Say What You Mean!

Conflate. There’s a word in popular use lately, although I’m not exactly sure its utterers are aware of its ambiguity.

“I think you’re conflating the issues.”

Wait, did you mean confuse, combine, or commingle? What about blend, mix, or merge? It seems that by using conflate as some sort of derision, the user attempts to avoid their exact thought because it might hurt someone’s feelings. It doesn’t quite sound as bad as confuse or mix(up). Worse, they won’t use more exacting verbiage because it potentially demeans themselves.

“I am confused.”

Yes, we all are.

Before conflate became popular, I was quite all right with confused. And what happened to combine or commingle?

“I think you’re blending the issues.”

Why yes, I did. I take it this is a problem?

“Yes.”

Then say so!

“Well, you don’t like the word conflate so…”

Exactly, but I was not confused when I combined the issues.

“But… “

This is the state of our expressionism: We can’t say what we mean without suffering some sort of consequence. In other words, we’ve collectively and voluntarily become a neutered society of miscommunicators.

C’est la mort. 

Now, after some inevitable ad hominem heckling, on to a more depressing rant sure to make you close this window…

The Death of Objective Journalism

Well, it isn’t quite dead, is it. Almost dead, maybe. Or perhaps one could parse what I mean by “dead” or death in the first place. Let’s call it the death of respectable journalism. No, wait. There’s still some of that out there, it’s just that it’s died off to the point of being rarer than a quality mullet haircut. When you do see it, you look the other way. No point in rambling on about the state of that; let’s get to the meat.

Social Media. Many of us knew long ago that the dawn of the Information Age also brought with it the Misinformation Age. Fake news has been around forever, and it that’s because it works. No, I’m not going into the footworn canyons of atheists’ arguments—that’s not me—but society has in fact been the victim of untruths, half-truths, cons, ruses, conspiracies and other grand-scale nonsense since the first monolith landed and the apes stood up. Wait … never mind that last bit.

My point is, we’ve been played and continue to be played like David Oikstrakh’s violin. Don’t know him? Okay, maybe I should have used a recent celebrity. Itzhak Perlman? No? How about Joe Bonamassa’s guitar? Surely you’ve heard of him! Alright, I give, but you might notice how a lack of information goes a long way to foment false perceptions.

Behind the Curtain

Take a look at this debatable video a reputable friend recently posted to their Facepage.

(source) https://www.facebook.com/actdottv/videos/770297793160789/

Its purpose appears to codify our reasoning to blame our dear old adversary for not just the 2016 election, but also the current state of extreme polarization in the U.S. Um, no. Russia does not deserve as much credit as it’s receiving. The lion’s share of division emanates from our own media outlets. Not just news organizations, but many of the top TV shows, and the reason for this is quite simple. Yep—money. Well, that’s the endgame but not quite the modus in play here.

You’ve heard the maxim, “If it bleeds, it leads.” It was as true then as it is now. More to the point, the major media outlets are, and have been since the mid-‘90s, in a state of panicked flux. No broadcaster can survive without revenue. That’s a fact. Now allow that fact to guide your logic.

Mark Zuckerberg recently defended Facebook against a rigorous Senate panel grilling. When asked about the primary goal of his business, he posited a curt response. “We sell ads.”

He sells ads, ABC sells ads, FOX, CNN, NBC, CBS, you name it. If it’s on television, it’s paid for by advertiser money. That also goes for government-backed outlets such as the BBC. Facebook would shutter in a moment’s notice without ad revenue. They all would. It’s just that simple. Given this, there are only two things you need to remember: (1) Ad revenue comes from individuals, companies, lobbying groups and other organizations seeking an audience. (2) It is up to that media outlet to generate the largest audience possible for greatest ad revenue. Now think about those intended audiences for a moment. Why do you believe there are so many drug ads during the evening news, or beer and trucks during football games, or feminine hygiene products during daytime TV? The outlets know who’s watching (via Neilsen), and they know what ticks their boxes. So do the news outlets.

Not too long ago, a news organization could only be slightly politically biased if it hoped to gain the largest audience. Sure, they were still biased long ago, but it wasn’t as extroverted and obviated as it is today. You can thank FOX News for that. They pranced through the pearly right-wing gates back in the early 1990s and never looked back. Just like that (and you can use Gump’s voice here) most folks in 40 or so states stopped watching CNN. Ad revenue plummeted. Heads rolled.

“Do something!”

