The past is full of misdeeds. What of the future?

When I worked in competitions in Canada, we had a “Facimilie Furnace”. The law indicated that every competition had to have the right for a consumer to send a facimile label rather than a real one (proof of purchase) to enter. The facimile furnace sorted that out.

In our electronic nightmare, sorting out the real from the facimile becomes harder and harder. And who is to judge? Scientologists can now not amend Wiki entries. Journalists are practicing religious “sensetivities” out of respect-read fear.

This is why there can be no death of the printed word. We need to be able to have physical reference points in the face of the the information age’s electronic quicksand. In Orwells 1984, Winston comes across a printed entry which disputes the “history” he has in front of him. It is destroyed. Hitler tried the same. What electronic Stalin or Pol Pot will try the same in our time, even in the daily news websites?

Hang onto your Brittanicas, your newspapers and books. They may even reflect accurate history. Without which we will not understand the future.

Geoff Holt