Contemplation on this Age of Opinion

[Steve Plonk]

CONTEMPLATION ON THIS AGE OF OPINION : A Blast From the Past
By Steve Plonk

Years ago, at around November 30, 1967,
the U. S. population passed the marker of 200 million people.
Now, these amazingly short historical years later, we are
crossing the marker of 300 million people .

All these many people need housing , a place to shop, and have an opinion.
They appear to be shopping with finesse and contributing to
an economy which is now fueled by the inflation of increased
gas prices and several overseas “Twilight Zone Wars” Against
Terrorism. We are collectively aware that these wars are directly or indirectly a
result of attacks on the Trade Towers in New York City, the Pentagon,
and so on… I wonder how folks will react to the latest incident in
international intrigue in North Korea. North Korea has apparently set off
some kind of underground test of a nuclear device, as of October 8, 2006.

The U.S. and five other countries got their wheels turning to hopefully get, from North Korea,
an agreement to dismantle the nuclear reactor(s) and bomb material. Negotiations, after the Democrats won back both houses of congress, have brought even more movement toward such an agreement by North Korea. However, as of March 7, 2007, negotiations are still in progress for North Korea to dismantle its nuke program according to the “New York Times” article.

In addition, there was a summit, about this same time, by several arab countries, the USA, the Europeans, China and Russia in Iraq to iron out differences, and so on, about border security and nuclear disarmament. Negotiations are crucial to insure the borders of Iraq are more tightly wrapped and that Iran will not try to develop and/or detonate a nuclear weapon. Negotiations are still on-going about that situation… I fully support the idea of nuclear non-proliferation in both North Korea and Iran… In my view, the arab countries surrounding Iraq need to get their more radical Muslim populations under control and not “aid and abet” border incursions and gun running. Let’s also not forget the fluid borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But that is a subject for another column…

Are my readers are wondering about how one of my siblings is doing in Saudi Arabia? All I can say at this point is: “So far, so good”. He’s had no more items stolen from his baggage and is settling into his contract job… According to a recent “Parade” magazine article, the King of Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top ten dictators and/or autocrats. I sent my brother a clipping of an earlier column I wrote in which he was featured… There have been dragnet arrests recently of foreigners in Saudi Arabia who have gone to “mixed” drinking parties. The situation in Saudi Arabia is such that a trip to the post office may cost more than one would bargain for. My sibling has ceased to send e-mails because it is “more trouble than it is worth”. Furthermore, all mail is sent back and forth by company courier now… Br’er says the Arabian drivers drive like madmen and make any stateside big city traffic look like it is going in slow motion…


-2- Steve Plonk.


Moving right along, yes, we are into the “Age of Opinion”. One may say anything
one pleases, providing one is given the right editors. There are still stodgy old
censors who want to keep certain people from getting printed what they want to.
Some of these folks are on the left, some are on the right, and some are flying
over your head filming 24/7! Of course, one still shouldn’t be shouting “Fire!”
for no reason, in a proverbial crowded theater.

Yes, one may pretty much say what one wants to within reasonable limits.
If a person has disputed facts, he/she must be able to back them up and do
this with finesse and without running on rooftops. Unfortunately, some people
like to fly over rooftops and get film by eleven p.m. I think I draw the line
there in most cases. Everyone needs their “Owl Farm” sanctuary. A person’s
home is still one’s castle isn’t it? Have personal boundaries been breached by
the media? Does the public really need to know if one has a barbeque on friday
night and what groceries s/he cooks out with? What is the deal with the media’s
obsession and/or scrutiny with folks personal information? Next, they’ll be
delineating a person’s toilet habits and what kind of paper s/he uses. Does the
“star” have a “band-aid” on the left or right knee?... Who needs to know this?