The gloves came off, and for the most part, it was FOX against the left-leaning urban America. The liberal outlets were market savvy as well. More so, in fact. They have the wealth of Hollywood’s production engine on their side. Sides? We’re on sides now if you didn’t know it. At least, that’s what the outlets want you to believe until something occurs wherein no political capital can be gained. Then it’s “we’re all Americans after all.” Sure we are. That never changed.

Perishable Newsprint

And so with the internet, most (not all!) traditional print newspapers are gasping; fighting over the last chunks of interested subscribers by the production of monkey-edited click-bait tabloid, intentionally targeted at easily-riled and gullible dullards. Wait ... sorry. Too harsh. Pontificating a bit and demeaning what might otherwise be groups of nice, well-meaning Americans. You know—the kind of folks Heddey (Hedley!) Lamarr endeared. Education is a choice. Comprehension, however …

Ultimately, the internet outlets also, in fact, require the means in which to operate. For an effective professional and profitable organization, it takes mountains of cash. That means they have carefully researched their target audiences with every given headline, painstakingly crafted the verbiage, and measured the effects of it all after publication. More clicks. Must have more clicks!  Yet, those clicks are dwindling and the belts have tightened. You can see it in the increased grammatical errors (yes, I look in the mirror), lack of research, vetting, verification, and missed facts. Now it’s devolved to such a point that the outlets are trashing each other over a laughable entitlement to moral superiority.

Talk about misdirection…

No ghosts in the BBC's closet. Nooo...

I envision we’ll all be tuning out soon. It’s either that or some miracle occurs by way of a truly-objective news outlet coming to prominence. Never happen. Too boring.

On Tour

In case you missed it…

My favorite editor and I have been extensively traveling out west for the past few years. Some of it retracing steps not taken since DUST’s prepublication research days. (We’re talkin’ before 2009 here). Reno, Tahoe, San Francisco and the heart of Silicon Valley were breached, along with the communities that inspired Sonno Dolce and Amerimem. We also tumbled into Crow Agency, MT and some national monuments in the Wyoming/South Dakota border region. They presented themselves as I remembered, just more traffic and a bit more weed wafting about. Quite a bit. Suffice to say, we might have enjoyed the visit more than we anticipated.

More Soon,

/T

It's Just a Game, Right?

Sit, Stand, Kneel, Vomit

I’ll get to how this ties in with my second book, BOLITA, in a moment…

We are constantly reminded that bigotry, oppression and corruption are indeed monsters under the beds of public trust. Yet, here we are once again distracted by the same old story or greed, control and power. Wait, perhaps I reached further up the orange tree than necessary. Greed, control and power are essentially the impetus for resultant tactics and actions eventually witnessed. Something controversial happens, and whichever slant serves the interested party—whether they are journalists, political activists, industrialists, or anyone else who might be served by a programmed perspective—is the publicly-projected image we’re fed. Same news, different names. 25 years on, the Misinformation Age is in full swing? Nah, this has been going on forever.

Poor Colin Kaepernick. Here’s a guy wanting to do the right thing, did it the wrong way, and then does something more controversial and also wrong (talking about the pig stockings). Idiot label. Message garbled. Now we have another flawed character trying desperately to vindicate him by being just as absurdly polarizing and controversial in the opposite direction. Our president isn’t helping by being right and wrong at the same time. Message garbled.

I think we can all agree that disrespecting our flag is not, and never has been, the best way to go about bringing attention to a problem. Sure, 1^st Amendment and all that, but you most certainly won’t make friends doing it, especially those that fought and died so that you might have that freedom. Consequences. You’ve read that ad nauseum, and I strongly believe most of us would be fired from our day jobs if we attempted to make public political protests while on the clock. 

 

How exactly did we get here?

Easy. If he wasn’t a pro football star with media coverage (and “star” is a loose term here), this whole historical partition would have never populated. As the infosoup algebra goes:
Celebrity+Controversy+Media=(Media²+Politicians³)/Truth

Anyone who understands basic math knows the answer for anything divided by zero.
Message garbled.

The fact is, nobody should be placed on a pedestal merely by their title or celebrity. Title guarantees nothing. Celebrity is not an expertise. Throughout history, we’ve endured murderous or junkie doctors and actors, sabotaging mechanics, drunken pilots, larcenous lawyers, diabolically-addictive pharma, countless compromised CEOs, philandering presidents, and don’t get me started on so-credentialed doctoral professors who have no business propagating failed political ideologies from a university lectern. This is even before we get into priests, mega-church pastors, fomented activists, “objective” journalists, and so many others that tout themselves as an authority.

