And If You Did Know?

I just read an article on Common Cause by Jon Else called: “The Museum of Attempted Suicide” about nuclear weapons. I found myself remembering the silliness of “Duck and Cover” from my childhood. I remember at the time thinking that it would be awful to go through something like that. I kept thinking I wanted to go with the first blast because I did not want to be alive after the blast.

As I read the article I saw that the numbers of weapons we have is astounding. We had 30,000 in 1966 and have been producing many more since. For what? Upon whom will we use these? Using them will contaminate the earth for centuries. Then Jon Else spoke with eloquence about a safe that was filled with money, bond, stocks, and gold. It had been in a city built to see how a bomb, called Priscilla, would affect everything. Everything in the constructed city was destroyed except the safe. All of the contents were “safe”. Of course they could have looked at Hiroshima to see that many safes were standing in the rubble after the explosion there. But who wants to use other people’s data?

The article goes on to talk about who would be able to use the contents of the safe once the human race was destroyed. He further spoke of the concrete bunkers that have been constructed to house the leaders so that they will be safe. I was struck by one very interesting thought—We are going to save the ones who brought this on in the first place? How ironic. Would it not be more intelligent to put young people who could re-establish the human race in these bunkers? And even more importantly people who were opposed to this? At least that way it would not start again immediately. I will never understand war and the flimsy, stupid, and transparent reasons given for it.

I have been reading a great deal about the Patriot act since its introduction. Many have decried the Orwellian overtones and have been saying that it is the undoing of our Democracy. But I cannot help but wonder what the true purpose of the Act is. I have never been one for conspiracy theories. I do not think most of us have the intelligence or wit to pull one off. I think Chaos theory is much more likely to explain life. So I look at the Patriot Act and wonder—what is going on?

In thinking about this one thing that keeps coming up is that “Big Business” would just love to have much of the information that would be more readily available as a result of this act. They could have access to much more than they do now. They would know your most intimate secrets. They could then market more directly to you. After all the intelligence community does not really need this information. They have demonstrated time after time that they cannot keep track of the information that they have access to now. So why the Patriot Act? Perhaps it is just marketeers trying to get their greedy little hands on more specific personal information from each of us. Just a theory.

I am reading reports of the Orange Alert issued by Tom Ridge. As I read them I see that there are prespectives being represented. Some are saying that the alerts are from outdated information, some are saying it is a political move to show that the Republicans are wanting to keep the fear factor going so as to keep us willing to give up our freedoms, some are saying that it is politically motivated so that we do not mind protesters being arrested or barred from protesting. I know that the debate is like so many other debates, there are no easy answers. But the debate is important. Debate, while it can be sticky and messy, is one of the most important aspects of democracy. A lively debate is envigorating and helps keep opinions fresh and real. I think one of the biggest threats to democracy is that debate has been stopped far too often. As I watch C-Span I see that often the politicians do not listen to what others have to say. They speak for the cameras, not to each other. The actual debate goes on behind closed doors. As I watched the Democratic convention I saw that it was a love fest for Kerry. There was no debate, their were no dissenting opinions, there was a party to celebrate Kerry as the Chosen One. I saw one woman show some courage in challenging the lock-step opinions, and she was arrested. I know that it is difficult to listen to others without prejudice clouding our views, I also know that it is very important to develop one’s own opinion. I think it has always been difficult to know what the truth is, I also think it is important to find our own truth. As I read the opinions of the reporters and journalists I think is vital to my mental health to not just buy into a certain set of ideas and just go along with them. I love that I have this outlet to state my own opinions. I think the biggest threat to democracy today is people giving up and not being involved. I think the biggest reason for that is that it is so hard to sort out the actual truth from the opinions. But this has always been the case. We are such wonderful creatures, we fight and push and manipulate, but in the end it is everyone’s choice. Choice is one of the only absolutes. We all have the choice to believe whatever we wish. If you find that you follow someone else’s opinion without question, then you have made your choice—that is that you give it away. If you listen to others then make up your own mind–then you keep your own power. It is hard to know who to believe but it is vital to know what you think and believe. I believe that the only way to know that is to keep searching, listening, trusting your own instincts, and making up your own mind. The more someone tries to convince me of something the less likely I am to believe them.