Our Digital Age

I’ve written about this topic before. But, I suppose it will never cease to amaze me, kind of like the pager craze. My brother and his friends (Rob & Jeremy) all had pagers more than half a decade ago. It kind of felt like they were our special friends with their pagers. But now, we have phones that are music players, voice records, schedulers, and phones too. It makes sense to condense all these items we now deem oh, so important into one, but I wonder sometimes when it will stop. Will we be able to create full presentations, publication-ready documents, or maps from our palm-centrals in a few years? Or will it hold steady at basic functions like Word and Internet Exploring?

I’m also, always, amazed at how difficult it can be to get a hold of people in our digital age. We have email, phones, and regular-old in person contact, but how many of us are really connecting with each other? We have people who are tech-crazy and we have people who’d rather take the technology and shove it. It’s like we have this odd dichotomy brewing which is aiding in the loneliness our society, as a whole, feels.

I’m taking two Geography classes this term, each will require a project. In my quest to define, study, and understand this concept called Sustainability, one facet I have not really explored is Waste. Overall, however, I am interested in the education of the topic, educating people different ways of living our lives. A few years ago I was able to define it as “Educating people about the importance of a sustainable society.” So, in these classes, Thursday, we got together and discussed base tenants of our interest, this case being waste.

Regarding waste, I am interested in the cycles of waste. For example, why do we buy compost at the store when if we did things differently around our yard, we’d have a “free” supply? I’m interested in waste, how we waste things; and I’m interested in the concept of throwing things away. Some recycling advocates, some environmental advocates, and other “greens” want our vocabulary to change regarding trash. If we think of everything as trash, then we lose the potential to do other things with this “trash”. A point was made by one of the gentlemen in my group. He pointed out that since we live in such a disposable society, basically, everything we’re living in is trash. So, because we ultimately throw everything away in the end, we’re living in trash at different stages of its life. And he thinks that this is a major factor contributing to our depression and loneliness in our society.

Since our communication age doesn’t help us communicate any more, and we’re constantly living in and surrounding ourselves with trash, is there any hope? I will end with a question I would like answered. What’s your view of our disposable society, and do you agree with that claim, that living in trash leads to our dysfunction?

Country Music & The Service

I have been completely inundated, by choice, with country music. Something has changed in me since becoming pregnant and having a baby. I used to tolerate, better, swearing, cuss words, in every day language and in media I would watch or listen. But not anymore. (That’s not to say that I don’t need to clean up my mouth.) So, since Peter has a plethora of country music on the computer, it’s easy to pick from and listen. A song by Kenny Chesney was played at Cristi’s funeral, and that helped tip the balance in favor of country music.

One of the artists on the computer is Toby Keith. When Peter and I would take trips to Mt. Hood or the Coast, the CD Shock ‘n Yall would frequently be played. Most of the songs have a catchy beat and easy lyrics. When we’d come to the songs regarding our War in Iraq, though, I wouldn’t enjoy the music as much, listening to the music and feeling a pro-war agenda being sung. I’ve been listening to these same songs now for months, and I have listened to the lyrics better. (I’m one of those people who needs to at least try and understand the lyrics of the song I’m jamming’ too.) It became clear that the lyrics were not pro-war but rather pro-soldier. One of my biggest pet peeves while expressing distaste for this war is being chastised for being anti-soldier, and that’s just not the case. Those who are saying, “Bring the Troops Home, Now!” want our American Boys and Girls to be safe and with their families. They would rather see their energy and enthusiasm used for causes at home instead of abroad where the motivations are sketchy at best. I must say I was surprised to learn that Toby Keith had similar sentiments. He is quoted as saying,

“Here’s the thing. Just because you’re pro-troops doesn’t mean you’re pro-war. And just because you’re anti-war doesn’t mean you’re anti-troops. Just because you don’t support the war people think you are anti-troops and you are a bad guy. And just because you go support the troops and rah-rah the troops up all of a sudden you’re pro-war. Those are the two biggest misconceptions of the whole thing.”

I had been listening to this guy for so long and getting irritated with his songs which I thought were misplaced patriotism. And, then I learn he voted for Clinton, twice.

Now, I may be wrong here, but it seems country singers are more likely to sing and support our troops. I don’t care what your feelings are about the wars in which we partake, it’s so important to support our troops. (And I know I don’t do any job of that.) My brother-in-law is in the Army National Guard and his mother regularly sends him care packages. My uncle was in the navy, another was in the army, another in the air force. Two of my grandfathers were in WWII, one a nurse in Germany and the other in the Air Force serving in the Pacific. We all know someone who has served. I get this idealized image of heroic men and women who put their wants at bay to serve the greater good, whether or not we agree with their orders.

There are more disorganized thoughts running through my head, so I will close with a question. Do you know anyone who has served in the military, someone relatively close, and what have you done to “support” them?

The Political (Rat) Race

This person, who knows my cousin, has been sending a few emails to everyone on my Aunt’s email list. The latest email was an endorsement for Ron Paul, a House Representative for Texas by way of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gary claimed that Dr. Paul was the first worthwhile candidate he has every seen and that it is now time for him to get off his lazy bum and endorse a candidate that means something.

I think it’s safe to say that we’re all tired of the political process. Many people want to stay out of politics because it’s dirty and corrupt, but politics is the life-bread of America. Everything is run by politics, and to ignore politics is to ignore our own fate. It’s nice to see people becoming impassioned enough to get involved, but the question begs, who are they really supporting? Is the candidate saying a few choice things to rally the troops, but the straight-talking politician, is he as two-faced and double speaking as the rest of his colleagues? Yes, yes he is.

I was curious why this person would be so adamant to support Dr. Paul, so checked out the link provided. His front page reminds the viewer of the next two primaries, New Hampshire (22 days) and Iowa (17 days). He also has his 4th quarter donation totals, $18,358,611.00. My first thought was that maybe he’s upfront about what he’s received. I have no concept of an amount of money that large, so I have no idea if it’s a large or not. So, I checked out Open Secrets and see what money they’ve tracked. Compared to rest of the candidates he is very low in his fundraising. I think now the $18,000 was a total and not a per quarter total.

I also examined his stance on the issues he details as the important ones. He’s listed Debt & Taxes, American Independence, War, Life & Liberty, The Second Amendment, Social Security, Education, No Taxes on Tips, Border Security & Immigration, Privacy & Personal Liberty, Property Rights & Eminent Domain, Health Freedom, Home Schooling, Health Care, Environment, and Racism as the important ones. It certainly seems like an extensive list. But, when I examined the text of lists I found that he often contradicts himself while trying to make a point. He wants to protect our borders without detailing funding and cut taxes. In each point, he only tells how he feels about such point without giving clear paths, ideas, goals for achieving these things. And, more recently, he has been “snubbed by Fox and shut out of a GOP presidential candidate forum. If he’s been snubbed by a supposed right-leaning network, how far off the spectrum of your chosen party do you have to be?

And, Barack and Huckabee won the Iowa Caucus. Clearly, it seems, Americans want change, a reason why my cousin’s friend would blindly vote for someone. And, clearly, we vote for candidates who do obvious double speak. But, what will it take for a true straight-talking candidate to emerge, and win. A candidate who isn’t clearly imbued by one bias or another, a candidate that can speak to the various aspects of America. What will it take to get a candidate that sees hope and wants to preserve our future for future generations, so my kids’ kids’ can have a green, healthy, planet in which to argue the constitution and dubious candidates?