GuidoWorld

Om and Mom

Linguists some time ago noted how universal the word for mom is around the world. A current explanation for this phenomena is that the ma or mum sound replicates the sound an infant makes when nursing.

This makes sense and seems very plausible.

In general, infants don’t have to be taught how to suckle. In modern terms we refer to this as the “suckling reflex” to describe the fact that infants start making the suckling motion whenever a finger or nipple is placed in their mouth or even near their lips.

We see infants making this suckling motion while in dream state, or at varied times during the day. When a child is in discomfort, grumpy or in pain the simple placement of a pacifier is often all that is needed to temporarily quell their discomfort. This was pretty obvious to us, that is why we called it a pacifier.

Likewise, every parent has heard their child make the ma or mum sound or just plain hummed when they were nursing.

The possibility of ma, mom, mama, etc. all stemming from this universal desire and call for the nourishment and satiation provided by the breast got me to wondering. How varied is this primal call? What are the different ways it manifests itself in our latter lives, or in our cultures?

The following few ideas are not that amazing and probably have been written by others long ago. But, they were the thoughts I had this morning so I thought I’d share.

Not being much of a polyglot I can’t tell say how well the following ideas and theories are echoed in other tongues and cultures, but I would be glad to hear from others if any of these examples hold up in other cultures and languages.

Before kids say ma, mom, or mum they make the “mmm” sound when nursing. This sounds more like a hum than anything else and, therefore, got me thinking about the role and function of humming.

A suckling child hums and while nursing all his anxieties, discomforts and pains are quelled or at least put on hold. Therefore, it makes sense that we would hum or associate humming with being content or removing anxiety.

If one seeks to find this motive in adult humming one is likely not to be disappointed. Humming has long been used as a companion to leisure or done while doing a nurturing task. Also many people hum when they are anxious or in need of feeling more secure.

Though most people don’t have any memories of breast feeding they still hum when they feel good about food. In English speaking nations we generally say “mmm” in response to a food tasting or smelling good.

Likewise if something tickles our fancy or is “food for thought” we will say “hmm” as we savor its possibility.

As the title of this post indicates the pleasure and satisfaction of humming even shows up in our religious and spiritual practices. Most chants and mantras involve some form of humming. The oft used and heralded universal sound (mantra) Om, is a prolonged and soothing hum.

Often the goal of chants and meditations is to reach an altered state of total bliss and contentment which could be viewed as an attempt to reach the state of pure contentment possibly attained during nursing. We even use the words “childhood innocence” in trying to convey the purity and completeness of enlightenment.

I, myself, wrote a couple of posts some time back about my desire to learn how to purr. The goal of which was to find the simple contentment in life that a cat does when it purrs. I have been a practicer of Transcendental Meditation (TM) for over 35 years, and I do find that my mantra has taken on a purring quality of late, the result of which has been an increased sense of calm and warmth.

I do want to mention that I personally do not do meditation for any spiritual reasons, but rather for the practical and health benefits of the technique. I’ve expressed on this site many times and in many different ways the concerns I have not only for religion, but spiritualism in general.

The “mmm” sound does show up in the English language in a number of ways, here are a couple of examples. Words such as womb and home have a hum to them. In catechism class as a child I learned that the Hebrew word for perfect food or as food from heaven as Catholics translated it was Manna.

The “nnn” sound often has a hum to it like the “mmm” sound. The word Manna then contains two hums. Words for paradise such as heaven or eden both end with a hum. Even Nirvana when pronounced slowly has a couple of hum points. The word “nest” likewise has a comforting hum.

I can think of a couple other hum sounds beyond “mmm” and “nnn”. One of them is the “ing”sound in English or the “gn” sound in Italian. The last example I can think of off the top of my head is the “zzz” sound when uttered with mouth open and teeth close together.

In fact if you hum with you lips pursed and your teeth close together you get the hum vibration of an old vacuum cleaner. If you begin there and then part your lips your “mmm” slips right into the “zzz” sound.

While the terms for home in Italian and Spanish have no “mmm” hum they do have the “zzz” hum in the pronouncing of casa.

I wonder just how many of our end goals, dreams and pursuits have their origin in the pleasurable experience of being nursed and our attempts to replicate it. Likewise, I wonder how much of the emotional intent of our language is grounded in the endless “mas” and “mums” we uttered (uddered, sorry couldn’t resist) during our earliest feedings.

Jim Guido

Birthday Sentiment

The following is an email I sent to my sister on her birthday. It’s nice sometimes to just sit back and marvel at the very experience of life.

Happy Birthday!!

Honoring and celebrating our birth is a way for us to recognize how special life is. Living on a planet teeming with life it is easy to sometimes forget how special and rare life is.

Yet, when you consider how vast the universe is and how up until this point we’ve still not found “life” on other planets then you can truly appreciate how much of a gift life is. Any gift you receive on your birthday pales in comparison to the gift of life.

Someday soon we may find life on other planets, but very few planets hold the promise of life. Yet, we are not just alive, we are conscious of being alive. And though it may be true that a number of animals may have a form of consciousness, we humans are extremely conscious of our existence.

This consciousness makes life even more rich and fascinating. We are able to live in the present, benefit from our past and anticipate our future. Truly amazing isn’t it?

Even though our planet is teeming with life, the vastness of the universe is a stark reminder of the uniqueness of our existence. It is probably safe to say that the number of planets in the universe far exceeds the number of humans since recorded history. This means that every person who has ever lived if spread across the universe could have their own planet. In fact current science states that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on earth, therefore, each human ever to have existed could claim hundreds of planets as their own.

We are rare and so is life.

My birthday wish for you is that you take advantage of this day of celebration, to truly appreciate and embrace the uniqueness of being you. I also hope this short note encourages you take a few moments to reflect on the beauty and richness of human experience and the wonder that is life.

Since we were both raised in the same garden, we deserve to assist each other bloom and blossom and admire each others beauty.

Jim
 Guido

Robots and Cyborgs and Droids Oh My!

Oh, oh Todo we’re not in Kansas any more.

The upcoming explosion of robot, cyborg and droid technology and their inclusion into day-to-day life is going to dramatically change everything.

Our very definitions of life, humanity and meaning are about to be challenged and radically altered.

Since the Winter Olympics are in the news, let’s start by looking at the effects of emerging technologies on human achievement in sports. If you think enhancement drugs are controversial now just wait a few years for some real controversy.

Currently we have no problem with the bulk of medical procedures conducted on athletes in response to an injury or defect. Yet, soon surgery on legs, arms, and eyes will not only be able to repair damage but improve and enhance strength, performance and skills to levels superior to pre-surgical levels.

Simple procedures could improve visual acuity and hand eye coordination to such a degree as cause a major gain in the performance of a baseball batter, fielder or pitcher. In a few years many body parts will be able to be replaced in a similar fashion to hip replacement surgery, but the performance achieved by these procedures will make a person a far better athlete than they were born with.

If high tech swim and track suits are destroying the record books, just imagine what effect muscular, joint and bone replacement procedures will do to performance capabilities. Finding ways of stimulating or implanting fast twitch muscles could make an average sprinter world class, or a mediocre athlete into a top level leaper.

Robot and cyborg technology is no longer science fiction and will be growing at levels rivaling advances in the personal computer within the next decade. Robots and cyborg technology will be finding its way into daily life and become just as common and vital to everyday life as the internet and personal computer. And it appears to me that we are doing almost nothing in preparation for this.

In a previous post The Great American Education Hoax Part Two, I discussed how robot technology will revolutionize the work force. A quick summation of how robots are better workers include:
1) robots never have to sleep (no down time)
2) workplaces can cut down on overhead due to no need to heat or cool workplace, or protect against human injury
3) robots will not suffer work related injuries or breakdown through repetition (no need for insurance or workman compensation)
4) robots can develop new skills and adapt to new technology almost instantly (via software)
5) robots can perform skills beyond human capabilities (micro surgery, detect material defects, speed and accuracy performance, etc.)

There is almost no area of life in which robots and cyborgs will not make for a more compliant and efficient worker or friend. Robots will be excellent teachers, therapists and physical trainers for they will be able to better read the capabilities of their clients and proceed in the most safe and efficient manner.

