Can the Internet Save Us?
By Robert Higgs • Thursday February 14, 2013 9:00 AM PDT • 14 Comments
Many of my freedom-loving friends have great confidence that communication via the Internet and the World Wide Web will prove to be a game-changer in the fight against the disinformation and propaganda disseminated by the state and its running dogs, and that the greater ease of spreading the truth will shift the balance in favor of those who seek to protect and extend liberty. I have always had my doubts.
For one thing, the state continues to have a preponderance of physical power, and should its domination ever be brought into genuine challenge, it can always resort to sheer violence. The Internet has intrinsic strengths, to be sure, but the state’s goons can always smash in your door, crush your computers to shreds with sledge hammers, and haul you off to one of its dungeons. At present, the state is not challenged seriously, and therefore it need not resort to such primitive, though effective, measures. Moreover, it needs to preserve the use of Internet communication in order that industry and commerce will thrive, and thereby provide a great volume of wealth for the state to plunder.
A second reason for my doubts is that although the Internet and the Web lower the cost of disseminating the truth, they equally lower the cost of disseminating the state’s lies. Perhaps more important, today’s technology permits users to create many forms of distortion and illusion, so that when we encounter information on the Web, we must always ask, “Is this real or fake?” We simply cannot believe everything we see with our own eyes. Some hoaxes are easily revealed; others require great expertise to expose; and few of us possess such expertise. The masses therefore remain vulnerable to what governments and their key supporters have done for millennia—namely, fool most of the people most of the time.
Finally, unless the friends of liberty can bring about a significant change in the dominant ideology, none of our communications will matter, however much they reveal the state’s deceptions and offer truth as a substitute. Ideology is not simply ideas; it has a powerful element of values as well. If people do not place much value on freedom and prefer, as many Americans now do, creature comforts, entertainment, and the illusion of security, then their ears will be deaf to our efforts to spread the truth, regardless of the technology we employ.
Tags: Liberty, Personal Liberty, Power, Technology, The State 
In regard to the last paragraph, I believe that a key value that will make or break our efforts is to what extent people are committed to seeking out the truth. Only people who are willing to fundamentally reevaluate their received knowledge and perspectives can bring about the changes that are needed. In this regard, I must say that I am not very optimistic, since it seems that relatively few people are willing to do this type of work.
D. Saul Weiner | Feb 14, 2013 | Reply
I share Prof. Higgs’ concern about the very difficult challenge of exposing “the state’s lies...distortion and illusion.”
I presume that [tens of] millions heard this remarkable claim in the SOTU address: “Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs.”
But I worry that only hundreds, or at best thousands, are aware that this was probably Obama’s Most Audacious SOTU Lie.
Porkulus | Feb 14, 2013 | Reply
“... the Internet and the Web lower the cost of disseminating the truth, they equally lower the cost of disseminating the state’s lies.”
An equally bad problem is that the Internet makes it easy for idiots to unwittingly disseminate misinformation. Some of that misinformation relates to state power and control and dilutes anti-state information. I see this all the time in blog comment sections: a libertarian comment is buried by scores of illogical and incorrect comments from left-wingers.
MingoV | Feb 14, 2013 | Reply
I’m inclined to agree with you, Robert. Although I believe wholeheartedly in speaking truth to power, it inevitably falls down to whether the audience values truth at all. For now, as you rightly point out, the state’s rise in power is indicative of the public’s willful ignorance.
And so, we the few who do value truth must continue to speak truth to power, but only to connect with those of like-minds. Should we convert a couple along the way, great, but given the tide of negative change it’s clear that we must do as Noah did; build an arc, and weather the storm.
The good news is that the Internet, in this sense, can save us if only because the cost of association is much lower than before.
DW | Feb 15, 2013 | Reply
I don’t know the answer to this question. I certainly hope so. I do think that the Internet is undermining the agenda of the power elite to build world government. On the other hand, I can’t see the elites allowing this process to continue.
I see your point about the “dominant ideology.” The ability of the Internet to change this is open to question. Personally, I think it IS changing it significantly and has the elites very worried about it, if not to say in a panic. I just saw Peter Schiff clean up on some mainstream economists in a very recent YouTube video. Man, was he on a roll!
However, in another vein, there is no replacement for leaders. Society is led to further development by the thinkers, innovators, non-conformists, and inventors. The minority leads the majority. As Mises put it, “All mankind’s progress has been achieved as a result of the initiative of a small minority that began to deviate from the ideas and customs of the majority until their example finally moved the others to accept the innovation themselves.” (Liberalism, p. 54).
Libertarians are now such a minority charged with the enormous responsibility of leading the people away from the dominant ideology of the past to the Liberal thinking of the future. We now have the enormous help of the Internet to disseminate our ideas. We are probably going to have to fight to keep it.
Martin Faries | Feb 16, 2013 | Reply
I agree with you and Dr. Higgs. I am one of those people who has done such work.
Dr. Ron Paul has said he suspects some people are born libertarians. I think there is something to that idea. I feel that I was born that way, then like everyone else, I required the curiosity to learn more about it as I saw “society” around me continue to decay in so many ways.
