A classic which has only become more relevant since its appearance.
Why is it that manifestos never cite their sources?
Some of these statements are amenable to fact-checking. Others are subject to common sense. Some are too vague to be clearly true or false, but if you replace the airy generalities with specific examples, they too resolve.
Fact to check: Only a tiny percent of the world's people are prospering. The United Nations says "The target of reducing extreme poverty rates by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline." Bonus: "The hunger reduction target is within reach by 2015."
Sure. Landline vs. iPhone. Cassette vs. mp3. Pliers vs. Novocain. Thatched roof vs. shingles. Copper vs. fiber. Ideas that make life better do tend to become popular. A good manifesto should describe problems, not wrap status quo truisms in pretty language.
Of course! We hate manual typewriters! Well, they're actually kind of cool and you can get them cheap if you care to. Horse-drawn carriages are rather inconvenient and messy too, but they do have a certain charm when you see them at tourist traps. Classic novels still have some die-hard readers, and they actually are free on Kindle. Bloodletting seems not to have maintained its fan base, however. Smallpox was inherited and free, and is indeed despised and past. Good riddance!
I like having a washing machine. Does it make me a hater if I prefer not to use a washboard like they did in the good ol' days?
Um, cyber war? The kind in which people don't get killed so much? Was the old kind of war much better? Did you hear that war is going out of style? Or is this about the national security apparatus? Instead of these poetic "debits and dangers" could you please state your meaning clearly?
In layman's words, spam and traffic suck.
Speak for yourself. I think it's long been recognized that double-edged swords are, well, you know.
From here the tone turns more toward "should" than "is."
Am I being too pedantic, hoping to base my ideas and opinions about the world on actual facts that obtain in the world, rather than slogans? Indeed, "the substitution of rhetoric for thought, always a temptation ... must be resisted ..."