As a quick example just think of the advantages of a therapist or a doctor who could read all your biochemical responses to their every intervention. A robot constantly monitoring everything from galvanic skin response to blood pressure, to body language could become a very aware and effective therapist or doctor.

The effects of robotics in health care will not only involve doctors and hospitals, but revolutionize the day-to-day maintenance of health. Soon we will robots the size of a microchip which will be able to be implanted in the body or carried in the bloodstream. These microbots will monitor and maintain the healthy functioning of the body. Some microbots could monitor our vital stats such as blood pressure and heart rate. Some could help regulate blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels, or even erase plaque as it forms in the arteries.

In the not too distant future we should be able to download some of our memories and data from our brains as we do from a computer today. This data could be stored in a number of ways which would be accessible to us when we need it, just like any data file we have on our computer. Such advances could greatly enhance useable memory and depth of experience, as well as provide assistance for people with neurological injury or dementia.

The proper and ethical use of these technologies will and should be an important social debate. Yet, at this point we are just letting this technology filter into our society according to its commercial viability. Just as has been the case in many other modern technologies much of the most beneficial advances will most likely be delayed, modified or suppressed due to its potential economic ramifications.

Over the last few decades many potentially beneficial and life saving inventions and technologies in areas such as medicine, agriculture, ecology, transportation and education have been suppressed or degraded due to protecting the fiscal interests of major corporations.

I must admit it is hard to imagine much of the most humanitarian aspects of robotics being able to be implemented in our current capitalistic economy. Just as truly renewable energy sources are the death knell for oil corporations industry, so would true cures of major illnesses or healthbots destroy the profit base of pharmaceutical companies.

Its hard to imagine a single industry currently thriving in our capitalistic economy which would not be threatened by the free use of any technology that drastically increases efficiency, durability and longevity. It is just as hard to imagine any substantial use of robotics or nanotechnology not drastically improving efficiency, durability and longevity. (Any regular reader of this site is aware of my argument that the first casualty of reducing waste in our society (efficiency) would be the recycling industry whose profits are dependent on waste management and proliferation.)

There is no denying that the age of robotics is upon us. The only question is how it will be used and the role it will play in our daily lives. Though I’m greatly concerned of the ethical issues regarding robotics and its effect on human dignity and self-esteem, I’m even more concerned of how our capitalistic system will pervert and destroy its potential benefits regarding improving the quality of life of the average citizen.

Jim Guido

Depression, Fear and the War on Terror

In the last couple of posts I’ve outlined possible reasons why the US appears to lead the world in depression. I would like to talk a little on how the war on terror fits into this equation.

We’ve covered in depth how fear, uncertainty and being lied to contribute towards a person developing feelings of helplessness and hopelessness which often lead to depression. The war on terror is definitely filled with fear and uncertainty and appears to be filled with a lot of deception and inaccurate information.

One of the consequences on the war on terror is a sense of perpetually being vigilant and on alert. Our need to develop elaborate means of establishing security has only added to the irony of how our vaulted freedom is supposedly preserved.

Despite having the highest prison population per capita in the world we are told we are the land of the free. We are also told that we are free only because we fight for our freedom, yet if we are perpetually at war, how can we be free? In the war on terror we are told we must sacrifice some of our freedoms and rights in exchange for our safety and freedom. Hardly a month goes by in which some security measure invading our privacy is introduced or revealed.

In the last post we talked of how sophisticated and prevalent it has become for our government to sell the public on a war or the need for a military intervention. Ever since the early 1900’s with the advent of the Council on Public Opinion (CPI) our government has spent much time and money in the development of public relations and propaganda techniques to influence and manage public opinion. The bulk of these efforts have been to find ways to convince democratic voters to tolerate and support the aggressive military policies of our government.

Most military actions we have taken in the last century have involved public relations campaigns to foster public support. Creating feeling of fear and hatred have been found to be the most effective means of swaying mothers to encourage their sons to go to war. Public support for war has usually been fostered by focusing on a single horrific event. As mentioned before the more years that pass after the event, the more likely we are to find out the event was not only exploited but often staged or even fabricated.

With this in mind, the underpinning of the war on terror become increasingly doubtful. Much of the fuel and sustenance for the war on terror was created by the events of 9/11. We are told that on that day we were attacked by terrorists. Since that day and its many horrific images burnt into our brains we have been told that we are at war, with terrorists all around the globe.

We are told that terrorists are everywhere and that our security and safety is threatened until the vast majority of terrorist leaders are ferreted out and destroyed. Though anyone could be a terrorist the standard profile involves someone who believes that we are evil and is willing to do anything to accomplish their goal of destroying us and our society. As proof of this we’re offered daily news items and testimonials of suicide bombers and religious fanatics that believe violent martyrdom is the most certain means of acquiring everlasting life or entry into heaven.

This dire and constant threat has been used to justify our need to move unilaterally and violate international law, invade sovereign nations, threaten and impose embargoes on nations which may harbor terrorists, torture, use banned weapons and strip individuals of their right to trial. The result of which is the killing and starvation of hundreds of thousands if not millions of innocent people around the globe, the escalation of ill will towards the US for its policies and practices, and the introduction of homeland security measures which increased fear levels while decreasing personal privacy for many law abiding citizens.

Due to the fact that terrorists would gladly sacrifice their lives to injure or terrorize even one American we have stepped up measures to protect our shores and insure that no US citizen has to endure another terrorist attack within our borders. Air travel in particular has been the focus of homeland security. The invasive searches and high tech checks of our air travelers have apparently been successful since no terrorists attacks have occurred since 9/11.

Yet, when we take into account the long history of US exaggeration and fabrication of information to acquire public support of its military ventures we have to question the very existence of an actual war with terrorists. Just as was the case in the great red scare of the 50’s is the current great terrorist scare mainly a PR fiction?

Let’s think for a moment about the fact that no terrorist attack has occurred since the lone attack almost a decade ago. So in the last nine years not one person or group has successfully staged an attack on US soil. This amazing accomplishment despite the fact that legions of angry terrorists and fundamentalist muslims would literally do anything to harm and scare us.

How can the US which on a daily basis has hundreds of illegal immigrants cross its borders along with tons of illegal weapons be so perfect in preventing terrorist attacks? If millions of people, who supposedly hate us and our freedom, are being promised entry into heaven by attacking us, then how are they not getting the job done? Couldn’t they cross our border’s by land or water? Couldn’t they hire someone who does regularly cross our borders to do their work?

How is this a war? Our actions are consistent with a war? We’re bombing, torturing, threatening and invading foreign lands. But where are the counter attacks? How can we say we are at war with a people who haven’t taken the offensive and attacked our land in over nine years?

I have no idea what happened on 9/11 other than the towers were hit by two planes and they crashed killing a few thousand innocent people. I also know that a third sky scraper fell that day despite not being hit by a plane.

I do have difficulty accepting the explanations of how the towers fell because they defy the basic laws of physics. I have no belief that I know the real story, I only know that skyscrapers do not fall due to fires in such an manner in a few hours. Neither the planes nor fires pass logical muster as a cause, nor the small fires in the third building to merit its full collapse. Skyscrapers throughout the globe that have caught fire have raged for days sometimes leaving a hollow shell, but have never collapsed. Why were these the first?

The buildings themselves collapsed in near perfect demolition fashion, and almost at the speed of gravity (free fall). The pancake collapse we’re led to believe occurred would have taken longer to happen and the impacts over a number of floors would have been visually noticeable.

The towers were brought down by other methods. I can’t say how or why, or who did it, but it concerns me that we are not being told a reasonable explanation. Why we are being lied to is what is most alarming? Yet, the explanations for events which have been used to garner public opinion to go to war have always been distorted and inaccurate.

We live in a culture where we are being taught to fear and hate others and not to trust any other nation on the planet. We always have to be on guard and vigilant. We are seldom told the truth. Sometimes we are deceived to protect us, get our vote, or just to get us to buy one product over another. Yet, in most cases we are not privy to the truth, but rather given a healthy helping of spin and propaganda.

All of this helps explain why depression is rising in an epidemic fashion in the US.

