" Lets All Get Distracted!"

There is a phrase that says, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing", and there is some truth in that statement. If we only know a small amount about any subject or problem, we can make spurious conclusions, limited information is a bad thing. If you go to the library of any large city, you will be amazed at the vast quantity of books they hold; floor after floor, bookcase after bookcase. A virtual plethora of accumulated knowledge; more valuable than gold our possession of ideas in books is a great treasure we need to protect. This is all part of our freedom of speech, the free exchange of thought. This should never be limited in our free society!

April 6, 1933 is a very interesting date in history. On that day the German Student Association sponsored "Sauberung", a purge, a "cleansing by fire". They described it as an action against "un-German" spirit; a literary purge. It was a purge against "Jewish Intellectualism", against ideas and philosophy that was in conflict to the "New Germany". Some of the authors on the students list to be burned were Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hemingway, and Jack London. You can find more names with some research; the list is too long to fully display, but it is very disturbing.

Last week President Obama spoke at Hampton University's commencement ceremony. During the course of the speech, the President made a statement I found to be quite disturbing. It was a reference to the students about technology and its dangers. He said "..information becomes a distraction and a diversion..". Why would information ever be a distraction? Isn't information the root of informed decision making? Why would information be a diversion, unless it took the seeker away from the pool of ideas that may disagree with an agenda which one doesn't want questioned?!

I listened to the speech in its entirety. Parts of it were the usual commencement rhetoric about success, and part of it was a warning about listening to points of view that he wasn't happy with. When we start to say that information can be a distraction, we are not far from saying information is something we need not concern ourselves with, it is unnecessary. I'm of the mind that we need as much information as possible on all issues; granted all information needs to be sifted for truth and intent. Don't stop examining all sides of every argument or every issue; it is the only way to find the truth. Let us not become a nation that manages information, that's only a step away from "Sauberung"!