Knowledge: The Ultimate Weapon

Never in the history of man has information been so freely available. All any person has to do is type in a handful of letters and they're presented with hundreds of possible topics of interest. Anything from the  day's news to the life and times of Ghengis Khan. All this and more is no more than a click or a touch away.

With all this information so close at hand, a person might think that humanity would become smarter, more informed. Yet it seems as though, at least here in the U.S., as though people have become less so. Instead of seeking to enrich themselves with useful knowledge, they spend all their time looking up the latest Hollywood scandal or embarrassing video clip. Sad to say, I think the various politicians like it that way.

Think about it. A public that is more concerned with what the stars are wearing or who's sleeping with who obviously isn't interested in what's really going on in Washington. And if, by some freak of chance, the people do look up from their tabloids and take a look around at the state of things, the politicians simply dangle some sort of scandal in front of them in order to distract them once more.

Case in point. Look at the timing of the Trayvon Martin uprising. The actual shooting occurred about a month before the major news outlets and civil rights groups started making noise about it. Why wait so long? Sure, it could have simply taken that long for the media to get a hold of it, but perhaps it was something else. Perhaps it was because,at the same time as the story was getting national attention, the Supreme Court as starting to hear arguments in the case against Obamacare. Certainly seems like a case of "don't look over there, this is far more interesting.

What, you ask, does all of this have to do with knowledge being the ultimate weapon? Simple.The politicians know that if the people in general were to ever actually begin comprehending what they're doing while we watch youtube and argue over Team Jacob versus Team Edward, they would lose everything. So they use their knowledge of how to manipulate the mob to keep themselves in power. Even if some enlightened soul were to stand out of the crowd and actually point out what was really going on, the rest would be so jaded, they wouldn't care to look up.

There's also the case of all the new laws the government has been trying to pass to censor or control the internet. If there was ever one thing that threatened their control on the flow of information to the people, it's the 'net. Anyone can say or post anything, and once it's out there, it's near impossible to be rid of it. Even the things the government doesn't want you to see are already out there. Oh, they're hidden away in nooks and crannies you can't find with a simple google search, but they're out there.

And then there are people like me, and perhaps even you. People who actually do want to know what's going on around them, and aren't afraid to speak out when they think something isn't right. People who look through the net for what those who want to control the flow of information don't want the public to know. Or even just people who question what they've been told by the mainstream, and who bring that questioning attitude into the open so that others can think about it.

Knowledge truly is the greatest power in existence. It can save lives, and it can topple governments. Knowledge can bring a race of beings to the brink of transcendence, or banish them to an eternal dark age. Is it right, therefore, to entrust this power solely to a handful of men and women who will do nothing more with it than try to dictate to the rest of us how we will live our lives? I say it is not. I say it is up to each of us to ensure that our knowledge is not based solely on what is fed to us by those who think themselves in power.