I apologize to anyone offended by anything I said in this post. The purpose was to postulate some of the reasons why our nation is becoming a depressed one. I’m neither a republican nor a democrat, and the latter part of the post was not intended to be political, but rather an attempt to explore some of the habits and practices in our culture which could help promote depression as a social phenomenon.

Jim Guido

American Depression: Fear and Hatred

In the last post I talked at length at some of the possible reasons why such a relatively large portion of the US populace suffers from bouts of depression. In this post I want to expand on the potential role fear and hatred play in the US depression boom.

Stress, isolation and uncertainty have long been considered triggers for depression. Likewise so are feelings of inadequacy and never feeling satiated.

We’ve already covered how critical and pervasive a message of never having enough is to the success of a consumer based society. Happy satisfied individuals do not have as much of a need to buy and consume things as a person feeling a sense of lack. Though a truly depressed person overwhelmed by existence can be a poor consumer, the modern medicated depressed person is able to function just enough to consume in an attempt to fill their voids and deflect them from their real demons and psychological woes.

In the last post we pointed out that a lot of energy is put forward to influence and manage US citizens in regards to their dual roles as consumers and voters. Those yearning for power and wealth realize that in a democratic and free market economy successful influence of public opinion is vital to reaching their goals.

While the message to consumers promotes and exploits feelings of lack and isolation, the message to voters is dominated by fear and hatred. The US has been an ascending empire for decades in which war and conflict are used to expand and fortify the US’s role as dominant superpower.

The creation of history’s largest middle class and impressive growth in the average persons standard of living have made it difficult to motivate citizens to support an aggressive foreign policy. Content individuals enjoying wealth and freedom generally do not support getting involved in others affairs or willingly send their children off to wars in distant lands.

One could make a case that the US has become the most belligerent and ambitious empire in the history of mankind. During my lifetime the US has seamlessly gone from one police action or military conflict to another without a break. Oftentimes simultaneously being engaged in active warfare on a number of fronts.

The public’s reluctance and resistance to supporting its governments being militarily engaged has been almost as consistent as the governments desire to engage in war. This has happened to such a degree that the government has felt a need to sell the public on supporting almost every military involvement over the last 90 years.

Ever since WWI the US government has identified a need to “sell” wars and military actions to the public. The Council on Public Information (CPI) was the first documented organized attempt to manipulate public opinion to overcome resistance to their war aspirations. The following paragraphs are from Wikipedia:

The purpose of the CPI was to influence American public opinion toward supporting U.S. participation in World War I via a prolonged propaganda campaign. Among those who participated in it were Wilson advisers Walter Lippmann and Edward Bernays, the latter of whom had remarked that “the essence of democratic society” was the “engineering of consent,” by which propaganda was the necessary method for democracies to promote and garner support for policy. The CPI at first used material that was based on fact, but spun it to present an upbeat picture of the American war effort. Very quickly, however, the CPI began churning out raw propaganda picturing Germans as evil monsters.

The committee used newsprint, posters, radio, telegraph, cable and movies to broadcast its message. He recruited about 75,000 “Four Minute Men,” volunteers who spoke about the war at social events for an ideal length of four minutes, considering that the average human attention span was judged at the time to be four minutes. They covered the draft, rationing, war bond drives, victory gardens and why America was fighting. It was estimated that by the end of the war, they had made more than 7.5 million speeches to 314 million people in 5,200 communities.[3] During its lifetime, the organization had over twenty bureaus and divisions, with commissioner’s offices in nine foreign countries.[4]

Both a Films Division and a News Division were established to help get out the war message. What was missing, Creel saw, was a way to reach those Americans who might not read newspapers, attend meetings or watch movies. For this task, Creel created the Division of Pictorial Publicity[5]. Charles Dana Gibson was America’s most popular illustrator - and an ardent supporter of the war. When Creel asked him to assemble a group of artists to help design posters for the government, Gibson was more than eager to help. Famous illustrators such as James Montgomery Flagg, Joseph Pennell, Louis D. Fancher, and N. C. Wyeth were brought together to produce some of World War I’s most lasting images.

Hollywood movie makers joined in on the propaganda by making movies such as The Claws of the Hun, The Prussian Cur, To Hell With The Kaiser, and The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin. These titles illustrate the message the CPI tried to convey.

This raw propaganda included complete fabrications, such as images and stories of German soldiers killing babies and hoisting them on bayonets. CPI pamphlets warned citizens to be on the lookout for German spies. Dozens of “patriotic organizations,” with names like the American Protective League and the American Defense Society, sprang up. These groups spied, tapped telephones, and opened mail in an effort to ferret out “spies and traitors.” The targets of these groups was anyone who called for peace, questioned the Allies’ progress, or criticized the government’s policies. They were particularly hard on German Americans, some of whom lost their jobs, and were publicly humiliated by being forced to kiss the American flag, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or buy war bonds.
______________________________________________________________________
The US government’s involvement in researching and developing techniques designed to foster, influence and manage public opinion has been a constant over the last century. This desire to influence and control the human psyche has not been limited to fostering military support but has also branched into the areas of torture techniques and election campaigns.

In dozens of instances one see’s attempts to gain support of a proposed or desired military intervention through the focusing on a singular event. These events such as the sinking of the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tonkin have been used to galvanize public support for aggressive military action and retaliation. In most cased the horror of these events were exploited to alter public opinion, yet in some cases the bulk of information suggests that some of these events were exaggerated or even staged in order to effectively gain public support.

Through the years the chief means used by the government to garner public support of its military force has been through fear, anger and hatred. It is not difficult to understand that a voter who feels that their freedom and very way of life is endangered will support a war.  Also, it makes sense that it is a citizens duty to support the good in its battle versus evil.

A good military depends on its forces to be able to kill opposing forces in combat. Teaching people to fear and hate their “enemy” is vital in training for the armed forces. In our dozens of wars we have had to train our armed forces and our populace to a lesser degree to hate and view a number of people’s as evil.

Since our military enterprises have brought us into conflict with hundreds of millions if not billions of people from hundreds of nations, our youth and general public have been trained and encouraged to hate and mistrust these various cultures and nations. Oftentimes previous allies become enemies and vice a versa, causing previous feelings to confuse or linger.  Trained hatred is often the same as any other prejudice and can be deep and long lasting, and not change as quickly as a governments foreign policy.

In an effort to justify some of its earliest actions the US had to make both American Indians and the black slaves into populaces deserving of maltreatment. The black slaves were viewed as animals whose lives were improved by leaving a primitive and savage world, and Indians were likewise, savages who refused to accept and adapt to our progressive and civilized life.

As the years passed the number of reliable and consistent allies has decreased. The tacit message has been the US versus the world. The US being the land of freedom and the wealthiest nation on the planet, is a threat to evil and the envy of all the world. Everywhere we turn we are confronted by evil and misguided people and ideologies.

Even our closest allies have fallen off the path. First we were battling the communists and dictators and all those opposed to freedom and democracy. Then some of the countries lost their way and became socialists and welfare states, making their populaces weak and dependent. Capitalism, we were told, was the only system capable of supporting freedom and sustaining economic and technological progress. Only the US had the strength and moral integrity to carve out and maintain a high standard of living honoring while rewarding the gifts and freedoms of the individual.
Each year the US is becoming more and more isolated, as the rest of the world becomes an increasing threat to our security and way of life. Unilateral action has become the norm rather than the exception.

We maintain a military presence in many nations throughout the world as our active armies go from one middle eastern nation to another.  We no longer are fighting a nation or even a political ideology but rather a concept. Terror is a synonym of fear. The war on terrorism is a war on anyone who can cause terror. The war on terrorism is the perfect war for a government who influences, manages and motivates its voting populace through the manufacture of fear.

First the US itself defies the traditional view of a nation or culture in that it has been around for just a couple hundred years and is a melting pot of other nations, tribes and cultures. One is an American basically though geography and little else. Almost all US citizens are or recently were members of cultures which we currently or recently despise, mistrust or view as our enemy.

A secondary definition of terrorism is “a method of resisting a government or of governing”. In this case anyone espousing any thought, belief or idea inconsistent with the official policy of the US government can be labeled a terrorism.

During the great Red Scare of the fifties many US citizens were demonized and considered a threat to the US by the very rumor that they were communists. The ability for the US government to once again use this fear tactic to control the actions of its own citizens is even more pronounced in, this current time period.

