Information=Freedom=ChoiceBy Gary Wium
I grew up in the 1960's in predominantly white, lower middle class suburb in Southern California. The predominantly non-white lower middle class suburbs were right next door. Consequently, at school we were a mixed bag of kids alternatively hanging out with or fighting against each other depending on what happened that week in the schoolyard political structure. I was smart and street savvy, so I never aligned myself to any particular peer group. That allowed me the freedom to cross into the other neighborhoods without fear and to have non-white friends. It was an invaluable lesson.
Despite our differences, Vietnam, and the possibility of being drafted, was something all of us kids had in common. For years we watched the war footage and the body counts on the nightly news. Older brothers, friends, and acquaintences were coming home dead or wounded or altered. Nobody talked about fear. Our fathers made sure "fear" was not an appropriate topic of conversation. Year after year the war loomed over us. We were "tough" and we were "cool," but growing older was definitely not a good thing. Turning 18 and becoming an "adult" meant registering for the draft. It was an unspoken commonality. We played a different kind of lottery. When I turned 18, in 1972, I was afraid. It was an inavluable lesson.
The first year I was eligible to vote was 1972. I voted for McGovern. Nixon won by a landslide. It was an ivaluable lesson.
When I was 18, Nixon was president, the war was raging, and my worst nightmare, getting drafted, was still a possibility. For the better part of a year I lived in silent agony. There was no protest movement in my neighborhood. No Activists. No information. All we got was what the TV gave us, and that wasn't much, but it was enough to get me thinking. I turned 19 in 1973. The war ended. I was elated, but that year had changed my consciousness. It was an invaluable lesson.
Unknowingly, in 1972, I had become aware of the connection between information, freedom, and choice. I also started to see the relationship between ignorance, fear and control. After 1973, I came to understand that information is empowering, that freedom is the right to be informed, and that choice is the outcome. We have the right to be informed so that we can make intelligent choices. What a concept. It was an invaluable lesson.
The attempt to censor the internet comes as no surprise to me. Information gives us too many choices, too much freedom. The free exchange of ideas is a threat to the power "elite." They do not want a repeat of the 60's. Things almost got out of their control. After all, this is a "representative" democracy, not a "participatory" democracy. The fact that such an overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives supported the Telecommunications Reform Act (as written) should make it obvious that controlling information is a nonpartisan priority. Who is being represented here? Who's pulling the strings? Wake up netizens. Act now before it's too late. Information = Freedom = Choice. It is an invaluable lesson.
Peace,