The Stake TPTB Have in Controlling Discourse on the Internet

[Ahkenaten]

It has become pretty obvious recently that the internet is a key feature in mobilizing people for political action and everyone around the world is taking notice, especially governments. Some, including myself, have speculated that web-based segments of the alternative media such as PA have been targeted by TPTB, whether that be "testing" or "attack" I do not know for sure.

Here is an excerpt from an article today in Al Jazeera that lays out the pertinent facts on this issue very well:

(If you want to read the whole piece - check it out online!)

From Danny Schechter's (Mediachannel.org) - Article entitled "US Economics: One Big Ponzi Scheme" Al Zajeera Opinion Page Feb. 21, 2011

................(excerpt)..................

"The political right prefers to change the subject, while the left does not seem to have the time or energy to make economic justice its principal concern - even as polls show the economy is the number one problem for most in the US.
Progressives should hang their heads in shame at the minimal amount of activism taking place against the banks and the escalating numbers of foreclosures. Homes and hope are being stolen from people for whom the term "depression" now has a personal, as well as economic, meaning.
The other day, economist Jeff Sachs - who has a lot of atoning to do for his own misguided, destructive economic advice to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union - warned that little is being done about economic inequity and the growing ranks of the poor in the US. He asks if people who run things in the US want "another Egypt". He is a policy wonk, not an activist - and likely fears the idea.
Many activists say they want to emulate the Egyptians, but who will organise anything as effective - even in a land that used to be known for people's movements - to raise hell? In Egypt, young people used the internet to organise and mobilise for change. In the US, the internet seems to function more as an escape valve, consuming hours of our time and giving us another way to talk to each other - and ventilate against the government. Social media here seems to be more for socialising.
The government supports internet freedom abroad - but restricts it and spies on it at home. Obama has already supported a law allowing him to shut it down here in a national emergency.
The passivity of the public is one result of the inundation by middle-of-the-road media and effective information deprivation.
As Noam Chomsky puts it: "The population in the United States is angry, frustrated and full of fear and irrational hatreds. And the folks not far from you on Wall Street are just doing fine. They're the ones who created the current crisis. They're the ones who were called upon to deal with it. They're coming out stronger and richer than ever. But everything's fine - as long as the population is passive."
That is our problem, Bernie. (Note: He means Bernie Madoff here) Even if the people want to know, it is not that easy to find out. Let us thank the media and our government for that.

News dissector Danny Schechter

[PHARAOH]

To quote Eric Holder the US Attorney Genreal "America is a nation of COWARDS".

[Ahkenaten]

Thanks Pharoah .... I think this topic is relevant to the discussion about how the internet is increasingly becoming an object of concern - putting alot of other current subjects of interest and events into a larger context.

[haibane]

Posted by PHARAOH (here)
To quote Eric Holder the US Attorney Genreal "America is a nation of COWARDS".

Funny, I get to hear that about a lot of nations recently, mine included (^__~ ) It seems to have a lot to do with all the western civilization where people have just to much to lose should they start paying attention, try to understand and take action.

[Odah]

Americans are not cowards at all .. People are being deluged with crisis after crisis and they do not know what ti do .. The problems have been pushed down for several gereration and everything is comming to a head now.. a lot of people lack the training and knowledge to know what to do about it.

Do not be condecending of those who are still asleep or unaware something is very very wrong .. lay down a path and make information available. so when they do become aware they can get up to speed fast . if your awake your job is to pave the way.. you can't do the waking up for other people .. they must wake up on their own .

Economically things are happening behind the sceens that there will be something their to replace the current system when the house of cards collapses in the next few years.

[aikya]

Hi Akhenaton,

Thanks for your post. Imo, this is an important and apposite topic for discussion.

If you take as a basic premise that TPTB don't want to/can't take down the internet completely, because they, the banksters, the corporations etc., need it, and because it is an infinite source of intel, and if you also accept the premise that a free flow of information is a threat to them, it seems clear to me that their solution is likely to be to launch extensive ops worldwide to undermine and compromise those who provide the truth.

