While the development and dissemination of the internet has granted nearly everyone with increased opportunity for direct participation in society, it has also provided the powers that be with yet another avenue in which they may strip us of it. In light of that, here are some of the wisest words on censorship to-date.
The Article: Why Even Radiologists Can Miss A Gorilla Hiding In Plain Sight by Alix Spiegel in NPR.
The Text: This story begins with a group of people who are expert at looking: the professional searchers known as radiologists.
“If you watch radiologists do what they do, [you’re] absolutely convinced that they are like superhuman,” says Trafton Drew, an attention researcher at Harvard Medical School.
About three years ago, Drew started visiting the dark, cavelike “reading rooms” where radiologists do their work. For hours he would stand watching them, in awe that they could so easily see in the images before them things that to Drew were simply invisible.
OK, so not that substantive but still–best FLOTUS.
In a 1954 letter to his brother Edgar, Dwight Eisenhower wrote, “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt, a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
My, how things have changed.
The year is 2013. Our first black president has been re-elected and, following in Ike’s footsteps, is also the first presidential candidate in 56 years to receive over 51% of the popular vote not once but twice. Nine states (and now even some prominent conservatives) have committed themselves to ensuring that all individuals–regardless of their sexual orientation–can marry whom they choose; women outnumber men in college classrooms, and nationwide healthcare coverage is finally on its way to becoming reality. In spite of America’s many flaws, if there is one thing to admire about the tarnished beacon, it’s its commitment to progress. And yet, as of this Friday, that is precisely what is at stake.
