Monday, May 10, 2010

distractions

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
- Joseph Goebbels
Can't stop the signal, Mr. President.

7 comments:

Borepatch said...

From the American Library Association, an answer to President Obama:

"The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to counter threats to safety or national security, as well as to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read."

Old NFO said...

:-) GREAT line- especially now...

Montana said...

What he said is true. The onslaught of the soundbite is just horrible for true comprehension. Every day I download several news podcasts and the actual information is just hideous. There isn't any depth in reporting and no story last more than a couple of days. It's impossible to have any understanding of any issue by just reading/listening to the news. A person really has to study to learn anything these days.

When Obama was running for Pres, he played it as young and energetic and that meant Blackberries and Ipods, etc. Now that he is living the nightmare of running a country, he knows what a drain on productivity it can be to be always connected.

Nap Flyer said...

Works the other way, too: "Iraq has WMDs" comes to mind. So does "Saddam was behind the 9-11 attacks."

Anonymous said...

What Nap said: A leftist could as justly bag on a rightist president for a speech like this.

(Prove me wrong? I'm willing to learn.)

Jim

mdrewrankin said...

From your link:

“...it can be difficult, at times, to sift through it all; to know what to believe; to figure out who’s telling the truth and who’s not,” Obama said. “Let’s face it, even some of the craziest claims can quickly gain traction. I’ve had some experience with that myself."

Straight talk from Barry O. I'll cherish this moment.

SpeakerTweaker said...

Love that quote.

I also squee-ed a tiny squee of joy when I realized that it was only just Monday that I would have understood the Serenity reference.

What a great flick.



tweaker