Let's Stand For Something

I'm putting this one up on Saturday, because no one reads this blog on Saturday and I can safely write a really serious piece. The only reason I don't disable anonymous comments is because I haven't figured out how to do it. The only reason I can see for them is the crap you have to go through to be able to get recognized by blogger so you can post. It doesn't take that long, but it's not as easy as it ought to be.

But at least accept a little responsibility for what you're writing and sign an anonymous post to show a little integrity. Not that signing an anonymous post gives anyone integrity. So, I really don't respond to questions from an anonymous source. I have been discussing the same question with three folks who happen to be on the blogroll in e mail, and I think I have been consistent.

Now, if Anon is Pablo Chavez, Murray Chavez, or Julio Iglaciaz, my response is, I'm a Capitalist. If Anon is Phoenix Hearse my response is, you should be on my blogroll, but I'm afraid you're going to kill me. No pressure dude, let me know whenever. Priorities you know. The Mini-Derby, and the 100th, and the marinade for the fried weasel, it's all too much pressure. But I do thank you for the very important digression, I was building too much pressure, and I was going to blow a head gasket. And if anon was someone I had a disagreement with or someone that left in a huff and i had no idea why, then I have questions I'd like answered first.

As long as we're on the topic, I am still upset by the recent Congressional testimony. It is really just an affirmation that we all hide from each other. We show each other selected sides of ourselves. In my case, hopefully my best. My wife sees it all with me, and I have seen it all with her. And that's that. But there is a reality. We communicate almost 80%, according to research, by the tone of our voice. You can find that repeated over and over in the Communications Model in Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Physiological Psychology, ad nauseum. Please don't ask for a specific article. You can find tons of work on the subject if you look. And Congress, our esteemed leadership is just finding out that Hewlett Packard, a major technology company had an 'investigative project' run amuck, possibly even had laws broken, certainly bent. The Board of Directors is in a shambles, the CEO was forced to resign, the General Counsel resigned and took the Fifth Amendment before Congress, just before the ex-CEO, who took the advice of the General Counsel, testified. (attention: if the prepositions and propositions are mis-matched and/or the adjectives/adverbs are mis-seasoned, let me know and i can change them. If you know how to change the colors of the type mid-sentence, or even mid-post, please write me) Now, if you were Patricia Dunn, wouldn't you be uber-confident when everyone before you who had worked for or with you, invoked their Fifth Amendment Rights before Congress. I'll bet there was a lot of e mails, and text messages, voice mails even. But not a lot of talking to each other. Why waste the time, and this much space, on a Saturday on this. The damage was confined to those inside HP pretty much, wasn't it? ell, maybe, maybe not.

What happened at HP is typical of society, the entire world's society. We are ignoring each other more and more every day. We pay a ton to see a chosen few in the entertainment field whom we have come to know and love, and think of almost as family, but talk to a stranger about a book in the library? We are well-trained since we can talk about strangers. Not that celebrities have it all that good either, they just get obscene pay. Watch what happens when they go out for a haircut, or almost anyplace in public. The army of photographers, who sell the pictures to the magazines we subscribe to so we can keep abreast of our extended family. We must get the dirt, and find out that they are no different than us. Wait, Paris Hilton likes sex too! Shut my mouth. I didn't know women liked sex. When did that start? I'm a little weird, I haven't got a clue who Lindsey Lohan is, and I can't tell you much about Paris Hilton except she makes the news I see for strange reasons. Personally, I'm more interested in learning more about spoon, a real person.

I have hinted, but not explicitly expanded a lot so far. Think about our organizations throughout society. The people at the top making policy. Maybe there isn't quite the unanimity you would hope for. There is dissention among the directors. Squabbling over how things should be done. Orders are given. Memos are written. Armies of lawyers review, digest, argue among themselves, opine and then cleanse the final draft until the 'document' is sent into the field. Now, the procedure are set. This could have been HP, or the World Health Organization determining how to deal with an outbreak of bird flu influenza.

There appears to be a price to pay for insulating ourselves from each other. We certainly don't know each other, not nearly as well as we should. The bank should know me, I put my money there. I go there a lot, but there is always a new manager, and that person is always so busy. The last time I was there, I waited an hour and a half to get to the manager because I needed a notary public, and that manager was the only one anywhere for miles in any direction. The bank figures that I am going to bank on-line most of the time, and that knowing the local manager isn't a big deal anymore. The grocery stores are national chains, the store mixes are determined bu optimized geographical areas that can be supplied in railroad car size deliveries to the warehouses. Ever tried to get help at Google? Unless you're talking Investor Relations, we're talking the computer.

The computer, the ultimate personal customization machine!

This has been The CEO beep