Sound-Bite Scurvy

A dear friend told me he was, frankly, too lazy to read any report from the 9-11 Commission, so he thought airing out the testimonies in public was good for him. He only has time, he says, for sound-bites.

I mentioned a few people I considered to be stupid or foolish, but after I heard them at some length, and in context (such as in the 9-11 hearings I followed by satellite radio), I discovered that selected short-quotes could not accurately convey the actual breadth and depth of a public figure's thought. So, I submitted to my friend, that if he made his "Monumental Decisions" on how to vote, etc., based on edited and spun nibbles of information, his decisions are based on scraps from the table of knowledge. It takes time to feast and there is some discomfort later from being so full ... but decision making from a "starved" table of information is socio-political anorexia. It leads to "scrawny" policies, "skinny" political character, and a lot of skeletons scattered around the world.