Yes, the “star” wears a bathrobe when s/he goes out and picks up the newspaper.
Is it the media’s job to shadow people like an errant pooch? I don’t think so.
Spare me the minute privacies of a star’s life. What would media moguls think
if the “shoe was on the other foot”? Think about it, kind folks and gentle people…

However, I feel, in the case of North Korea and Iran, I think we should have spy satellites flying over to confirm or deny the existence of the nuke facilities/a-bombs in question. In addition these countries should allow inspectors back in. After all, North Korea , especially, is a pesky “roaring mouse” of a country and we collectively have a need to know what’s up. The North Koreans also have a one million strong standing army. What if China only slaps their collective wrists and North Korea gives Iran ideas about how to connive to get nukes? (What’s the frequency?) Will diplomacy work or no? Inquiring minds would like to know! Let’s hope that “sweetness and light” prevails. Oh, a parting shot—word from the grapevine has it that Halliburton is moving its operations to Dubai. Oh Wow! Such a tasty world we live in…

[Arcadia]

interesting title!

However, I feel, in the case of North Korea and Iran, I think we should have spy satellites flying over to confirm or deny the existence of the nuke facilities/a-bombs in question ...

[still.trucking]

you wrote:

We are collectively aware...

interesting concept.



Oh well interesting concept
Yes to be aware of the collective conscious
contemplaning the collective unconsciousness
I get so weary of my opinions sometimes
So much depends on the info I see
Alan Greenspan on TV, I feel like abbott and costello
"I saw what I saw when I saw it"
everything I knew about Alan Greenspan I learned from watching tv news clips.

My wanders again sorry
Say Steve you are in NYC I think.
How is Lucy? I been thinking about her on and off since the earthquake in Chile. I think her family is there.



Image source

I guess I am showing my age, I remember what the collective conscious was in 1960. I was a true believer in the collective consciousness of the Democratic party. The world has been desperate for so long. It is good to think about military solutions to any problem. A tough job. But somebody has got to. Boy oh boy I miss George C Marshall, he was good at thinking about that...I miss Ike too,
thanks for the food for thought Steve Plonk
I hope your brother is doing ok
sincerely jt.
ps
my mind wanders
off on tangents about the "nuclear option" back in the news again. I guess I am thinking about the nuclear weapons that are already proliferated in that part of the world.
I think this opinion business really took off during World War One. That is when Freud's nephew applied his uncles insights to the science of propaganda.

But
I liked this bit

some people
like to fly over rooftops and get film by eleven p.m.

That is how it is done alright



10-4 veronica
me too. for what it is worth.
yes the eye in the sky
despite John F Kennedy's 1960 political ads about the "Missie gap"
Ike was not asleep at the switch. He wanted those satellites bad and was pushing for them.

[Steve Plonk]

Thanks to those who've commented so far on my column. I was pleased that the commentary expressed still resonates after three years. The column was rejected by a few magazines. So, I belatedly went and submitted it to Studio Eight Discussion forum.

Yes, what is good for nations is not always good for individuals. Possibly, vice versa. The idea of the collective consciousness in various political and social movements is an old one. Collective human consciousness theory was put out by Karl Jung. However, this idea goes back to the early 1800s at least. Populism takes advantage of the collective consciousness of social and political ideas. I believe that Obama got elected because collectively the voting public, in the right states, got together on the internet and elsewhere and made his election a fact...

I appreciated the concern about my brother, Still Trucking. My brother did okay in Saudi Arabia and came out "smelling like a rose" as the coinage goes. He is an amazing individual, who in spite of a back operation, and a brain tumor operation, is still working for the government in some capacity in the DC area now.

No, I am located in the Chattanooga, TN metro area and not in New York. Down here, my opinions and political ideas are in the minority. I
joyfully helped vote Obama in as president and I am a lifelong moderate Democrat. However, I've been known to split my ticket in the deep past. I once voted for Alexander for Tennessee Governor during his first term. Since then, I've been disappointed in Alexander. I especially don't like his stand on health legislation. I approve the President's current plan.

Yes, North Korea is a collective "pain the ass" for the whole world and I am pleased that other nationalities support us trying to get info on them by any means possible. Their people will do well and not be so hostile if they are as well fed as the North Korean army. Thanks for your comment, Arcadia,

[Doreen Peri]

Hi Steve,

If you'd like to have a regular "Columnists" spot on this page, I'll set it up for you. Or an "Artlog" which is your own forum.

Used to be, those 2 categories were distinctive, but they're more and more similar lately... Just means you'd have your own forum and could write your columns regularly in one spot.

Let me know!

