Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Breitbart – President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel have jointly blamed the disruptive influence of the Internet for their political losses, and have demanded more government control of emerging technology.
Obama and Angela Merkel Blame Internet and Social Media for Disrupting Globalism
President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are blaming the internet for disrupting the forces of globalism, suggesting that technology is making it more difficult to unite people behind a common purpose.
“Because of the internet and communications, the clash of cultures is much more direct,” Obama said during a press conference on his trip to Berlin. “People feel, I think, less certain about their identity. Less certain about economic security.”
Obama predicted that the rise of technology needed to be managed to give world citizens more control, beyond the simplistic answers found online.
His German counterpart agreed.
“Digitization is a disruptive force, a disruptive technological force that brings about deep-seated change, transformation of a society,” Merkel added.
She compared the internet to the invention of the printing press, citing the consequences it had on industrialized countries.
“It took a while until societies learned how to find the right kind of policies to contain this and to manage and steer this,” she said.
…
President Obama didn’t used to worry so much about the internet, back in the days when the internet helped Obama win office.
To his credit Obama also spent a fair part of his speech emphasising the importance of elections having integrity, of citizens being able to replace a government which was doing an unsatisfactory job – a right which has grown rather tenuous under the auspices of the authoritarian undemocratic European Union.
Why is this criticism of internet freedom relevant to WUWT?
Imagine if Climategate had occurred in the 1990s, or even the 1980s. Would we have ever heard about it? Most Mainstream Media didn’t start to cover Climategate until they had their noses rubbed in it, by rising awareness on non traditional news outlets.
Thanks to the Internet, the power to judge is placed into the hands of the people – even the Communist Chinese with their vast teams of internet censors have trouble controlling the flow of information.
Sure a lot of the information purveyed on the internet is nonsense – but the mainstream media also purveys a lot of nonsense. I have never seen compelling evidence that well paid mainstream media journalists are more careful about vetting the stories they publish than dedicated volunteers.
With unfiltered information from the internet at our fingertips, we have an opportunity to learn what is really happening in the world, beyond the control and social management of politicians like the Obamas and Merkels of the world.
To me, this unprecedented access to raw information is a freedom worth protecting. Because this window of freedom will potentially slam shut in the very near future, as the rise of artificial intelligence makes it increasingly possible to clamp down on the flow of information presented on the internet. For example, the climate fanatics at Google are working very hard on trying to filter search results according to their view of what constitutes the “truth”.
The following is the clip of President Obama and Merkel discussing the challenges posed by the Internet. The full original press conference is available here.
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My reply to Obama is thus:
“The internet thinks Trump is a moron, but failing to know that makes you MORE of a moron, sir.”
Slowly, inevitably Obama cannot help but reveal the murderous totalitarian that dwells within.
Very interesting, unbelievable I would say,,,,,, there is the Obama, the USA president traveling to the other side of the pond in a desperate quest of support for his last “brilliant” idea (not so brilliant actually) on how possibly still contemplating to contain and have some control over the USA president elected Mr. D.Trump and his forthcoming policies.
From my point of view, Obama is not blaming anything any more, he does not actually blame internet, he does not even have any strength or stamina in him to do that, he is simply moaning and ,complaining about it, and he had to travel to Germany so that he had a chance of a support from the only remaining leader in the list with the will and the credibility to make and transform his moaning and complaining in something that looks like a credible blame.,,,, In his own he would not be appearing and be taken seriously in that issue.
You, see, for once Obama is not moaning and complaining about the threatening issue of AGW, ACC or climate change, he is on the issue of the internet threat and the possibility of the control over Internet,,,, the best ever wild goose chase to subject one to, in Obama’s view, the best ever wild goose chase proposed and wished For the next President…….. Brilliant in the first look but not so brilliant actually, for not saying even it, been a silly one idea.
One thing that is overseen here by Obama, is the actual leverage of power he had as a President, which the new elected President will have too. even more so.
One thing, as far as I can tell, that an elected person has to face when his or her bum is about to hit a seat of power like that of a president or a prime minister, is facing and being briefed by the “spooks”, the guys who brief the secrets and the spookiness of the current national, international and global affairs…….
For the last two decades, or at least the last one, the most spooky problem, in the cards, with global and regional national consequences, guess which has being………the AGW, ACC, climate change, the human destruction of the planet Earth put more simply. Some issue where the spooky matter has reached max possible in a full public view in so many ways and so many international and global affairs and treaties with so much resources pored at it, that nothing will constitute as a daring secret and more spooky as that.
Mentioning things like Alien invasion, people will lough at you, mentioning asteroids or such other threats people will ask you if you ever heard or knew about man made global warming and the catastrophe we and our planet face….. and “pity” you for your other petty concerns and worries……and in same time “bombard” you with the AGW scare.
As far as I can tell Obama did experience a good leverage of power through his presidency simply cause there was not much that “spooks” could have to spook Obama with … as the most threatening and spooky issue was fully public and all over the internet and media.
