From The Herd

Pushed off a cliff by highly relevant herd-based messages from first responders, the reactionary remnants of the Industrial Age plunge into a rising sea of transparency. In a pitiable montage of attempts at dominion, the intransigent old guard declares its hidden control, misinformation, disinformation, and fear-wedges. The destruction and debilitation of fact, the sequestration of change, the truth gaps providing life support to the old world order, all flailing in the drop. A shadow government, the victim of exposure, gives way to the Information Age.

In its place, floating before us, swaddled in resilient strategies is a population in love with liberty and a new freedom. It is change further along than many think; because, it seems the battle for our freedoms have already been lost: A centralized machine still extrudes cunning comments on commerce. It squeezes insight and critical thinking through the die of corporate objectives crushing the psyche of citizens, declaring resistance as futile, and commerce the might of our time. That the hearts and mind of the population are so ground up by lies they are useless–lost in tweets from twits, bleats, comments, and blogs. Media’s unending burp extols confusion, the fear of wealth, your neighbor’s mistrust, and the sequestration of wonder. Chaos seems to rule.

A perception of loss is widespread. Even though the requirement to take information of merit and push it through the entrenched systems has been rendered pointless. The event of our time is not about corporate control, but rather recognizing that change has its own pace–regardless of whether we want it that way or not. For example, the dissemination of information has become a practiced craft. From social networks, to flash mobs, the layperson has come to understand that the initiation of a shared reaction–like a herd–has strength. In some cases, change is controllable–like fashion–or rulebook changes in a sporting event. In other cases, change can be uncontrollable, like the climate.

Once, only the people with access to raw data–as well as the systems for machinating data–had the capacity to extend mass information. That bred the ability to dispel, elucidate, or eviscerate viewpoints. That also led to sophisticated centralized control of information. A well-developed craft in some quarters, its practitioners desperately still seek ways to keep that data closely held–or shunted away from the population. So the delivery system for truth used by the population does not have the cleverness of high-end psy-ops advertising systems. It is as if a huge wall stretches across the landscape of facts. On one side bellows the hot air of sophisticated spin, advertising angst, and PR propaganda. On the other side, a population stumbles as it speaks–determined to spread the truth–into and across peer groups. Thankfully, information is now a direct connect from first responders to other members of the heard (I know, no more darn puns), without oversight. In the Industrial Age, the media was the message. In the Information Age, the message is the message.

This demise of the old world order arrived via thirst created in a finer era. The media machines inside commerce-based news outlets are the remnants of that finer time–when ethics ruled the newsroom not commerce. The herd now remembers that. It has also come to see how items of misinformation whip other members of the herd into action. From those insights, the mass outlets for news acquired disrespect. Ignored, and often laughed at, the media machine again seeks credibility–a pointless charge. The Internet and computational networks with their gigabytes of unending candor, insight, and the ability to allow anyone to be erudite, have already gutted the sanctioned news outlets by giving us truth.

Recognizing this, the sophistication level of the layperson regarding information quality rises. With that, the ability of spayed interests to blunt the truth through assaults on reputation and fact will wither. It is inevitable. Eventually the sanctioned news outlets will be comatose artifacts–ripe for change. In the mean time, the comments section of the major outlets will continue to direct a different path as deceit takes the easy route–masquerading as candor–because candor is the future of information.

Candor does more than just contradict spin. It demands that the squawk of commerce take its place behind truth. Pioneers of precise data declare propaganda an amusement. The artifact of a time when information was tightly held. As a people, we declare freedom of thought and action as our birthright. That unfettered and highly relevant communication has value. That through reliable information we will share accuracy for the common good and in doing so declare the worth of citizens over the attraction of commerce.

A new freedom drifts toward us: the freedom of unfettered information. Freedom of information among citizens will be the birthright of the new generation, and every new generation of our nation. Many have fought for the stability that fosters truth, allowing it to retake its place in our nation. Brave men and women have died to keep our nation stable allowing this rebirth of free information in our country. For their efforts, we remain thankful. Information is the glue of freedom–and freedom has no meaning without our allegiance to sacrifice.

Thank you.