Of the people, by the people and for the people.
Jay Rosen writes PressThink’s Top Ten Ideas for 2004, and I was particularly intrigued by number three, “What the printing press did to the Catholic Church the blogging press does to the media church.” Jay is usually spot on, and this observation is quite brilliant. He quotes Belmont Club from an August 24th post:
Before the Gutenberg printing press men knew the contents of the Bible solely through the prism of the professional clergy, who could alone afford the expensively hand copied books and who exclusively interpreted it. But when technology made books widely available, men could read the sacred texts for themselves and form their own opinions. And the world was never the same again.”
Let’s take this one step further, because Gutenberg’s Bible was for the clergy. It was John Wycliffe’s common language Bible that made the difference, and here’s what he said upon its completion:
This book shall make possible government of the people, by the people and for the people.
I believe we will one day say the same thing about this citizen’s media revolution, for overcoming the priesthood status of any institution is what enables people to truly govern themselves. In that sense, bloggers will make possible government of the people, by the people and for the people. The road might be bumpy, but it’ll be worth the ride.
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