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.The key phrase in this ode to intellectual incuriousity (say, wasn't that the knock on King George the Dim?) is this: "[N]one of which I know how to work..."
Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.
"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.
"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," Obama said.
It's funny - it feels like just yesterday I was lambasting Justice David Souter for this same failing. Notice something here? Both individuals refuse to embrace technology. And both individuals embrace policies that are anti-individual freedom.
Oh, c'mon, Vulture! Two examples? That's all you can muster?
There'll be more. How do I know? It's like this: people who are engaged in free, productive activity in society utilize technology to make them more competitive, productive, marketable, etc. They use technology in the free exchange of ideas. They use technology to make their lives and the lives of others around them better.
People who stand in opposition to individual liberty disdain such activities. The get their money the old fashioned way: they loot it.
