Barack Obama lamented Sunday that “with iPads and iPods,” information has become a distraction that is putting new pressures on the U.S.A. and “democracy.”
“‘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,” AFP reports. “‘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.”
MacDailyNews Note: During the 2008 election, KCAL-TV covered Candidate Obama’s advertisements placed inside eighteen of Microsoft’s Xbox video games:
Direct link via YouTube here.
AFP continues, “He bemoaned the fact that ‘some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,’ in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets. ‘All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy… We can’t stop these changes… but we can adapt to them,’ Obama said, adding that US workers were in a battle with well-educated foreign workers. ‘Education… can fortify you, as it did earlier generations, to meet the tests of your own time,’ he said.”
Full article here.
Obama’s commencement address at Hampton University:
Direct link via YouTube here.
[Update: 2:08pm EDT. Pulled the Take because the point we were attempting to make seems to have been either too satirical or not satirical enough. Our fault, not yours. We blame the weekend help.]
[Update: 11:37pm EDT. Added link to 2008 report on Obama campaign’s ads in Xbox video games. Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
[Update: 11:59pm EDT. Added link to Obama’s commencement address at Hampton University. Thanks to MacDailyNews reader “Algr” for the heads up and the nice compliment.]
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “TowerTone” for the AFP article heads up.]
MacDailyNews, in attacking Obama, has totally proved Obama’s point. And even more perversly ironic are all the posters here who started chanting “dictator”. They thought they were championing freedom when in fact they had blindly accepted what they were told!
I found it distressingly hard to push through all the ludicrusly biased and out-of-context quotations to find the actual video of what Obama really said. For those who care, here it is:
Basically Obama was saying that a well rounded education is critical to navigating the sea of distorted information that is the internet. And of course, not all information is of equal value. Others here have given good examples of that.
Maobama and friends are on an all out assault on the USA and it’s freedoms and constitution. Everyone is on to what they are up to now. He’s annoyed at how easy it is for everyone to get the facts. Screw him. November can’t come soon enough to vote you Marxist pantywastes out of office. Good riddance!
(Sorry for the spelling errors above.) No Ubermac, That is your own bias and hatred making you deaf to anything anyone else has to say. Watch the video. Try to listen with an open mind.
That’s right Gary, just chant “Maobama Maobama” over and over again. Your devotion to facts will only be hampered if you actually listen to what Obama said.
Good thing the Federalists and Anti-Federalists knew how to use printing presses… all views and all information was debated at our founding. Information IS democracy.
I don’t have much faith in a president that can’t figure out how to work an iPod.
Hell, GWB knew how.
This is classic. The link is an article by “Americans for prosperity”. AFP is a right wing propaganda site. This is exactly what Obama was referring to. Thanks MDN for proving Obama’s point. Not only are thoughtful American’s challenged to sort out the truth from the lies, but we are surrounded by idiots who propagate the nonsense. Read AFP and believe it if you must. Btw, Obama wasn’t denying your right to subscribe to afp’s “message”, he was asking you to use your best judgement to sort out fact from fiction. If you can’t see the hypocrisy of AFP, the we will ultimately be lost.
ApplePi (see earlier post) says it exactly as I see it:
“American people in general are pretty freaking stupid and will believe anything as long as it’s in print, or for this matter online in an article.
“The digital age is allowing for more anonymity and a lot less accountability for stupid actions. This is what he’s saying.”
This has nothing to do with iphone’s ipads or any other tech device, and everything to do with lamenting that the ‘federal’ media outlets don’t hold absolute control of info. There’s no more questionable ‘truth’ that comes out than the bs that props him and the liberal minority up. If this guy doesn’t scare you, then you don’t care about the US and freedom at all.
mac user 47: What federal media outlets? It took me far longer to find Obama’s speech then to find all the idiot bloggers inventing what he said. The president ought to be able to address his own people without hostile media drones drowning him out.
Jeez, MDN’s take was ridiculous and hard to understand. Unless you’re just a blind Obama hater (and judging from the sheer stupidity of some of the comments there are obviously more than a few here who must be applying for a Fox News internship) I don’t see anything in his speech to get worked up about. Aside from using Apple products as part of his example (a good sign of Apple’s position in popular culture and an apt usage on his part) there is NOTHING in this article that advocates curtailing constitutional protections (see George W Bush for an example of that). He simply makes the point that in the information age we are in that lies (most Fox programming) gain traction easily amongst the uneducated (most Fox supporters), and thus he is advocating education to keep Americans informed and vigilant of their freedom.
Heil OBAMA! or whatever his name really is.
I agree with apple pi. I’m afraid that we live in a generation that is becoming less educated. We as the human race strive to have more knowledge that’s what makes different from every other animal. But it’s becoming harder and harder to get an education that teaches you the fundmental truths of life. We need to make education free for everyone and have a lot more respect for teachers. Also more art and less critics.
Even an idiot with a half-logical mind would fathom this. He was only advising you to sift the bullshit from the bullcrap the media feeds you.
Ipads and Ipods are like body parts now and very easy for half-truth merchants to slip falsehood past our auditory cortex without notice.
So the message from Obama is, be vigilant and don’t believe all the nonsense you read without ascertaining the validity.
Easy!
As a Canadian without a dog in this hunt, I think Obama was saying that you graduates today are smart enough to be able to ignore the extremists and their blogs, talk radio programs and news outlets.
