Julian Assange: The Hidden Curse of Thomas Paine 2008

[Ichingcarpenter]

In 1789 Thomas Paine, American pamphleteer, philosopher and revolutionary, compared the sun to the truth: “uch is the irresistible nature of truth,” Paine declared, “that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.”

Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense and The Rights of Man was wrong. Paine gave away his copyright to Common Sense—allowing printers to pocket the authors fee. Printers, happy with this state of affairs, preferenced its production over other popular, but less profitable works. Thomas Paine had discovered the essential economic underpinning of the modern press release. Paine’s truth appeared not only because of its coherence but because Paine subsidized its production above competing ideas.

“Such is the irresistible nature of truth,” Paine declared, “that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.”

The modern press release may have been seen as a blessing by the fourth estate, for it made certain ideas more profitable without making other types less. Yet once electronic cut-and-paste came into play, the press release and similar content subsidies proliferated. When the system of ideas regained its economic equilibrium, unsubsidized words became unprofitable and were eliminated. The consequence has been a great shift from words pulled out of writers by reader demand, to words pushed out of writers by special interest subsidies.

Competition to control perception has resulted in forums of influence, not limited to the world’s great newspapers, behaving as fresh-faced coquettes with too many suitors. These coquettes long ago stopped cooking their own food and now expect everything to be lovingly presented on a silver platter. There are few exceptions and the phenomenon is mostly invisible to outsiders.

Print media, including internet media, should not be looked at as a content production industry, but rather, as a lobby-selection industry, which balances production subsidies with reader interest. In this manner it is analogous to the legislative economy which balances subsidies from political lobbies with electoral credulity.

In the last two weeks, the English Wikileaks has obtained and released over 50 individual or collected, original, unreported, confidential, classified or censored documents, books, photos or films.

You may have heard of some of them, for instance:

SNIP..........
http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/571/the_hidden_curse_of_thomas_pai/

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. What's with the lines through the sentences? n/t

[Agony]

2. profit before truth, as usual reality is simply complicated

"What does it mean when only those facts about the world with economic powers behind them can be heard, when the truth lays naked before the world and no one will be the first to speak without payment or subsidy? "

"Print media, including internet media, should not be looked at as a content production industry, but rather, as a lobby-selection industry, which balances production subsidies with reader interest. In this manner it is analogous to the legislative economy which balances subsidies from political lobbies with electoral credulity."

gag,.. knowing the truth comes down to will someone pay for "ink and paper"?