the Institute of Unlearning, editorial 34

There is an old proverb out there about cooking frogs (probably French). It says that if you throw a live frog into a pot of boiling hot water, you will be unable to cook it because the shock of the temperature will naturally induce the frog to leap out of the pot. The secret to cooking frogs is to place them in room temperature water and then to slowly heat the water. By the time the frog realizes it is being cooked, it will not have the strength necessary to leap out of the pot. A similar method is used to erode human freedom across the globe.

The current buzz surrounding the so-called spam problem excellently illustrates how human sloth enfeebles the will to be free. Often, we fail to see how our own little troubles create the conditions for widespread, incremental usurpations of personal power.

Few can deny that email has made communication much more efficient than postal mail. What used to take days can now be delivered in a matter of minutes. Consequently, messages of great import or no import at all, can be shared with relatively large numbers of people at this accelerated rate.

As users of internet mail, we have so quickly forgotten that the service is, in some respects, free or at least vastly cheaper than the oft-maligned “snail mail”. Spam is simply the result of people “getting what they paid for”.

The hue and cry that has been raised over spam in the mass media should be deeply disturbing to anyone concerned with personal freedom. National legislators and the president have all weighed in their opinions on the issue and eagerly promise to get involved. What this means is that, somewhere soon down the line, more legislation will be passed that will allow the government to regulate and monitor communications between individuals. Those of low consciousness will tend to think of this as a good thing.

Right now, we generally associate spam as business related junk mail. But who is to say that this definition won't be expanded in order to limit the mass dissemination of political, philosophical, economic or religious viewpoints that supply alternative thoughts to the presiding power structure? Placing your trust in those purportedly working to protect your freedom has historically shown itself to be a foolish position.

The internet's true potential will be realized when humans empower themselves to seize the tools of mass communication to provide a dedicated and thorough challenge of the corporately controlled mass media. It is quite possible that the spam deluge currently underway across the globe is merely meant to provoke the moanings of the weak willed that yearn to be taken care of once more.

It is hard to imagine that freedom could be at stake over such a trivial issue as spam. But when humans everywhere waste their energy in complaints to authorities instead of using that energy to hit their delete key a few hundred times or to purchase a cheaply priced anti-spam software package, the powerlessness of the present situation comes shockingly to the fore.

In conspiracy circles, those familiar with the Protocols of Zion read how the beneficiaries of power on this planet refer to the masses as the “goyim”, which means cattle. Cattle are basically dumb animals that humans feed until its time to slaughter them. This editor finds that it will be hard for most humans to avoid a similar fate unless the will to empower is harnessed en masse.

So think twice the next time you are ready to complain about spam, or even viruses, that threaten to diminish your internet experience. No contest for freedom on this planet has ever been simple. If we continue to allow ourselves to be distracted by trivial annoyances such as spam, we will fail to focus our collective power on tasks truly needing our attention, and possibly loose a vital tool of communication along the way. It would be wonderful to report some day soon that we deleted a consciousness that needs war, poverty, famine and suffering to provide a feast for an elite few on this planet, wouldn't it?