After watching Paul Ryan on one of the Sunday political shows dismissing as a left-wing attack his own words from a couple of years ago on the need to properly vet bills before approving them, I started to think about the way our record of what we say and the means we enable things to be said are becoming messed up. So now, what I said last year on a topic has no relevance this year, if I say so, might be typical political discourse but when politicians are so dismissive of their own words, how likely is it that they will pay any attention to ours?
Mr Ryan’s office, I am informed, turned off their phones and fax machines last week when irate citizens started calling in large numbers to express their views on the proposed health care bill. My own representative in my gerrymandered state was even cleverer. His phone lines immediately went to voice mail, and in a pretense at listening, asked me to leave a msg. Amazingly, I had 2 seconds, after which I was told my time was up. Huh? I barely got my name out. So I called again. Same thing. So I called several times in a row, each 2 second recording continuing where I left off from the last one. Was Representative Williams listening? Of course not, but he could say he was. This is what technology has enabled. Fakery, chicanery and pretense, wrapped up in a advertising bubble of family values. Yeah, technology has made us smarter, right?