MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

While checking something out on Google, I found that peripheral instructions were in Greek, though basic messages were in English. Αποτελέσματα 1 - 10 από περίπου 42.200.000 για online privacy people should. (0,2 δευτερόλεπτα) ) While I can read and understand Greek, I could not figure out how it got there. It only happened when I checked out a referral on the blog. It made me realize how much of my life is spent tracking down things that I want to understand. Curiosity is a time-expenditure curse.

While checking out many entries connected with this search, which seemed to focus on ‘privacy policy on the Internet’, I was struck by the number of posts that told us what we SHOULD be doing, which (being a psychotherapist for so many years) I usually file in the useless information category. People, in my long experience with them, do not do, or feel, what they should do but only that which makes sense to them. Some of the ‘shoulds’ were: why people should not drink and drive; why people should not date on the Internet, why people should give up drinking coffee, people should spend more money in retirement, why fat people should not bungee jump, stupid people should be shock collared and corralled T-shirt, people should smile more, and so many more. It asks questions like: how often should people e-mail? Should you judge people by what they look like? Should you earn your MBA online? Should you trust your computer? Don’t you think stupid people should be sterilized? If you have nothing better to do with your life, you can even read some of the sillier ones.

People who say ‘should’ are often the same people who think that a problem is solved if blame can be put on someone or something. If something is wrong or not working right, they think a law passed will correct it. Laws do not change people’s desires or actions. Too many people do what they want to do and see no reason not to do so as long as they are not caught. Moreover, we have few checks and balances working anywhere today. Our government seems to think the FDA, FCC, FBI and all the rest of the f-ing agencies are not necessary. In practice, our governments treats all citizens like not-too-bright children. For all we know, lots of them really are just that,regardless of age, though the half do mature and are intelligient. We all know children need adult supervision and structure. People blithely run red lights, steal anything that is not solidly secured (and sometimes even when it is). Businesses cheat customers constantly. Google Verizon complaints and you will see: Results 1 - 10 of about 391,000 for Verizon complaints. (0.22 seconds) Google Verizon poor business practices and Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 2,920,000 for Verizon poor business practices. (0.61 seconds) comes up.

Hospitals bill many unnecessary tests rather than allow their doctors to spend more than a few minutes with each patient. Their billings are so vague to the consumer that there is no way to know if charges are proper. That seems to be a big business trick. If a utility has two million customers and each is incorrectly billed an additionally penny, few people will spend time to fight for that penny. However, the utility has just made an unearned $20,000.

Many years ago, a teen ager came to my office and said there are only 35 more shoplifting days until Christmas. I asked if she stole from her best friends. She raised herself into a shocked attitude and told me, “Of course not! I only steal from stores, not people!” It was totally beyond her comprehension that stealing from stores is, in fact, indirectly stealing from your friends because they will be charged in the price of whatever they buy to make up the losses. To the average person, anonymity makes it easier to steal. They see no victim. To the sociopath, anonymity is not a requirement. That is why there are books written about corporate executives so often being sociopaths. It is easy to make their inhumane decisions to add to company profit when it doesn’t pain them to realize that people are being hurt by their decisions, in what non-sociopaths see as unconscionable behavior.

It amuses me to hear John McCain making an issue of Obama never having served in Armed Forces when McCain can support a war started, unnecessarily, by a group of men (and a woman) who had never served I’m upset by the smirk on his face as he insults the intelligence of the American people. It is the same visceral reaction I had when George W. Bush was pandering to people he thought wanted to hear his promises. He later demonstrated that it was all to get elected and he meant nothing of what he said.

Today, we who are professionals and call ourselves middle class, who had been feeling quite successful and fulfilled with our lives, consider ourselves something less than that. I feel as though I am caught up in the struggle between good and evil without Frodo. Obama does not seem a real life Aragon, though Viggo Mortensen might be a nice consolation. Will Barack Obama be our Harry Potter and eventually succeed in ridding the world of the influence of George W. Bush and company…the USA’s current group version of Voldemort? Stay tuned.

.