In every walk there exists flawed characters: JFK’s womanizing, MLK…the same, Jefferson’s slave version, Clinton, Lance Armstrong, OJ, you get the idea. So too are some of our finest heroes in the military, fire and yes, our policemen. You’ve no-doubt watched numerous movies with plots revolving around corrupt law enforcement. Unfortunately, many of those are based on true stories. BOLITA is central to corruption and greed in government, so too is another story you might have heard of—Serpico.

Frank Serpico photo courtesy Wikipedia

 

Frank Serpico is perhaps the posterchild victim of a corrupt and oppressive law enforcement agency. We know of his heroism and honor fighting for truth and honesty within the New York Police Department. He nearly paid with his life, but made very few friends in doing so. To this day, Serpico is somewhat of an outsider to the NYPD. Honored but not touted. Then maybe it comes as no surprise that Frank recently took a knee at an NFL game. Solidarity for Kaepernick. How does this play for the conservative media’s narrative? It doesn’t, and it’s a mistake to believe that all of our heroes belong to one political party or ideology. John Middlemas is another example.

97 year old John Middlemas - WWII Veteran
Photo courtesy FOX News

Freedom is a universal message, right?

What happens then, when the good intentions of one becomes corrupted by the many? Message garbled! Take Black Lives Matter, fa-Antifa, the KKK and those hateful hated neo-Nazis into consideration (really MS WORD; must I capitalize nazis?). These groups have appropriated and bastardized messages and symbols for their own, convoluting the original script and often negating its righteous intention. And yes, before anyone says “What the hell good message does the KKK have?” the answer is NONE! But racism is not unidirectional. Just as my African-American friends have experienced it at some point in their life—and I’ve listened in utter disgust to their trials—so have I and many of my Anglo, Latin, islander and Asian friends. Yeah, it sucks … badly. Horrible to witness and worse to be a victim of it.



Maybe we can all get over Colin Kaepernick’s testosterone-fueled nonsense and focus on the message? Nope. It will take a new spokesperson. One with irrefutable endearment and respect. You.

Driverless

 

Photo credit: Huffington Post

Speaking of ideologies, why is nobody asking the big-picture question before diving into the shallow end of a driverless transport pool? What question, you ask? The one that inquires into other areas for improving safety, reducing costs, and getting from A to B faster? It seems that the macro-concept of automatic transportation has been bandwagoned well beyond critical analysis. Sure, any new technology will have its growing pains. Injuries and deaths will certainly accompany it.

Here’s a feces-extraction article for you: https://www.wired.com/2017/01/probing-teslas-deadly-crash-feds-say-yay-self-driving/ Sounds great for Tesla, right? Sure! But the way I read it removes the technical angle: The driver had auto-pilot on, crashed and died while under its control. Pretty simple. The mechanics aren’t necessary to come to a stark conclusion: The technology isn’t ready. We aren’t ready. In the meantime, there are other avenues for improvement.  I guess the real question for me is, are new and existing drivers unanimous in desire for automated transport? I have mixed feelings. Sure, there are times when I wish I could safely let go of the wheel and perform another task. Transportation isn’t always about the sensation of driving. I couldn’t imagine it on a high mountain pass, however. Infinite curves and gear changes. Fun! Flat interstates with uninteresting landscapes? Where’s the button! Of course, my mind might change when I’m elderly and the tech vastly improves. Who knows, but for the moment, it’s a bold but haphazard prospect. Thoughts?

Theater of Irony

Photo by "Jessica N." - Yelp

Calling Andy Rooney…

Maybe I’m late to this game, but I just found out the hard way that our local theater has remodeled for smaller rooms and reserved seating for a more intimate experience. Huh? I have a screen at home for that, AMC!

My daughter and I were set to finally catch IT. She hates clowns. HATES them! Screams, shutters, ducks, complains, and OMGs to the end. I love it. And, it was/is part of the motivation behind the Xeno character in DUST. I got more entertainment at home from clown on TV or a spider on the floor from Jessica than any day at Disney (Sorry Mickey). But I get it. I’m over 50 now, so….