I read some months ago that the US Gov had allocated a budget of something in the region $4 billion, to protect that red herring called 'national security', on the internet. There's no doubt in my mind what those funds will be used for.....nor that Avalon is one of many conspiracy/'alternative' sites which will be targeted.

In terms of quality 'alternative' sites in the UK, Avalon is one of the best, so imo it will definitely be high on on their UK target list.

Perhaps it's time that Avalon began to look into the alternative internet solutions which are starting to emerge, and which would be more under the control of the people, and less under the control of TPTB and their agents.

[Ahkenaten]

Posted by haibane (here)

Posted by PHARAOH (here)
To quote Eric Holder the US Attorney Genreal "America is a nation of COWARDS".

Funny, I get to hear that about a lot of nations recently, mine included (^__~ ) It seems to have a lot to do with all the western civilization where people have just to much to lose should they start paying attention, try to understand and take action.

A friend of mine from South America put it another way, that Americans are too fat and lazy to actually do anything. Sorry, but go to any Supermarket and you will see that is true. We have been corrupted.

[Ahkenaten]

Posted by Odah (here)
Americans are not cowards at all .. People are being deluged with crisis after crisis and they do not know what ti do .. The problems have been pushed down for several gereration and everything is comming to a head now.. a lot of people lack the training and knowledge to know what to do about it.

Do not be condecending of those who are still asleep or unaware something is very very wrong .. lay down a path and make information available. so when they do become aware they can get up to speed fast . if your awake your job is to pave the way.. you can't do the waking up for other people .. they must wake up on their own .

Economically things are happening behind the sceens that there will be something their to replace the current system when the house of cards collapses in the next few years.

I agree Americans are not cowards it is more a state of sonambulism (induced sleep-walking) combined with a self-indulgent lifestyle promoted by advertising on TV, a rigged and fake political system and the deliberate dumbing down of the population over a period of time. Each of these issues have been exhaustively covered by many, many informative threads on PA. I do agree that people sense that "something is up" - but other than some kind of spontaneous uprising which IMO will ONLY occur if things get really, really bad and I hope that doesn't happen; such an excellent job has been done hog-tying the people of the United States that it is difficult to imagine how the ropes will be untangled unless Nature intervenes and does it for us, and THAT my friends would not be pretty!

[Ahkenaten]

Posted by aikya (here)
Hi Akhenaton,

Thanks for your post. Imo, this is an important and apposite topic for discussion.

If you take as a basic premise that TPTB don't want to/can't take down the internet completely, because they, the banksters, the corporations etc., need it, and bcause it is an infinite source of intel, and if you also accept the premise that a free flow of information is a threat to them, it seems clear to me that their solution is likely to be to launch extensive ops worldwide to undermine and compromise those who provide the truth, because of it being such a threat to them.

I read some months ago that the US Gov had allocated a budget of something in the region 4 billion, to protect that red herring called 'national security' , on the internet. There's no doubt in my mind what those funds will be used for.....nor that Avalon is one of many conspiracy/'alternative' sites which will be targeted.

In terms of quality 'alternative' sites in the UK, Avalon is one of the best, so imo it will definitely be high on on their UK target list.

Perhaps it's time that Avalon began to look into the alternative internet solutions which are starting to emerge, and which would be more under the control of the people less under the control of TPTB and their agents.

