-Caveat Lector- > <Picture><Picture><Picture><Picture><Picture><Picture><Picture><P > icture> > > July 9, 1999 > > THE ELITES VERSUS THE INTERNET > > The elites hate the Internet, and with good reason. In the > Information Age, the priesthood of "experts" is debunked and > defunct. It used to be that all legitimate news and commentary > was filtered through the lens of this self-elected priesthood. No > more. Today, thanks to the computer revolution, Everyman is an > expert or can quickly become one. The decentralization of > knowledge has done more to create "a level playing field" than > all the egalitarian schemes in history. But not everyone is happy > about it. > > > > GOODBYE, MR. KNOW-IT-ALL > > This revolutionary fact threatens the livelihoods and social > status of journalists, academics, policy wonks, and resident > know-it-alls the world over, and they are fighting back in the > only way they can: with smears and sneers. If disdain were a > deadly weapon, Matt Drudge would have long ago died a thousand > deaths. > > SMEARING STRATFOR > > Dethroned by universal skepticism and rising technology, the > former aristocrats of the Age of Gutenberg, who wax nostalgic > over carbon paper, are determined to discredit these impudent > usurpers with any kind of innuendo they can dig up. Writing in > the Washington Post [July 5, 1999], William M. Arkin dredges up > the same old charges that have been hurled at freelancers like > Drudge: the Internet is nothing but a rumor-mill, and its > resident experts and chief practitioners are charlatans all. > Exhibit 'A' is a "widely-distributed fake essay," which was > supposed to have been written by retired General John > Shalikashvili, in which the former head of the Joint Chiefs > criticized the Kosovo war. Arkin reveals that the fake letter was > pieced together from an analysis by the Strategic Forecasting and > Intellgience, known as STRATFOR, a private foreign policy > thinktank that operates chiefly over the Internet. He then > proceeds to link them to the fake letter, in spite of STRATFOR > chairman George Friedman's disclaimer that "we don't need the > publicity." "Well, sniffs Arkin, "at least STRATFOR doesn't need > bad publicity" and the smears follow fast and furious. > > THE SINS OF STRATFOR > > Arkin's fury is rooted not only in technophobia, and a patrician > disdain of anything that comes off the Internet: he has a clear > ideological agenda. Citing "a number of Pentagon reporters," he > complains that the conservative STRATFOR has growing influence > among the military. Seeking to mesmerize his audience with the > pure evil of the STRATFOR "would-be pundits," Arkin quotes one > anonymous journalist who calls their online analysis "the > distilled essence of conventional wisdom from a conservative > military point of view, all processed in the STRATFOR strategic > Cuisinart: KLA bad, Clinton stupid, [General Wesley] Clark too > comfortable with diplomats and reporters, Albright > trigger-happy." Clinton stupid? KLA bad? How could anyone even > entertain such farfetched ideas? > > DISGRUNTLED AND DISGRACED > > This anonymous reporter, says Arkin, views STRATFOR as a purveyor > of "the simple, and simplistic explanations often popular with > disgruntled Washington observers." In the world of the Washington > insiders, to be "disgruntled" is akin to being called a crank. > And of course there can be no simple explanations, everything is > necessarily complex: far too complex for anyone but journalists > liberal journalists to figure out. > > IN GOVERNMENT WE TRUST? > > Arkin cites Friedman's view that "governments 'ours and theirs' > are not trustworthy" with evident distaste. In an era when the > lines that used to separate government and journalism are > blurred, with the latter frequently taking its marching order > from the former or, in Strobe Talbot's case, the latter > becoming the former such a view is seen as curiously archaic, > like the Latin Mass or the Constitution. > > ADDING INSULT TO INJURY > > If this were not enough to completely discount STRATFOR and all > its works, we are told that Friedman, adding insult to injury, > "abhors Beltway gossip" the Washington Post's stock-in-trade > and is skeptical of "expert information." Friedman, in short, is > the exact opposite of what the late Murray N. Rothbard called the > "court intellectual," who "spins the apologia for the new > dispensation in return for wealth, power, and prestige at the > hands of the state and it's allied Establishment." In > understanding where Arkin and his ilk are coming from, the full > citation from Rothbard's classic essay, "Harry Elmer Barnes as > Revisionist of the Cold War," in Harry Elmer Barnes, Learned > Crusader (Ralph Myles, 1968), is worth