On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 9:14 AM, Lance A. Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > Someone who doesn't know enough about computers to be able to open his > own email (if he wants to) *cannot* have the proper understanding of > technology in today's world to be competent as POTUS.
Technology as an agent of change is a progressive idea. It truly doesn't fit with current conservative ideology, which argues that if you failed to becomet powerful and wealthy, it is because you aren't disciplined enough... and if you are well-off, it is thanks to your own hard work. If a hard-line conservative were to admit that access to digital technology makes a positive difference in peoples' lives, they might have to admit that access to education, health care, food and jobs are also keys to individual success or failure. That would be a long way down the supposedly slippery slope to socialism. The kleptocracy says I got mine because I earned it; the playing field is always level here in 'Merica, so if you didn't get yours, it's your own fault. And we're not going to "reward" you with help -- access to technology, for example -- because that would teach you to be lazy. I was at an event with Bill Clinton a few years ago and one of the kids in our organization asked him if he used email. He said no, he didn't, because emails have a way of always becoming public. I thought it was a good point... and it speaks to privacy and transparency, of course. I can't imagine John McCain getting excited about the potential for a single computer and computer-literate person to transform a rural village in India, which was the subject of my one and only conversation with a U.S. president (Clinton at the same event). So, even though I don't think that mastering any particular compute skill is critical, I do believe that anybody who wants to be elected should have a grasp of the potential in digital technology, regardless of their ability to use it. Sometimes when we are too intimate with the technology, we actually can't see the bigger picture. Is a space shuttle pilot likely to be a visionary leader in space exploration? Maybe, but certainly not necessarily. Nick _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