RIGHT ON AIKYA! You have said this so much better than I ever could! This is precisely the point, and ties together my constant mantra about "WAKING UP!" with my constant junk-yard-dog barking about the FACT that the PA website/Forum HAS BEEN COMPROMISED AND THE REASONS WHY.....................I 1000% agree that if the internet is to achieve its maximum potential as a social organization/communication tool (and this is what I was trying to tease out in my thread about "removing consent from the control paradigm") then PA and similar virtual watering holes MUST position itself on the cutting edge of alternative internet solutions for the purpose of pushing back. Now the good news is that regardless of the fears about shutting down the internet, the cat is out of the bag and TPTB rely on the current infrastructure themselves to 1.) gather intel (i.e. spy and disrupt) and 2.) information/currency/transactons.............unless and until a separate infrastructure is built for THEIR USE ONLY (I am no expert in this so this goes way, way beyond my area of expertise) they are stuck with the rest of us PEONS. I suggest they ARE STUCK WITH US because otherwise it would not be logical to allocate such huge amounts of $$ and human labor to focusing on the existing structure and elements.......This presents a great opportunity, IMO for positive change.

Having said that, I am a little pessimistic given "our" (i.e. the species overall) track-record so far in using our minds collectively and consciously towards good purposes..................

But I am open to the possibility of a MIRACLE and pray for that for our sake and for the sake of future generations!!

[Odah]

well there is a reason why as people become aware of things their first instink is to get out of the us .. Things here can't go on.. 100 trillion dollars in debt and everything falling apart at once.. i feel the us has sercved it pupose for the leadership role in the earth..but we are about to lose that.

Also a lot of the more courageous souls when into tougher part of the world to ride out waves of change more dramatic than the western world.. and many of the souls in the western world have chosen the easy path before the crap hit the fan .. i mean our collective consious has known something was going to happen now for thousands of years.

[Ahkenaten]

Yes we are faced with enormous challenges that is certain. Change is upon us whether we will or not. It is up to us as individuals and collectively to create a new and better world whether it is in this dimension or another. We are all One.

[Budaheart]

I personally feel that one of the reasons why passivity kicks in is because we don´t know how to PROCESS information within ourselves, and thus, we either become anxious and stuff the info under loads and loads of food, specially carbs, or then we go into split and denial. This is crucial for all of us if we want to make a positive step towards a better earth,planet, future.
we need to be present with what happens and not go to sleep mode as if by a trance-induction or a program to do so.

How to do so? Well we need to reinforce the digestion of info...just like the digestion of food...for if its not digested properly, we react negatively to the information and this hinders further our capacity to understand and discriminate and be able to see things with wisdom and not overfloaded with raw emotions ramping here and there.

Many dont know themselves, haven´t even accessed their deeper fears, and live disconnected from what lies underneath...the waters that move their unconscious...

Fortunatedly, the more people do their inner work and process the info, the better and easier it will be for others to give themselves permission to do so.

Just musing,
Barbara

[Ahkenaten]

It is quite tragic and telling the whole issue of obesity in America..............on some fundamental level it is though the body/spirit knows very well that when it feels empty, it is hungry for spiritual sustenance. Not getting enough nutrients to feed the body/spirit, in desperation the individual eats more and more. The obesity on some profound level shows how unsatisfying our collectives lives are in the US, how unnurturing, how empty, our lives are. No amount of treats, big macs, man-size helpings of food, soda pop and beer, saturated fats, denatured and poisonous foods, can fill up that kind of a spiritual void. The state of the body/mind of the American as a group and for many individuals, is sad, isolated, lonely, tragic really. I always think of the mothers of the people and how the mothers loved and nurtured these individuals. How sad that it should have come to THIS on so many levels. How sad.

[Ahkenaten]

I would like to state here that I have noticed since the advent of the Charles material on this forum that whenever some real-world subject is posted by a member for discussion - in the midst of multiple threads related to every nuance of the Charles material, suddenly for some mysterious reason, people feel a deep and urgent inner need to start a variety of threads about deeply personal, relatively minor, spurious, etc. topics, ALMOST AS IF someone wishes serious discussion about serious issues to vanish from the roster of topics currently being discussed (this is the way the website is structured, with most recent posts at the top and threads dropping off the bottom as new ones or new posts appear at the top) ALMOST AS IF someone wishes serious discussion, especially concerning politics or current events to be buried as quickly as possible in the AVALON thread basement. Just sayin'