish. Instead, reporters are given information by government employees. There is no New York times, and there is no United States government. There are only people within those organizations. Once you understand this - and most never will - then the inherent evil of big government and big business becomes obvious. People are evil, but too small to perpetuate more than petty cruelties. Man's will to cruelty is made possible through large institutions.
A reporter's drive is not the wanton pursuit of truth. The reporter, like all humans, has a drive for recognition and validation. Good stories - from whatever source - lead to acclaim for the reporter. How many reporters would publish an article anonymously? If reporters truly sought to share objective truths, why would they care if someone stole their bylines? What would this matter, so long as truth is advanced?
And so we can understand that modern media has nothing to do with truth, but instead is an exercise of ego.
An honest reporter is an anti-hero. An honest reporter knows only destruction. Yet those you destroy will no longer feed you stories and information - which is required for a long career full of plaques and prizes and hand shakes from fat old white men and sex with young journalist students.
Thus, the only honest reporting is found on the Internet. And so the government wants to regulate the Internet. The New York Times and other dishonest publications support the regulation, as it eliminates the honest reporters, and gives the dishonest an monopoly of your minds.
And stories are all that one finds in the newspapers. The only way to understand the news is to read non-fiction as if it's fiction. The United States Government currently supports the media, for good reason. Jacques Ellul explained this in his essay on propaganda:
Authoritarian regimes know that people held very firmly in hand need some decompression, some safety valves. The government offers these itself. This role is played by satirical journals attacking the authorities, yet tolerated by the dictator, or by a wild holiday set aside for ridiculing the regime, yet paid for by the dictator (Friday of Sorrows in Guatemala) Clearly, such instruments are controlled by the regime.
These instruments of criticism serve to consolidate power and make people cling even more to the regime by providing artificial release of tendencies that the state must keep in check. In such situations, propaganda has an almost therapeutic and compensatory function.
The Internet isn't artificial, and has no connection to the King. The Internet must therefore be killed.