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Il est intéressant de noter que Ron Paul n’est pour rien dans sa notoriété sur le web. Ce n’est donc pas une campagne de marketing viral ou autre “buz”.

Je pense que tout simplement l’internet étant désormais le seul moyen de s’informer—et de se désinformer aussi, mais un esprit réellement critique doit être capable de trier raisonnablement le bon grain de l’ivraie—, une partie de la population qui n’apparait pas dans les sondages ni n’a la parole dans les MSM émerge ainsi.

Ce phénomène de “réalitisme” (versus le virtualisme du maitre des lieux) indique bien les changements en cours.

Beaucoup de ces personnes ne comprennent sans doute pas ce qu’implique la théorie économique de l’école autrichienne à laquelle ce rattache Ron Paul (il est gynécologue, pas économiste, mais a étudié cette théorie et les autres, dont le keynésianisme et le monétarisme actuellement “à la mode”).

Mais il sont sensibles à son honnêteté morale, à son indépendance. Il est d’ailleurs intéressant de noter aussi son âge vs l’âge moyen de l’internaute qui surfe sur youtube !

J’ai lu je ne sais plus où que cette population “invisible” représenterait jusqu’à 25% de la population totale ; ce taux est difficile à estimer car par définition, ces personnes fuient les sondages, enquêtes, interview et autres quart d’heure de gloire télévisuelle.

Mais attention, il ne s’agit pas de lupen-citoyens tels ceux dont les cadavres remontent après une inondation, ni de réseau “underground” déjantés, mais de personnes vivant dans la “réalité” du monde et insatisfaites de la projection virtualiste si bien décrite sur ce site et qui cherchent des représentants dans les différents pouvoir. Elles peuvent se reconnaitre dans Ron Paul même si elles ne sont pas du même bord politique, ni ne partagent tout ce qu’il dit. L’intégrité du personnage leur est plus importante.

Je rapproche cela de l’effet Bayrou lors des élections françaises récentes. Il ne s’agissait pas d’aller à la pêche en se disant blanc-bonnet / bonnet-blanc, mais d’agir en choisissant, en votant pour exprimer son insatisfaction vis à vis du “système” en essayant de le changer.

Certes le résultat purement électif est quasi nul, mais ces forces sont toujours là, elles reviendront. Grossiront-elles ?

Peut-être Ph. Grasset devra-t-il introduire cette notion réalitisme comme arme du peuple contre le virtualisme des systémes, ce serait plutôt bon signe pour l’avenir du monde, non ?

Reasons Why the Internet Loves Ron Paul

Posted by Mark Nutter

> Wed, 13 Jun 2007

http://www.nuttersmark.com/blog/articles/2007/06/13/7-reasons-why-the-internet-loves-ron-paul

1. Geeks tend to be libertarians

Simply type in the keyword “libertarian” along with any popular online community keyword such as digg or reddit and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Not to mention every major online poll about the Republican candidates consistently sway in favor of Ron Paul. In fact, one of the top search terms on Technorati has been “Ron Paul” for quite some time now. The Internet is a largely unregulated space - it’s the wild west of the modern age. Despite the absence of regulation, however, we Internet geeks have done a pretty decent job policing ourselves. The Internet represents the last truly free stomping grounds where the masses can trump the fat cats and level the playing field.

Geeks realize that if the government stays out of our lives, most problems will eventually sort themselves out. Spend a week or two on digg.com and you’ll understand the power of the self-regulated Internet. Libertarianism and Internet geeks go together like Guantanamo Bay and daily beatings.

2. Ron Paul is one of us.

Let’s face it; Ron Paul is a huge nerd and he’s not afraid to admit it. He’s that kid in the front of the classroom who raises his hand for every question and isn’t afraid to shoot down his fellow classmates. He has a nasally high voice and an air of sickly satisfying self-confidence, not to mention he’s a pretty svelte and un-intimidating guy. Normally I hate that kid, except of course when he’s taking the right people to task. Ron Paul is “one of the geeks” and it is refreshing for the online community to see someone who not only speaks their language, but isn’t afraid of the standard jock-turned-politician fair they are used to seeing.

3. It’s Dr. Ron Paul.

If there’s one thing geeks respect, it’s intelligence. There’s a reason why Gordon Freeman from the Halflife series is such a popular protaganist. None of the other presidential candidates have the title Doctor in front of their names. It may not be a PhD in the sciences but medical school still requires an extraordinary amount of intelligence and discipline, not to mention practicing medicine on a daily basis. There’s just something very cool about the thought that our next president could be “President Dr. Ron Paul”. Beyond that, if anyone has the right background to fix our horrible medical system it’d be Doc Paul.

4. Ron Paul believes in an unregulated Internet.

Ron Paul has consistently voted against bills that propose any sort of regulation of the Internet. Most recently he voted against a bill to ban Internet gambling, pointing to the fact that such a measure would not prevent online gambling but instead delegate it to organized crime who would not be able to settle business disputes using the law, but rather force. Paul is a huge proponent of net neutrality and believes that the Internet must remain free from intervention and regulation.

5. Mainstream media hates Ron Paul, so that must mean he’s great.

If there’s anything that the Internet community has learned over the past 7 years its that the mainstream media has dropped the ball in almost every respect. Instead of covering important issues like the War in Iraq and the decline of the American dollar, we are bombarded with tabloid headlines about Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith. With social news sites like Newsvine and the multitude of social bookmarking sites out there, not to mention the bloggosphere, Internet geeks stopped relying on mainstream media for their news and information long ago. The one thing we have learned is that the mainstream media is usually wrong or tainted, which means that because they seem to be out to smear Ron Paul as much as possible that pretty much solidifies in most geek’s minds that Paul is the real deal.

6. Internet communities cut through bullshit quick.

Just try going into any forum and spouting some BS and you will get called out before you can hit the refresh button. Since Paul spews the least BS of any candidate, he is a natural hero of the Internet. When Rudy Guliani snapped at Paul for suggesting that American foreign policy had something to do with 9/11, the BS meters online were going berserk. Dr. Paul votes the way he believes and that is a rare quality in politics thes days. He does not believe in trading votes and he votes against everything that is unconstitutional in any way. If you want bullshit, listen to Hillary try to explain her way out of having voted for the war or McCain tell us why we need more troops in Iraq.

7. Ron Paul gets gamers.

While candidates like Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton choose to take the irrational hardline stance against video games, Ron Paul isn’t busy playing the blame game for events like the Virginia Tech shootings. This alone is almost enough for most gamers out there to be convinced.

You may or may not be convinced by the reasons I give above, but there is no denying a single and irrefutable fact: Ron Paul looks like freaking Gandalf. If not for any other reason, this is why Internet geeks everywhere have chosen Ron Paul as their favorite candidate.