The first hyperlink

The Gutenberg Bible at the Ransom Center -- the first book printed with movable type -- was printed at Johann Gutenberg's shop in Mainz, Germany and completed in 1454 or 1455.

"Greed and arrogance are the eternal opponents of truth," writes Doug Kern at Tech Central Station [via InstaPundit] in a brilliant then-and-now comparison between Martin Luther's sixteenth-century trust busting of the Catholic Church's monopoly on "truth" and the Pajamasphere's similar trust busting of the MSM's monopoly today.

Five hundred years ago, the Catholic Church was the big four networks, CNN, the New York Times and NPR all rolled into one. To its adherents, the Roman Catholic Church was the only authoritative source of truth about the world. In a Europe populated largely by illiterate, ill-traveled peasants, who could contest the Church's interpretation of anything?

Then as now, a monopoly on information and public narratives leads to abuses. Reporters distort truth for partisan gain, just as clerics distorted theology for personal profit. The lust for big ratings (and the ensuing lucrative commercial deals) leads to sensationalized stories; the lust for big donations led to sensationalized claims for plenary indulgences. Greed and arrogance are the eternal opponents of truth.

Then as now, a new technology gives ordinary people unmediated access to the truth. The Western invention of the printing press in the late fifteenth century and the subsequent dissemination of Bibles written in the vernacular gave lay believers the opportunity to read holy writ and draw their own conclusions about it -- just as the Internet gives ordinary people direct access to facts, information, and commentary. The Gutenberg Bible was the first hyperlink.

You get the point but should read the whole thing for the sheer deliciousness of the language:

When Martin Luther posted his blog on the Wittenberg door, he fact-checked Catholic theology against the text of scripture. He proved to the satisfaction of many that the typeface of the Purgatory doctrine was suspect, and that the kerning of faith vs. works was clearly a product of PopeSoft 1500's default settings . . . Then as now, God helped those who helped themselves.

How ironic that it was technical differences regarding spacing and kerning of physical vs. virtual movable type itself -- that produced by typewriters of the seventies vs. that produced by Microsoft Word software of today -- that finally tripped up the poo-bahs.

Comments

[goomp]

The fight for truth and freedom is inate but so is greed and the lust for power. How fortunate that the stuggle for truth is gaining a foothold.