Sunday, May 09, 2010

Comparing Rhetoric

From a commencement address:

"What Jefferson recognized... that in the long run, their improbable experiment -- called America -- wouldn't work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn't have the best interests of all the people at heart.

"It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged, if we held our government accountable, if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship."

From a commencement address:

"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," ....

"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, ...information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,"

--AP

Which speaker is right?

Obama, of course. Same speech, different grafs.

2 comments:

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

He doesn't want them informed. He wants them to hear HIS side. Notice he took shots at Fox, talk and blogs. All the opposition opinion.

Al said...

Obama's definition of a valid info source is the MSM who have their lips firmly planted on his posterior. He knows that they are NOT giving the issues the "serious coverage" & he is glad for ut. Obama is afraid of those sources, like Fox, that do cover the issues seriously.