- John McCain Can't Read This Column
- Questions for McCain
Some questions and concerns for you, Senator McCain:
- If you're not online, you certainly can't understand Net neutrality or why Comcast could be at fault for allegedly blocking certain kinds of traffic.
- If you're not online, Senator McCain, how can you truly understand the multitude of threats that face our children?
- If you're not using a computer, how can you understand the devastating effect of spyware to individuals, businesses, organizations, and even nations?
- If you're not reading e-mail, how can you understand the way millions of people spend their days and nights?
- If you're not using a computer, how will you understand the role computers play in energy consumption and, potentially, conservation?
McCain's opponent in the upcoming Presidential election, Democratic challenger Barack Obama, is known to be a BlackBerry addict (as is former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton). McCain is familiar with BlackBerrys because everyone around him has one, but he remains in the cone of technology silence. No smart devices, no e-mail, no problem.
This isn't all McCain's fault. Congress has a history of techno-illiteracy and of finding ways of making fun of those who are interested in or do get technology. People often make light of Al Gore's assertion that he played a pivotal role in the creation of the Internet. Perhaps he overstated the point, but at least way back in the early '90s he could answer the question, "What's the Internet?" I wonder how John McCain would have responded back then.
There are probably enough people in this country that aren't comfortable with technology to give McCain a pass on this one. But he won't get one from me. Whoever is running this country and dealing with our global, digitally connected economy, the network of Internet-connected terrorist organizations, and the legions of increasingly techno-savvy third-world nations had better eat, drink, and sleep technology.
I don't know if that's Obama, either, but it's clear from McCain's own words that it certainly isn't him.
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