Quote:
Originally Posted by freedogger
Replace "Internet" with "Printing Press"
from wikipedia 
" In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society: The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and (revolutionary) ideas transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its peoples led to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin's status as lingua franca.[10]" |
I'd argue the "Occupy" movement is the first real expression of this in current day times, however awkward and misconstrued the ideas became (I'm sure this will be the focus of many Masters in the years to come...).
Where the printing press led to the overthrow of the Catholic Church's power and the rise of the nation state, the internet seems to be propagating neoliberialism and countering the concept of nations (annecdotal, my perspective). Wonder if the actual properties of the media influence the difference (Mcluhan), or if it's just accelerating and coalescing existing trends within societies around the world.