Journal Himring's Journal: Al Gore & The Internet
Having a major in English lit and having studied linguistics, semantics and all that shit that I don't use to make a living now, and doing my best to be objective (read my journal), I must say that this issue of Al Gore's famous words regarding the Internet continues to fascinate me.
The mere fact that people defend, vehemently, what he said reveals to me that there's something to it. I.e., "me thinks he doeth protest too much," as one of Shakespeare's characters put it. Which means, the fact that there's all this buzz -- that we can't even discuss the Internet's history without 90% of that discussion going toward Gore -- tells me that surely there's "something rotten in the state of Denmark" (ugh, I'm wearing out the Shakespeare quotes).
1st and foremost, Gore did indeed contribute, perhaps more than any other in his day, to the Internet's development. Now, that means, as a government representative he did what his position could do and did more than any other.
So, did Gore tell the truth? Yes, there was truth in what he said (there's also truth in a joke, a lie, a heresy, and indeed in the truth itself), did his political opponents use his famous words to smear him? Yes. Did they find a weakness and exploit it? Yes. All of this is true.
As I see it, he was speaking the truth regarding some factual happenings, but he was also self-aggrandizing and exaggerating, and that's what bit him in the ass. He broke a cardinal rule of politics and he knew better, so no one should feel sorry for him or, really, defend him any longer (please, let's let this die). Always let your political enemies bury themselves when wounded. Always let your political friends defend you when possible, and always, ALWAYS, let your political friends puff your record. You should come across as humble, kind, gracious, etc. Gore puffed himself for himself all by himself and it cost him greatly. Good job in this thread on explaining the "truth" of the matter, but live with the fact that he screwed the political pooch otherwise....
The mere fact that people defend, vehemently, what he said reveals to me that there's something to it. I.e., "me thinks he doeth protest too much," as one of Shakespeare's characters put it. Which means, the fact that there's all this buzz -- that we can't even discuss the Internet's history without 90% of that discussion going toward Gore -- tells me that surely there's "something rotten in the state of Denmark" (ugh, I'm wearing out the Shakespeare quotes).
1st and foremost, Gore did indeed contribute, perhaps more than any other in his day, to the Internet's development. Now, that means, as a government representative he did what his position could do and did more than any other.
So, did Gore tell the truth? Yes, there was truth in what he said (there's also truth in a joke, a lie, a heresy, and indeed in the truth itself), did his political opponents use his famous words to smear him? Yes. Did they find a weakness and exploit it? Yes. All of this is true.
As I see it, he was speaking the truth regarding some factual happenings, but he was also self-aggrandizing and exaggerating, and that's what bit him in the ass. He broke a cardinal rule of politics and he knew better, so no one should feel sorry for him or, really, defend him any longer (please, let's let this die). Always let your political enemies bury themselves when wounded. Always let your political friends defend you when possible, and always, ALWAYS, let your political friends puff your record. You should come across as humble, kind, gracious, etc. Gore puffed himself for himself all by himself and it cost him greatly. Good job in this thread on explaining the "truth" of the matter, but live with the fact that he screwed the political pooch otherwise....
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Al Gore & The Internet
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