Terrorism, is even more vague than communism, and even an article such as this could be misinterpreted as an act of terrorism. In fact, it is almost impossible to imagine any article which asks questions or presents more than one viewpoint as being free from the potential label of terrorism.

Since terrorism can exist anywhere and at any time their can be no end to a war on terrorism, and the US is free to invade any piece of land on the earth. Since terrorism is literally a resistance to a specific form of governance than everyone on the planet who has a political opinion is a terrorist.

Anyone who supports a US policy could be defined as a terrorist to many other nations throughout the globe. Likewise, any person espousing a belief supporting any nation with an ideology different from the US could be considered a terrorist by the US government. Since no government on the planet completely agrees with the US and its policies, then there is no nation nor individual on the planet who cannot be viewed as a terrorist.

We are a nation of people being encouraged to mistrust, fear and hate millions of people throughout the globe and even inside our own nation. As consumers we are incessantly deceived and lied to, and as voters we are taught to fear and hate. Is it any wonder that we are a depressed people?

We are a people forever vigilant and on guard, and a people always in need of more things and objects in an endless attempt to fill the void or at least keep up. We are taught to seek goals and ends in areas that have no potential end point. In our world there will never be a final purchase or an end to terrorism. Yet, in both arenas our potential happiness and safety are dependent on a sense of their finality or completion.

In the modern world we are like children in a perpetual car ride plaintively asking “are we there yet” over and over again.

When viewed from this perspective it is easy to understand why so many American’s are depressed. In fact, it is hard to explain why the number of depressed individuals in the US is not higher.
Jim Guido

Why Americans are so Depressed

While the US is falling in respect to its world standing in everything from standard of living, to health care to education it is expanding its world leadership in terms of depression. The US currently claims over 1% of its populace as clinically depressed and this rate is on a geometric climb. Not surprisingly the US leads the world in the dispensing of medications to help its citizens manage and control their depression.

So this begs the question, why are US citizens so depressed and why are they so prone to depression?

One of the more glib answers put by the popular media is that US citizens have too much time on their hands, and one of the by products of having a lot of free time is depression. Americans, we’re told, have too much time on their hands. People who are struggling to survive do not have enough time to think about depression. The relative wealth of the US allows its citizens the luxury of depression.

Even though there is a sliver of truth in the statement, it is highly misleading. First, most US citizens are working more than their counterparts in other industrialized nations. Most European workers can count on at least twice as many holidays and vacation days as Americans and those nations with a higher standard of living are not as depressed as Americans. Hence the too much wealth and too little work hypothesis for US depression is a little weak.

Let’s tale a look at some of the supposed psychosocial factors which are reputed to engender depression or are its tell tale signs and see how these elements may be fostered in American life.

Clinical depression is considered to be a state whereby one feels helpless and hopeless. A partial list of some of the causes or elements of depression would include the following feelings and events:  isolation, non validation, poor self-esteem, chronic deception, betrayal, biochemistry, powerlessness, feelings of inadequacy/failure, lack of interests, lack of control, chronic stress, blame and guilt.

The US has long been considered a leader in having a chronically stressful lifestyle. When I was young the fast paced life style of the US was deemed a central component in the high rate of hypertension and heart problems of its citizens. The current pace of life now makes those times look relatively sedate and rustic. Not only does the US not have as much vacation time as other industrial nations, but we also now feel a need to be on line and do work even on our off hours.

In a highly competitive based free market economy it is hard to ever feel good about time off, or that you’re not losing ground anytime you aren’t in work mode. It is definitely stressful when you feel a personal responsibility to be successful and not let the competition pass you by.

Today’s professionals such as doctors and lawyers cannot produce the lifestyle offered previous generations. Since the 60’s the number of hours needed to maintain the income, standard of living and lifestyle of these professions has risen almost yearly.

In the late 80’s I had conversations with professional friends of mine (doctors, lawyers, psychologists, pharmacists, etc.) about changes in their field and how it affected their roles as parents and bread earners. They were unanimous in their assertion that they had to work 6o hours a week to accomplish what they use to in a 40 hour week. Now, they claim they have to work well over 60 hours week to
maintain a standard of living they had at the 90’s which was still short of the standard of living they had in the 80’s.

More work and less financial benefit would logically lead to more stress which in turn could lead to depression. Having a longer work week also has one have less time for family and friends and relationships in general, and one of the hallmarks of depression is the feeling of isolation engendered by a lack of relationships or a lack of time for intimate relationships. Considering this, it should come as no surprise that these professions are high up on the list of those being diagnosed with depression.

Not only professionals but many American’s are finding themselves too busy to have much time for relationships. Often times in two income families there is little time left over after work and other responsibilities such as house cleaning, cooking, banking, shopping and the like are taken care of. Add a couple of children in the mix and one and one time becomes an endangered species.

This lack of time together makes it difficult for relationships to survive, for either you grow together or you grow apart. When people spend more time with coworkers  than spouses it is not unusual for people to have an affair with a coworker and leave their spouse.

If you than throw in the fact that both members of two worker households have financial freedom, this makes their being able to leave the relationship easier for both people. This fact is demonstrated by the nations high divorce rate, and studies show that divorce and depression often go hand in hand. Likewise, the early onset of depression in adolescents or even younger children is often sparked by the divorce of their parents.
We are often told that anyone in the US can be become wealthy and successful. This belief also spawns a counter-belief, and that is that everyone in the US should be successful. If you live in the US there is almost no valid reason to struggle or fail. If you aren’t wealthy or successful you have no one to blame but yourself. This turns the possibility of success into a responsibility for success, and makes the pressure of success a constant stressor.

The tacit statement is that only the lazy and unresourceful do not succeed in our society. Since almost everyone in our society has some redeeming or outstanding quality they have no excuse for failure. A short list of the qualities a person could use to become successful include being clever, ambitious, talented or intelligent.

Finding a person who does have one of these qualities or a synonym for one of these qualities is rare. If not talented you could at least be skillful, productive, earnest or devoted. If not creative you could be resourceful, inventive, quirky or eccentric. If not intelligent you could be knowledgeable, informed, or an expert in a very narrow field of information. To be successful in this culture all you supposedly need is to have and use any of these or a multitude of other marketable qualities.

In a society espousing this belief while having the factual reality be that more and more money is going into fewer and fewer hands it can cause feelings of failure in a large percentage of people. Our current economic downturn with its booming unemployment only exacerbates the negative feeling of self inherent in the American dream.

Add to this the fact that in most arenas of competition in our society there are far more winners than losers. In every race their is one winner and the rest are losers. For every business that succeeds there are dozens which fail. Every actor, author, athlete, musician and entrepreneur who succeeds is met by hundreds or thousands who didn’t. Even those who succeed for a time being may fail in the long run.

Societies with set caste and class systems can breed their own forms of depression, but they pale in comparison to the vast numbers of people who find our competitive structure overwhelming and depressing. A little realism would go a long way towards reducing the high percentage of depression in our society.

One of the most pervasive success myths in our culture is the advanced education myth. If you want to succeed and get a good job the saying goes, stay in school and get an advanced degree. The truth of the matter is that our society and job structure cannot support a highly educated work force. There are not millions of jobs sitting out there waiting to be filled by people with advanced degrees. In fact those with advanced degrees attempting to get into the workforce are finding it impossible to find jobs worthy of their educational qualifications.
The above discussion outlines some of the basic reasons that depression is on the rise in the US. Yet, I have yet to talk about the two most likely reasons for why the US leads the world in depression. These two aspects are fear and uncertainty. The US leads the world in the production of fear and uncertainty and the knowledge of how these mechanisms can foster and maintain a state of depression.

I would have to say that lying and deception are central and endemic to both our politics and economics.

We live in the most blatant and proud consumer society on the planet. Our roles as both voters and consumers makes it central to both businesses and governmental bodies to manage and influence us. The key to their success is their successful management of public opinion, public perception, public sentiment and consumer confidence.

In order to get elected politicians must tell us what they think we want to hear rather than what they honesty think. Even if what they are saying is basically what they believe, the very words they choose and how they frame their ideas is done for a specific purpose. Their goal is to manage and influence our perceptions more than it is to accurately convey their ideas.

