Still Waters Run Deep

Regular and Complex

Each of us has something, with which no one else may compete; yet to make challenging decisions is to break the mirror of assumed truth in favor of the fragile reality of what is.

Can we be regular and complex?

The smoke of ignorance and fear can choke those not down to earth. More than ever, I am unsettled by separating research insights from my day-to-day, my community, my personal emotions, and world politics.

As a researcher, I am trained to comprehend the relationships between humans, products, and services. As a writer, I develop methods to communicate my observations to my communities. As a black man, I wonder if I shame my ancestors when I consider fleeing the country they bled to build, or if I shame my children by remaining in a country that enslaved their ancestors.

The regular is complex.

I don’t know where my country is going. I don’t know how AI will affect my day-to-day in a day, in a week, or a year. In this digital ecosystem of facaded perfection, I accept my inability to fit in, because I am not good at playing this game. As a human being, I know you deserve my honesty, and so long as this virtue is lauded, something better can come from these trying times.

The Face and the Heel

With a reluctant tongue, I am choosing to mention politics more directly than ever. To expect every person to be politically informed is unreasonable, yet the amateurish approach I’ve witnessed on the topic is appalling.

Consider the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton ran a suboptimal campaign. Can you remember her slogan? From her tone and demeanor, I gleaned that she believed her appointment was inevitable. This attitude energized the Trump campaign, and even allowed him to run on a platform of change as the underdog–similar to Barack Obama. (The difference here is that Obama ran on novelty and Trump on nostalgia.)

Consider Covid-19. Donald Trump drastically mismanaged the national security and resources during the pandemic. Similarly, his appointment strengthened the economic power of the mega-rich and corporate control over politics and human rights.

Since his loss in 2020, the 45th president never stopped his campaign. No one wondered who would be the Republican nominee to be the 47th president. Political conservatives stayed strong because they refused to lose sight of their true enemy–the loss of power.

The greatest threat to liberal political power is inter-party discoordination. Some don’t want to wear masks, others find non-maskers hyper-selfish (and thus incompatible with their perception of community), but most don’t realize they’re wearing a mask concealing their true beliefs in fear of judgement and shame.

Conservatives do not compete to be the most conservative, and they have a few, clearly-defined objectives. Liberals compete to be the most liberal; many commonfolk liberals censor their own speech in fear of shame for not being “progressive enough,” resulting in multiple, vague, and weak agendas.

Liberal You Love to Hate

Unequivocally, I believe injecting lies, strategic mistruths, brutal honesty, hormones, or any foreign chemical into the minds and bodies of living beings should only occur from absolute necessity. Yes, this intentionally calls into question absolute necessity. I hate that lack of collective critical thought forces me to be so direct. Please help out a fellow writer and read more.

Despite fundamentally disagreeing with animals frivolously being injected with antibiotics, non-critical plastic surgery, hormone therapy, and athletes taking performance enhancing drugs, each being deserves a life of dignity, and to receive empathy, compassion, and kindness from others.

We’re Losing Recipes

Illuminating a path forward requires focus and the humility to recognize truth as it is intuitively uncovered. The ability to stay on topic is fleeting. Diversity of opinion, like variety, is a spice of life. Like interpersonal topics, recipes are cultural, contextual, and historically-based—to say an opinion is bad or good is unhelpful, but it may be weak or strong. One person may like steak flavored ice cream sandwich, but I’m never spending money on it or taking their wacked out referrals.

Apollo