Proud of Being Ignorant

This "telephone" has too many shortcomings 

to be seriously considered as a means of communication. 

The device is inherently of no value to us.

--Western Union memo sent to Alexander Graham Bell

Heh. Thought of that when I saw this comment Obama made at Hampton is drawing fire:

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 Wire has a few good reacs. For my part, I think it's a bad idea to brag about your lack of knowledge of any of these things. There's nothing inherently more threatening about an X-Box than the movie theater. But this just feels like the kind of faux-fogiesm that Obama engages in from time to time, particularly when he's talking to black people. It just doesn't seem serious (wasn't Reggie Love updating Obama's iPod on the campaign trail?) and knee-jerk. The iPad inclusion is just bizarre, and comes across as really ignorant. Why not throw the blackberry in there, too.

Too much should not be made of this, but this "video games are ruining our kids" always strikes me as little more than snobbery. Or put differently, "I don't understand it, so I'll denigrate it." There are no good old days.