Most of what they say is designed for effect rather than truth, it is about form rather than substance. Political statements are more about inciting a desired reaction or preventing an undesired reaction than expressing a specific idea. Almost every statement uttered by a politician is done with the utmost care and craftsmanship. Citizens are being handled and their perceptions and feelings are being managed. We are never treated honestly or in a direct fashion, rather we are treated as voters and consumers of their rhetoric.

The fact that it is much easier to destroy than to build, results in politicians attacking their opponents position rather than articulating their own. This results in the use of fear, anger and even hatred as being the norm as opposed to positive feelings. Everyday politicians are telling us that we should support and vote for them because their opponents are bad, evil or a threat to our way of life. Everyday our being managed and deceived to hate, fear and be angry at the other side. Each day we hear a number of people talk out about the dangers of the others and the threat they pose.

How can that not be depressing? How can associations based of fear and hatred not diminish our feelings of happiness and safety?

We openly talk about spin, and that all politicians have a hidden agenda and cannot be trusted. Poll after poll show that politicians are some of the least trusted people in  society. Yet despite this we day-to-day lives are dependent on trusting them to make important decisions on our behalf. How can that not lead to depression and/or crazy making behavior?

In the political realm we also have the corporate media complaining about the media as if the media were someone else. We are being asked to believe these people on TV and in the newspapers are telling us the truth while the media is corrupt. And in the process not consider these media people not to be the media.

Though we all know that the entire corporate media is owned by a few families who own a handful of corporations, we are asked to suspend this knowledge and think that those reporting the news are objective and not representing the views of their bosses. Again, isn’t it logical that all this deception, perceptual management and misrepresentation could lead to the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness of depression? Doesn’t it make sense that a systemic and pervasive avoidance of truth and honesty would foster depression?

How can one feel anchored to themselves and others in a world of incessant manipulation and deception?

A chronic lack of self-validation is another stated element or cause of depression. How can one get validation is a society that is always treating you as an object to influence and manage? How can one get validation when reality and what we’re are being told is real doesn’t match up?

Misinformation and deception are just as predominant in our role as consumers as it is in our role as voter. Hardly a moment goes by in which we are not being coaxed or encouraged to buy something. In almost every sales pitch the benefits of our potential purchase are exaggerated and the drawbacks of not purchasing or buying a competitors product are likewise skewed.

In commerce as in politics we are forever the targets or spin, deception and manipulation. Any thing said to us has a purpose and seldom a truth. If we are being complimented is to often to help set up a sale. Likewise if we are being warned it is not so much about care and concern for our welfare as a reason or motivation to purchase the desired product.

Oftentimes people make a purchase to fill a perceived lack or void in their life, or to fit in with the group. Salesmen take advantage of this fact by trying to convince you that you need their product or it will make you happy. Many sales techniques focus on your being viewed as cool or in if you buy their product.

No matter what purchases you make there are more commercials and sales pitches coming your way.  A good consumer can never be content and satiated, and so the goal is to always have you wanting more and be dissatisfied. Isn’t the state of never feeling complete and satisfied a working definition of depression?

Being told the truth is a rare event in our roles as consumers and voters. In the rare instances when we are being told the truth, it seldom occurs without some spin or management agenda being attached to it.

When you consider how pervasive these two roles are in our daily lives you realize how rare simple honesty can be. This means is a very functional sense reality is never quite what is seems. It makes it hard for us to ever trust what we hear or the people who speak to us.  Not being able to trust others makes it difficult for us to get the type of validation we need to feel healthy and normal.

We are told we live in the freest society on the planet yet we are forever being watched and monitored. One wonders how we can rectify being the freest nation with the fact that we have the largest prison population (per capita) in the world. Again this sort of verbal contradiction with reality probably eats away at us in a not totally conscious way.

In my next post I plan on doing a more extensive exploration fear mongering plays in our nations tendency towards depression.

Before closing I would like to mention the negative role western medicine has in our feeling secure and validated. Due to how it functions the goal of western medicine seems to be to tell you something you don’t know about yourself, to surprise you. If you feel great and have no complaints they will usually run tests. Seldom do tests ever come back as perfect, whatever that means, and some recommendation or warning sign not identified.

In most cases most people by their forties are on some form of medication and on some stage of alert regarding some potential problem. This is just another off shoot of our consumer culture where we are never OK and complete. Yet, what modern medicine does is take away our ability to know ourselves or monitor our own health.   We become stupid and dependent on machines and technology to tell us what we don’t know about ourselves.

On the other hand if I go see a doctor regarding a specific complaints, and the tests see no problem, than I’m either imagining the malady or it just doesn’t exist. In either case my perceptions about myself are both unimportant and wrong. The fear of the unknown as well as not being to perceive reality accurately are precursors for depression. Our modern medical system is not very reinforcing or self validating.
The point of this post wasn’t to say that our society is the only one that promotes and fosters depression. Yet, it did strive to explore some of the reasons and characteristics which could explain why depression is so rampant in the US. In many cases stated above the US is not alone in what it does, but it may stand out by the degree and frequency in which these practices are utilized.

This post though long could have be a book. So, I ask your indulgence with the half statements and innuendo this format demanded.

Jim Guido

Politicians and Public Servants

If I were an elected official I would conduct my administration in the following manner.

I would try as much as possible to live up to the term public servant. I would incorporate practices which maximize transparency, engender actual democracy and keep the public up to date.

The first thing I would do is to have my working hours documented for all to see and hear. This could be accomplished by having my meetings, and business telephone conversations and the like taped and played on the internet and cable TV.  Hopefully this would limit the number of people such as special interest groups from attempting to influence my actions by behind the scene influence, as well as keep people informed of what I’m doing in their name.

I also would disseminate the various views on a number of important issues so the public could educate themselves on the issues. When making a decision, I would publish why I chose the solution I did and compare and contrast its merits with the other options that were available. As often as possible I would track the relative success of the decisions I’ve made and let the public know when and why a chosen policy was amended or altered due to its actual efficacy in improving the community.

In a direct democracy people would vote on issues themselves. Therefore, at times I would like to place many issues up for public vote. Citizens could vote by telephone, internet, or by voting booth.

Yet, no one wants uninformed individuals to vote on any issue. Hence, people would have to prove their knowledge before being allowed to vote on an issue.  Sufficient familiarity of the issue could be proven by answering a few questions derived from the issue papers I would have posted on the internet, cable TV, and at voting facilities.

In some cases the actual votes would decide the course of action to be taken, in other cases the vote would be taken just to get an accurate read of public opinion. In a situation whereby a number of possible courses of action were proposed we would list the percentage of vote for each proposed solution or action. This would allow us to try the second most popular plan if the initial plan wasn’t proving to be as successful as hoped.

I previously worked for a non-profit organization which attempted to help the public form and institute actions which would have a positive impact on the quality of life of those living in our community. This process involved choosing a topic that would be discussed throughout the year. The potential topics were arrived at by asking the public which areas they were most concerned about. Our community over several years chose education, housing, health care, transportation and air and water quality to name a few.

Groups of citizens would meet to discuss the chosen issue and be led by trained facilitators to come up with possible solutions. These potential solutions would be presented to the chamber of commerce, city council and all vested parties. If a solution were popular, but not immediately adopted, we would help citizens form task forces and action groups to help them keep their vision alive.

In the initial discussion circles all citizens were listened to and their feelings and concerns hopefully validated and articulated. I found that when people felt hear and understood they were more willing to try a solution which wasn’t their first choice, knowing that their solution would be back on the table if the chosen solution proved to be unsuccessful. All chosen solutions were published and their success or lack of success was followed and documented by agreed upon benchmarks and outcomes. As an example the solutions for improving local education would be evaluated by test scores, student performance, attendance and many other concrete statistics.

There is no perfect governmental structure, and there would be many flaws and complications with an open form of government which I am proposing. Yet, I do feel it is the right direction to go towards.

I would not try to win an election. If people liked my ideas and methods than they should vote for me, if they didn’t like my ideas then they shouldn’t vote for me.

