In today’s world, very few people are not in someway effected by the internet. The internet allows us to communicate with people all across the world. New laws are going to be passed or at least attempt to be passed. New federal judges, some perhaps Supreme Court judges are going to rule on internet laws which will have a profound ripple effect across our future. And perhaps even taxes and levies will be applied where currently none exist. We face a choice of two men, one who at least uses and understands the fundamentals of this tool and another who apparently can’t be bothered to learn the techonology that drives the world today.
Why McCain’s Internet Ignorance Matters
Just to refresh your memory about what McSame said earlier this month…..
As McCain told the New York Times earlier this month, “he had not mastered how to use the Internet and relied on his wife and aides like Mark Salter, a senior adviser, and Brooke Buchanan, his press secretary, to get him online to read newspapers (though he prefers reading those the old-fashioned way) and political Web sites and blogs.” “They go on for me,” he told the Times. “I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.” He also doesn’t use a Blackberry or e-mail, saying “I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail.”
I quote this because it is highly likely McSame will deny ever saying it.
Instead, McCain’s ignorance of the operations of the Internet today, I believe, says more about the candidate’s intellectual curiosity than it does about his technical prowess. While he should be commended for recognizing where he lacks sufficient knowledge, I’m much more concerned about how, as the Internet changed everything over the last decade, John McCain never sat down and said to himself, “I should really figure this stuff out for myself. This crazy Internet thing is going to be big and I need to understand it.” In an information age, we should demand candidates and elected officials who at least seek out information about the tools and systems changing our world.
The Internet in the last decade has broken down borders in diplomacy and commerce, in education and business, in the military and religion. It’s the primary source for news and information for the Millenials, the largest generation the United States has ever seen. It’s an increasingly important part of business and a source for everything from groceries to dates to DVDs.
I couldn’t have said it better….well, maybe…but this is good enough (har,har). No seriously…..it may come down to do we want a POTUS that will most likely try to tax and regulate the Internet like McSame is most likely to do? Or do we want a candidate who understands the internet and what an important tool it has become.
On blogs, message boards, and e-mail lists, McCain’s seeming inability to connect with the online generation is quickly becoming a proxy issue about his age—is he so old and so out of touch that he doesn’t understand the reality of today’s world? Couple this tech ignorance with McCain’s admissions about how he’s not strong on economic issues and one is left to wonder whether he has the right stuff to lead in the digital age.
What kind of president would he be in a world where just as much commerce travels over fiber optics as over interstate highways? What kind of president would he be in a world where, for the first time this year, there are now more users of the Internet in China than in the United States? What kind of president will he be in a world where the greatest force for Iranian democracy today is its thriving Persian blog community?
The answer is: We don’t know.
There are a lot of very important issues that we face. Security and Technology may appear to be two separate issues on the surface. But the truth is that the internet is a perfect tool for terrorists to use either for communication, money transfer and possibly future attacks.
How can anyone say that McSame would be a better POTUS on National Security if he doesn’t understand the complexities that his very advisors are trying to communicate to him. Is it the best choice to elect a man who is not only out of touch with his own generation in his knowledge of technololgy but is totally out of touch with the technology used by our kids, the future generations of Americans?
McSame jokingly laughs he will leave techonology to the Vice President. Does that mean he will leave the final decision about how to handle an on-line terrorist attack to his VP choice?
No, McCain is certainly not the best candidate for National security if he doesn’t understand technology. All new equipment uses new techonolgy. Everything new primarily depends on new techonology. It would like putting John Wayne up against Luke Skywalker when it comes to fire power. Sorry but the Duke’s 6 gun wouldn’t begin to cut it against Luke’s light saber.
But that’s what we would be getting with McSame…a John Wayne mentality trying to wage a 21st century military campaign with 1950’s tactics and techonology.
All I know, is we have had 8 years of a POTUS who has been seen as the village idiot all around the world. Do we really need to be seen as the country that elected the old geezer because we were afraid?
Update:McCain Continues To Struggle With Internet Traditions
In an attempt to appear internet savvy, the Republican National Committee has launched “BarackBook,” a terrible parody of Facebook that some dweeb in the McCain campaign probably thinks is just the bee’s knees in political humor, but actually only helps to point out how out-of-sorts the candidate is with the web.
I really can only encourage people to go and gawk at this scintillatingly dumb idea.
This is just more lies and deceptions. I guess since I don’t use facebook, I don’t get the joke….read on!
So, hey, it’s funny because this is not how Facebook actually works! But it reaches a new level of hilarity once you see the ways in which BarackBook actually does function correctly. TNR’s Christopher Orr points out that “BarackBook” is actually tied to a functioning Facebook application, and, as you might expect, it’s currently being overrun by Democrats. Topics of discussion include: “Leaders lead, this just sucks,” and “Steve Schmidt = the love child of a three-way trist between Lee Atwater, Mark Penn, and Karl Rove.”
Another thing I find to be amazingly hilarious is that BarackBook’s “satiric” FriendFeed actually comes with an RSS feed! That means you can import all of the McCain campaign’s stupid jokes into your RSS reader.
I did get the last part about this DELIBERATE DISINFORMATION getting into RSS feeds so they can spread thier lies and propagande throughout the world masquerading as news.
Maybe McSame doesn’t understand the internet but his subversive cronies sure do!
I can see it know…. testifying before Congress….
Your honor…I had no idea what they were up to…..I don’t understand a thing about the internet!
PART 2….later that day…..
Online threats materializing faster, study shows
The bad guys on the Internet are narrowing the time frame they need to unleash computer attacks that take advantage of publicly disclosed security holes, new research shows.
More and more of these attacks are coming within 24 hours after a vulnerability is disclosed. That means security flaws are being exploited in Web browsers, computer operating systems and other programs before many people even have had time to learn there’s a problem, according to IBM Corp.’s latest Internet Security Systems X-Force report.
So McSame’s incompetence or ignorance with the internet and technology actually makes him the candidate for POTUS that makes us the LEAST SAFE and not the most safe. All McSame’s so-called experience is outdated and an actual liability as Commander in Chief.
America needs a POTUS who has his finger on the pulse of America….not someone who is busy checking his own pulse.
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