Amongst a very interesting piece at Pravda, the following excerpt sums up what I have read in many places lately especially the comment on the Mainstream Media (MSM) (emphasis mine):

An examination of history shows that whenever the holders of the written word changed, there was a corresponding social and political revolution. Without Guttenberg, there would not have been the Renaissance, without the proliferation of printing presses in the France of the Louis’es, it would be unthinkable to have the Enlightenment and its immediate political fallout, the French Revolution.The evidence of the immense power of the printed word led the Constituent Assembly to approve Article XI of the Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen, at the beginning of the Revolution, in August 1789. The device of the cornerstone of the Constitution stipulates that every citizen has the right to speak, write and print with full freedom. The laws punish those who, by lying, achieve someone else’s the honor. Freedom of the press belongs to the citizens of the society. National societies, in our age of electronic communications, make up the free, planetary society of men.

It is surprising that before this irrefutable reality, trade journalists want to claim press freedom (a word that embraces, from the political point of view, all the media) as a corporate monopoly. The Internet confirms the intention of French legislators for 221 years: freedom of expression is for all, and we are all journalists. It is enough to just have an email address. The heavy and relatively expensive printing machines of the past are now relatively cheap, easier and lighter notebooks, and with a universal reach.

Whatever your feelings on the whole Wikileaks saga, the MSM is trying their best to ignore all but the juiciest parts (they still think they own the written word and bloggers are just lonely amateurs) while governments everywhere and especially the USA are running around (with pressure applied everywhere as in VISA, Amazon, Paypal et al) shouting espionage and terrorist to anyone who will listen (i.e the MSM again).

There is always the quotable observation of Isidore of Seville, who wisely remarked in the seventh century, that “Rome was not that strong.” Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are showing that Washington – whose fears are transparent in their diplomatic papers – is not so very mighty. It is interesting to note that the name of Saint Isidore of Seville is being suggested by Catholic bloggers as the patron saint of the Internet.

Journalists should get used to the idea of resigning or sharing their alleged privileges. All who can write and manipulate a computer are citizens, and being a citizen is much more than being a journalist. It is these citizens who, on the same line of Putin and Lula, are mobilized in a virtual agora, to defend Assange, the same way that they are mobilized in defense of a woman sentenced to death for adultery. The world has changed, but not everyone has noticed this change.

Will we change anything by free writign alone?

I am not sure we ever will but the hope of making one or two sheeple start to think for themsleves is motivation enough to at least have a damned good try.