Winning an election should not just be a popularity contest, but rather a decision of how we want to be governed and what type of person fits the attitude of the time. If people didn’t agree with my basic stance and my general principles, why would I want their vote, and what good can I do for people who are fundamentally opposed to my way of being in the world?

Our current format of having politicians being handled and packaged and altering how they express their ideas by the latest poll results is not working very well, and is a very insincere and dishonest means of governing.

Yet, if that’s what people want, then by all means they should continue to support the current system. Yet, if people do not want salesmanship, spin and dishonesty that they need to demand change.

The following lyrics express some of my concerns with modern politics. The songs can be heard in the music section, Mob Rule is on the Edge of Eden CD. Political Guys and Demonic Democracy are on Opportunity Lost and Demonic Democracy can be found on the Surviving Sophistry CD.

Jim Guido

Mob Rule

My life keeps reaching away from storm
But who’s that teaching a hateful scorn?
Wisdom’s flame will blow out one day
When fools keep talking their winds of decay
I wonder if they know?
What is believing if not adorned
With wreaths of feeling one’s love restored?
We need a leader today
Who leads the herd not held in its sway
I sit here waiting for you

The people’s man keeps shaking hands
Plays the crowd like a slick magician
His words of hope there is no antidote
He speaks our words so we believe him
Makes me angry, makes me sad
Makes we proud to live in this land
What we want over what we need
Seduces us into feeling free

Feeling ecstasy, popular people telling popular stories
Of comfortable change, popular people telling popular stories

In limousines and dairy queens
The cameras focus on smiling faces
What is shown is all that’s known
Along with words meant to please everybody
Seeking pleasure, needing change
The crowd’s excited just the same
The torch’s ablaze, the mob’s enraged
Self-righteous truth fuels the flame

Mob rule ain’t that true? mob rule it’s what we groom
Mob rule it’s who you know, mob rule to get control
Mob rule just step in line, mob rule and let the anger fly
Mob rule it’s how you act, mob rule now that’s a fact

What’s right is right if you got the votes
In a democratic land that called control
Mob rule we’ve been had, mob rule it’s so sad
Mob rule just one big bang, mob rule let’s wave the flag
Where have all the heroes gone like the sheriff at the courthouse
Speaking words of justice to calm an angry lynch mob?

Public Serpent

You lost my trust, I feel disgust
When I think of how you must live
Your words are feeble, you speak of evil
I feel my lunch coming

You so depend that we’ll suspend
Deny all we know to be true
You smile on screen, I shout and scream
Aigh-aigh-aigh

Say what you want your time draws near
The hate that you wrought is about to come back at you
Your pampered life of strong-armed fear
The friends that you bought are about to find friends elsewhere

You herd the sheep, you bah they bleat
Starting wars with indignation
Self-righteous toad, you seek control
For you have no talents

I seek no harm, just sound the alarm
And hope that our plight’s over
I like to care, be kind and fair
But your venom has poisoned our place in the world

Say what you want your time draws near
The hate that you wrought is about to come back at you
Your pampered life of strong-armed fear
The friends that you bought are about to find friends elsewhere

Though you talk of noble causes there are hisses in your words
When you speak of love and justice, I never feel your heart
Cheaters often prosper that’s a fact of life
But their victories are so shallow for they must forever be on guard

Cryptic reasons to go to war the demons got the bomb
Sordid visions of mass destruction gives us all a shove
Our sovereign goodness we defend, all threats we’ll overcome
When public serpent bares his fangs the masses will succumb

Say what you want your time is going to come
Do what you want, you’re doomed from the start

Political Guys

Lost in the fire of yesterdays is the passion which powers reason
Now we smile at everything, treading lightly avoiding tension
Saying nothing silence is but a tool
Making friendships with bonds that have no clue

How long can we live a lie?
Shaking hands and hugging bodies
Acting like we’re close
Not knowing anything about anybody
Incorrigible lies, lie behind those eyes not blinking
Despicable smiles, convicting you while they’re gleaming

Searching long to find someone willing to drop their mask
That’s all I ask

Locked on the screen I see a smile
Quite like the others I see around me
Every word a lithograph
Every pause so well acted
No one’s thinking reporters explain it to you
The smile keeps talking never missing a cue

It’s hard to swim across the river of contradictions
It’s hard to find a smile which speaks with some distinction

Political guys, decisive roads to indecision
Political guise, leave no trails of comprehension

Searching long to find someone willing to drop their mask
That’s all I ask
Political guys, buy our freedom through corruption
Political guise, use our boys for more extortion

When innocent lives are shattered to pieces

Oh, I don’t love anyone any more
Oh, I don’t hate anyone any more

Demonic Democracy

I partied quite a lot it’s true
My wife killed a boyfriend from school
My dad tortured evil men so cruel
Thru failed businesses my wealth grew

I’ve lived a shallow life well connected well advised
Almost everything goes my way
I will sacrifice a few thousand lives
To gain your support and your praise

I’ve faith in god and so should you
We’ll kill off evil at its roots
If you question me you’re a fool
For god is right and I’m his tool

You will have to sacrifice a few basic rights
To make this land totally free
I may have to hide from you many important clues
To insure our national security

I’ve got you traumatized so afraid you’ll buy all my lies
I’ve got you running scared passing laws that give me power
There’s no limit to what I can do give to friends what I take from you
Pumping up our national pride cutting deals that give me power

I’ve got you mesmerized making war and making prisons
I’ve got you mesmerized making war and making money
Making money for me and my buddies
Making money lots and lots and lots of money

Helping Haiti

The response to the tragedy in Haiti has truly been heartwarming. It is so nice to hear of people in the US and around the globe reach out their hands to those in need.When people respond the way they have, especially during these hard economic times, it truly makes me proud to be a member of the human race.

Yet, I would like everyone to take a moment to make sure that the government and all those working on our behalf in this crisis are doing so according to our good intentions. I think it is important to understand what our government is doing in our name and with our money.

I ask you all to take a minute to learn of the political and economic history of Haiti and our (the US) relationship to Haiti.

I recently read some excellent articles about Haiti at counterpunch.com. The writers at this site have some pretty impressive educational, governmental and journalistic resumes. I encourage you to look over their recent articles on Haiti.

I also invite you to Google Haitian history and the US to learn more of our role and function in Haitian life. A good starting point may be to Google Noam Chomsky as he has been one of the most thorough historians of the US’s role in Western Hemisphere politics.

Yet, for the moment let me just say a few things which may explain why I’d like you to do some research. Again what I know is minimal and that’s why you should do your own research.

Haiti has long been a poor nation dependent on fishing and farming to survive. It would make sense that its wealthy neighbor (the US) would lend a helping hand.

Yet, after over half a century of political interventions (interference and control?) and economic programs (exploitation?) the country is worse off than it ever was. Haiti is now the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The farmers of the past have long ago lost their land and jobs to large foreign farming conglomerates which have grown exportable cash crops instead of basic food stuffs.  Neither the profits nor the foods have benefited the average Haitian resulting in the abject poverty and starvation of millions of people. This has resulted in out of work farmers flooding into the urban regions seeking work.

The response to this need has been to set up very low paying jobs in the clothing manufacturing trade often referred to as sweat shops. These jobs have not ended poverty but increased it as the workers still make less than $2 a day. It is hard to imagine $2 a day even covering food expenses for a person living on an island dependent on importing its basic food stuffs.

Politically our involvement in Haiti has even been more controversial and just as damaging.

I will use the following article I found on line this morning to help illustrate some of my concerns about how the US government is responding to the Haitian crisis.

About 5,000 U.S. military personnel were already assisting on the ground and from ships nearby, and four Navy ships and an additional 7,500 personnel were scheduled to arrive today, according to U.S. Southern Command.

The Navy hospital ship USS Comfort got underway this weekend; it is to arrive Wednesday. The ship, which received move orders Thursday, has 250 beds and a 550-person medical team. It was the ship’s fastest launch ever, said Steve Lucas, spokesman for Southern Command.

The military was worried that crime and looting would harm efforts.

“We are going to have to address the situation of security,” said Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, head of the U.S. task force in Haiti.