The only problem is, Obama and the Democrats think that right wing blogs, talk radio programs and news outlets are run by extremists, while Republicans think that left wing blogs, talk radio programs and news outlets are run by extremists.
Of course Obama was warning them about right wing extremists. He’s sitting on the left side of the political spectrum. Who the hell else would he be warning them about?
Whose going to read 4 pages of comments on MDN? Sheesh.
Obama was not slamming Apple, or the iPod, or anything else. He was (1) mentioning the iPod to show that he is aware of popular products to show he “knows” the common man, and then (2) repeat and oft-used claim that information distracts us from X. My brain is not working, but I recall that there is some philosopher who said that human beings crave distraction on a base level, and this leads us away from (a) reflecting about ourselves and spirituality, and (b) therefore God. Heck, this might just be my brain’s paraphrasing. For some reason though, I think this might be Pascal (not the computer language).
This was rhetorical hot air.
I see absolutely nothing insightful or original in Obama’s words. In short, there is nothing here to get anyone’s panties in a wad. Move along.
I think tonight calls for another drink…
See. Something is wrong when your first word in a post in correct. How about “Who’s”
Forget it. Can’t spell. Might as well have an iPad instead of my lovely G4 PB. Of course, that will not solve human error.
True journalism has been dead for a long, long time.
Ask me how I know…
We are all liberals in Collage when someone else is paying the bills. It’s amazing how quickly we can become conservatives when we start to make the big bucks and pay the big tax bills.
@Big Al
Which Collage do you appear in?
What?!! Our “oh so hip” president who is so in touch with our youthful generation doesn’t know how to use an iPod?
That’s not what he said when he was campaigning. I seem to remember his campaign claiming he had Jay Z on his iPod.
Apparently, so does the WashPo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041803282.html
Obama is either incapable of keeping track of his own stories, or he believes that WE are incapable of keeping track of them, or this is a case of “Do as I say, not as I do”.
Either way, this guy is going to talk himself into being a one-termer….
One the concerns that the president’s speech at Hampton University raised for me was born out of an assumption that seems to undergird his understanding of the relationship between “attaining a college degree” and “being educated”. He seems to think that they are one and the same.
President Obama’s speech denigrated the chief means by which most Americans gain access to general information and knowledge. It did so while holding up “college education” as an apparent antidote to the kind of data made available by these media and information outlets. The fact of the matter is that he knows that much of what passes for education in American colleges and universities is little more than systematic indoctrination from a largely, politically left-leaning philosophical worldview.
Perhaps President Obama is comfortable praising these sources of information and knowledge because they only rarely form minds capable of offering cogent, coherent and attractive critiques of his worldview, of his take on America, and his understanding of American identity.
It may also be that the President now rues the day that Candidate Obama spoke so positively of the power of these sources of information and knowledge. But, this is America! And, few things captures the spirit of America better that the incessant desire for freedom. It may be a bit messy, but get used to it!
President Obama would do well to desist from the bemoaning and make his case to Americans of all races and creeds. It is time for him to stop critiquing sources of information and knowledge with broad strokes, and get down to the far more difficult task of making his case for his vision of America.
Personally, I think that this particular president has significantly misread the substance of the “idea that is America.” Even so, I wish that he would stop with the complaining and make his case. Who knows, perhaps if he took the intellectually noble approach of appealing the minds of ordinary Americans, he might change more of our hearts and minds.
Islandgirl
Been to Iron Man II with my oldest grandson, so I may be a little late.
That Scarlett Johansson has an impressive body of work….
Did you get the email attributed to Andy Rooney about all the terrible things going on and how he wished this and that? I got it forwarded to me and had my suspicions, so as usual I checked with Snopes and another site, and sure as shootin’ it wasn’t Rooney, so I replied to the guy that sent it. Pissed him off royally, said it was the idea that mattered. I told him no, it should have been attributed to the guy in Texas who said it and not to a national figure to ‘legitimize it’. Odd thing is, he is a Democrat co-worker, so I guess I can’t win either way.
Bottom line on that is I prefer the truth rather than a good story.
(which leaves out any Oliver Stone movie….)
You called my viewpoint fact-free. And my reply is, ‘Of course I don’t charge for the facts’.
I have seen several interviews with our President where he dismisses many opposing views and the people who have them as a ‘distraction’, and I believe he includes this in his assessment of what to filter out.
“He bemoaned the fact that ‘some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,’ in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.”
I don’t think that could be any clearer. We’re not talking emails here. Don’t be so quick to assume Tea Party members are that naive (not that some aren’t).
I’m not sure why you brought the emails up. I get plenty of idiotic crap from them as well as sensational news headlines and what are very often bad first reports of a current situation.
People who want to believe that shit will, no matter what facts are staring at them. We saw it with the Plame case. We saw it with the Florida recount. We’ve seen it with Haliburton. We saw it in the Ohio count in ’04. Did you think the left was immune from the BS factories?
So, no, my viewpoint is not fact-free. I know the President would rather we get good info to make informed decisions, but I also know that he doesn’t share my view of the world, so even if some info is true, it may not be ‘good’ info to him.
I mean, the spin that the unemployment rate going up to 9.9% is a good sign? But I am not going to tear them apart for trivialities. They still need to offer hope to us, just like any good leader.
And that damn Scarlett put the moves back into movies.
All she needs to add is ‘I’……(yes, mybad grammar)
WTF MDN? You added that videogame story but not the video of what Obama ACTUALLY SAID? Where is your respect for information now?
Can’t let the truth distract from your hate mongering, can you?