quoting: > > ROTHBARD ON THE COURT INTELLECTUALS > > "There have been, after all, but two mutually exclusive roles > that the intellectual can play and has played through history: > either independent truth-seeker, or kept favorite of the Court. > Certainly, the historical norm of the old and dead civilization > was Oriental despotism, in which serving as apologist and > 'intellectual bodyguard' of the ruling elite was the > intellectual's major function. But it was the glory of Western > civilization before this century to develop a class of > intellectuals truly independent of the power structure of the > State. Now this, too, has been largely lost." The growth and > development of the Internet means that this vital independence > can be regained and that is what enrages Arkin and the > Washington Post crowd. No longer bound hand and foot to the State > or its adjuncts in academia and the Establishment media, the > seeker after truth is free to find his own way and he does not > even have to qualify as a professional intellectual. > > THE MONOPOLISTS > > This is intolerable to Arkin and his ilk, whose position and > prestige rest on preserving their claim to a special expertise. > Eliot Cohen, a professor of strategic studies at the Johns > Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, derides > STRATFOR's analysis as "information comfort food." In his view, > it is the McDonald's of policy wonkery, "unnuanced" and > "unsophisticated." He denounces STRATFOR for its "alarmism," and > avers that "alarmism hinges on the idea that there is something > really big out there that others haven't noticed." In other > words: If there were "something big out there," then surely he > and his anointed confreres would have noticed it. > > CONSPIRACY THEORIES > > This "alarmist" idea, he says, is "the basis of conspiracy theory > and one of the weaknesses in our intellectual culture. Linking > from one juicy bit to another juicy bit leads to the STRATFOR > phenomenon. But it is not the makings of a complex understanding > of anything." By definition, only qualified "experts" like Cohen > have a complex understanding of anything. All others are > believers in "conspiracy theory" oh no, not that! who have > deluded themselves into thinking that the world is > comprehensible. Never mind those "juicy bits of facts," which > feed the public's insatiable appetites for "alarmism" only the > sober analysis of Establishment-anointed pundits in the > "mainstream" media can be legitimate sources of news and opinion, > This means the big urban dailies have a monopoly on truth, and > the Internet is a sideshow that is not to be taken seriously. > Isn't there something just a little bit too self-serving in this > argument? It is like a union of quill pen makers denouncing the > inventors of movable type for disrupting the social order and > subverting good taste. Now if I went in for "conspiracy > theories," I might be able to explain this otherwise inexplicable > hostility to a medium with virtually unlimited potential. > > WHERE WILL IT END? > > God forbid that anyone should suspect that "there is something > really big out there." Once people get that idea into their > heads, who knows where it will lead? The next thing you know, > they might even want to start taking their destiny into their own > hands. > > ALL THAT LINKING > > "All that linking," sneers Arkin. "All that cutting and pasting > of other people's reporting and opinions. It is, of course, the > lifeblood of new Web intelligence entrepreneurs and gossip > hounds. It is also the instrument that led to the creation of the > Shalikashvili fabrication in the first place." But the > Shalikashvili memorandum could have been forged and bruited about > by more traditional means. The Internet, while making it easy to > produce and disseminate such a document, also made it relatively > easy to track down the deception. But the Arkin, the > arch-Luddite, is insensitive to such irony. > > INSTRUMENTS OF TRUTH > > More importantly, the "instrument that led to the creation of the > Shalikashvili fabrication" was not a computer or the Internet but > a human being. To say that the ability to cut-and-paste text > leads inexorably to a blurring of the distinction between fact > and rumor would also rule out the use of tape-recorders, or > indeed any recording device, including written language, on the > grounds that the truth could always be edited out of existence. > > DUMBING DOWN > > Arkin asks: "Is STRATFOR thus the victim or merely another player > in the dumbing down of independent thinking?" To any rational > person, STRATFOR was and is obviously the victim in this case: > after all, their material was pirated, and passed off as > something it was not. But in