ANOTHER DIVERSION

I meant to write just about creative work I've been using as a respite from all the politics. But the Mideast situation seems to demand notice and comment, so...

What strikes me, besides the new dark ages lack of logic and reasoned arguments in much of the world population that gets most of the attention in the media, even the more democratic social media, is the disproportionate power of the few over the many in almost every aspect of life today.

The few corporations that most influence not just much of the worlds life styles but influence most of its politics (big oil being the main one, then weapons and drugs, the same trinity I've been writing about since the 1960s as the basis for most world power and conflict). Billions of people having much of their lives influenced and even controlled by a handful of big businesses.

And almost all societies seem to be subject to this disproportionate power of the few. Take 9/11. Approximately 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The proportionate response would be to track down those behind the attacks and bring them to justice. Like a criminal matter, track down the suspects, try them and hopefully justice will be done.

But in retaliation for those attacks, two wars that have killed hundreds of thousands of people in several countries including well over three thousand of our own people (troops mostly) have been waged and are still going on (at least the killings are).

A handful of weak thinkers who are bad filmmakers "create" at least a trailer that purports to be part of a two hour film in order to denigrate a world religion to provoke what exactly? It's not perfectly clear but from the evidence it would seem the least they wanted to start was yet another war.

So then mobs of people in various Mideast countries respond to this provocation by a handful of people with demonstrations and riots and military style attacks that have killed more than a dozen people so far, and are still going on and for all I know at this writing scores more have died.

And the world media, particularly here in the USA responds as though the populations of these countries are all taking part in or at least responsible for these mob outbursts, even though they represent a tiny tiny minority of the countries involved.

They often referred to the 20th century as the century of "the common man" but it seems the 21st is fast becoming the century of the elites, the handful, the 1% or less who dominate the news and events that create the news.  You would think in this age of instant communication and worldwide media and social networks there'd be a way to say: hey, a couple of idiots trying to provoke you did a stupid thing that happens to be legal in the country they did it in but that doesn't mean our government or the majority of our population agrees with their representation of your religion.

And to say to all religious fundamentalists everywhere, including the rightwingnuts in our own country, if there is such a thing as "God" why would he need you to defend him or her or it or however you see this all powerful entity? And why would the creator of the world and all life be threatened or even that bothered by a handful of idiots doing idiotic things?

Okay, it's late, I'm probably not even making sense, but before I crashed I just wanted to respond to some of you who wondered what I thought about what's been going down the past few days.