For as long as perhaps when people started walking the Earth, we have been destroying it. Land, water, people, air, you name it. Causes of such things include disease, war, hatred, greed, money, power, and violence that has come and wrecked those things and those we cherish.
Now, our planet is at a point where the decisions made over the next few years I think will shape our planet’s collective future. The generations that succeed mine and those before will have to deal with the fallout of those decisions.
One of the things that may decide this is the battle over the Internet. It is one that I think years from now, will be seen as the decisive battle between corporations, governments, military and the establishment(s) vs. the people of this planet.
For a long time, these interests have acquired a massive amount of political, financial, and economic power, much of which has little to no accountability.
The Internet represents a domain where knowledge can be a great equalizer between the rich, the poor, and those in-between. Those that have the ability to access it, to learn, and to act on what they learn will not only survive, but succeed.
It can also be a great medium of communication that can bring people together and solve many complex problems facing all of us, as well as help us get further in resolving conflict. Indeed, it has shown that it can turn things around – I think the 2008 US Elections would not have achieved the result it did, without the existence of the Internet.
But in its current state, I believe the Internet also represents the last real chance people of the Earth have in fighting off the dominant control currently being held by those interests who seek to maintain what they have, and increase it to what they don’t have.
For if those forces succeed in boring out the tube of connectivity and determine what flows through and how much, I fear we as a people will reach a point-of-no-return in being able to tackle some of the great problems facing us - that number one issue being Global Warming.
Unless a true form of net neutrality is formed and enforced by all countries, I fear there will be no hope.
Information will be doled out based on who pays, and who has access. Content will be controlled by who ‘owns’ the pipe. In a real sense, this battle is one over power, control, and information over all of us. The Internet will become less of an information superhighway, and more of a controlled content distribution system.
And make no mistake, those that control, those that wish to control - they are getting ready. And because of their already existing connections to those with political power, they have a headstart.
At this point I cannot say what till happen. I'm not even sure what I can do. But I know - I know I have to pay attention. I know I'll have to reach out.
And I know - I know that whatever happens, I must not fail to stop trying.
The stakes are high, and so are the consequences. The moment we as a people tune out, stop paying attention, stop caring, stop fighting, that's when I'll know that the establishment has won.
All of us will lose - and will pay the price.
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