The internet started out with lots of educated, tech-enthusiasts that knew the value of free speech, free flow of ideas and that transparency is for those in power while privacy is for those who are not. You can look up the old hacker's creeds based on this philosophy and the countless hours of work that went into GNU licensed code that slowly built the infrastructure of the web. It's a myth that these were all white, cis males. A majority had Asian or Indian roots or were Jewish. It was an open minded crowd that shunned both the extremist left and extremist right, as well as other extremist ideologies such as radical religions and cults. It seemed like the enlightenment had reached its pinnacle. Rationality prevailed. And it was easy to defend against the constant onslaughts of feel-think given that unfiltered information was freely available and open. Wikipedia once was part of that movement of sharing code and ideas - making sure that there is no pay wall that excludes those who seek information from obtaining wisdom. It was part of the idea of democratic system of discussion and balance of power that forms the basis of meritocracy and powerful common sense. Then, mobile happened. Email happened. The commercial internet happened. The tech crowd now is the minority. And so are their old ideals. People go online now to shop rather than to enjoy free things. People go online now to reinforce their beliefs rather than to challenge them by listening to pluralistic perspectives. People go online now to get brief emotional kicks in the form of moral outrage and puppy pics. Following the law of large numbers, the average IQ has regressed to the mean. And as some people tried to hold out in some corners of the web, trying to hang on to the good old days, they became a thorn in the eye of those who never liked the idea that the century of ideologies is over. The same kind of people who previously rallied behind religious leaders, fascists and communists - people who like to think of themselves as chosen to fight an important fight against their peers, that justifies any means - authoritarian, anti-democratic, extrmist ideologues now attack any opportunity of free speech they can find. And just like religion, fascism and communism - it is all in the name of moral superiority and enwrapped in unquestionable social norms.    Never mind the logical inconsistencies - Angela Merkel on the cover of a German magazine as "Mother Theresa", put on there by the same people who struggle with the anti-abortion special interest groups that are funded by donations to "that Catholic saint" - it's feel-goody time for the unwashed masses. And a free marketplace of ideas is in the way of the little cost of submitting their intellectual capacities and instinctual skepticism "to the greater good" and the small groups of anointed leaders that play the good old Machiavellian games of power-grab, bullying and campaigning. These people are a serious threat, and it seems like they are winning battle after battle. However, the war between reason and muddled, emotional thought is a long one. And it has a very clear trend leaning towards the side of freedom, appreciation of facts, justice in the form of true equality and common sense. Because reality is on the side of those who do not deny its powerful force of harshly sorting truths from fiction.  In the long run, truth always wins.