Arkin's view, STRATFOR is guilty by > reason of its very existence: as a news source outside the > approved channels, it is not only suspect it is the enemy. To > the Brahmins of the Washington Post and allied media, information > and analysis that originates outside of their narrow circle of > government, ex-government, and quasi-official sources and, > somehow, becomes widely disseminated is "dumbed down" (and > probably false) by definition. > > MAVERICKS OF THE NET > > Foreign policy has traditionally been left up to the so-called > experts, and that is just the way the internationalists like it. > The result has been that the bipartisan policy of globalism and > interventionism has dominated American policy, unchecked and > unchallenged, for over half a century. While I do not always > agree with STRATFOR's analysis, the point is that the rise of > such mavericks is good news for noninteventionists. Anything that > breaks the monopoly of the Court Intellectuals, and creates space > for dissent, is to be applauded and encouraged. Like Antiwar.com, > STRATFOR came into prominence at the height of the recent Balkan > war: as the bombs fell on Yugoslavia, and the NATO-crats sought > to crush the idea of national sovereignty underfoot, people all > the over the world began to ask: why? They began to question the > pious pronouncements of their leaders, and began to suspect, with > typical "alarmism," that indeed "there is something really big > out there." Even more alarming to the Establishment, they began > to make inquiries as to its nature and motives and that really > is something the Court Intellectuals can neither forgive nor > forget. > > A WAR OF LIBERATION > > For months, we were told that NATO was fighting a war of > "liberation" but as the reality began to become > all-too-apparent, what was liberated, instead, was the whole > realm of foreign policy. Demystified by the ready access to > information made possible by the computer revolution, the realm > of foreign affairs has now been opened up for a free and > wide-ranging debate. What is America's proper role in the world? > Are we a republic, or an empire? For the first time since the > beginning of the Cold War except for a brief interregnum during > the Vietnam war these questions are being asked not just by > policy wonks and government officials, but by ordinary people. > That is why institutions like STRATFOR and Antiwar.com are > springing up and gaining rapidly, at the expense of more > conventional old-line media, and why they will continue to grow. > With the creation of the Internet, the genie is out of the > bottle, and there is no stuffing it back in. As much as Mr. > Arkin, Elliot Cohen, and their fellow patricians hate to admit > it, their day is over and thank God for that. > > > > > > Check out Justin Raimondo's article, "China and the New Cold War" > > "Behind the Headlines" appears Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, > with special editions as events warrant. > > > > Archived Columns > > > > > > 7/9/99 7/7/99 7/5/99 7/2/99 6/30/99 6/28/99 6/25/99 > 6/23/99 6/21/99 6/18/99 6/16/99 6/14/99 6/11/99 6/10/99 > 6/9/99 6/8/99 6/7/99 6/5/99 6/4/99 6/3/99 6/2/99 6/1/99 > 5/31/99 5/28/99 5/27/99 5/26/99 5/25/99 5/24/99 5/21/99 > 5/20/99 5/19/99 5/18/99 5/17/99 5/14/99 5/13/99 5/12/99 > 5/11/99 5/10/99 5/7/99 5/6/99 5/5/99 5/4/99 5/3/99 5/1/99 > 4/30/99 4/29/99 4/28/99 4/27/99 4/26/99 4/24/99 4/23/99 > 4/22/99 4/21/99 4/20/99 4/19/99 4/17/99 4/16/99 4/15/99 > 4/14/99 4/13/99 4/12/99 4/10/99 4/9/99 4/8/99 4/7/99 > 4/6/99 4/5/99 4/3/99 4/2/99 4/1/99 3/31/99 3/30/99 > 3/29/99 3/28/99 3/27/99 > > > > > Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of Antiwar.com. He is > also the author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy > of the Conservative Movement (with an Introduction by Patrick J. > Buchanan), (1993), and Into the Bosnian Quagmire: The Case > Against US Intervention in the Balkans (1996). He is an Adjunct > Scholar with the Ludwig von Mises Institute, in Auburn, Alabama, > a Senior Fellow at the Center for Libertarian Studies, and writes > frequently for Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. He is > the author of An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. > Rothbard (forthcoming from Prometheus Books). > > > > > > > > Please Support Antiwar.com > > A contribution of $20 or more gets you a copy of Justin > Raimondo's Into the Bosnian Quagmire: The Case Against US > Intervention in the Balkans, a 60-page booklet packed with the > kind of intellectual ammunition you need to fight the lies being > put out by this administration and its allies in Congress. Send > contributions to > > Antiwar.com > 520 S. 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