Haitian police struggled to scatter hundreds of stone-throwing looters in the city’s Vieux Marche, or Old Market. Elsewhere, amid the smoke from bonfires burning uncollected bodies, gunfire could be heard and bands of machete-wielding young men roamed the streets.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Okay here go the red flags I see here. Last night I watched the Haitian piece on 60 Minutes. In this piece they mentioned that US military personnel plans on staying in Haiti for months.  Do we really need to have our military lead rescue and recovery efforts? After Katrina we had trouble even freeing a few national guardsmen to help with the devastation in New Orleans. Now, with even more troops being stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan were able to spare Marines and thousands of troops to lead and or monitor rebuilding efforts in Haiti, something just doesn’t add up.

Why not just beef up support for professional rescue operations such as the Red Cross rather than a military presence which did such a poor job in its humanitarian role in Iraq? Crisis assistance is a profession and dealing with people engulfed in so much medical, psychological and emotional trauma as the Haitians have, needs expert care not military intervention. If you think some military people are needed to help quell the looting and crime and emotional outbursts of people on the verge of death and starvation, well 12,000 land troops is definitely overkill.

If you look on YouTube you can find ample footage showing a number of local Haitian police patrolling the public toting machine guns over the last number of years. Poverty, starvation and police control aren’t new to these parts, the earthquake is the new element.

The USA today article is vague about how the current 5000 troops on the ground got there. In the quote “About 5,000 U.S. military personnel were already assisting on the ground and from ships nearby”, seems to imply our military presence was either already on land or in nearby ships before the earthquake. Doesn’t 5000 seem like an awful lot of troops just to have milling about Haiti? It seems to imply to me that we’ve been militarily interested in Haiti for quite awhile (again read the history).

Second, sending 7500 additional troops six or seven days after the quake seems like a missed opportunity from a crisis point. Having crisis response people arrive a week after the event seems odd in this day and age. That would be like sending snail mail correspondences instead of telephone and emails. In modern day transportation the military ship has got to be one of the slowest mediums available.

To justify the military role as being truly humanitarian and not a excuse for military aspirations the sentence regarding the hospital ship is more telling, “The Navy hospital ship USS Comfort got underway this weekend; it is to arrive Wednesday. The ship, which received move orders Thursday, has 250 beds and a 550-person medical team. It was the ship’s fastest launch ever, said Steve Lucas, spokesman for Southern Command.”

Considering the size of the tragedy 250 beds seems rather small, especially 250 beds which are arriving almost two weeks after the event. When every minute that passes could result in another preventable death, why would you send medical personnel by boat?

Think about it 12,500 military on hand while 550 medical personnel are still out at sea, as lives are hanging in the balance.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to fly in 12,500 medical personnel and boat in about 550 military personnel. In an emergency situation where time is of the essence who would dream of having designing a plan inn which your expert medical personnel arrives some 20,000 minutes after the beginning of the emergency. And this despite the fact that this was done, according to the article, in record time!

In the meantime we will have over 12,000 military personnel on the ground who instead of fighting which they are trained for, are providing medical and trauma care for one of the largest and severest tragedies of our life time.  The military might be minimizing but not denying its military purpose. The article says,”We are going to have to address the situation of security,” said Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, head of the U.S. task force in Haiti, and begins to lay the groundwork for later escalation of troop police action by the following.

“Haitian police struggled to scatter hundreds of stone-throwing looters in the city’s Vieux Marche, or Old Market. Elsewhere, amid the smoke from bonfires burning uncollected bodies, gunfire could be heard and bands of machete-wielding young men roamed the streets.”

Whether intentionally or not, this is a very artfully constructed sentence setting the stage for future escalation of police action. Hundreds of stone throwing people does not support the image of utter chaos deserving 12,500 US troops. Yet, the reference to distant gun fire does get our foot in the door. The fact is that most Haitians no matter how angry they are do not have the monetary resources for a lot of arms and firepower. The guns are either being fired by a few wealthier dissidents or by the police themselves to control rioting. Yet, in this abject poverty there isn’t a whole lot to steal. The term “bands” will probably soon became gangs and slowly morph into terrorists and resistance groups if we amp up our military role in once again “maintaining the peace” as we are doing in so many other nations around the globe.

The hate the Haitians mentality has long been part of our political ideology. The remarks by Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh are not isolated but in fact representative of much of US policy over the last half century of so. But,  don’t take my word for it, look it up.

Jim Guido

The Global Warming Debate

I’m always amazed and fascinated at how efficient US propagandists are in creating a debate which draws people away from the real issue.  At other times they simply find a way to change the focus of a movement which suits their purposes.

The women’s movement which started out as a quality of life issue, got morphed into a rather narrow personal rights and monetary issue. This subtle shift in the national discussion allowed our government and corporate structure to capitalize on the women’s movement and slowly have two pay checks equal the purchasing power and standard of living of one pay check a few decades back.

The women’s movement quickly dropped its emphasis on intimacy and personal development and traded it in for consumption and jobs which men were finding oppressive and unrewarding. Instead of freeing men and woman from oppressive roles and serfdom the women’s movement was seduced into joining men in their prison with such deceptive slogans as “you’ve come a long way baby” in a series of commercial celebrating the fact that woman could now use their new found economic life to get cancer like their workaholic husbands they felt so alienated from.

Likewise the propagandists artfully steered the American public away from their fervent opposition to our many wars treating other nations as US property, to a demand that we “support the troops”. Any words spoken against the war(s) were both a source of motivation and “support to our enemies” while undermining the “courageous” efforts of our young men and women in battle. Never mind the fact that the reasons for war were fictitious at best and more than likely morally indefensible.

When the Soviet Union fell the US became the undisputed world superpower. Despite this, the US’s involvement in military conflicts and police actions continued to escalate. Public anger with our government’s international actions and policies grew along with a reluctance to encourage our children to get involved in such military actions.

Then voila we suddenly found (created) an enemy worthy of our fear and hatred. This, of course, is terrorism and the war on terrorism. Terrorists exist no where in particular, but can and as the propagandists say, do exist everywhere.  Terrorists are  as hard to identify as they are to define.

Since terrorists sole goal is to destroy us and our way of life, it is “imperative” that we act aggressively and savagely to extinguish them before they proliferate. The propagandists have used this logic to defend our use of torture, banned substances, and unilateral and unsanctioned military action. The war on terror gives the US reason and the duty to invade any country at any time with or without that country’s permission.

So, now let’s take a look at how the “debate on global warming” is just another example of how good our government and corporate propagandists are at diverting the public’s attention away from the obvious.

The battle between environmentalists and corporate spin doctors and propagandists has been lengthy. At every turn spin doctors have found a way to change the dialogue or find a way to make the most profit out of a situation.

The ecological movement which began in the early seventies suffered a huge set back in the late seventies when an OPEC driven energy crisis and stagflation were used to outweigh all concerns regarding pollution caused by fossil fuels. Public relations departments trumpeted their new “concern for your total environment” putting fisheries next to energy plants while the smoke stack industry tried to make their toxic discharges look more environmentally friendly.

Neatly tailored industrial parks, and beach renovations were used to paint lip stick on the environmental pigs. Nuclear power plants which were not as profitable as coal based plants were phased out as a sign of corporate concern for the public health. Newer plants were able to have the toxic releases of coal plants be less visually obvious, and through the efforts of spin doctors and narrow and highly funded scientific studies industries were able to convince the public that their environment was becoming cleaner and healthier.

The debate over ecological concerns regarding the efficient and frugal use of natural resources would slowly resurface in the early eighties as the economy recovered. It was at this time that a lot of the discussion focused on the deterioration of the ozone layer and its effects on people and wildlife.

Once again corporate spin doctors did an excellent job of posing themselves as well intentioned victims of fanatics and potentially harmful idealists. They fended off attacks by environmentalists concerns regarding species extinction by forming and funding fraudulent and extreme conservation groups who were given ample TV and radio air time as they tried to halt progress in order to save a single bird (like the spotted owl).  Soon the bulk of the American public viewed ecologists and ecological activists as being goofy reactionaries disconnected from the real world.

Likewise, environmental health concerns regarding lead paint, asbestos, PCB’s etc. were posed as extreme measures tending to minor problems. Public sympathy was swayed by the expense, tediousness and inconvenience of the governments (EPA’s) clean up programs and interventions.  Once again the environmental and health concerns of ecological activists were successfully posed as being unnecessary and economically unrealistic and harmful.

