The most amazing part of last night’s fascinating story on Anderson Cooper 360 was the connection to Google and Facebook.

[1] Wael Ghonim is the Google employee—executive they said—who was arrested in Egypt and held for twelve days, apparently blindfolded and without knowledge of what was going on or what would become of him.  He credits Facebook with a seminal role in launching the Egyptian revolution. (For a little fun, check Ghonim’s [2] Facebook page.)

According to [3] The Faster Times, “A quote from  [4] Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who launched the Facebook page said to have sparked the original protest, has been making the rounds online: “`If you want to liberate a country, give them the Internet.’”

[5]

            In a New Yorker article last fall, [6] Malcolm Gladwell seems to counter Ghonim’s view.  I have blogged several times about Gladwell’s insights, but I think this time his reasoning is simply trumped b y reality.

If  Ghonim’s analysis turns out to be true, it does not bode well for the future of dictatorial or totalitarian regimes, or perhaps even merely unpopular governments.  Yes, despots will continue to try to block access to web sites that are unflattering, or to cut off the entire internet, as Mubarik was about to do. 

But the people vastly outnumber even the most evil and corrupt leadership, if they will sand up to oppression and are willing to put themselves on the front line.  But the “front lines” in this 21^st century may very well be electronic.  Eventually, the internet will be so pervasive that it cannot be blocked.  And the will to be free, coupled with the will to know, will put the internet’s worldwide role in the limelight for communicating change.   

So, if Egypt can do this, why not Iran?  If Iran, why not … China?  Indeed, why not these United States of America?  Have we not had our share of unpopular regimes?  Probably the only thing that has saved us from such a course of history, especially at the end of the “W” era is that Mr. Bush relinquished power as his predecessors have always done.  It is this civil exit from power and authority that is the only thing which genuinely confirms the vitality of our democratic institutions.

— Dan Hooper