The One Hundred Percent

Numbers are bandied about continuously to make a point in the Information Age. Statistics, percentages, tallies, proportions, and the like are becoming the drivers of social change, the mirrors behind which truth is hidden, the towers in which power is created and kept, and the walls that keep groups separated. Even now, across the globe, a battle line is being drawn between the ninety-nine percent of the population that is suffering under the economic and social oppression of the other one percent, in which is invested great wealth and greater power.

While it is all well-and-good to be cognizant of the disparities and divisions that are the heart of our current place in human history, the polarization effected by numerical comparisons in any number of axes, far from delineating and defining the problems and potential solutions of those problems, serves to only increase the divisiveness and demonization extant in human societies all over the planet. If our conscience and social change are to be driven by numbers, then there are only two numbers that should truly count: one and one hundred.

Oh Sons And Daughters Of Israel!

I am indebted to one of my on-line friends, Emily L. Hauser, for a great deal of good information and insight into the current social conflict in Israel. I will not rehash her take on events there, but suggest you read her excellent blog to receive the unadulterated version. It has brought me, though, to try and formulate my own opinion on the subject; normally I do not delve into the conflict.

We Are Them, They Are Us

It does not matter, ultimately, what I say, or how correct I believe my beliefs to be. It does not matter what facts I have considered, what obfuscations I have overcome, what logic I have applied; though I can say I have done all those things, considered, weighed, rejected, and analyzed until my conclusions became clear to me, those conclusions are mine. Whatever clarity I believe I have brought to the world, it is subject to my predilections and the mental framework in which I operate. I can only hope, in outlining and explaining my point of view, that I can convince others of the correctness on my conclusions. As a scientist, I know that even though I subject myself and my hypotheses to rigorous standards, my conclusions may seem correct on the surface, but may ultimately be flawed. Such is the way of learning and growth of knowledge.

Endangered Species

It has been endangered for a long time, a rare bird whose presence at once heralded the birth of a nation, but was hunted into near extinction. It has fled from its normal regions, to hide in dark nooks and crannies, trying to eke out a poor existence and somehow maintain itself until the day the environment changes. That bird is bipartisanship.