Far be it from me to squelch the voice of profit. If a company is making more money and its main customer demographic is happier, that’s great. Unfortunately, there are now just too many reasons I’ll be watching from home going forward. Theaters were already in trouble from cell phone abuses, kicked seats and other rude distractions. Suffice to mention ticket costs, screen gimmicks, and forever-overpriced comestibles. Cinema-quality home projection and audio have become increasingly affordable, so for me the question is why I would ever buy a commercial theater ticket nowadays. To see it on a big screen with big sound! Oh well. Sorry Mr. Pennywise; your meal will be postponed.

Writing Update

The path is almost clear. I’m back in research/diligence mode. Yes!
Distractions abating. Hurricane Irma had us playing dodgeball for a couple weeks. No real damage except one small replaceable tree. Glad most of us didn’t suffer. Sad for those who have and still are. My thoughts are with you.

Silver lining: During the downtime, I plowed through several tomes. Some bucket list titles, some of what I would call “prep works” from authors I endear to help set a tone for my own writing. Voice and pace to me are some of the most difficult items to replicate after a lengthy hiatus. Almost time now...

More soon,

/T

My Mind is Rigged!

This thought comes at a time when poor attitudes and ignorance are fomented by today’s elite powers and their Olympus Mons financial reserves. The “Lamestream Media”, as the rebellious conservative outsiders tend to label it, is nothing more than a tool for them.

History has proven time and time again that professionally disseminated ideas via channels carrying intrinsic public power. What is this, exactly? Let’s just say more weight is given to those possessing power of celebrity, elected or appointed title, social or military rank, recognition and so forth. In the last 20 years or so, the “official” channels have wielded more power than at any point in history. The (Mis)Information Age, you see. Never mind all those cogent delineations; with the exception of an outlying percentage, the public at large are small fish darting around in deep, dark waters—a bait ball for predators. The “small” folks don’t like to hear this—the truth. Similarly discovering you’re just a copper-topped battery in the Matrix. A fantasy film with a bit of hard-core realism tossed in. It sucks.

Ah, but there is this great equalizer in which we firmly believe: our Constitution and our vote. No matter how rich and powerful someone becomes, their vote counts no more than yours. Yeah, but …

Rigged? How so?

That’s probably the very first question a detractor posits. You’ve been hearing elections are rigged for most of your life. You’ve witnessed many examples of it too: Poll workers charged with tampering, mailed votes in contested districts go missing, votes from dead people, hanging chads, purposely confounding ballot item descriptions, paid minority groups being bussed around to several districts that have unsophisticated balloting systems, gerrymandering, special delegate statuses that count more than true representation. The list is exhaustive but you get the idea.

We want to believe the United States is a democracy, but it’s simply not in practice. You’ve heard that nasty word “oligarchy” before, haven’t you? It’s a popular belief that the good ‘ole USA is actually that – a country controlled by a relative few people. Your vote is a token gesture masquerading as a sacred right under the Constitution. Well, here comes the Godwin’s Law straight away:

Those dang Nazis were masters of public perception. I think we all know it. The German population proudly marched down the path of evil without batting an eye. Many of us became sickly with the same feeling when Bush—I mean Colin Powell—made a half-assed WMD pitch to invade Iraq. With some exceptions, the angry American majority was simply out for blood and they got it. Mission Accomplished. So, was Goebbels correct, or is his meme a case of contextual power of authority? It certainly feels like it applies. What about Herman Goering’s nifty little meme?

The quote passes the fact-checking, so it’s accurate to state Goering actually said this while imprisoned for the Nuremberg trials. It’s one of those greasy, foul-smelling macro concepts that may very well be a bible truth, but we immediately look the other way as soon as someone brings it up. Yep—Godwin’s Law defined. Heck, by having a Godwin’s Law in the first place we’re creating an emotional barrier. Sure, bring up the Nazis! That horse is way beyond beaten, dead, and blown dust. My guess is many of you scrolled down my text, saw the memes first and thought, “Oh brother … it’s one of those posts.” Yep—the Godwin Effect.

So, yes, Mr. Trump, the election—our entire system for that matter—is rigged and perhaps always has been. Life goes on for the weak and the powerful. What can we do about it?

A few things come to mind: Write a candidate in, vote 3^rd or 4^th party, expose systemic manipulation, GET INVOLVED.

Wait, is that always the preferred route? Get involved? Well, yes and no.

Take Mike Rowe’s piece on encouraging everyone to vote. I happen to agree—fully.  I can’t do it either. Too many people are nowhere near qualified as informed voters. This is where disparity begins with the U.S. system. This is where the info wars start and end. This is the cesspool of manipulation. But this is where power resides, and the elite has known it for a very, very long time.

Get over it.