Elie Wiesel makes a distinction between "information" and "knowledge."6 Information is data; it is devoid of an ethical component; it is neutral. Knowledge is a higher form of information. Knowledge is information that had been internalized and given a moral dimension.
- At a minimum, The Times' failure -- whether concerning clinton endorsements, or classified leaks or the Holocaust -- is a failure to make this distinction. More likely though, it is a failure that is not nearly so benign.
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WAR AND TREASON AND THE NEW YORK TIMES by Mia T, December 29, 2005
This distinction was presciently if implicitly made by Woody Allen in 1971 in the opening scene of Bananas. As The New York Times, itself, describes it:
- It opens with Howard Cosell and the staff of A.B.C.'s Wide World of Sports enthusiastically covering the Assassination of the Week, that of the President of the Latin-American republic of San Marcos, whose expiration, on cue, highlights the week of festivities begun with the sacking of the United States Embassy.
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Woody Allen Leads a 'Bananas' Revolution By VINCENT CANBY The New York Times Published: April 29, 1971
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