I don’t think an individual can say that one single thing woke them up to libertarianism, or anarcho-capitalism.
But I can give one good example that helped me along my journey: G. Edward Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd. I’ve done roughly 7 years of research after I saw that video and earned my degree from Rutgers.
Today, I pray a lot more too.
bill | Feb 16, 2013 | Reply
Here, here. I would like to add that we libertarians should do our best to embrace each other as friends and fellow-travelers.
We all know how hard it is to be libertarians. For me, it is hardest spiritually and psychologically. When adults can be consumed by sports through so much of their “disposable” time, it wears heavily on me to the point of despair at times.
I need, very much, to get out and connect with people with whom I share so much. If nothing else, our attempts at communication can do just that. Hopefully it is helping many to build wealth too.
Life is tough. I missed a libertarian event in October (NYC) when I visited a friend with lymphoma. I promise I’m not saying this to demonstrate what a “great guy” I am, but I simply marvel at the obstacles that are placed in our paths for a better life.
God Bless Dr. Higgs and all of you.
bill | Feb 16, 2013 | Reply
This is true, most people are brainwashed.
Only from 2 years in the Army, I see the same thing happening. When will we start a rebuttal?
dan | Feb 17, 2013 | Reply
The internet is simply one more means of communication: a tool for those who wish to use it. It is hardly a means to salvation. Underpinning the opinion is the old battle of the very few to control the very large masses. Salvation will come when the state can no longer provide a decent level of public education to those can afford an alternative. We are seeing this today, with private and home schooling, and this trend will accelerate as govt debts increase, as inflation increases, as schools are increasingly squeezed. The trend for US education standards is falling, and quickly, and is evidenced by the world rankings, which put the US below the median. Once real education for a large minority is attained beyond govt dogma, the old lies will be seen as such, and a paradigm shift will occur.
alzurzin | Feb 18, 2013 | Reply
Is a terrorist threat the real reason the government is taking control of the Internet. I think not. This is the real problem and it may be too late to fix. G.Edward Griffin: “If America is to remain free,its citizens must become far more politically educated than they are at present.” The corporate controlled news media,aka,the White House propaganda machine has done an excellent job. George Soros has ties to 30 major news organization.Most are watched by America each day and night.Soros and his Open Society Institute fund 152 leftist organizations. Many are on the Internet which millions visit every day.Ron White once said,”you can’t fix stupid.” While that may be true,you can fix ignorance.To understand Obama’s politics,you first need to understand Saul Alinsky’s politics.President Obama’s mentor.
Bob Marshall | Feb 18, 2013 | Reply
Is this real or fake? Maybe I will just sit in silence and never read or listen to anything. I will not think or write or talk. I will not publish or advertise. How could I ever be heard with The State looming right around the corner with endless exponentially growing Trillions? Haha, vivid. The State’s goons are about to smash in my door, crush my computers to shreds with sledge hammers, and haul me off to one of its dungeons.
The only way to change the dominant ideology is to change the currency people use to measure value and to establish a new index of prices that is in line with “freedom and liberty”. The State doesn’t care what you write. If they did your Google account would already be deleted. Create a new money -a competing currency- and you can bet the FBI will smash your door and computers to bits and slap you with life-ending lawsuits and/or dungeons.
“We” are all slaves of The State. The “income tax rate” is an ownership percentage. The State uses is physical dominion to steal the value your produce and it does it every moment you get paid. Taxes on the flow of money or contracts is wrong. Taxes on property is wrong. All mandates are wrong. Including loans and “equity, securities, or stocks”. Tell me how is my democratic vote for a member of a corporations Board of Directors any less majority rule, socialistic, and collectivized then congress and government?
Mike Parziale | Feb 18, 2013 | Reply
From what I’ve read, only about 10% of the American colonials supported the revolution. It was enough.
An even smaller number fought that revolution and won.
Joseph L. Elkhorne | Feb 19, 2013 | Reply
“...the state’s goons can always smash in your door, crush your computers to shreds with sledge hammers, and haul you off to one of its dungeons.”
True, and I’m sure that’s coming. But of course, that kind of action will be publicized, anonymously if necessary, and will tend to result in more people waking up to the reality of government.
“... although the Internet and the Web lower the cost of disseminating the truth, they equally lower the cost of disseminating the state’s lies.”
True, but the state already has a fawning MSM propagating their endless lies, so on balance, the Internet introduces more people to the truth than to lies.
“If people do not place much value on freedom and prefer, as many Americans now do, creature comforts, entertainment, and the illusion of security, then their ears will be deaf to our efforts to spread the truth, regardless of the technology we employ.”
But, as those creature comforts are cut back by the inevitable downward spiral of the government’s finances, people will search for new ideas. To be sure, voices for liberty won’t be the only ones sounding; others will call for tighter controls to save us from the effects of yesterday’s tighter controls, but eventually the entire edifice must crumble.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m no Pollyanna. Hard times are here, and worse times are coming. But I believe that the Internet will be understood to be a clear force for good once the dust settles.
JdL | Feb 19, 2013 | Reply