Posts filed under ‘WALT’S OBSERVATIONS’
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
This a suggestion is suggestion for a writing project, either a short story or novel. There is something terribly wrong this country and there seems no way to fix it. Perhaps if readers experience, through fiction, the hurt, the sorrow being caused in this country something may happen. This is not the same country I remember as a child. Life has somehow lost its value. The slightest disagreement could end in death. Not long ago there were two mass shootings, one right after the other. Congress was not in session. Mitch McConnell said any action to be taken could wait. I wonder how many people died while Congress waited. But let’s be honest. Any action taken by congress would have little or no effect in solving the problem of guns. Our president said he would strengthen the gun laws of this country. A visit from the NRA changed his mind. The events experienced in Philadelphia during the past few days highlight the gun problem. Recently there were three events which indicate what a vicious society we have become. A mother was holding her two-year-old daughter IN HER HOUSE. Shots were fired and the child died, hit in the head. Can you imagine in that instant the anger, the fear and the hopelessness that mother experienced? I cannot imagine the sorrow that mother will experience for the rest of her life. Her innocent child denied a future by a senseless act committed by someone with no care for life or property. But this event is in no way unique. Every day, in this country, there are people gripped by the same emotions. Close to the same time, an eleven-month- old child was shot four times while sitting in a car seat. That poor child is now fighting to remain alive. The next day there was an argument between a man and his girlfriend. Two men intervened and asked the man arguing to go to his car and cool-down. Fifteen minutes later the man existed the car and shot these two men, trying to help, dead. These days trying to be of help could cost you your life. Life has become so cheap with the increased availability of guns. The NRA strives to defeat any law which would create a safer society. Who supplies the NRA with the money to accomplish their purpose? Could it be the gun industry putting profit over? How can we change this loss of life in our country? We can change it with our vote. We must elect people who will represent their constituents and not the organizations throwing money their way. We must elect those who have never accepted a dollar from the NRA. I know this is an impossible dream but something must be done. So, I say to writers write your hearts out and maybe you will reach the heart of this country.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
Why is it that convict, having paid their debt
to society are remembered for their wrongdoings
for the rest of their lives? For some, making that
life unbearable.
Yet, at the same time, companies are responsible for
crimes against humanity, make immense profits,
and all they need to pay are small fines with
a fraction of the profits made.
And their top managers are paid millions
for the crimes they have committed.
And our society, for the most part, forgets
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
THE PAST AND THE OBSERVATIONS OF TODAY
Today like every other day a corruption is identified in either industry or government.
I grew up in the 50’ and 60’s when there weren’t any corrupt practices.
RIGHT!
I’m sure they existed and cleverly concealed. The technology did not exist to easily reveal them. Money and intimidation played a major part in their secrecy.
Today, things are different. Every day new corruptions are revealed. And every day nothing of consequence happens.
Good lawyers and money are finding ways around the system. Or making their way through the system through donations to politicians.
I want to share my personal experience with a large company.
I worked for this company for 22 years, which constantly morphed into a different organization due to mergers. The final merger with a less than reputable company, which in reality, was a subtle takeover was the death nell of values I respected.
When I began my job with this company it was honest, focused on their products. But over time things changed. As with most companies the focus now is on the bottom line to please stockholders.
Day after day I hear company adds talking about their top managers on retreat to discuss the company’s culture.
Corporations provide pleasant surrounding for the top executives of the company to discuss the future of the company and to their culture.
The culture is the bottom line. If a company could produce a product which would benefit society but not be profitable, what would be the decision of this products future, I don’t have to tell you what the choice would be.
The company I worked for was once sued for over three billion dollars. They said they were not guilty, but would pay the fine to put this behind them.
Have you heard that before?
I feel today we all pawns. Our lives are manipulated by the 1% not caring about our lives or the country. Their object is wealth and power.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
TRUMP & HITLER
I just stumbled upon a Trump rally in New Hampshire.
Don’t know when. It’s the content and body language
that matters.
I listened to his rhetoric, as always glorifying himself.
But I notice something different.
When he stepped away from the podium to listen to
the crowd roar their approval, I could imagine Hitler
doing the same movements.
Watch the rally and tell me I am wrong.
Fellow Americans, I think we are in big trouble.
OPINIONS & OBSERVATIONS
WHEN WILL THIS COUNTRY WAKE-UP?
Today I heard about a shooting in Gilroy, California. Three dead, so far, including a six-year old and a thirteen-year old. Lives robbed of a future by an asshole with a gun. Lives which could have made a difference to our world.
