Priorities

It's no trade secret that while digital technology itself is ever-improving in droves everything else is either stagnating---or even deteriorating.

It's because in order for anything to either improve or be well-maintained it has to be nurtured and enhanced continuously.

Whatever has highest priority in society, government, or business and industry, that's going to be what gets the most attention and focus from those in charge.  And, lately, what's top priority is no longer radio, television, literature, the recording industry, nor even the movie industry.  And it's not the railroads, the airlines, or the infrastructure.

All the main focus is on high tech and cyber-infrastructures.

Oh, sure, they're keeping all those other traditional elements alive for the sake of posterity and due to the fact they've made such a dent in western (and world) culture for so long their impact on us isn't exactly going to disappear overnight

...but, nonetheless, they're now being "maintained" in such a half-assed manner they've become, pretty much, a cheap imitation (and knock-off) of their former original selves.

                                                   What is truth?

Didn't Johnny Cash approach this subject a long time ago?

Considering the societies we live in are, essentially, socialist republics---that is, societies ruled solely by word of law---anything the lawmakers state in writing and have officially enacted is pretty much determined to be fact or truth (or at least collective gospel).

This means any society can "change" its own reality, history, morality, social construct, and just about anything else, with but a stroke of the pen.  Because in a socialist republic "The Law" rules over everything else.

What "happened in the past" will be whatever the official narratives SAY happened in the past (actual facts and reality be damned)
"Right" and "wrong" are purely subjective, prone to the whims of whoever's in charge and whatever they hold in highest esteem in terms of whatever they consider "proper".
What's "important" is whatever whoever's in charge decides is of highest priority.

Responsibility (revisited)

I find it amusing that the speed limit on one of the streets running through the Ohio State University area is 25 MPH.  College students never drive under 40 MPH as a rule.  The only time a college student ever goes under 40 MPH is after they've collided with another vehicle, almost run a red light, or nearly hit a pedestrian or bicyclist in a crosswalk.
They're among those who "don't have to be responsible", so they tend to be careless and insensitive/thoughtless in their ways and mannerisms.

I have this weird theory that the reason certain people are successful in life, or are able to simply glide along smoothly without being tripped up by a need for excessive self-consciousness due to "guilt trips" is because they're not bogged down by having to answer for every damn thing they do or say of a thoughtless or reckless nature or that would cause another certain hardships.
And without those obstacles in their way they can go about doing whatever it is they normally do without constant interference by others getting in their face over each and every infraction that results in their having "carelessly cut" someone else.

It's like this:
If Einstein had to answer for everything he said that someone else found "offensive" we'd probably never have gotten The Theory of Relativity, for he'd have been too distracted by "social contract" to focus on anything else.

Likewise, if Edgar Allan Poe had to register each month as a "sex offender" with the local constabulary for having married his 14-year-old cousin (including having to attend all the legally-mandated counseling sessions that accompany being put in such a category) do you think he'd ever have had a chance to get around to writing such classics as MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE RAVEN, or THE TELL-TALE HEART?

GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!

I don't know what it is with these folks who block doorways, hog aisles in stores and restaurants, take up the whole sidewalk when walking in pairs or groups.

We're not talking about 5-year-olds or kids in grade school.  We're talking people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond.

Didn't their parents teach them anything when they were growing up?  Like, when in church they and a sibling or two were spread out across a whole pew and their mom would call out "Hey, scoot over already!  Make room for others to sit".  Or, when going out somewhere and it was two or three of them in the back seat, and mom stopped off to pick up a couple more friends or relatives to join them, and she'd scold them "Hey, kids, there's still enough room for another back there.  Scoot over."

It's hard to believe anyone could live as long as some people have and no-one's ever told them "Hey, come on.  Move over already!" or "Hey, man!  Outta my way!" enough times for it to finally sink in they and their friends (or close relatives) are not the only ones occupying space on planet earth.

But, to this day, there are far too many who still don't know enough to "stand to the side so others can get through as well".

I swear ...

..."normal people"!  So many of them can be such megalomaniacs, can't they?

It's truly "THEIR world".

                                     Musing For Today

Whatever else one may have to say about the internet, one positive about it is the way one can find minds who are together, insightful, and have sound perspectives on various issues and subjects.

Somehow, face-to-face, everyone I run into is either a stranger, someone I "only do business with", or has some kind of authority.  Bonding of any kind, even intellectually, is out of the question.
The only concerns others around me seem to have are of a "scripted" jejune juvenility vein
...for example:  back in the '70s and '80s all anyone could talk about was "getting drunk" (or "getting high"), "getting laid", and "partying"
...these days it's a lot of "crusader" fare:  "ending domestic violence", "ending discrimination", "ending sexual harassment", "anger management", "curing cancer", "putting an end to alcohol and drug addiction", "putting an end to 'hate speech' and 'verbal abuse'", and the like.

Same type of insipid collectivist superficiality, different narrative.

The internet may have its fair share of iniquities, but often it can also be the only refuge for those seeking out some modicum of intelligent adult dialogue.
And I, for one, need something---anything---to counteract the inane dreck that comprises all the current social (and legal) narratives being heaped on all of us come lately.

So .....you think Mike Royko is a "writer".  Or, maybe, Will Rogers.  Or Lewis Grizzard.

Edgar Allan Poe.  Now we're talking about a REAL writer!

Just TRY getting through one of HIS short stories.  You're barely through Page One before you find yourself straining to comprehend a graphic description of the inside of a castle-size mansion wherein one of the main characters reside, rife with all manners of metaphor colorfully, fluently, and eloquently presented in utmost intricacy.

Not to mention a lot of the wording is dated, guaranteed to be baffling to those not well-seasoned in the styles of 19th-century slang and vernacular.

But, most of all----our attention span these days is a total "club zero".  Almost nonexistent.  And it takes not only total concentration but a strong aptitude for unbridled focus to even begin to have the slightest hope of ever being able to digest any of his works.

In the apartment building I reside in the manager's office is on the ground floor, next to the washers and dryers, in the same corner as the laundry room.
Of course the door is locked after hours.

Now, on the office door is a sign stating NO PUBLIC RESTROOM.
Now, is a sign like this really necessary?  I mean, the office door is either locked, or the manager is present and on duty.

Maybe the sign is still needed
...like in the event someone were to decide to pick the lock so they could have a look around the office after business hours, commit vandalism, theft, or simply help themselves to tenant files---at least they would still know and be aware that the office restroom itself is "off limits" to all outsiders.

Maintaining protocol is of the utmost importance, after all ....