No society that suppresses knowledge can truly be called free.
Historically, the separation of the classes could be clearly defined by the educated and the uneducated. Those who could receive the knowledge prospered while those who could not struggled. Historians may argue that, second only to religion, the suppression of knowledge is the single most definitive factor resulting in the downfall of governments.
Today, the suppression of knowledge by our own society is not as overt as it was in the long dead societies of history. The public message in our society is that everyone deserves to have access to higher learning, but is there evidence to suggest the contrary?
If fresh drinking water was strictly controlled and came with a price tag, one could say everyone deserves fresh drinking water. But unfortunately, not everyone can afford it. Helping the poor afford fresh drinking water, then becomes a complex issue.
But simply releasing the control of the water supply and providing it freely to everyone easily resolves the issue. Then the argument becomes about the billions in lost revenue by making fresh water freely available. Feel free to make the leap on your own.
Withholding fresh drinking water from those who cannot afford it is both immoral and sadistic. Now that we can agree with the premise, let us address the withholding of the wealth of human knowledge from those that cannot afford it.
People in prison are free to read books. Ironically, prisoners in our society have access to higher education at the expense of the taxpayers. The taxpayers themselves must pay upwards of six figures for the same access to higher education. A student having the aptitude to attend an Ivy League college has the same opportunity to receive a higher education as any felon serving a ten year sentence. Aside from the crime, the only difference is who pays the tuition.
The Internet could be as easily provided to the public as public television, yet it is strictly controlled and becoming increasingly costly. Access to higher learning could be freely provided to the public via a freely accessible Internet. However, then the argument becomes about the billions in lost revenue by making both the Internet and higher learning freely available.
Feel free to make the leap on your own. With apologies to Internet service providers and Ivy League colleges; it can be argued that withholding Internet and higher education from those who cannot afford it is both immoral and sadistic.
Returning to our fresh water analogy, we can address the issues a society would face by withholding fresh drinking water. While earning billions from the selling of fresh drinking water to those that can afford it, the society spends trillions in the cost of preventing the remaining masses from dying of thirst. Apply the analogy to the withholding of the Internet and higher learning and feel free to make the leap on your own.
Returning to the lessons of history, we can clearly see the result the suppression of knowledge and oppression of the people has on the stability of a nation. We need not even look that far back when we think of the plight of Egypt today.
The frightening lesson for our society when we consider Egypt today suggest our own issues are a self correcting problem. Does this future apply to our own society which is currently propped up by 17 trillion dollars in debt? Feel free to make the leap on your own.
Source: Reference Net Neutrality
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