Article: UNSCIENTIFIC POLL

     I've been so absorbed in the reading and writing of main stream and Internet Media, plus watching Television news, I didn't notice that in conversation in my public places people never discussed things like the Iraq War or 9/11. It was brought home to me when just sitting there as usual with my nose in a paper, reading sports mind you, a man blurted out that it was time to end this lousy war and bring those boys home. I looked over and saw a regular fellow dressed in casual clothes sitting with his wife. But things returned to normal when no one really seemed to want to discuss it further with him. The restaurant owner, who had been standing by that table, right after politely excused himself saying he had to go take care of things in his office. But my curiosity had been piqued. So I decided to then, without causing a ruckus, in the next few days to just casually ask people I knew or met about these things, these burning questions of the times in Media and Internet.

    So soon after in another restaurant I happened to ask the waitress what she thought about 9/11. You mean the phone number she replied. I said no the attacks on the trade center in New York. She then went on to say, matter of factly, that she thought the government did it. I asked why she thought that. She said because when she saw it on TV it looked liked a building blowing up in a movie. I asked her if she ever heard of Alex Jones she said no. Then she said she had to go check on her other tables. She gave me a peculiar look as she walked away.

    My next opportunity came at a gas station when I asked a man at the pump next to me how he thought the war in Iraq was going. He laughed and said he didn't really know. That TV said one thing and then said another so who knew. I then asked him what he thought the war was really about. He said he at first thought it was something about the old government there and then he said he really thinks it's about the gas we're putting in our cars right now. I asked him if he knew what PNAC was and he said no. I asked him what he thought of Guantanamo and he said he thought it was where the US was keeping dangerous prisoners. He didn't really offer much when I asked him about the Patriot Act and the Military act. And he wasn't too sure what Habeus Corpus was. He then asked me what was up with all the questions. I told him I wasn't sure but I was just wondering what people were thinking about this stuff. He said Ok but to be honest he didn't think about it much. He then said nice talking to you but I gotta go get the wife, she wants to go to WalMart. You like WalMart I asked, he said it's mostly crap but whatever makes the wife happy was fine with him.

    I had a few more conversations with others but they were either just not interested or just didn't know. I suspected that a few just didn't want to talk to a stranger about it. I could see the look of distrust in their eyes and it was obvious that they just wanted to get on about their personal business. The best conversation I had was with a fellow who simply said hey, what are you gonna do? I got to drive so I'm going to pay for the gas. The government went to war and now the country is stuck with it.

I then asked this same man about the sub prime loan scandal and he asked me is that the one about the banks? I said it had something to do with banks I'm sure. He told me that he always felt banks were a necessary evil and he only dealt with them when he absolutely had to. He laughed and said that as far as he knew there was no constitutional protection against someone making a bad deal. He said from what he could gather these loans were a suckers bet made by the people who took them. Something like bunko in the old days. If it sounded to good to be true then it probably was. He said he felt bad for the people in trouble over these loans but he also said they should have known better. What about the lenders I asked him. He said what about them, if they did wrong then some may have to pay one way or another but the fat cats really in charge will go unscathed. Fat Cats? I said, what about Ken Lay at Enron, he was convicted and was going to prison but then he died. He then told me he didn't think Ken Lay was really dead, he just faked his death to protect his estate from lawyers. You really believe that I asked him. Sure he said, it's what I would have done. He then said good talking to you but I'm off to go play a round of golf. Ok I said. Faked his death huh? He just laughed and turned and walked away.

I learned a lot these few days simply talking to people. I recommend it to anyone who thinks they have a "pulse" on the public. I think you will be surprised at how simple they see it. You will find that everybody hates and distrusts banks, government and lawyers and that all politicians are liars. I think the people know what the highly educated, partisan pundits are afraid to state unequivocally. Or perhaps they, the professional pundits, are just unwilling to bite the hand that feeds them. The people will just say it directly without the whining and beating around the bush with acronyms and arcane double talk. Some people anyway. Perhaps just living trumps politics.