WEBVTT - How smartphones changed democracy

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<v Speaker 1>You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker

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<v Speaker 1>every morning to hear the latest episode, just say play

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<v Speaker 1>the News from The Australian. From The Australian, I'm Claire Harvey.

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<v Speaker 1>A special bonus episode of The Front for you Today.

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<v Speaker 1>Over six weeks, The Australian is publishing six essays by

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<v Speaker 1>remarkable Australians to mark our mast Head's sixtieth anniversary. Today

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<v Speaker 1>journalist Chris Yulman, who's recently joined The Australian and Sky

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<v Speaker 1>News as a commentator. He's writing on the theme of power.

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<v Speaker 2>This January remarks a big anniversary for troops who fought

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<v Speaker 2>an Operation Desert Storm. Of Operation Desert Storm amount of

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<v Speaker 2>Desert Storm thirty years ago, one of the largest air

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<v Speaker 2>campaigns in our military's history took place Operation Desert Storm.

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<v Speaker 1>Operation Desert Storm the United Nations led response to Iraq's

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<v Speaker 1>invasion of Kuwait. Here's how then US President George Herbert

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<v Speaker 1>Walkerbush announced it to the world on January seventeenth, nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>ninety one.

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<v Speaker 2>Just two hours ago, Allied air forces began an attack

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<v Speaker 2>on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait. These attacks continue

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<v Speaker 2>as I speak. Five months ago Sadam Nssein started this

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<v Speaker 2>cruel war against Kuwait tonight. The battle has been joined.

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<v Speaker 1>A bit over a month later, the ground assault came

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<v Speaker 1>his General Colin Powell.

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<v Speaker 2>Our strategy to go after this army is very very simple.

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<v Speaker 2>First we're going to cut it off, and then we're

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<v Speaker 2>going to kill it.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time, Kuwait was occupied by Iraqi forces. They'd

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<v Speaker 1>been there for seven months.

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<v Speaker 2>The answer to that question and will splitter is at

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<v Speaker 2>your old workplace to the undergo.

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<v Speaker 1>Newsrooms around the world watched this stunning assault, Operation Desert

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<v Speaker 1>Storm unfold in real time via a CNN live feed.

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<v Speaker 3>The President maybe going on television later this evening.

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<v Speaker 2>To explain what I'm sorry to winter rupt. We're going

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<v Speaker 2>back to Baghdad now because we can and we have.

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<v Speaker 3>But we are then include them.

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<v Speaker 2>Okayrding, go ahead, I can hear you and can record

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<v Speaker 2>Please come in to us from Baghdad.

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<v Speaker 1>Journalist Chris Hulman watched it from the news floor of

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<v Speaker 1>the Canberra Times, where a rare mid morning edition of

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<v Speaker 1>that paper had been sent to the printers, but it

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<v Speaker 1>became old news almost immediately.

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<v Speaker 3>We were standing to take a photograph with the mid

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<v Speaker 3>morning edition that had done. We'd all work very very

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<v Speaker 3>hard on It was to keep the good Burghers of

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<v Speaker 3>Canberra across all of the details. And there was a

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<v Speaker 3>television in the corner, just one television, and it was

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<v Speaker 3>streaming CNN, one of the local stations. I can't remember

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<v Speaker 3>which one had CNN on full time. And you might

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<v Speaker 3>recall at that time they were the only ones who

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<v Speaker 3>stayed in Iraq for the war. And they had a

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<v Speaker 3>single camera which was on the balcony at the hotel,

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<v Speaker 3>so it actually recorded the first shots of the war.

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<v Speaker 3>It was the thing that made CNN. But as we

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<v Speaker 3>were lining up for the photograph, what happened was that

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<v Speaker 3>it cut dramatically to tele Aviv and there was a

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<v Speaker 3>reporter in a gas mask it looked like a World

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<v Speaker 3>War One issue gas mask, who said that a SCUD

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<v Speaker 3>missile had fallen in Tel Aviv and it could be

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<v Speaker 3>carrying a chemical payload. Now that was the great fear

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<v Speaker 3>that Israel would be dragged into this war and there'll

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<v Speaker 3>be a broader Middle Eastern war. Now we didn't know

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<v Speaker 3>at the time that that wasn't the case. It wasn't

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<v Speaker 3>carrying chemical weapons. But I looked at that television and

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<v Speaker 3>at the front page, which was out of date before

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<v Speaker 3>the print run had finished, and thought, this changes everything,

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<v Speaker 3>and it did.

