The promise of the internet and Russian election meddling

If I recall correctly, the promise of the internet, early days, was the democratization of political discourse.

Forward twenty years or so, and it's considered a verity that the current US president attained the office as the result of Russian meddling via the internet.

While actual evidence of said meddling has been non-existent, the claim has been repeated often enough to attain the status of fact. While the alleged meddling allegedly never favoured one side over the other, it allegedly sowed division in the American polity.

Ponder that for a moment.

Is divisiveness among American voters the result of teens in Montenegro running a click-farm, or is it the result of profound divisive issues within the American polity itself?

I'm going out on a limb here, but I would suggest that the divisive nature of US politics has absolutely nothing to do with alleged Russian meddling, and everything to do with the fact that the on-the-ground reality of life in America has been more divisive than anything that the allegedly Russian meddlers could conceivably concoct.

America is the world leader in the percentage of its population behind bars.

America is the world leader in arms sales.

America is the world leader in instigating wars with other states.

America has infant mortality rates and education outcomes more in line with third world kleptocracies than with other developed states.

These are all facts that the internet has allowed to spread far and wide.


Which is why the US is leading the charge to disembowel the freedom of the internet.


Too much democratization of information hasn't been good for the Empire...