Attention Everyone: Due to circumstances beyond my immediate control, the move from the old website host to the new one is not yet complete. I hope to have the majority of the content relocated and properly formatted over the next few days... (there goes my weekend!).... So please come back soon.... I hope to make it worth your while! Thank you.
Milo
(AKA TokyoObserver and TheEclecticGeneralist)
Tokyo, Japan
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Milo (That’s me, by the way....) is a “generalist”....
This means that because of his training and life experiences he does not necessarily “see”, “feel”, “experience”, or “relate to” the world in quite the same
way that most people (who, for the most part, tend to be “specialists”) generally do.
There are some very significant advantages to this world view, though some of those advantages can be difficult to point out or explain to those who claim to be more
“grounded” or “centered” (read that as “habitualized”) in their more specialist-oriented world view.
Likewise, there are, certainly, some less advantageous “trade-offs” in the lifestyle of a committed generalist, and most of these tend to be all too easy to point
out and explain, in part because they tend to be things that are quite visible (and scary) to people more concerned about security and “risk-free” environments.
I am not attempting to sell, proselytize, enlist, or otherwise convince anyone of anything, with this site or anything within it, linked to from it, or referred to
by it.
IT IS SOLELY FOR INFORMATIONAL & CONVERSATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!
Now I know that I tend to be kind of “Olde School” about certain kinds of things.... Examples of what I mean by that:
1) The division of church & state in journalism: If you do not maintain the distinction between and integrity of “News”, “Opinion”, and
“Advertising”, journalism is as good as dead (as would be any democracy, as journalism is both its lifeblood and its watch dog).
True “news” (and reasoned and thoughtful opinion) serves, informs and educates us all.
“Infomercials” and “made news” are, if we call them what they truly are, nothing more than propaganda.
Of what value is propaganda?
Who does this value accrue to?
(Answers: Control & Tyrants)
How can we tell the difference between news and propaganda?
“By their deeds you will know them.”
(Obviously, fodder for future blogs!)
2) One of the wonders of our time, here and now, I think, is the frequency of fiction writers who paint the bleakest possible “Of course, this
could never REALLY happen” scenarios, only to have “the powers that be” (governments, churches, corporations, etc.) step forward to make that exact “impossibility” come true, often in the
most horrifying ways possible! Books and short stories, movies and TV series, even PC and arcade games.... across the board. Often that shocking fiction actually serves to prepare us to
accept what was previously un-acceptable, even unthinkable, when it finally “appears” in the “Real World”
I hasten to add, this is what I think of as a reasonably frightening “wonder”, but it is, as such, no less a wonder. One that actually offers timely “signs” we can
certainly learn from.... and perhaps NEED to learn from.
3) One thing alone that, for me, stands out in brilliant contrast with all the mind-numbing diversions and background “noise” of our time. is the
way that people use, misuse, and abuse language and the technologies that purport to “enhance” or support communication.
That governments, churches, corporations and even trusted institutions so often use everything from “double-speak” to computerized voice-mail based routing systems
to avoid serving (or even communicating with) the people they are meant to serve, even more to avoid responsibility or accountability, has become a given.
So much a given that no one even bothers to notice any more.... except perhaps for miscreant ex-pats like myself.... and, like it or not, this has now become the
standard for how we as individuals communicate with each other as well.... with disastrous results.
It has come to the point were everything has to be a “flame-war” to be interesting or exciting.... or even noticed.
If you can’t “win” by delivering a thoughtful combination of carefully researched evidence, informed and reasoned conclusions, and a reasonable demeanor.... No
problem! You can always depend on name calling, character assassination, mis-labeling and double-speak to save the day.
Why depend on diplomacy when warfare is, in the short term at least, so much more satisfying.... (as long as you ignore things like “collateral damage” and other
consequences, long-term and otherwise.)
The problem is.....
More and more people, of all ages, are now depending on that second approach ALL the time, right from the get go! Why even bother with that “old fashioned
approach” if there is a chance it won’t work, if there is a chance you might not get you what you want?!?! (What ever happened to “conflict resolution”, anger management, and
“empathy?!?! Don’t ask! You REALLY don’t want to know!)
Sooooo..... While my point of view on much of what you will find on this site is that of a critical journalist and a careful research-oriented social scientist, and
much of the information I will share, here, is, indeed, a carefully prepared (and labeled) mix of facts, theories, and conclusions from various accredited or, at the very least, credible
sources, I am treating it all as but one man’s opinion.
My own.
I am not trying to convince, convert, claim the moral high ground, or otherwise try to brow-beat visitors into accepting my world view as their own.... I just want
to present/share a few goodies, things and ideas I have discovered along the way that vividly contrast with what we have all been told about “the world out there”.... sometimes, funny,
some times strange, and, on occasion, more than a little frightening....
I trust that YOU, Dear Reader, will accept it all in the same spirit it is offered, and offer your own ideas, thoughts and experiences of note in
kind.
(Trust me on this one: I am just as interested in hearing your story as I am in telling mine!)
If you are interested in researching any topic or statement made here, wonderful.
If you
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disagree,
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have reasoned, thoughtful ideas and evidence you would like to share with me (and by extension, the readership of this site),
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understand that there are a real and substantive differences between “conversation”, “debate”, and “insane ranting” (and are willing to stick to the first two out of the three mentioned!), and
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are willing to share your evidence, ideas, and opinions in a real, on-going CONVERSATION....
.... then I very much want to hear from you.
If what you want is the thrill of disruption, noise, and intellectual terrorism, the exit button is at the upper left or upper right of your page, depending on your
computer’s OS.
(I have to admit a VERY strong dislike for any and all forms of censorship, but even I occasionally HAVE to draw the line SOMEplace.... and WILL, when
required to by circumstances. One of the “joys” of being the “editor” of your own web site is selecting something TRULY offensive and simply hitting the “Delete”
key.)
Ever the pragmatic idealist, I would like to offer this site as a forum for positively charged, thoughtful, reasonable, even entertaining CONVERSATION.
The idealist part of me not only believes that there is, still, some where out there in internetland, a critical mass of
living breathing souls who still value this kind of positively charged conversation/communication as much as I do, but also that we of like mind (even if not necessarily of like
opinion!), ourselves, are “charged” in such a way that we will naturally gravitate towards each other as time goes on.
Even in in this dark age of terrorism and fear mongering we can and will find each other, sit down together for a chat over our respective beverages of choice, and
enjoy the richness of both each other’s company and our respective ideas.
And so.... I am switching on the giant electro-magnet.... NOW!
Milo
Tokyo, Japan