I have driven though Gilroy., California many times on the way to San Jose, the home of my former wife and current best friend. You could smell Gilroy before you reached it. As we approached the town we were greeted by a bucolic countryside, pleasant and peaceful. We approached the town along highway 152, a pleasant ride through the hills of brown which may change according to the weather. From my experience the weather never changed much, until now. The global weather change has stirred things up for California, and actually, all over the world. Of course, the existence of this phenomenon is a myth, fully apparent if you are a ‘stable genius’.
After an incident of tragic proportions, the news if full of sorrow, memorials, bicycles ridden for great distances so we remember the current tragedy. In my opinion none of these inspired acts make a difference in the mindset of our current society. There are too many mass shootings to remember. Even what happened in Los Vegas, 58 killed and more than 500 injured. That is not a mass shooting. That is a war we are not winning unless there is a change in the morality of this country. Where the right to own a weapon comes before the lives of the victims we hear about every day.
I do not want to take the rifle out of the hands of hunters. I do not want to take the weapons of those who want to protect their homes. I want to take weapons out the hands of the unstable, of those with a past history of violence. It will take a far greater brain to resolve all these problems, but I have one observation.
The answer is MONEY!
Unfortunately, our entire society’s values, mainly those who control our society’s goal is more and more money.
For decades and beyond the direction of this country has been bought by organizations and individuals with an agenda. How to make more money. That money buys politicians and who knows what other levels of our government. They always say your vote counts which is true. But money buys the individuals you can vote for.
The only way we can see to right this wrong is to fight money with money. Have the 1% with a conscious, and love this country for the opportunities it has provided them unite and bring back the values that have made this country great. Buy back our freedom which is rapidly changing. Use your wealth to make this country, which gave you the opportunity to make that wealth, a country we can all be proud of again,
The ball is in your court. Play it wisely for this country’s future.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
FUTURE WRITERS AND AI
Just finished the latest book by Ian McEwan, Machines Like Me. I highly recommend it for it is a great read. If you wonder what the future is, you will enjoy this book.
That book is the inspiration for this article.
I recently posted a piece about the elderly writer coping with today’s technological advances and all the social platforms with which to communicate with the public. To summarize, I don’t know how most of today’s electronics work or what they can accomplish. I don’t have a clue how to use the ever-growing number of social platforms. I realize change will never cease, but the rapidity of the changes today is without equal. The purpose of this piece is to address the potential future of writing. The future of not tomorrow’s elderly writers but all writers.
The news today is addressing more and more the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI). My local supermarket has the tall rectangular device roaming around the store. I asked the cashier what the thing does and he said it spots spills. That’s it. Then the human has to come to clean the mess. A meaningless purpose but this is only one step on the road to singularity. Singularity is the time when human and AI intelligence is equal. After that the machines leave us in the dust. What will the machines be then called, robo sapiens?
What I speculate in this piece would make a great premise for a short story. Use it if you want.
I wonder about the challenge to writers in the age of singularity and beyond. When machines are more intelligent than writers. When machines are able to produce more compelling plots and better character development. They may have access to a multitude of languages knowing the meaning of every word in those languages. There also go the translators of novels, and the thesaurus will be relegated to the category of ancient works.
This is just speculation, as it was not long ago, that the personal computer and cell phone were the property of dreams.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
WE ARE TO BLAME
I know, I know this blog is meant to address writing. Well, I think this piece does exactly that. There is so much happening in this country that is a fountain of material for both fiction and non-fiction writers.
Our country has reached a new low in the environment, the lost trust of allies, the growing relationship with cruel dictators who think nothing of their people, yet telling the average citizen everything is fine. And some of us, luckily a minority, believe what they are told without searching for the facts. Because they are told the facts are not true because of the ‘fake news’. Then there is also the creation of ‘alternative facts’. And yet our administration is supposed to be believed, yet unfortunately, some do.
We have become a society of corruption at the top levels of government and industry. And they both feed off one another with no care for the damage they create for the citizens of this country. I think the reason many accept what is happening is because we have become lazy in seeking out the truth, and also, believing what we are told no matter what is right in front of us.
Without our knowledge, the seeds of failure for this country are sown every day. Soon they will sprout and deliver us into a future no one could imagine.
The rich grow beyond rich, while the poor, whose numbers constantly are increasing. We are told they are lazy and don’t deserve the benefits they receive. Some work two or three jobs and still can not support their family. There are many things wrong with this country. They can be solved but we need politicians and an administration with a conscience.
I am an old man and look back when problems I’m sure were hidden. But hidden or not I felt the future would improve life for all of us, all of us. But now we are involved in a culture of greed and loss of values. Is there any hope?
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