The earthquake that hit Chile a little more than 24 hours ago is nothing compared to the earthquakes that have been collapsing governments all over the world.
I am talking about the social, political and economic earthquakes brought about by the clash of tectonic plates of confrontational ideologies in cyberspace, cellular waves and cable TV. It started, innocently, with the creation of cable TV and the Internet two generations ago, followed briskly by the invention of technologies that filled the expanded needs of people who suddenly found themselves armed with the most potent force in the universe.
Yahoo, notebooks, texting, google, YouTube, I-pods, Blackberry and I-phone all followed in quick succession, and not necessarily in that order.
The world's new literates - those who see the computer and the cellphone as their friends and constant companions - have erected a new international society that can topple many of the world's governments.
Every wild gallop and swaying of a government structure in recent years has been the result of people texting and communicating on the Internet through mammoth e-groups and YouTube.
Police brutality cases, captured on cellphones and video cameras. In inner cities of the U.S. In Iran. In China.
Abu Ghraib and torture of prisoners. Dissident students in China's Tiananmen square.
"Obamacare" massacred on the Internet and on cable news shows by allies of the health insurance industry in the U.S. Obama's birth certificate issued by the state of Hawaii determined to be a fake by bloggers and Internet phantoms.
A deluge of text messages quickly formed the Filipino people's resolve to topple Philippine President Estrada and his government. A few years later they turned around and almost toppled the Gloria Arroyo government.
England's former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italy's Premier Silvio Berlusconi, New York's Eliot Spitzer, Tiger Woods and many others swiftly falling from grace as Internet savvy folks and opinion-making bloggers weaponized the new technologies and fired away.
Everything happens instantaneously. Reputations are lost, frauds are exposed in cyber-speed. To compete, the traditional media such as newspapers and magazines must jump in the mud pool quickly and match the Internet and cable TV speed for speed.
The fallen cannot recover, because speed breeds finality. Senator Ensign in Nevada and Governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Paterson of New York are still in office, despite their much-publicized human frailties, but in reality all is lost for them.
This is our world now. We have created arguably the best inventions in the history of man - the Internet, the cell phone and texting, the Personal Computer and Notebook - which are also fast becoming an arsenal for assassins.
Without our having intended it, or being aware of it, we have transformed ourselves into piranhas in cyberspace and cellular waves. Governments are no match against us. Duly elected governments - even those overwhelmingly voted in by the electorate - can be neutered into inactivity by people like you and me.
All we need are people who think like us - and there are plenty of us on the Internet universe - and what we have created, overnight, is an invincible army of radioactive activists. We may be the loneliest creatures on earth, abrasive fools with no friends in the real world, yet if we can find a handful of people who believe as we do, we can suddenly be leaders of an army that has the potential of toppling governments.
The illusion of the Internet and cellular waves is that people who are drawn to the same causes and who share the same biases and pet peeves are friends. The reality is that such people do not even know each other. They have each other's email addresses and cell phone numbers and through the magic of the communication channels, act overnight as friends and allies.
Complete strangers who are allies and protagonists in cyberspace have already determined that whoever wins the presidential election in the Philippines in May cannot govern effectively. The candidates' reputations are shot.
Today's technology does not just wreck and topple governments, groups and individuals; it also builds reputations and careers where none should exist. The emergence of Sarah Palin, who in a sane world would be laughed out of politics in an instant, is proof of this. The Iranian opposition leader, Mir Mousavi, is most certainly a creation of the YouTube technology - a leader who overnight went from being an ally of the religious dictatorship in Iran to the symbol of the democratic ideals and yearnings of the Iranian people.
The shadowy forces that make up the Tea Party movement, can anyone really put a finger on them? Yet the Tea Party thrives, fueled by the libertarian front, aided by today's talking heads on cable.
Ever wonder why the world is so divided? Ever wonder why people's ideologies have hardened? Right-wingers will not talk to liberals and progressives. Libertarians condemn both liberals and progressives. Religious zealots are in a permanent war with the religious moderates and liberals.
People with opposing views do not need to talk to each other anymore. Every ideology, every major sliver of philosophy attracts almost an unlimited number of allies and adherents. You can find on the Internet millions of people who believe that Obama was born in Kenya. If you believe that the Ten Commandments should be in all the government buildings in the U.S., there are millions of Americans and non-Americans who will chorus "Hear, Hear" at cyber-speed.
If you are a racist, you have millions of friends on the Internet and in the world of texting. If you are a bleeding-heart liberal, you belong in a huge community of bleeding hearts. No need to link up with people who do not believe as you do - you don't need them. Why risk injury to your heart?
You can debate people you do not agree with all you want and there is no possibility of defeat. You could be illogical, obtuse and dumb in your thinking - not to worry, there are others on the Internet who will be your cheering squad. In our world not too long ago, your arguments could be demolished by people who were more informed than you. Not now, not while people create their own realities and truths on the Internet and are supported by huge peanut galleries.
We used to call these peanut galleries "Chu-chu-wa" in the Philippines and that is probably an appropriate label. For that is what they do: they sing "Chu-chu-wa" in the background while their leaders make one outlandish claim after another. Their existence assures that you never have to admit your mistakes on the Internet. Even and maybe especially when you are very, very wrong.
While our world has most certainly been enriched beyond the wildest expectations of our grandfathers because of the new technologies, we also have awakened to a world where half of us cannot have a meaningful conversation with the other half.
Governments cannot communicate with those that oppose them.
Everywhere we turn, we see evidence of governments being on the brink, as a great portion of the citizenry refuses to pay lip service. In fact, nearly everyone in the world, it seems, is angry with their government. Those who support their governments are angry that their leaders appear to be flummoxed by the challenges they face. Those who oppose the governments are indignant because those same leaders are unable to see the world as they see it.
Governing has become nearly impossible. If you are an elected official, how can you in conscience pursue a course of action that half of your constituents oppose? Yet this is the challenge that confronts elected public officials in every corner of the world.
Some, mainly leaders in Africa, find it easier to simply resort to genocide. Leaders of tribes that oppose them are hacked to death in front of their families. The wives and daughters of those tribal leaders and their followers are raped before being hacked to death.
Such leaders may eventually end up in the World Court, if the Interpol can get its hands on the slippery characters. It's a risk that the brutal African dictators can take because those dictators know that the probability of capture and extradition is low.
Absent large-scale eradication of opponents and intransigent citizens, the world's political leaders really have no solution to the problem that confronts them. Their country's citizenry has become ungovernable. It is as though a strange new virus has infected the system and mechanism for communication between the government and the governed. And this new virus threatens to kill the government.
The solution is for the world to step back and survey the open fields, the Elysian fields of victims of wars and intransigence, the sacrificed offerings to the gods of communication and technology and to exclaim with one voice: My God, what have we done to our world? Why can't we together find solutions? Why can't we march together anymore?
What can we do to manage our future - not as Blue Staters and Red Staters in America, or Muslims and Infidels in Europe, or pro-Gloria and anti-Gloria in the Philippines - not as soldiers of competing armies but as common citizens of a world that must pick up the pieces?
We must be forewarned that if the monster of the Internet becomes bigger, it will consume all of us, just as those who ride the tiger invariably end up in its belly. The Chinese may be on the right track. They seek to tame the Internet.
We in America must do the same. In addition, we must tame hate radio and hate cable TV.
But how do we do that without infringing on the right of free speech?
And we haven't even talked about the mountains of debt being created by some of the advanced nations, such as the United States, Greece, Spain and Ireland.
