At this point, most of the world has gotten used to the most powerful person in the world, the President of the United States, tweeting about diet coca cola, sharing his thoughts on talk show hosts and threatening military intervention. As ridiculous as it may sound, that is our reality at the moment -- and perhaps that's for the better. It's great not to have to rely on conventional media to get informed, but trump mentioning "cut off" and "the internet" in the same sentence is, at the very least, hypocritical and at the very most a real threat to freedom of speech and information.
How do you cut off the internet?
So, what does the POTUS want to do this time? Apparently, he wants to "cut off" the internet and make sure we find a way to "use it better". What does that even mean? Do we somehow cut off the internet for "loser terrorists" and stop them from recruiting new members or what? Here's the Tweet:
Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Let's put it this way: Trump's proposal is more ridiculous than his claim. However, the POTUS is not a naive, dumb man, no matter how hard the media tries to portray him as such. He knows very well what he's doing, and what he's doing this time is inviting the government into your home, your smartphone, your laptop and your mind.
Just like his predecessors, especially Barrack Obama, did.
The internet has changed the way we live and the way we exchange and process information. It has gifted us a special brand of freedom. Clearly, governments would love to take full control of the web. And although corporations like Google and Facebook are doing their part to help, it comes as no surprise that the government is more than willing to do its job.
And what better way is there to introduce censorship and more mass surveillance than masquerading these efforts as counter-terrorism measures?
Powerful message
Those of you who believe in coincidences will probably view Google's policy updates, Russian bot armies, echo chambers and widespread government and corporation astroturfing as a mess that's marked the current year, but those of us that do not will view these things as separate pieces of a huge mosaic.
A mosaic that closely resembles an Orwellian society and a state that's penetrating into every pore of it, seeking full and absolute control over all information and thought. Perhaps the media should try and focus on things like this, instead of focusing on banalities like gender pronouns and Trump's body language?
