Greetings from
The Publisher . . .
Using ‘Bleep' & Buckminster Fuller to shift from ‘under attack' to opportunity
While we have always lived in a world full of choices, I don't think I can ever recall when so many very important choices were in front of us. In so many areas, there are issues to be decided that define us as individuals, as members of society, determine the environment we live in, and ultimately show the world who we are.
How do we decide what's most important? That's not easy right now.
For some people life sometimes provides more obvious answers. Tragedies move some individuals to begin or be involved in organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. For me, one of those things was war. Having a father who was in two and my own experience, was enough to give me the idea that when you ask people to die for something it needs to be important. There needs to be a damn good reason to go to war because the consequences are as devastating and lifechanging as anything we've come up with so far for everyone involved—and that's when you survive.
One of the biggest choices we have today is whether or not we recreate the world in our image. Sounds like something you would expect God to do, doesn't it? How is having lesser-than gods as leaders who are intent on recreating the world the way they want it, consistent with a democracy? I mean ours, not Iraq 's. Maybe history has always been that way. Maybe it's a modern phenomenon, but today's wars seem to be more political or more about protecting American interests. That can mean protecting American business to the detriment of another nation's best interest. Would we want to be treated that way? Then again, maybe we are.
Looking in all the directions I consider important makes me dizzy.
I think the “Right” is right. The American way of life is under attack, but not by a specific religion or a radical offshoot of it. And not by one of the factions seeking to control Iraq and fighting our troops.
When we have to worry whether our votes are counted or not, the American way of life is under attack.
When Florida has already made lists of voters (being challenged in court) who they plan to purge this time, democracy is under attack.
When the makers of electronic voting machines (who openly talk of delivering a Republican victory in certain States and who contribute monetarily to the Republican Party) resist installing systems that leave a paper trail thus eliminating recounts, that's an attack.
E v e r y o n e wants their side to win, but this? Already there have been numerous articles speculating that the American government itself may stage an October surprise such as the one in Spain , right before the election. Once upon a time I couldn't imagine that. But the Tonkin Gulf Incident was staged, so it's happened before.
Did you notice that the swing States, such as Pennsylvania , Iowa and Nebraska , are the States that Regal Theaters decided not to show Fahrenheit 9/11 ?
Do we have to worry that no matter how we try to prevent it, the Supreme Court will break precedent for the second time in history and decide how a State's votes should be counted?
Looking around it's not hard to find ways that we are under attack—the Medicare system, Head Start, the environment. There are so many ways we could be united, but we have moved toward partisanship and whatever's financially profitable.
Is there any question about whether people want to lessen our dependence on oil—especially from the Middle East ? There are a number of ways we could unite behind gas-saving cars, conservation or alternative energy. In San Diego , why isn't supporting public transportation a patriotic issue? The President, who called himself a unifier, does not. The ever-present good news/bad news part of this is that we have the opportunity to re-examine ourselves. It's interesting that the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? has just come out.
It was very entertaining, as well as a great learning/teaching tool. While it has met some resistance from movie theaters who think the main stream won't embrace it, what is more practical or needed these days? It moves quantum physics toward the practical, giving one a better sense of what's real, what's not as real, and how we fit in. It's a breath of fresh air in an oxygen-deprived world.
Most importantly, I think the film is a good presentation of how we are responsible for our world. The same information viewed from a different perspective shifts it dramatically. Am I, for instance, negative if I write about what I think should be different in this country? Or am I bringing it up for review, asking if we want to change or fine-tune something on our own endless road to better self-government? Wouldn't a road builder point out a pothole that needed fixing or question if a curve was too sharp and unsafe? What we do know is that the framers of the Constitution designed it to be modified.
I think getting outraged is okay. Being under attack means there are people breaking their agreement with society and that other people aren't doing their job and calling them on it. It's part of the citizen job description to be righteously indignant when someone takes advantage of us/US. The bad news is that something needs to be fixed, and the good news is that a minute ago we didn't know about it—and now we do. That's good.
I was at the post office the other day looking at what new stamps they have. I'd buy the flag stamps and put them upside down on my letters, but I don't think people know that's the international signal (at sea) that shouts, “I'm in distress.” Plus, I don't want to affect my mail.
As a nation, I think we are in distress. The sense of fairness or fair-play that many of us grew up with—or at least were taught—and consider to be the American way of life—is in peril.
Fortuitously, I recently found new stamps at the Post Office with R. Buckminster Fuller on them. When I expressed an interest I was told nobody seemed to want them and they had lots of them if I were interested.
I was asked, “Who is that guy anyway?”
It was a slow time so I talked about him for a few minutes. I started with how he built a home of the future with doors that opened automatically (now in supermarkets everywhere), recycled its water and was selfcleaning. (Everyone wanted to know more about the latter.)
If you are not familiar with Fuller, very briefly, he was the creator of the geodesic dome, the Dymaxion Car (3-wheeled for easy parallel parking), the Dymaxion Map (which literally provided a new view of the world). Simply put, he was a genius, inventor and designer.
What is pertinent that we might want to apply to our present world is that he basically ignored the tug-of-war for power we call politics. He wrote many books about how we view the world, how we evolved and how to have the world work for all world-inhabitants.
I'm not suggesting that we ignore politics, though we could be less political or partisan. If anything, the portion of the demographic that reads The Light Connection ought to vote. The Cultural Creative demographic is most apt to think that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have all the answers. Instead they often make a difference in their own way and ignore politics.
All the polls would be thrown out the window if this demographic showed up at the voting booth. They number about 40 million. Imagine that.
The challenge they need to overcome, of course, is the idea that we should have good, clear choices. We have to overcome the thought process that says, “If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.”
Especially in these times, we might have to think in terms of small steps, rather than saviors.
Getting back to Fuller and politics, his focus was on technology. Instead of getting involved in the politics of rich and poor, or where electricity should be directed (who should have it), he designed a worldwide grid that connected everyone. We took his idea, modified it, and built an energy grid in the U.S.
He used to say that when it came to houses, no one ever asked an engineer to design the plumbing. If they did, most, if not all of the water, could be recycled. Water usage is getting more and more important.
I think there are two important things to draw from his examples. The obvious is that we can, technologically, alter our dependence on foreign energy and other challenges. The second thing that Fuller did so well was all of these problems out of the realm of blame, victim-hood, or being something people could take as a personal attack. He just fixed the problem. It wasn't about who should benefit from the world's resources. He designed his answers for everyone.
Viewed another way, do we really think that terrorism should be taken personally? Is America under attack from terrorists because they hate us/ U.S. and our freedoms? It isn't about religion, race or nationalism. It is about not having opportunities or hope.
Do they hate us and our way of life, or do they hate their condition? Maybe we should ask what they want. Yes, America is under attack, but from within.
Have a great month,
Steve Hays
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