Trantor

Is it me, or is it getting weird out?

Our culture seems to be changing its mind about this, but I think prison once was about:

a. Holding a person accountable.

b. Setting an example of judging a member of a society and to determine what the “truth” is… (what happened and who did what).

c. Dealing with the individual’s own sense of punishment, so that they are forced to acknowledge society’s penalty and accept it as a judgement of who they are.

d. Relieving the stress on those close to the persons wronged, so they are able to see justice done, and may feel vindicated, in at least the truth of the matter.  It also serves as a social method of “relieving pressure” on a society.

e. Weighing in the possible positive benefits the individual may have for society. Is there training, etc. that can be done.

Is the system just for everyone (including those convicted wrongly)?

I don’t have the answers.   I have a lot of questions.

All in all… the entire society we have seems about to collapse, or shift into something else, and I can’t help but think it is getting weird.

The diseases are pretty freaky, and they are putting a lot of economic and social pressures on the world. 

This thing with ISIL is nuts.

The Russians are taking nearby countries, and all they will about is: “hey folks… Everyone be cool.  It’s all ok.   These guys want to join us and we want to help them out because, by golly, they are Russians.  Legally.  We take the country, they Russia.  If they are not Russia, then they wouldn’t want us, and we would be there…”

The water is running out in the MidWest and it can’t be replaced, because it was all placed there in the Missoula floods 14,000 years ago.  (It might happen again, but it won’t be showing up soon enough to help us out.)

There’s are a few countries out there that are pretty nuts.  And that would be OK if they weren’t sitting in the corner saying nasty little ugly things while they play with biologic or nuclear toys and noxious, anti-social things.

The killing the planet thing is a little disconcerting.  You know, all that pumping this or that into the air and water, or out of the dirt and how it probably isn’t hurting anyone or anything.  There are some weird things happening in the rivers and oceans, but there's a lot of ocean out there anyway...  Even the land species are finding it a little tricky to co-exist with weird Uncle Smart Primate.

Religiously things have gotten pretty weird too.  There's the Quron folks pretty upset that no one believes them that Abraham tried to kill Ishmael, while those who favor the Tora or the Bible people are pretty insistent it was the other brother, Isaac.  There’s the "in the Church stuff" about family issues and life style issues and how that ties into issues about political parties, and programs or the military or freeways or something and various parties get all charged up on one thing or the other.  They seem to find it easy to quit doing their jobs because they want to lead me somewhere they think is going to be better (for someone, I think they said me.)

And I guess it has something to do with taxes. And what they want to spend it on (though they don’t seem too interested in my view of what they should spend it on).

At any rate… things seem to be going a little sideways, lately, and I’m not talking about an early cold storm, or even a freak tsunami, or the emptying of a giant lake or a volcano or earthquake  a nuclear power plant going sideways so some folks are finding it isn't a good idea to fish where the fish glow.

I’m just saying is the whole thing gives me the creeps, like everything local, or global, or even within the solar system some where…is just sort of waiting to see who tears things apart first.

It sort of feels like it could be a Seldon Crisis sort of thing.

Veteran's Day

To the veterans out there… Thank you.

I have, for nearly all my life, thanked veterans, police officers, and firemen for their efforts on behalf of country and community.

In every conversation I have had with a veteran about the wars they have been in, and about war in general, I have not met a group of people more anti-war than veterans.

Something has been bothering me about the adulation for veterans since 9-11, and I think I have finally teased out of my subconscious what it is.

It isn’t right.

Bear with me.

I always felt a twinge, one I wasn’t sure about, when I heard people thanking a veteran for protecting our freedom when they have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan.  Was that what they were doing?  Or were they following orders from politicians who had other reasons than preserving freedom?

Those veterans joined the military, with the idea of serving country, protecting our country, preserving our freedom. Is that what they are doing?

After the Vietnam War we moved away from the draft and embraced the volunteer army.  Those who serve do so because they chose to put themselves under the authority of the military and the civilian government which controls it.

Prior to that the government simply drafted the people needed to fight a war.  That meant the war they fought had to be justified.  They had to sell the reasons for that war to the people.  

America fought fiercely in wars in which the fate of the world was at stake.  And Americans volunteered for those wars (in addition to being drafted).  

The situation now is men volunteer to stand ready, and politicians spend those lives as they see fit.

It isn’t enough to salve my conscience to tell a veteran thank you for risking his life, especially when it may not have been for my freedom but for political maneuvering or to leverage oil, territory, or other goals.

It isn’t enough to tsk tsk poor medical care or small pensions or offer counseling to veterans who come home damaged and have no homes.

Perhaps it would be better to bring back the draft and have us all be put at risk for the decisions of our leaders.  Perhaps our leaders would be more cautious with lives if there was an immediate appreciation for the human costs.

For those of you who serve in the military, I thank you.  For those of you who have risked your lives to fight in wars past, I honor you.