On the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth, we'll hear over and over that he's the man who managed to break up communism, when in reality, I think it it's more the blossoming of satellite dishes and the reach of CNN into the eastern block that should be credited for the fall of the soviet regime and it's affiliates. The same is happening today with Tunisia, Egypt, and a host of other nations that are still under the grip of some left-over tyrant.
What is triggering all this is the explosion of on-line access and the free circulation of images and thoughts that come from all parts of the world. It's not just social media like Facebook, Youtube or Twitter. It's the availability of news in real-time, 24/7, it's also and essentially the millions of self-declared “journalists” taking pictures and shooting videos from their small cell phones that are popping off the lids of censorship and are allowing direct and unbearable comparisons between what some of us have or enjoy and others don't have access to.
Sure, like Reagan earlier, some politicians will take credit for that, but the reality is that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, among others, are the true reasons for breaking the shackles of tyranny, not our official leaders who can at best react, but seldom anticipate...
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1 comment:
Funny you should write that. A while back I became marginally involved on the field side of a project that tended to prove that point.
If you are wondering what some key players think of that theory, you should read "The pentagon's new map" by Thomas Barnett. Aside from the style "pompier" and the name dropping, it is enlightening. You hit it right on the head.
Bill
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