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  1. Fred Thornton
    October 29, 2021 @ 12:36 pm

    A fine and very, very timely history lesson leading into how we should shape the future. Well worth the hour to read, and many hours of thought on how to utilize the thoughts it presents. I’d like to put forward one more thought to add to this mix. IMO this thought will (because it must) be a central point around which any successful legislation governing the Internet’s social media machine must revolve if said legislation is to serve the cause of freedom and civility.

    In the closing passages of the article the author quotes Justice Stevens (SCOTUS, 1975-2010) as saying “Businesses like Facebook and Google have exactly the kind of “uniquely pervasive presence… that warrants strong public governance.” Those were strong words coming from a Justice of the Supreme Court.
    Where Justice Stevens is considered among the most “Liberal” of his contemporaries and I call myself a Pragmatic Idealist more often leaning to the preservative side I find myself in full agreement with his statement.

    The point which must be addressed is one that both post-dates Justice Stevens’ service and totally validates his position. I doubt Justice Stevens actually knew just how “uniquely pervasive” a presence the modern social media machines now wield. If he had I’m sure he’d have used even more forceful language to defend the Constitution, likely drawing his argument from the word “seizure” found in the Fourth Amendment. Seizure is a very open word when considered in the context of the opening words of the Fourth Amendment, that the people have the right to be “…secure in their persons…”

    Until recently communication could indeed be categorized as one-to-one or one-to-many as the article presents from the history of the subject. What must now be addressed is the fact that modern technology, aided and abetted by renegade and unethical elements from the emerging science of psychology, has added a third dimension into consideration… the ability for third parties to insert themselves into either form of digital communication, their intent to modify and ultimately control… by way of well proven covert to fully occult emotional manipulation techniques… the final outcome of said communication.

    Courtesy of the unholy alliance between technology and psychology it is now within current abilities to “seize” freedom where freedom begins… between the ears of the electorate by way of implanted emotional bias! Until and unless the governments of the world defend their citizens and their democracies, until and unless by the highest law of the lands the techniques and tactics of such manipulation are fully exposed and publicized the ultimate intent of the freedom defined by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States has been defeated and the nation which it helps define has been placed in severe jeopardy.

    Until and unless this happens we will be, as were the citizens of ancient Rome under the rule of their “First Citizen Augustus”, ever more subjected to living in a facade of democracy degrading into as dark a tyranny as could be imagined by even the greatest of the dystopian writers.

    Folks, this one is a very subtle threat… and more dangerous than a cobra in the bathroom.

Watchman, what of the night?