“We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Marshall McLuhan 416
Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor … 1911–1980

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“They are our tools. We fashioned them. We use them. It is our responsibility to remedy any flaws there may be in them.”

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Context: Do we refer to the purposes of the Charter? They are expressions of universally shared ideals which cannot fail us, though we, alas, often fail them. Or do we think of the institutions of the United Nations? They are our tools. We fashioned them. We use them. It is our responsibility to remedy any flaws there may be in them.... This is a difficult lesson for both idealists and realists, though for different reasons. I suppose that, just as the first temptation of the realist is the illusion of cynicism, so the first temptation of the idealist is the illusion of Utopia.

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