And it is strange if actually Obama is counting that the “spooks” will have to try the internet “scare” to spook and have the next president lead to a superb wild goose chase in some errand of attempting some kind of internet control …..
The only possible way to contemplate an internet control, …regardless how much one can be tempted at some point,…. is simply to clearly get off and permanently cut off your self and your activity in the Internet, and also permanently move to the Earth’s wilderness and start leaving by covering your self with a fig leaf…….
Any one can contemplate this or even advice and brief for a policy of a possible internet control, but not the guys who virtually leave and think by in the internet, the “spooks”.
The only thing that fits in my imagination as probable when considering and contemplating a possible meeting of the “spooks” and the next USA president in a consideration of the matter of the internet control, it is the only outcome;
“for the first time the “Man in Black” after kneeling and taking off their dark glasses, literally will be asking and pleading to the President :”Please anything, but not the internet control, for God’s sake”” 🙂
Hopefully that was a little funny story too. 🙂
Cheers
Obama once again shows his disdain for Americans. He might as well have just come out and said we’re stupid.
““Because of the internet and communications, the clash of cultures is much more direct,” Obama said during a press conference on his trip to Berlin. “People feel, I think, less certain about their identity. Less certain about economic security.”
Obama predicted that the rise of technology needed to be managed to give world citizens more control, beyond the simplistic answers found online.
His German counterpart agreed.”
Climate change is real and regular. However, it’s the semi-stable envelopes that count.
Yeah, all that free information messed up Obama’s Goebbels-like efforts to control the message.
It frankly amazes me that his supporters see nothing wrong in this. I guess that just means they’re all on board. Control-freak-itus.
Progressives have done a complete about-face from that whole ‘I’m alright, you’re alright’ of the old-time liberals – and it’s what turned me away from the political and philosophical Left.
See, “Live and let live” requires that agreement on both sides, and Progressives have no intention of allowing anyone to live other than they way they believe.
They are no longer “Liberals” in the true sense of the word, they are Socialists…IMHO. The last true Democrat was JFK…”Ask not what your country can do for You, but what YOU can do for your country”…One of the greatest speeches ever written….
Why should anyone be surprised? Both are socialistic, statist totalitarians – especially Merkel, who was raised and educated in communist East Germany (GDR). And Markel’s involvement in pro-government political activities was not just coincidental or pro-forma. She had been secretary for “Agitation and Propaganda” for the Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ), which was the GDR’s equivalent of a combination of the Hitler Jugend (boys) and Bund Deutscher Mädel (girls) of the Third Reich. That kind of experience would have made her very familiar (and imbued) with the GDR’s control policies and mechanisms regarding the public’s access to information. Surely the policies rubbed off.
“Obama predicted that the rise of technology needed to be managed to give world citizens more control, beyond the simplistic answers found online.”
So the “most transparent President ever” doesn’t really like transparency all that much. Who knew?
Which is worse, wanting to build a wall to keep uninvited and unvetted immigrants out, or wanting to build a wall to keep uninvited and unvetted information and technology out? Do you leave your home unlocked at night to allow uninvited guests to enter as they please but lock up your computer so no uninvited information can pop up and surprise you before it receives your leader’s stamp of approval? Are loosely controlled borders and the tight control of information really the world liberals and globalists want to live in? If so, I’m flummoxed, but count me out. I want no part of a globalist world where a few elitists control the flow of information and technology for my own good.
I have to disagree with Obama wanting elections to have integrity. I really think he means elections will only have “integrity” after the the sources of information are “controlled”.
“Freedom of the Press” is vital. He thinks the modern day “Press” needs to be controlled.
..The liberal left HAS control of the Main Stream Media, but Trump still won..What does that tell you about the MSM ?? They are way out of touch with the Main Street Voters …
That is what we need, strict government control of all media. Life would be so much better if we all wore uniforms, lived in dormatories, and just did what we were told.
“You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Y’know, if I was Donald Trump, I would be sorely tempted to publicly and vigorously agree with him, just for the hell of it.
Now that would really put the cat among the pigeons.
Here is a bit of internet access for ya.
The cause? The remedy?
Aye, there’s the rub!
I seem to remember that the internet was responsible for the rise of Obama. He almost certainly would never have become President without the internet.
I see a few problems with anyone’s intention to control information on the ‘net. First, every site would have to do away with online comments. They are typically more illuminating that the original article, although sometimes research is necessary to verify a claim. Info is presented, you see theories, ideas, claims, arguments on every side, and what the consensus of the readers might be.
I read the online comments of UK sits (the Sun, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Guardian, independent, and Mirror) before the Brexit vote. On those stories which allowed for comments, the tone and nature of the comments took a notable shift as the vote neared. It was becoming clear to the majority, that the remainers were not putting forth any positive results about being in the EU, only the negative outcomes a Brexit could cause, and they were purely speculative. Then the comments, on the whole, become in favor of Brexit. The day before the vote, I told my wife if these comments are reflective of the population as a whole, Brexit’s going to win.