The changes and concessions made by corporate America were, like always, done in a manner which increased their profits while at the same time fostering public support and sympathy. Concerns regarding the effects of ozone depletion gave rise to skin and sun screen products as well as more profitable delivery systems than the aerosol can. Highly profitable green industries began to sprout up everywhere from organic food stores to recycling industries and businesses.

The current debate on global warming is just the latest manifestation of how corporate and government spin doctors divert and win public opinion and support. The science regarding the effects of industrial pollution and practices on the environment is still in its infancy. Though much compelling information exists, its models and long term predictions are still crude. The number of variables are vast making it difficult to make any reasonable forecast for the foreseeable future.

The complexity of the situation and science makes it so easy for the spin doctors to make the global warming crowd fit the standard role of naive reactionaries who pose a threat to our economic progress and stability. By forcing scientists and activists to prove their viewpoint through specific predictions over short time frames, they are demanding the impossible, and setting up the ecologists to fail and look ridiculous.

Let’s say when psychologists first talked of the harms caused by physical abuse and torture they were scoffed at and demanded to prove their case. Early psychologists would likely say that abused children would develop many psychosocial problems including depression, increase aggression and violence, low self-esteem and inabilities to establish and maintain relationships. Those who have endured long term or severe torture would have similar social deficits and personal handicaps.

Let’s go on to say that the psychologists were demanded to give specific time frames for the manifestation of these problems to arise. They would say many things, but some psychologists would point out that the onset of many of these problems could be almost immediate.

Therefore, any spin doctor opposed to the psychologists viewpoint could easily distort and destroy the psychologists assertion. One could easily find children and even adults who have been physically abused and tortured who function and appear to be happy and productive people. By writing a few articles stating psychological theories and well documented probabilities as predictions of fact, one could sway the reading public to view the psychologists as reactionary and wrong about their assumptions and predictions of the effects of violence on human beings.

This is what is happening in the global warming debate where spin doctors are now popularizing specific dire concerns and possible scenarios of the effects of industrial pollution as specific predictions. If we do not flood in five years, or all polar bears drown than global warming doesn’t exist or at least does not pose any immanent danger.

Think how easy it would be to form some bogus ecological body and pay them to make outrageous statements or popularize data which negates specific claims. Talk about your low hanging fruit. Think of how many pilot studies and papers are written each day. What if I were paid handsomely to find dubious studies or to find ways to interpret studies to give the impression that if such and such doesn’t happen this winter or this year than the global warming perspective is wrong.

Even though I find much of the current evidence regarding global warming somewhat compelling, to me it isn’t the point. Even if global warming isn’t happening, or at least not to the point to usher in a global disaster or ice age, it doesn’t mean that ecological concerns are myths or needless fear mongering.

The point is that dumping tons of toxic waste into our air and water on a daily basis is most likely not a good thing. It’s hard to prove that abuse is destructive to the human spirit, but its harms are well documented. Just as we could never prove smoking caused cancer, it was obvious it had a terrible track record in terms of personal health.

The debate over global warming is a spin doctors dream. It is diverting the attention  away from the obvious harms of toxic pollution and onto a debate which cannot be decided or proven. Those opposed to global warming do not have to prove that global warming isn’t happening, they only have to show the ways in which any global warming model of their choosing is wrong or inaccurate.

Jim Guido

Buying According to Need

Since the recent economic downturn it has become fashionable to complain about the obvious excesses of our consumer culture. People are being told to save money and pay off their debt. Those with excessive debt are viewed as being reckless and harmful to the stability of our nation’s economic superiority.

Not that long ago US citizens were being told that buying and borrowing were the only true ways of having our economy and way of life defeat terrorism and keep our country strong.  Almost every day we were told that 70% of our economy depended on the American consumer. Consumption was both our right and duty as patriotic Americans. Staying out of planes and out of shopping malls would bring joy to the terrorists and help them defeat the US.

Since March the stock market is on its best run in history. The Nasdaq 100 best known as the father of the dot com bubble finished 2009 as its second best year ever, with over a 50% gain. Since March it has risen over 80% the sharpest rise ever on record.

The reasons for this rise according to the financial media are simple. First, the bailouts worked and the financial crisis has been averted. Second, the recession is over and the economy is bouncing back. Third, the “resilient”  American consumer has continued to spend.

So how is that the American consumer is simultaneously paying off its debts and increasing its consumption? The rebound in consumer spending is occurring despite the fact that the employment situation continues to look bleak and wages growth is stagnant.

Though the financial media claims the recession is over, polls show that the average US citizen still feels like they are living in a recession. I’ve already covered this apparent contradiction in a post entitled Stock Market Loves Bad Economy written less than two months ago.

Today I’d like to talk about what would happen if the US consumer truly began to pay off his debt, save money and reduce his purchases.

What would your purchases look like if the bulk of your expenditures were limited to satisfying your basic needs? First of all most purchases would be restricted to food, shelter, clothing and medical care. Second a lot of semi-essentials or things that are not needed on a daily basis could be borrowed from or shared with friends.

Think of how much you could save if you pooled resources with friends. We know the economic and environmental benefits or carpooling or taking public transportation. Yet, think of how much money you could save by sharing tools such as ladders, hammers, lawn mowers, etc. that you use on a weekly, monthly or occasional basis.

When I was a child we borrowed frequently from friends and neighbors and were glad to buy some items which we knew others would borrow from us. If our neighbor had a six foot step ladder good for many tasks, we might buy an eight foot step or an extension ladder which would successfully handle other tasks. It seemed silly to clutter the garage with two ladders and duplicate resources, and was both practical and neighborly to lend and borrow tools.

If a sharing relationship ever became too inconvenient you could always buy your own duplicate item, but for the most part sharing is both economically wise and socially reinforcing. It’s nice to be helpful or of service to others and to feel part of a practical caring community.

Now, even if we didn’t share we would drastically reduce our expenditures if we bought more according to need rather than convenience.  Eating at home and preparing simple meals is both healthy and inexpensive.  Buying clothes because of practicality and usefulness rather than fashion would save many people a lot of money.

Yet, we have barely scratched the surface of how much money we could save if we became conscientious purposeful shoppers who made the majority of the purchases based on need.

The next time you go down a non-residential street or to a commercial district such as a shopping mall, think of each store in terms of need. What in the store does anyone really need? How many stores are dominated by objects that people have no need for? What percentage of stores you see do not contain a single item which you could realistically say you would ever need?

When I personally have done this exercise I find relatively few stores that actually tend to my basic needs. I find that even shopaholics have to admit that the majority of shops they know would fall into the category of inessential in their lives.

I think it is pretty safe to say that many of the shops and commercial establishments in every town would cease to exist if people reduced their purchases to meet their needs, or even slightly above their needs.

Over the last few decades the percentage of jobs related to services has risen while the percentage of factory, craftsmen, professional and skilled labor positions has decreased. The vast majority of service jobs are far less essential and need based than are the others and hints at how hard our labor market would be hit if we began to live and consume according to need.

The simple fact is our economy would fall apart if people became thoughtful consumers and lived within their means. Our society is dependent on conspicuous consumption, without it, most businesses would fail or not even exist.

In a few previous posts I have pointed out in a variety of ways how dependent our profit based system of economics is on waste. Once again I’d like to write the logic chain which I think most succinctly depicts the limits and dangers of free market capitalism:

Profit = Surplus = Excess = Waste

In this post we have just noted another way in which the above chain is true. If we lived efficiently and need based, their would be no surplus and all profit would vanish.

The fact of the matter is our economic system is dependent on flagrant consumption and wastefulness.

Sharing, being honest, kind, charitable, conscientious, frugal, safe, and contented are human characteristics and qualities which are in opposition to and a danger to our economic system.

The question is how dangerous and destructive is our economic system to our humanity? How much harm does our economic system do to our sense of pride and self-esteem?

Many think that our economic system though flawed is the best option available. Many would go on to say that we can’t live without an economic system, and that our free market economy is the best and most humane system possible.

Yet, how can this be, when living according to one’s needs would actually destroy the economy and many of man’s best qualities are in opposition to the essential competitive nature of a free market economy?

Jim Guido