Thomas Friedman's column...
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/opinion/12FRIE.html?ex=1022206363&ei=1&en=
bb7ddfb96e3b3f16

He laments the fact that the Internet is unfiltered, but doesn't suggest who
should be filtering it.  Of course, if he did, his elitism would be blatant.

I was struck by the similarity between the effect of the Internet in
Indonesia, where only 5 percent of the population is connected, and printing
in Reformation Europe, where perhaps 5 percent of the population was
literate.  In both cases, the minority was able to spread information, often
misinterpretations of what was printed, to the masses quickly.  And the
powers that be respond by calling for censorship, or filtering, or whatever
we're calling it this week.

Am I mistaken, or did Friedman just call an entire country, perhaps an
entire religion, the village idiots?  The only difference between him and a
corrupt pope of five hundred years ago is that Friedman's pulpit is secular,
IMO.

Nick

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