Open Source Democracy

The reading this week again proved to be a little bit wordy. However, I found one point as I was reading that caught my attention and made me think. On page 29 of “Open Source Democracy Chapter 3” Rushkoff says “Channel surfing and similar behavior became equated with a very real but variously diagnosed childhood illness called Attention Deficit Disorder. Children who refused to pay attention were (much too quickly) drugged with addictive amphetamines before the real reasons for their adaptation to the onslaught of commercial messages were even considered”. I’m not entirely sure how Rushkoff meant this statement but for me I was a little offended by his approach to Attention Deficit Disorder. I have a couple close family members who suffer from severe ADD and I don’t think it should be taken so lightly. It is a disorder that needs to be treated with medication. The medication that my family member’s take is life saving to them! It really helps them to stay focused. The way Rushkoff put it by saying that they were “drugged” before the “real reasons for their adaptation” just kind of struck me the wrong way. There are hundreds of organizations dedicated to providing help and hope to those with ADD and I really wish Rushkoff would have considered looking into this before he made such a brash statement. He might not even have meant it that way but he should think before he writes something. He is kind of like my roommate in that sense. She is very politically opinionated which is great, more power to ya! However, I tend not to always agree with everything she says and she can be extremely rude with her comments at times. If she doesn’t know what I believe or how a feel about an issue, then she shouldn’t be so voiced about it in front of me or at least be a little less blunt with her comments. Some of them have left me feeling very hurt and angry and I don’t think I should have to live in a situation like that. Anyways, the point of this blog is that sometimes the things authors write can be offensive and that you have to go into reading everything possibly with a very open mind.