I had the great pleasure of watching my daughter graduate from Dickinson College a few weeks ago (I could say much more about the emotional and financial aspects of this milestone). The commencement speaker was Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek magazine and Pulitzer Prize-winning author — one of the most insightful, humorous and articulate speakers I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. Just one section of his speech gave me pause:
“Technology … has created the means by which voices, often anonymous, can be heard saying things they would not be brave enough to say with their lips. With power comes responsibility. But too often the Internet has divorced the two. Now anyone can say anything with impunity. … May your generation be the one to stand up to reflexive extremism and on-line hyperbole … and say enough — this will not stand”.
