Trying to control the world?

Today I was reading a new (to me) translation of the TTC by Addiss and Lombardo. Opening the text at random, I discovered Ch. 29:

"Trying to control the world?
I see you won't succeed."

......

"Those who control, fail.
Those who grasp, lose."


We live today in what is called the "Information Age". The fact that I am writing this blog is down to the development of technology that has led to the World Wide Web. The Web is a nebulous entity that contains a great deal of information; some of that information is good, some of it is bad and some, merely mediocre.

The original idea behind the web was for a boundless world, where information could be shared and it might be possible to bypass censorship, allowing individuals to access information that they might not have been able to get elsewhere.

Constant technological progress is always viewed as a good thing and, generally, I would agree with this point - usually because developments in information technology often benefit the general public before governments or other large organisations. Take the blogosphere - a lot of blogs have been set up for the exchange of information in an unedited, rapid fashion, that gets ahead of the 'official' line.

However, it has been reported that governments and companies are now attempting to use the blogosphere to sway public opinion on policies or on products. Generally, these attempts have been rather clumsy and easily spotted. Others have been more sophisticated, but often something about them has drawn the attention of the online community and they have been after those inconsistencies like a ferret down a trouser leg.

Governments and big business will always try to control, or manage, the information that is available to the general public - it is in their interests to make that attempt. I believe that we (the general public) are now in the fortunate position of being able to fight back. It seems, so far, that we are roughly even, in this modern technological world. But even in the past the attempts at control have ultimately failed. You only need to look at what happened during, and at the end of, the McCarthy era, to see how attempts at control ultimately are doomed to failure.

Perhaps if the Tao Te Ching were required reading at all levels of government, politicians might learn to be more tuned in to what is really necessary. As it says in Ch. 30:

"The most fruitful outcome
Does not depend on force,
But succeeds without arrogance
Without hostility
Without pride
Without resistance
Without violence."

Tag Taoism control