Comments on: God, Google and Mr. Jefferson http://likethedew.com/2009/12/04/god-google-and-mr-jefferson/ A journal of progressive Southern culture and politics Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:47:53 +0000 hourly 1 By: TM Copeland http://likethedew.com/2009/12/04/god-google-and-mr-jefferson/comment-page-1/#comment-7390 TM Copeland Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:58:25 +0000 http://likethedew.com/?p=6907#comment-7390 Jim Smith, If by "at home" you mean where Jefferson felt most comfortable, I am not sure such a place ever existed. He was, however, very effective in a variety of different environments. He was effective in European diplomacy, colonial governments, Congress, and the presidency, but if one believes what he wrote then he was never comfortable in any of them. Perhaps the restlessness of his mind was the element that allowed him to contemplate boundless, timeless issues and is what makes him relevant today and will make him relevant for many tomorrows to come. As to "tweets" and twitters," that is a fair criticism as far as it goes but it ignores forums like this one where there is an almost unlimited ability to discuss and debate. The internet and its various outlets provide access to propounders and readers to carry on at great length. I suspect Jefferson would have loved it. Jim Smith,

If by “at home” you mean where Jefferson felt most comfortable, I am not sure such a place ever existed. He was, however, very effective in a variety of different environments. He was effective in European diplomacy, colonial governments, Congress, and the presidency, but if one believes what he wrote then he was never comfortable in any of them.

Perhaps the restlessness of his mind was the element that allowed him to contemplate boundless, timeless issues and is what makes him relevant today and will make him relevant for many tomorrows to come.

As to “tweets” and twitters,” that is a fair criticism as far as it goes but it ignores forums like this one where there is an almost unlimited ability to discuss and debate. The internet and its various outlets provide access to propounders and readers to carry on at great length. I suspect Jefferson would have loved it.

]]> By: Jim Smith http://likethedew.com/2009/12/04/god-google-and-mr-jefferson/comment-page-1/#comment-7387 Jim Smith Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:22:13 +0000 http://likethedew.com/?p=6907#comment-7387 Mike, I'm a little rusty on my Jefferson, but didn't his thinking seem more at home in a time when you could mentally chew over one of the dialogues of Plato while you plowed the back forty, having stopped to have a good smoke and a side of ham at lunchtime? Not that Jefferson's ideals don't transcend the man and his time, but free speech was in theory, well considered and deliberate speech rather than twitters (or is it tweets? damn, I can never recall) raining through cyberspace like a cosmic firestorm. Not that all speech was civil or reasonable back in the 18th century. I'm sure that the Rosetta Stone and the world library will come to pass, while I work on my Spanish at the Mac drive thru and wait for the local branch to open so I can get a card. Don't mind me - I thoroughly enjoy your postings and find your writing brilliant. Mike, I’m a little rusty on my Jefferson, but didn’t his thinking seem more at home in a time when you could mentally chew over one of the dialogues of Plato while you plowed the back forty, having stopped to have a good smoke and a side of ham at lunchtime? Not that Jefferson’s ideals don’t transcend the man and his time, but free speech was in theory, well considered and deliberate speech rather than twitters (or is it tweets? damn, I can never recall) raining through cyberspace like a cosmic firestorm. Not that all speech was civil or reasonable back in the 18th century.

I’m sure that the Rosetta Stone and the world library will come to pass, while I work on my Spanish at the Mac drive thru and wait for the local branch to open so I can get a card.

Don’t mind me – I thoroughly enjoy your postings and find your writing brilliant.

]]> By: Mike Copeland http://likethedew.com/2009/12/04/god-google-and-mr-jefferson/comment-page-1/#comment-7382 Mike Copeland Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:24:41 +0000 http://likethedew.com/?p=6907#comment-7382 One stands in awe how completely relevant the ideas of Thomas Jefferson remain. As the ideas he espoused are at the heart of humanity and our ability to pursue happiness, I suppose, as long as there are humans, they will always be relevant. One stands in awe how completely relevant the ideas of Thomas Jefferson remain. As the ideas he espoused are at the heart of humanity and our ability to pursue happiness, I suppose, as long as there are humans, they will always be relevant.

]]> By: Doug Cumming http://likethedew.com/2009/12/04/god-google-and-mr-jefferson/comment-page-1/#comment-7376 Doug Cumming Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:25:15 +0000 http://likethedew.com/?p=6907#comment-7376 Heavy stuff, for a Saturday morning before coffee. Your taking Google vs. linguistic differences as a metaphor recalls a 1992 book, Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World. Or, “How the world seems to be falling apart and coming together at the same time.” It was by a Rutgers professor whose books all attempt to update Jefferson on various fronts. That book didn’t get the attention it deserved. You too could develop your ideas here into a book. But it’s hard to know where we should stand in this struggle. Even God Himself seems to be on both sides at once, a universalizing All who presents Himself only in the particular, the tribal, and the untranslatable (taking the fun out of fundamentalism). Back to my coffee. Heavy stuff, for a Saturday morning before coffee. Your taking Google vs. linguistic differences as a metaphor recalls a 1992 book, Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World. Or, “How the world seems to be falling apart and coming together at the same time.” It was by a Rutgers professor whose books all attempt to update Jefferson on various fronts. That book didn’t get the attention it deserved. You too could develop your ideas here into a book. But it’s hard to know where we should stand in this struggle. Even God Himself seems to be on both sides at once, a universalizing All who presents Himself only in the particular, the tribal, and the untranslatable (taking the fun out of fundamentalism). Back to my coffee.

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