Template:TheWeb
The Web
The Internet is an amazing technological tool that can be used for education, research and communication. Like any tool it can be used for good or evil purposes. Choice, as always, originates in the hearts and minds of individuals.
The power of the internet to direct social change has been extensive. For large sections of society it has become a media source and, by controlling the flow of information to the people, you can clearly control the people themselves. What they think is manipulated by what they see and hear on the internet. This has often led to false information being accepted as if it was true because... "I saw it on the internet." That power of digital control and manipulation of the flow of information, whether true or false, has lead to a media madness.
Social media platforms and their manipulation of content by big tech are creating a shift in the power of ideas, facts, and opinions. E-commerce is also being controlled by small groups and individuals who are programing what is bought and sold.
Billionaires have been made through the commerce which has become dependent upon the internet. Many small and local business have succumbed to this shift in power of commerce and the people have become increasingly dependent upon the power of the internet. Power corrupts. Technology is king and the king can be corrupted.
People who step back just a little bit out of the seductive nature of the influence of the controlling powers of the internet see the manipulation and influence of big tech. But were they corrupt from the beginning or were they corrupted by the power they created?
Parler, Gab, MeWe, Rumble and many others gain momentum as alternate social media platforms but they are all still part of the web and are trying to curtail or program their way around the influence within the net itself.
There is an honest claim that governments and 'Big Tech' working together are using the web to spy on, control, and manipulate information and, therefore, the thinking of the people.
In commerce, there are people using the internet to encourage and aid people to find alternative markets and ways of making exchanges for anything from barter and trade to Bitcoin. Blockchain technologies like Qortal with Jason Crowe[1] are innovating, developing, and offering seemingly secure decentralized networks of exchange on the the internet. Some of these projects can also be used to communicate with some appearance of security. But can anything be secure once it enters the web? We should always remember that dependence upon the internet is still within the power of The Web.
Just like the poem of the The Spider and the Fly, we should not be flattered and lulled into a false sense of safety when it comes to anything on the internet.
There are already laws on the books that you cannot make a communications code that the government cannot crack. We need to be as wise as the serpant but as harmless as doves.
You need to create a living network that is independent of the web. That does not mean that we cannot use some of these technologies. But it does mean that we must think beyond them with a more masterful plan that has proven itself in the past.
Before there was fake news there was fake education. Decades ago, the histories children were being taught in public school were being altered by both omission and alteration.
Free societies have always included flesh and blood networks that provided the sinew and spirit of society. Modern society, to some, seems to have become a nation of zombies wandering about biting one another, moving to every sound coming from the electronic media.
You cannot trust any electronic media because many of the images are simply not real nor alive. They are soulless representations of real life which is only experienced up close and personal, something that is forbidden in this new world of masks and social distancing. Today, the people are becoming dry bones in a valley of death.
We have started a network opportunity on The Web based on your location for the purpose of creating a network of small interconnected groups that are not dependent on the web and, by its nature and purpose, may allow the building of social trust and social virtues in an Intentional community.
Because of the caring purpose and voluntary nature of the living network, it will be able to filter out those who should not be trusted. Yes, it may begin for some on the world wide web. But it should, through human contact and real living connections renewed through voluntarism and local community care, build a 'living network' independent of the Internet and what is often metaphorically called THE WEB.
Do not imagine that things and tactics of the world will remain the same. There is a spirit of force and control among the principalities in high places. Their reset is real but it is not The Greatest Reset. Their New Deal is not that new. Nor is it righteous. Evil is overcome by true righteousness as Darkness is destroyed by the light.
The answer to the efforts of the Cains, Nimrods, Pharaohs and Caesars of the world has always included a network of faith and charity rather than force, fear, and fealty. It has always include the flesh and blood of souls in a natural living network of love.
The Spider and the Fly
"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly;
" 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things to shew when you are there."
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."
"I'm sure you must be weary, with soaring up so high,
Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the spider to the fly.
"There are pretty curtains drawn around, the sheets are fine and thin;
And if you like to rest awhile, I'll snugly tuck you in."
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly, "for I've often heard it said,
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!"
Said the cunning spider to the fly, "Dear friend, what shall I do,
To prove the warm affection I've always felt for you?
I have, within my pantry, good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome—will you please to take a slice?"
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly, "kind sir, that cannot be,"
I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see."
"Sweet creature!" said the spider, "you're witty and you're wise.
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
I have a little looking-glass upon my parlour shelf,
If you'll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself."
"I thank you, gentle sir," she said, "for what you're pleased to say,
And bidding you good morning now, I'll call another day."
The spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew, the silly fly would soon come back again:
So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner, sly,
And set his table ready, to dine upon the fly.
Then he went out to his door again, and merrily did sing,
"Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple---there's a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead."
Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue:—
Thinking only of her crested head, poor foolish thing!—At last
Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour—but she ne'er came out again!
—And now, dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart, and ear, and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.
Poem by Mary Howitt. Originally published in 1829.