April 3, 2009

The danger of realtime

From Ray Bradbury's And the Rock Cried Out:

"I remember once, when I lived in the Capital for a month and bought the paper fresh every day. I went wild with love, anger, irritation, frustration; all of the passion boiled in me. I was young, I exploded at everything I saw. But then I saw what I was doing: I was believing what I read. Have you noticed? You believe a paper printed on the same day you buy it? This has happened but only an hour ago, you think! It must be true. So I learned to stand back away and let the paper age and mellow. Back here, in Colonia, I saw the headlines diminish to nothing. The week-old paper -- why you can spit on it if you wish. It is like a woman you once loved, but now you see a few days later, she is not quite what you thought. She has rather a plain face. She is no deeper than a cup of water."

And the Rock Cried Out by Ray Bradbury at Google books
The quote is on P. 43

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