I saw the same thing wrt Trump’s election. Days before the election, support or defense of Clinton became almost non-existent. The comments were either pro or anti Trump, or anti-Hillary. The negative Trump commenters were called out as paid Soros shills. The lack of anything positive to say about Hillary was remarkable. From my sampling, only in the major liberal papers (e.g., Washington Post, NYT, etc) were the majority of comments anti-Trump. Online papers in swing states had majority pro-Trump comments, despite the paper’s position.
So online commenting would have to go (trying to moderate or censor comments would backfire horribly). When that goes, the clicks go – and then the ad revenue goes. I’m sure people will find new ways to ‘talk’ to each other.
The second problem is simpler. The Democrats are in real danger of becoming irrelevant. Republicans control enough state houses to amend the Constitution, if desired, both houses in Congress, and the White House. They, in all likelihood, will appoint a Conservative to the Supreme Court, making it a conservative court, and have a distinct possibility of appointing more. If Republicans govern wisely, and drive out the globalist movement, they have a real opportunity to stay in power a long time, making everything Obama wants just a pipe dream.
Not only Democrats, the left everywhere is become irrelevant has they have left the “working class” in favor of LGBTQI…whatever, the immigrants (esp. illegal immigrants), and the “Wall Street” of their country (obvious when the soundness of a decision is only evaluated by looking at the “S&P 500” of the land).
You can’t forever advocate for very significant increase of the minimum wage and push for more immigration in order to have very high workforce intense very low paying jobs, and explain that not having this workforce would kill the economy.
There is no China hoax to make the left irrelevant. The left is making every effort to become irrelevant, and with the help of the media noise: the huge support of these pro-Wall Street policies from the left/medias is hurting from the left AND the medias (although on the short term, the media can still generate support for the left/Wall Street cause).
You can’t maintain an illusion forever. The left/medias/Wall Street popular support is mostly a walking dead.
There was huge support for Hillary, but it was purely abstract: she has “experience”. But not actually doing many things she would want to brag about. Even school children failing all grades sometimes have experience attending class, and usually a lot more than children who pass exams (the first time).
Bizarrely, she did brag about travelling the whole world and meeting important people and her stamina doing that. But last I checked, travelling the whole world wasn’t an end in itself, just a mean, and the moral case for global conferences like the COP(n) was the “consensus” on doing something (even empty gestures), not the actual travel around the world/meeting “important” people: even COP(n) isn’t its own justification, the silly text signed by delegates and the promises are the justification.
All I can say is, Thank
God for the internet.
But I thought only we low information , low tech , DEPLORABLES voted for TRUMP , so how would we even know how to use the internet , PLUS ALL OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA , THAT KICKED OBAMA AND HILLARY’s COLLECTIVE BUTTS and HOW COULD WE AFFORD THESE HIGH TECH DEVICES ??
All the “deplorables” have Obamaphones?
America mite have had their first female president, if the Democrats had run a candidate who dressed and willing to do whatever it took to get the job done. I remember back in the 70’s the Australian MSM didn’t mind giving her free air time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilona_Staller
Ilona Staller (born 26 November 1951), widely known by her stage name, Cicciolina, is a Hungarian-Italian porn star, politician, and singer.
In 1979, Staller was presented as a candidate to the Italian parliament by the Lista del Sole, Italy’s first Green party. In 1985, she switched to the Partito Radicale, campaigning on a libertarian platform against nuclear energy and NATO membership, as well as for human rights. She was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987, with approximately 20,000 votes. While in office, and before the outset of the Gulf War, she offered to have sex with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in return for peace in the region.[9] She was not re-elected at the end of her term in 1991.
Has Obama or anyone else mentioned that steady drip of emails showing the true nature of her campaign and staff? And her pay to play schemes?
Or those undercover videos showing Clinton campaigners talking of busing voters from poll to poll and planting people (paid) at Trump rallies to incite violence?
Probably not. Wouldn’t want to draw more attention to them.
Decrapio is a child. A dumb as rocks child. And there is the president of the USA giving him his attention. Can’t wait for Trump to, hopefully…tell it like it is.
Leonardo is really good at pretending to be someone else. Of course that should make him a bastion of “wisdom” in American culture. There’s your problem.
Yes. it is VERY BAD when the Hoi polloi* can both Fact Check and Communicate about things that the Great Leaders say, claim, and/or do.
*Lets go for the whole schmear: Hoi polloi = “the great unwashed”, “the plebeians” or “plebs”, “the rabble”, “the masses”,”the dregs of society”, “riffraff”, “the herd”, “the canaille”, “the proles” (proletariat), “sheeple”, and “peons”….
So what shall we blame for the rise of Obama eight years ago? An ill-informed electorate, with 48% subsisting on government entitlements and a fawning media that was derelict in its duties?
Deja Vu, the politics of this Documentary are so ahead of their time.
https://youtu.be/QowL2BiGK7o?t=1h3m39s
“We tried freedom; it isn’t working. So the government must take over.”
They’re braying in unison-
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/technology/the-trump-factor-tipped-to-spread-to-australian-politics-as-aussie-truthers-push-on-social-media/news-story/4e7b111bbef4a06b7a3616e6bae3eecd