The Obama Presidency

[Fe 26]

I agree that technology can make people complacent, but I don't think it has much to do with the polarized left/right bullshit in the Bush/Obama years.

I'd argue that it has a lot to do with it. Never has it been so easy to see and look at who you disagree with.

[Fe 26]

Obama isn't spewing anything new with that bullshit though. It's the same thing that was said when movies were invented, radio, television, etc.

"OH NOES! TEH INFERMATION GONNA MAKE ME STUPID!"

It would also hold more water if he actually knew how to use the very thing he's criticizing. "I don't know what it does or how to use it, but I know it's bad!"

Don't get hung up on the first sentence like a retard. He isn't trying to say technology is bad.

He is talking about the empty calories of technology. The entertainment aspect of it. He is talking about quality information being dwarfed by information meant to entertain.

Which he is right about. For every one quality study with real facts and data, there are thousands of shitty blogs and articles about dick all.



and look, you don't need to be able to play Halo or listen to mp3s to know that. People were trying slam him by saying he was a Muslim. Which wouldn't have gained any momentum had it not been for all the garbage shit areas of the web. He doesn't need to use the internet to see the impact it has.

[Andrew]

So this man has his finger on the button, but he doesn't know how to work an iPod?

Really?

[Diff-chan]

Since when is knowing how to use an iPod a qualification for intelligence or worldliness or anything else?

An iPod is just a device. I don't know how to use every device on the planet. Especially ones I've never owned.

[Andrew]

Given how easy it is to use, I think it says a lot.

[Melf]

Not really.

Yes, actually.

Don't get hung up on the first sentence like a retard. He isn't trying to say technology is bad.

He is talking about the empty calories of technology. The entertainment aspect of it. He is talking about quality information being dwarfed by information meant to entertain.

Which he is right about. For every one quality study with real facts and data, there are thousands of shitty blogs and articles about dick all.



and look, you don't need to be able to play Halo or listen to mp3s to know that. People were trying slam him by saying he was a Muslim. Which wouldn't have gained any momentum had it not been for all the garbage shit areas of the web. He doesn't need to use the internet to see the impact it has.

I know that. I'm saying that the same bullshit is spouted every time a new medium takes over. For example, back when movies were invented, many highbrow authors like T.S. Elliot said they would destroy literature and dumb down the masses. It's the same thing.

[Diff-chan]

I know that. I'm saying that the same bullshit is spouted every time a new medium takes over. For example, back when movies were invented, many highbrow authors like T.S. Elliot said they would destroy literature and dumb down the masses. It's the same thing.

I don't know, I'd say T.S. Elliot had a good point.

[Melf]

I'm not saying he or Obama are wrong, necessarily. I'm just saying that this isn't the first time this has been said. Considering all America has accomplished over the past 100 years, I'd say things like the Internet and movies aren't as bad as they're made out to be.

[dave is ok]

I think the same old news outlets are just more irresponsible and entertainment focused now. It's not like millions and millions of people are getting all their news from blogs - they're getting it from cable news channels that have obvious agendas

[FirstBlood]

I just don't see his statement to have any relation to the old "oh god the sky is falling because I don't know what this new thing is!" reactions to tv/movies/radio.

I think he's just pointing out a very tangible negative effect that the internet and media bring through their ease of sending & receiving information. It's not like he's denouncing the internet itself, but rather the way a large portion of this country utilizes it.