The Catholic Monitor

From Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains: "There’s nothing wrong with absorbing information quickly and in bits and pieces. We’ve always skimmed newspapers more than we’ve read them, and we routinely run our eyes over books and magazines to get the gist of a piece of writing and decide whether it warrants more thorough reading. The ability to scan and browse is as important as the ability to read deeply and think attentively. The problem is that skimming is becoming our dominant mode of thought. Once a means to an end, a way to identify information for further study, it’s becoming an end in itself—our preferred method of both learning and analysis. Dazzled by the Net’s treasures, we are blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture. "What we’re experiencing is, in a metaphorical sense, a reversal of the early trajectory of civilization: We are evolving from cultivators of personal knowledge into

The 2004 Democratic National Convention was most remembered for a young, energetic senator the likes of the American people had not seen since Bobby Kennedy. With his DNC presentation, Barack Obama was launched into the national spotlight, lauded for his populist-themed speech that became universally described as “articulate”. More importantly, Obama was bringing a new style of rhetoric to the political table that ultimately set the stage for the 2006 elections and his current presidential campaign. Anyone unsure of his political record was still aware of his staunch criticism of the Iraq War. From this national appearance he filled a political void by connecting with the growing anti-Iraq-war movement. But in more recent speeches, Obama has clarified his pro-interventionist intentions. Although Barack Obama is described as a liberal Democrat, his message on foreign policy has been subject to question. Obama criticizes the handling of the Iraq war, but continues to promote an inter