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<v Speaker 1>Desert Storm was a turning point in the way we

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<v Speaker 1>report the news, both because of the dawn of the

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<v Speaker 1>twenty four hour news cycle and of the Internet. In

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<v Speaker 1>twenty oh seven, the smartphone followed.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the Internet in your pocket.

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<v Speaker 1>For the first time ever. Suddenly everyone everywhere had access

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<v Speaker 1>to information, news, ideas, entertainment all the time. It was

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<v Speaker 1>a technological revolution with implications we couldn't imagine.

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<v Speaker 3>But this much is certain. We're living through the greatest

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<v Speaker 3>power shift in human history.

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<v Speaker 1>That's Chris Yulman reading excerpts of the essay he's written

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<v Speaker 1>for The Australian.

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<v Speaker 3>Because the well head of power does not flow down

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<v Speaker 3>from monarchies to tyrannies or democracies, but up from the

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<v Speaker 3>air and flow of ideas that transform crowds into mobs.

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<v Speaker 3>Ideas are the source of all power in human affairs,

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<v Speaker 3>as rational animals. Ideas are the ground of our being

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<v Speaker 3>because we only make sense of ourselves and the world

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<v Speaker 3>by standing on the mental flagstones of our culture. That's

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<v Speaker 3>both a blessing and a curse, because cultures can be

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<v Speaker 3>wildly divergent. Two people witnessing the same event can take

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<v Speaker 3>pole or opposite views on it based entirely on their worldview.

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<v Speaker 3>In a politically diverse, multicultural democracy, those differences exist in

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<v Speaker 3>the same postcode.

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<v Speaker 1>To explain this, Yulman invokes John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost,

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<v Speaker 1>published in the seventeenth century. Milton's masterpiece explores over ten

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<v Speaker 1>thousand lines the biblical conflict between God and Satan over

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<v Speaker 1>the devil's corruption of humanity.

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<v Speaker 3>No one better encapsulated the power of the human psyche

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<v Speaker 3>to shape its own reality than John Milton in Paradise Lost.

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<v Speaker 3>When he's fallen, Satan decides it's better to rule in

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<v Speaker 3>hell than to serve in heaven. The mind is its

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<v Speaker 3>own place, and in itself can make a heaven of

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<v Speaker 3>hell or a hell of heaven. Political power may grow

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<v Speaker 3>out of the barrel of a gun, but it is

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<v Speaker 3>an idea that compels someone to pull the trigger to

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<v Speaker 3>raise an army to start a war.

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<v Speaker 1>Coming up. If power flows from ideas, where can we

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<v Speaker 1>expect it to land. The Australian has been holding power

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<v Speaker 1>to account for six decades and our subscribers are the

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<v Speaker 1>first to read our lively commentary, in depth analysis and

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<v Speaker 1>game changing news. Join us at the Australian dot com

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<v Speaker 1>AU and we'll be back after this break. The Internet

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<v Speaker 1>and smart devices have facilitated an unprecedented information exchange, but

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<v Speaker 1>they've also helped miss and disinformation to spread unchecked.

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<v Speaker 3>The best and worst desires of almost every human heart

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<v Speaker 3>have now been grafted to an irresistible Internet appendage, just

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<v Speaker 3>a hair brained thought away from international broadcast. The portal

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<v Speaker 3>to all this is in your pocket. Step through the

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<v Speaker 3>looking glass, and all manner of wonder and horror abound,

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<v Speaker 3>and it comes with the illusion that you are in control.

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<v Speaker 1>All this chaos springs from ideas and from our unfettered

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<v Speaker 1>access to them. But if, as Chris Yilman argues in

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<v Speaker 1>his essay for the Australian Power is born of ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>who's going to end up holding it?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, it's impossible to know. And that's just it. All

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<v Speaker 3>of us want to know the future. It's one of

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<v Speaker 3>the great human longings. I'm constantly being asked, who's going

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<v Speaker 3>to win the next election? Have been all of my

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<v Speaker 3>political career. I don't know. It's the answer to that question.

