Sunday, June 15, 2008

Educate ~ Don't Regulate

The man who has the art of arousing the witch-hunting instincts of the mob has a quite peculiar power for evil in a democracy where the habit of the exercise of power by the majority has produced that intoxication and impulse to tyranny which the exercise of authority almost invariably produces sooner or later. Against this danger the chief protection is a sound education designed to combat the tendency to irrational eruptions of collective hate.
Thomas Paine

Yesterday I felt alone as I attempted to mount a defense against a gathering mob of parents crying out for regulation of social networking sites and video games. The scene was a neighborhood graduation party. What saddened me the most was the fact that many of the loudest voices came from teachers and local school board members.

Not all that is digital is good.
Education not regulation is the answer.

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