In comments today, "US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media" (link below).Said Obama: "With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation."
Who is this guy, John McCain (who doesn't even know how to send an e-mail)? In this day and age, a 40-something man who says that among iPods, iPads, Xboxes and PlayStations, he cannot operate even one? I know that they say that university professors tend to be a bit out of touch, but to-the-moon removed?
OK, all kidding aside: The most concerning thing about Obama's statements today is the hostility he has towards the information age. Freely flowing information is the fundamental building block of what makes us free human beings. Rather than being a "strain on democracy," it is at democracy's very core. There can never be "too much information" or "a lot of diversionary information," as Obama appears to believe. Will there always be bad and false information out there? Of course. But we are members of a most intelligent species, and we are capable to sorting through the mess and determining the truth. It's called the open marketplace of ideas. And not since the Nixon administration has America seen an administration so openly hostile to that concept as the current one so visibly appears to be.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hcoyG-Ck3-VwZB7fqpUFXbffoObg
Posts
