Best opening paragraph I've read in a long while:
THE other day the bookselling guest on Colbert was Nick Carr, who frankly came off as a scold, and impatient with his host's humor injections, perhaps because he's just written the Why Johnny Can't Read of the Google era, and without pausing to consider who'd read it. It's interesting that most works in the genre come from men entering the second half of middle age, when the memory of how literacy was doomed, doomed! because of their own supposed addiction to teevee, radio, the talkies, the flickers, the flivver, or the penny dreadful has faded, to be replaced by a recognition of the illiterate superficiality and sexual attractiveness of Today's Youts. And so on. And I say this as an unfashionable admirer of Marshall McLuhan, if no partner to his sunny disposition; yes yes yes, media shapes the way we relate to the world and our information about it. God and fiefdom shaped the 14th century serf. What are we to do about it? In the short term, given free access to free information, it seems there will always be people who realize that knowledge is complex, pluralistic, and seldom, if ever, easily unearthed, just as there will be those who read Ayn Rand. Perhaps it's a good idea to look up from this IT shit every now and again, and take a gander at the people who actually produce information, rather than just shuffle it around. Have a look at the biologists and paleontologists who give of their free time to combat religion-borne illiteracy. We are not in danger of the whole wide world becoming wikipedia-mired morons with five-second attention spans; we may be in some slight danger of all our morons becoming Google addicts. I'm not sure where the real threat is there. That they'll get tired of Britney Spears that much quicker?
The second paragraph begins:
Which brings us to Sarah Palin.
... which explains my title. But never mind that. Go read the latest from Doghouse Riley.
And yeah, I know I'm just shuffling information around here.
2 comments:
*And yeah, I know I'm just shuffling information around here.*
Works for me. Your blog's a lot higher on my list that Doghouse's. Nothing against him, but there are only so many hours in a day. :)
But as an IT person (in Doghouse's broad sense), naturally you'd favor those who just shuffle information around, right?
I do have to say that sometimes I feel my blog is nothing more than "Here are the favorite bits from my blogroll." On the other hand, I used to write letters just to mail clippings or to recommend books.
Someone has to tell other people what's worth their time, right?
But thanks, in all seriousness.
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