Minerva

"Minerva shows ordinary citizens' uprising against elite leaders." Chun Sang-Chin, sociology professor, Sogang University in Seoul.

A middle aged unemployed Korean man has been identified as the financial prophet Minerva. A blogger who has eerily predicted the financial catastrophes of the last several years. After urging his readers, in the hundreds of thousands, to abandon the Korean Won and buy US dollars, he was arrested and charged with 'spreading false rumors damaging to the government's reputation in the world financial market'.

Can we arrest President Obama for damaging the government's reputation by appointing a known tax dodger as Treasury Secretary? Because someone is an insider does it make him the best person for the job? Certainly the great potential of every human life is apparent as we find a seemingly simply man able to comprehend world financial markets. A man sharing his gift freely, trying to help his fellow man avoid financial pitfalls.

Minerva points to a door long open that many have been ignoring or misusing. The great potential of the Internet to "change everything." A forum for the common man, that sees the world more and more as a single community, in contrast to the entrenched forces of government that are mired in the divisions and proclivities of the past. Governments looking to shut down voices they feel threaten their standing, on the Internet or otherwise.

Left wing-nut bloggers have known the potential for some time with a network of sites all feeding off each other, creating a false impression of legitimacy. My wife often searches blogs for recipes and topics that interest her. Postings by other women for the most part. She commented to me the other day that many of the bloggers are Mormons. I try to find the most informative and responsible links for my own blogs and have started questioning my visiting and posting on blogs I don't agree with. Does it do any good? Am I just giving them a false relevance? I try to visit and link to sites that are professional, responsible and/or run by people I find truly knowledgeable on a topic.

We all share in what happens on the Internet. We give the Internet its character or lack thereof. Minerva was thought by many to be a government insider or someone well seasoned in the markets, perhaps a retired professor. This impression may have been misleading, but revealing his identity, history and motives should be enough to put the proper perspective on his posts. (if you don't know who I am, you don't care) To prosecute someone for sharing a passion, for seeking to help his fellow man, on the Internet is a danger to us all. An assault on all our freedoms. A door that shouldn't be opened.