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<v Speaker 3>Sometimes you can have some sort of idea about where

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<v Speaker 3>things are heading. But we can't stand the idea that

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<v Speaker 3>we don't know what's going to happen next. All that

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<v Speaker 3>I know is that the most powerful things are human ideas.

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<v Speaker 3>The great changes that we see in history, the monumental events,

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<v Speaker 3>are all driven by the invisible changes in human ideas.

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<v Speaker 3>And you might think that power comes down from monarchies,

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<v Speaker 3>or from tyrannies, or from democracies. It flows up from

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<v Speaker 3>the mob to those people in power. And when the

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<v Speaker 3>ideas of the mob change, it doesn't matter what form

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<v Speaker 3>of government you have, then government's full. So it's the

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<v Speaker 3>power of ideas, I think, which are the driving force

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<v Speaker 3>of change in the world and have always have been

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<v Speaker 3>in human events because our culture is the ground of

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<v Speaker 3>our being, and our culture decides everything that we perceive.

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<v Speaker 1>What makes a good idea good and a bad idea

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<v Speaker 1>bad then is a matter of perspective, not speed.

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<v Speaker 3>It's bewildering. We can't keep up with the rate of

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<v Speaker 3>ideas as they flow and things change. That wherein constant

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<v Speaker 3>takes a state of flux, now of chaos, and human

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<v Speaker 3>ideas have always thrown up good ideas and bad ideas.

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<v Speaker 3>We all know that as as far as government forms go,

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<v Speaker 3>I think fascism is a bad idea. I think communism

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<v Speaker 3>has turned out to be a pretty bad idea in democracy,

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<v Speaker 3>for all of its faults, turns out to be one

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<v Speaker 3>of the best ideas about how you should order human affairs.

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<v Speaker 3>But all these forms of governments now face their challenges

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<v Speaker 3>with this, and they're all responding in different ways. In

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<v Speaker 3>Hujing things, China is essentially locking down the Internet and

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<v Speaker 3>making sure that only the ideas that are sanctioned by

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<v Speaker 3>the government can be put before the people. He spends

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<v Speaker 3>more time and more money policing his own people than

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<v Speaker 3>he does in building his enormous defense force. In a democracy,

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<v Speaker 3>it's much more difficult, you know, how do we be

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<v Speaker 3>gatekeepers to these ideas that a lot of people talking

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<v Speaker 3>at the moment about the ideas that they would like ban.

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<v Speaker 3>And I think sometimes the only difference between left and

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<v Speaker 3>right are the things that they want to ban. And

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<v Speaker 3>it is a difficult thing when you believe, as I do,

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<v Speaker 3>that free speech is a foundation stone of a liberal democracy,

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<v Speaker 3>and yet some of these ideas are clearly destructive. Free

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<v Speaker 3>speech has always been regulated in some way, but I

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<v Speaker 3>don't know how liberal democracy confronts this challenge. And what's

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<v Speaker 3>happening is that we are being eaten apart internally by

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<v Speaker 3>the warring tribes. And that's not just cultural differences, that's

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<v Speaker 3>political differences. We're constantly being told about the threats from

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<v Speaker 3>the right, and we saw that with Donald Trump not

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<v Speaker 3>wanting to leave power in the United States, and that's

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<v Speaker 3>clearly a threat because the defining feature of democracy is

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<v Speaker 3>the governments willingly give up power. If you decide you're

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<v Speaker 3>going to challenge that, then you really are starting to

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<v Speaker 3>make a challenge of the foundation stones of democracy. But

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<v Speaker 3>there's also a project on the left which would appear

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<v Speaker 3>to be that it wants to lift up every flagstone

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<v Speaker 3>of the ideas that have built our society and dismissed

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<v Speaker 3>them all as a white, colonial, racist project. And when

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<v Speaker 3>they rip up the last flagstone, where will we stand?

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<v Speaker 3>Wherell we plant our feet? So I genuinely think that

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<v Speaker 3>at the moment, liberal democracies face the biggest threat from

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<v Speaker 3>what we're seeing and the expansion and the sort of

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<v Speaker 3>rapid changing of ideas and of the chaos that that

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<v Speaker 3>sort of has engendered in society.

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<v Speaker 1>You can read Chris Yuelman's sixtieth anniversary essay at the

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<v Speaker 1>Australian dot com dot au. This episode of the Front

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<v Speaker 1>was produced by Kristin Amiot