[Steve Plonk]

Reply to Doreen Peri:
I would appreciate my own column spot; however, since I have written for a quarterly magazine, and other small monthly magazines, I am not used to publication on regular weekly basis. I certainly would appreciate being able to have the opportunity but my submissions would come irregularly because I would find it hard to “be inspired” upon demand. Hopefully, I will be able to get posted when the muse inspires. I really appreciate the offer, but I really need to confine myself to posting when the muse comes.

[Doreen Peri]

Oh no... I didn't mean you'd be obligated to post every week or anything like that. When I said "regularly", I just meant that it would be there for you to add to when you wanted to... for your stuff! I just meant I didn't want to set it up it if you weren't interested in using it.

The artlogs are more like blogs ... or adding poetry or artwork, etc., or whatever you want, really... you can see when you look at them.

The columnists section was really originally set aside for essayists but now Beth is using hers for her music and other things, not just essays, so it's all changed through the years... But anyway... The columnist section was set up originally for essays like this essay. You wouldn't be obligated to add to it on any particular schedule.

Anyway, let me know which section you want to be in... the Columnists or Artlogs ... and think about a name for it and a second line (description).... and send me both... then I'll set it up for you. It would be great to have you participating! Sometimes those sections of the site seem to get more activity than the regular forums, it seems to me.

[Steve Plonk]

I'd like to be in the columnists section. Hopefully, no fees are involved for this service. I am honored by your opportunity to submit more essays, etc. like the above. Like I said, I would contribute occasionally as the muse arises. Thanks Doreen, et al... You could call the column spot: "Life in the Horse Lane" or "Contemplations in the Slow Lane". I used to have a column entitled "Life in the Horse Lane". It left room for humor and "horsing around" among other observations. I'm kind of like "technicolor amish". I only have been involved in using computers on the internet for the past eleven years. Computers and GPS really amaze me when I sit still and think about them. Even though I have two B.S. from land grant universities, I am, like I said, a "johnny come lately" when it comes to internet technology.

[Doreen Peri]

Cool! I'll set it up for you tomorrow. (getting late here in Virginia)... Looking forward to reading your columns! And no, of course not... it won't cost you a penny.

11 years is quite a while on the net, btw... just sayin' ... But you don't have to know anything more than you know now to post your columns.

I'll title it "Life in the Horse Lane"

Subtitle/Description .... "Thoughts by Steve Plonk"?
Or??? Anything you want for a subtitle/description... let me know.

[Non Sum]

Hello Steve,
I too find myself a tiny Tennessee patch of blue in a sea of red. Keep the ‘futile faith’ (how’s that for an oxymoron?).

Steve: I fully support the idea of nuclear non-proliferation in both North Korea and Iran

NS: I fail to understand why one nation’s nukes are acceptable, while another’s is not? Are some nations more equal than others? Who determines that, and on what ‘objective’ scale?

I suspect the inclination for “pre-emptive” invasions diminishes with an invadee's nuclear defensive capacity. In light of this, I can only hope that Iran gets its nukes sooner than later.
NS (National Sovereignty)

[Steve Plonk]

Reply to Doreen: "Life in the Horse Lane" as my column title sounds good.
Glad I don't have to put out any coin, because I'm on a low budget.
Look forward to being in the column forum.

Reply to Non Sum:

The governments of certain countries are considered to be rogue states and not responsible enough to have nuclear weapons. In addition, the fewer nations which have weapons make it easier to keep track of accidental spills & or deployment into the ocean by mistake, and so on.
I think the the Nonproliferation Treaty is a good idea. I wish more enforcement would be on the way. The United Nations has some support in enforcement of sanctions for various places such as North Korea and Iran. Pakistan wasn't first on anyone's list either, but there were some that thought it should balance out India. Places like Israel and South Africa also have capability. The United Nations and the above treaty were
used in the past to draw the line between nukes and no nukes. Believe it or not, France did not sign the treaty at one time. I don't know if the French have by now...I just wing it on this type thing and am flying by the seat of my pants. Perhaps a more astute fact checker could find out for us. China also was not an original signatory nation on the treaty.

