If you're over 30 and if you've been reading and listening and watching the news for the last couple decades, you will have seen a steady stream of more of the same. The Republicans are being fussy with the budget, a country is being overthrown by a revolution, countries are considering boycotting a major world sporting event, terrorists have blown up something with a bomb, shooters have shot up a bunch of people, major weather and catastrophic natural events are wreaking havoc on areas of the globe, buildings are collapsing, workers are striking. New foods are found healthy and others are deemed unhealthy, diseases are disappearing and others emerging as epidemics, aide workers are helping to turn around third world countries, and medical advances are helping to treat diseases that before were death sentences, infant mortality is down, stress and sleep are found to be important to better or worse health. . .
Clearly I could continue ad naseum. The world news cycle is predictable after enough time. Same with local news stories: a police chase ends in a shooting, a murder-suicide is discovered in a condominium, children and dogs are left in a car and die, the New Year's Day baby is born, a tussle about religious symbols somewhere in the public arena ensues, the price of gas goes up and down, weather happens, the local sports team triumphs and falls, the mayor goes up against city hall,
It's the daily drone that you can do without. It's nice to be informed so you can vote and have opinions but reading magazines, in-dept analysis, books, and other media that avoids the fabricated hype is better than wasting your time daily over-newsing oneself. Getting the weather and local events when you need them from the internet (pulling rather than yielding to the push), and catching one round-up news show every few days, and following up on the interesting topics from your favorite sources is better than clicking on the 6:30 TV News everyday. Flipping on the news as you change clothes or do the dishes? No problem. But come ON! It's the same news as yesterday, yesteryear, and when you were a teenager. Time to move on.
Sitcoms, talk shows, video games, etc. -- same thing. After a couple decades (times will vary by the boredom toleration threshold of our individual intelligences), the stream of infotainment can be stemmed and ones attention and life-force can be applied to more novel and productive endeavors. Live, as it were.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
Syria and the Common American
As an exceptional country, i.e. as the worlds premier super power, one who has the financial and military support to act with its own volition, we are obligated to choose.
1. The issue is like any major geopolitical issue: super complex, existing in the chaotic and unpredictable environment of a multi-faceted connected globe. We have personal, economic, treaty and organizational, governmental and other types of connections, all of which provide their own pressure on decisions. The consequences of actions cannot be forecast a year out, say nothing of what ultimately could result decades hence, so pretending to know what is the best course of action is folly.
2. As an exceptional nation, what ARE our guiding principles? What's right? What's in it for US? Our global reputation, noting that the same decision labels us both true to our word (we act when we say we will) and an interventionist state, meddling in other's affairs? What do we do when those principles contradict each other?
As a regular American, trying to understand even the broad scope, immediate issues are time consuming. What evidence have I SEEN that tells me it was the government and not the rebels who used gas? How much do I trust the intelligence and government message versus what could be a ruse by the rebels to incite anti-(Syrian)government sentiment from America? What are the implications of different types of punitive actions? How do they jibe with my view of what I want for America? Again, I haven't even tried to predict the future eventualities of just one of those, when there are scores of different tacks we could take.
What's clear is there is no obvious rights or wrongs among the possible reasonable actions our nation could take. And how much muddier it gets when a person IS actually able to immerse themselves in the morass of historical president, regional history both ancient and recent, international law and convention, analysis if similar actions in many different scenarios that have played out over the last hundred years... Those simpletons who are holding their signs have almost as much "right" to their say as the Middle Eastern Policy Specialist within the governments of prominent states, professors of foreign policy at the world's premier universities, and the heads of state, themselves.
In the end, I go with the most underlying principal: I believe our country should act in the moment with our best knowledge, to be able to wake up the next day with no regrets, being able to say, "We did what we thought was best regardless of what anyone else thinks."
1. The issue is like any major geopolitical issue: super complex, existing in the chaotic and unpredictable environment of a multi-faceted connected globe. We have personal, economic, treaty and organizational, governmental and other types of connections, all of which provide their own pressure on decisions. The consequences of actions cannot be forecast a year out, say nothing of what ultimately could result decades hence, so pretending to know what is the best course of action is folly.
2. As an exceptional nation, what ARE our guiding principles? What's right? What's in it for US? Our global reputation, noting that the same decision labels us both true to our word (we act when we say we will) and an interventionist state, meddling in other's affairs? What do we do when those principles contradict each other?
As a regular American, trying to understand even the broad scope, immediate issues are time consuming. What evidence have I SEEN that tells me it was the government and not the rebels who used gas? How much do I trust the intelligence and government message versus what could be a ruse by the rebels to incite anti-(Syrian)government sentiment from America? What are the implications of different types of punitive actions? How do they jibe with my view of what I want for America? Again, I haven't even tried to predict the future eventualities of just one of those, when there are scores of different tacks we could take.
What's clear is there is no obvious rights or wrongs among the possible reasonable actions our nation could take. And how much muddier it gets when a person IS actually able to immerse themselves in the morass of historical president, regional history both ancient and recent, international law and convention, analysis if similar actions in many different scenarios that have played out over the last hundred years... Those simpletons who are holding their signs have almost as much "right" to their say as the Middle Eastern Policy Specialist within the governments of prominent states, professors of foreign policy at the world's premier universities, and the heads of state, themselves.
In the end, I go with the most underlying principal: I believe our country should act in the moment with our best knowledge, to be able to wake up the next day with no regrets, being able to say, "We did what we thought was best regardless of what anyone else thinks."
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