No matter the context, what he said was stupid.

He could have easily warned of the downside of technology without attacking US companies and alluding to his desire to limit our flow of information.

You guys may think his words are harmless but you can clearly see by reading this thread that many people did not hear the same harmless message.

Quick, if you interpret it differently, fine, but defining prep school vocabulary words and implying we are missing the point is simply condescending.

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#1 If you feel what he said was stupid then that's your right to think it.

#2 Attacking US companies? If you feel he attacked them you have a right
to believe that also. I don't for a minute believe he was attacking American companies.
I believe he was banging the heads of people who use those popular products
we all identify with in order to make a point about allowing those products to control
our lives to the extent that we get nothing beneficial done with our lives.

#3 Mr. Obama "alluded his desire to limit our flow of information"?
That's where the problem with comments like this comes in. I guess you
must believe the Prezz has some conspiracy up his sleeve delivered
in a commencement speech at a college to all Americans.
If you believe that then I'm ready to learn about this conspiracy based on factual evidence. Honestly I just couldn't find it.

Finally if you personally felt that my defining prep school vocabulary words and
implying we are missing the point is simply condescending then I'm sorry
you took it personally. I Don't remember quoting you in my comments.
Be that as it may I stand by my remarks regarding "hyperbole".
It's done all the time by speech writers in order to make a point.

But I'm sure the companies he mentioned will come out fighting
back to defend themselves against this vicious attack..... and
maybe even sue him for slander.

Oh I almost forgot: You want condescending??
I believe characterizing someones comments as "stupid" is about as condescending as one can get..
If you want to impugn someone's intelligence, the options are almost limitless but in the case of
Mr. Obama I don't believe he meets that definition regarding his comments
on this subject.

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"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

Translation: You're right Ron, but I'm not going to come right out and admit it, this way I can deny it later on if it suits me, just like when I'm boxed into a corner defending everything Obama says/does I still say "hey, I didn't vote for him"

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You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

Didn't you just say a few posts up that you don't take it personally? You sure seem to be taking any negative comments about him personally. It took you a grand total of 2 posts to contradict yourself, that might be a new record.

Good job

__________________
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

Translation: Yep your right Barry I need to assume what you said,
because I just can't come right out and admit when I'm wrong about
what I believe I think you mean, because I have no idea what I personally
think to begin with.............:ro fl:

__________________
"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

I'm glad you're laughing at the end of that post because it's so wildly ridiculous that it's impossible to take seriously.

But back to the original topic:

Obama was a huge fan of email, facebook, myspace, twitter, and every other form of social networking that was delivered via electronic means while he was running for President, yet now it's a distraction and users need to think more critically of the information that they received via these methods?

Pretty ironic that he thinks that NOW and not during his campaign, but then again, it was the non-critical thinking sheeple that got him elected so it is understandable.


Revenge of the Nerds V: Techies Take on Obama!
A day after President Obama’s rant against high-tech gizmos like the iPads and iPods, geeks fought back with a fusillade of online blasts at the BlackBerry-buff-in-chief for dissing their toys.
Obama’s Sunday convocation speech at Hampton University in Virginia — where he called out digital devices and blogs for being a “distraction” and putting “new pressure on our country and on our democracy” — hit the techie world like a computer virus.
Fuming bloggers blasted Obama’s advice as misguided, and accused him of being hypocritical for rapping the very tools that helped get him elected.

AP
Steve Jobs

UPI
President Barack Obama.

“Telling the next generation to turn off their information appliances and to disengage from their knowledge flows is doing them a disservice,” Kevin Gamble wrote on HighTouch.
“We can only hope those young people ... were busy reading their feeds on their smart phones, and that they filtered out the president’s bad advice.” Stowe Boyd, a social-media blogger, couldn’t figure out why Obama would pick technology, of all things, to tee off on.
“We have a world in chaos — ecological mess, wars, a wounded economy, unemployment — and he decides to warn college seniors about overuse of shiny mobile devices?” he wrote on his blog, Stowe Boyd and the /Messengers.
In his speech, Obama warned that “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.”
The White House yesterday explained yesterday that “the president’s point was that technology offers this generation limitless opportunities and it is up to the individual if he or she will use these advancements simply for entertainment or as tools of empowerment that, when combined with their educations, will keep America at the forefront of technological advancement in the 21st century.”
Obama’s words of warning on the popular gadgets and social media surprised many, especially in light of his successful use of online tools in the 2008 election.
The then-presidential candidate tapped into Facebook and MySpace to attract supporters, and, as president, Obama has boosted the White House’s online presence with Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. At the Apple Store in the Meatpacking District, many customers wondered why Obama’s love affair with technology had cooled. “I guess he doesn’t want to get re-elected,” joked Jodi Sholinsky, 46 of Manhattan.


Read more: iMad at Obama - NYPOST.com

__________________
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

I heard that Obama had a lot more to say on the proper use of technology during his address, but he had to cut the speech short when the teleprompters broke... - Craig Ferguson

__________________
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

congratulations.......You got the point
Now if you can just apply that thinking to the
mis-characterized, mis-information regarding
Obama's comments you'll be home free....

__________________
"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

__________________
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