I suppose we were still being fascinated by the possibilities of what computers would do some day back in 1992.

It hasn’t worked out too well, I can tell you.  My first impulse is to point out kids in school during down time in the building staring at their phones instead of having a good old fashioned conversation with their friends.  Oh, sure, there is still plenty of that too.  I suppose I am guilty here of what I heard a guy talking about social media wise.  He said folks are quick to complain and slow to compliment on social media.  I get that.

I just wish folks wouldn’t look at their phones while they are driving and I sometimes wish a kid three feet from another kid would stick their phone in their pocket and talk to their classmate.

I digress…back to 1992.

One thing about not feeling so well is I have a chance to sit on the couch to recuperate and mash through the TV channels.  I had an uncle in Shreveport who called the TV remote a “masher” as in mash the button to the next channel.  My uncle was confined to a wheelchair most of the time.  He needed a masher.

So I sit here and mash a bit.  I find ten minutes of this interesting and four seconds of that interesting and I keep mashing.  I came across a movie by Robert Redford called “Sneakers”.  We don’t have enough time to discuss all the intricacies of the plot here.  Bottom line is Redford and his merry men and one lady were trying to artfully acquire some computer info from the bad guy Ben Kingsley played.  Redford’s character and Kingsley’s character had been college pals who got into some trouble earlier in life.

Of course Redford gets the “black box” of info, just like he always gets the girl.

But what struck me was the final verbal back and forth between these two characters as Redford was trying to get away and Kingsley was trying to stop him.  This movie was made in 1992 and these folks were 26 years ahead of their time.  The exchange went like this as they were going back and forth over the device with Kingsley thinking he still possessed it :

Kingsley: “There’s a war out there old friend, a world war. And it’s not about whose got the most bullets.It’s about who controls the information. What we see.  What we hear.  How we work.  How we think.  It’s all about the information.” 

Redford: “If I were you I’d destroy that thing.”

I always liked Robert Redford.  He played a great Bob Woodward.  He played a Great Gatsby.

It was entertainment in 1992.  Well, we’re here now.

President Twitter.

CNN looking for every chance to pounce.

FOX NEWS sounding like the empowered “Pravda” of the United States for their President pal.

Russian meddling via the internet bots…whatever those things are.

The result is the finger pointing capitol of the world, wonder when all that started?

Press onward, I say.  And do it without so much tweeting.  We need to be better than that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson