Matt,

I am in entire agreement with you in that just because I have the ability to post on this message board very easily and with little thought (which I do on occasion, hey, I didn't say I was perfect) should not be an excuse to say something for the sake of speech. It is far to common in this day (and maybe in the past) to react in a way that is thoughtless and irresponsible to what we see and read without the benefit of thinking clearly and rationally about what was said. We read the news everyday that is printed by journalists that publish a story that is usually twisted to meet the demands of the editor (which in turn is motivated by the readership) that wants an exciting story that doesn't challenge your opinions and views. We want comfortable stories that are far away and pointless. Dead are the days of looking at an event or piece of writing objectively when politicians and political groups twist statistics and stories to fit their needs and only come out in public long enough to make a 10 second sound-bite.

Statesmen (of which there are none today) in the past would come out to town hall meetings unrehearsed and without the benefit of screened questions that eliminates any challenge to their positions. Politicians today cannot convince people with words and convictions so they wrap themselves in one large advertising campaign that is nothing but an illusion covering up their weakness. I cannot totally blame politicians today because we (the people) allow this to happen. Instead of insisting on candidates that are forthcoming and intelligent leaders we pick the one with the best advertising.

I know that this is wandering away from your original post but I think these problems of communication, critical thinking and evaluation, and technology are intertwined and are most manifest in today's government.

To go back to the original post, I have to disagree with Thoreau in that we are not creating new means for the sake of making something new. Following that logic we would still be hand clearing fields and tilling soil with sticks instead of using plows and, today, modern farming equipment. Without these developments we, as humankind, would not have had the luxury of free time to produce the literature and thought that you pity the death of. I do not mean to say, however, that all innovations save time or contribute to great thought.

I shudder when I look back at my education as a free man and wonder what I was being educated about. Sure, any education is somewhat better than no education but in a free society that prides itself on freedom, creativity, and liberty our education is sorely lacking in educating our children on the history of liberty and ignores the foundations of democracy and liberty because they originate in Greece and that would be exclusive of other civilizations (and hence, politically incorrect). We cannot learn of the American founding fathers without understanding that they were reading Greek and Latin texts that spoke of freedom, democracy, and liberty and understanding that, as they say, "Similar circumstances produce similar results."

Now that I have entirely hijacked the thread, thank you for opening it for discussion.