Internet Indoctrination

            My wife is recovering from the flu currently.  Last weekend it started.  She missed our church party because of it.  One of the leaders in my ward asked why she wasn’t there and I told her.  She and her husband, also a leader in our church, came over to our house afterwards to see how she was doing.  The wife then offered to bring my wife a home remedy of herbal and natural sources that she found online and that, according to her, worked miracles.  She did make it and did bring it over.  Wife drank it and said it burned her throat.

            The next morning she was feeling better, but didn’t quite kick the flu that day.  Well that next day was Sunday and the husband of the wife who brought over the remedy asked how my wife was doing.  I told him she was still recovering.  Then what happened next kinda surprised me.  Before I continue this guy is awesome.  Super nice, thoughtful, service oriented, and pleasant to be around.  What happened was he started to ridicule the internet solution cause the flu has been around forever and he just didn’t think that some random remedy for the flu could magically appear all of a sudden.  Especially considering all the modern day medicines that have been tested, developed, and distributed without conquering the common flu in a matter of a short period of time.

            So my thoughts were first two things.  Ok its kinda weird he’s bashing his wife’s remedy, but whatever.  Second it is weird that he automatically denounces something being useful off of the internet.  

            Later I started thinking more about the experience.  I thought on the fact that this guy is getting his masters.  Nothing wrong with a masters, but for me I find it interesting that he had this point of view after being in the schooling system for going on 18 years now.  I then thought on how in school, and either this is genius planning for right when the internet came out on the part of the subject masters at the top of the department of education (again with my conspiracy theory, but not so much if you watch the video I recommend later) or just plain old coincidence, but I thought on how when one is tasked with writing a paper that cited sources are best.  Peer reviewed journals and magazines are best.  Then books.  Then cited articles.  Then cited internet sources, but that when anytime you can avoid the internet that that is a good thing.  The internet is like a bad dirty step child in the education realm.  Don’t believe.  Go write a paper and only cite the internet and see if your teacher doesn’t freak/have an aneurism. 

            So here I am talking to a smart guy getting his masters and he is bashing an internet solution to the common cold. It amazed me.  My brother coined the term and I’ve loved it ever since, but the term for the internet he used is the printing press 2.0.  Basically it is the next thing that showers freedom, knowledge, and truth on the populace.  It isn’t controlled or edited or censored by anyone as major publishers do, yet, and anyone can write anything they want.  Imagine this beautiful network being shared with Albert Einstein.  Would he have closed off his mind to other people stating what they thought about the theory of relativity and how it might be improved or how to finish e=mc2?  I bet you didn’t know that that equation isn’t actually complete.  How do I know that or where did I learn it?  On the internet.  But its true and I’m right the most famous equation ever isn’t complete.

            My point is that it is amazing that the powers that be have so subtley convinced this guy that anything off the internet is absolute bunk.  He probably doesn’t even realize it and probably wouldn’t even accept that hypothesis.  Crazy huh?  Maybe he would.  I hope he would actually.

If you haven’t already watched the video on youtube called “Your Indoctrination” on the youtube channel Greatest Truth Never Told I highly recommend it.  I want to home school my kids after watching that.