"Why" is definitely a good question. "How" is much easier and harder to enforce. These days there are folks who say one could build a small yield device in a suitcase. I don't know where I saw that... I've been to White Sands, New Mexico, where it all started. It was a scary film which we saw there. Oak Ridge is not too far from Chattanooga. The Energy Dept. has a Y-12 fuel production site there. Oak Ridge, TN along with Los Alamos, New Mexico used to be where weapons grade stuff was made. Now TVA makes tritium, I have heard. ; I try not to dwell on it too much
because as they say: Loose lips sink ships. The state department takes care of our foreign policy and is being a little more responsible as of late.
Well, I gotta go, my Tennessee Tuxedo Cat is calling me to feed him.

[silent woman]

N.N.S.

Note to Non Sum
When I said enjoy, I was being sincere.(re: Nation States)
Yes I have been wondering about M.A.D.
But it kind of depends on the culture.
Hindu's have seen it come and go so many times
India can get pretty nonchalant about nuclear exchanges.
So can Pakistan and we can too. Afterall we are the only nation state that has actually used the nuclear option. At least in recent history, say the past million years or so.

Interesting thread Steve. pardon the digression.

[Non Sum]

Hi
Steve: The governments of certain countries are considered to be rogue states and not responsible enough to have nuclear weapons. In addition, the fewer nations which have weapons make it easier to keep track of accidental spills & or deployment

NS: Well yes, that is the party line, isn’dit. But, it begs a basket full of questions: Can one culture judge another objectively, Who gets to rate one’s level of “responsibility,” Upon what determining factors (I’ve seen no ‘Responsibility Checklist, have you?), and Whose “Rogue”? “Rogue,” says more about a clique of self-declared ‘non-rogue’ membership, than it does about the outcast. As for nuclear “accidents,” I would think the chief factor would be the total number of existing individual weapons, and not the number of national boundaries that contain them.

If I, and my friends, are the first in the neighborhood to acquire, and stockpile, guns, it would make good sense for us to then prohibit you, and the other neighbors, from having any guns of your own, lest we lose our advantage. But, wouldn’t you be a bit cynical of this? What if I argue that you are: “less prone to have an accident,” “not responsible,” and a “rogue dude” besides; would that help to convince you that I was just looking out for your, and the entire neighborhood’s welfare? Of course, I, and my allies, get to keep all of our guns.

I live about 40 miles, down wind, from Oak Ridge, and closer yet to Watts Bar nuclear power plant, myself. Iranians are the least of my nuke worries.

Hello Silent truck, (How goes the MPD?)
ST: When I said enjoy, I was being sincere.

NS: I never considered otherwise.

ST: Afterall we are the only nation state that has actually used the nuclear option.

NS: What better criterion for ‘irresponsibility’ with nukes than a history of using them?

Still Woman: Hindu's have seen it come and go so many times
India can get pretty nonchalant about nuclear exchanges.

NS: I’m not so sure the war of mahabharatha (Rama Empire) actually occurred, but if it did, I think it’s safe to assume that it hasn’t inured the present day Indians to nuclear war.

[silent woman]

Non Sum I am glad to hear you believed me. I wondered.

I used to think that if Iran got nuclear weapons it might establish a balance of terror in the region. But I don't know anymore. The only information I got to go on is what I hear on the news. So my opinions are not so well informed.

It all sounds like Non Sense to me these days. We live in the age of instant opinions— details at ten. Hard to check all the facts. What can I do about it anyway. Amazing how much the Arabic news service Al Jazeera English gets quoted in news sound bytes. I watch a lot of BBC and German News, on PBS. I get addicted to news sometimes. And I try to contemplate my opinions in light of the fact that I was born to follow.

I miss the old days of secrete diplomacy, and "believe nothing till you hear the first denial"

Sorry Steve Plonk, my mind is wandering again.
.I can't imagine any good to come from a nuclear arms race in the region. If that is what this is all about. Mostly I am questioning my own opinions about all this. Which I think is what this is all about also.



Suppose we could all have a finger on the button all the time. Each one of us issued our own personal nuclear device. You know second amendment rights.


Sorry now I am being silly.

into the bitter herbs again.
i got so many friging opinions I hardly have enough bodily orifices to express them all.

Looking forward to your column
I am sure I am going to find food for thought in them.

[mnaz]

everyone should get the bomb. then let's see what kind of messes the cheneys and exxons of the world try to get us into in the name of their patrioti$m and wars against terrori$m. sure, why not. let's just get it over with.