Monday, May 17, 2010

My Viability Vis-A-Vis The Industrialists

I've been "good" lately. You'll notice, just reading my posts, that I haven't been out nosing around the industrial section of my town recently. I've restrained myself, which has been very hard to do, but it's been done.

I would love to be out there, nosing around, getting the scuttlebutt, observing what's going on, the various offenses and shortcomings of the industrial powers. It's the easiest thing in the world -- going out, looking around, and letting your imagination run wild. What you can't see behind closed doors, you can easily imagine.

At one time I had all kinds of viability, free rein. But that's been over a month ago. It's like political capital, or financially like a bank account. Before you spend it you have it. Then you spend it and it's depleted, and you spend a little more and finally it's gone.

What happened with me has been well documented, and it's been the talk of the town here on my own little half acre of earth. It's about all I've talked about. It's constantly on my mind. I can think of little else. I can't think of anything else. Just this.

In short, it's this: The industrial powers have reacted, have responded. They didn't take kindly to my intrusions, to my research, then the posting of my findings. Because they're used to being insulated. They're used to society turning a blind eye to their ways. In general we take it for granted that we're going to "need" industry and an industrial section. So, like adult entertainment establishments, we cordon off a piece of the town and let them "have at it" out there.

So far so good! But when a vigilant citizen starts seeing all kinds of flagrant violations -- things that should not be done being done -- pollution, workers falling into vats of poison, weeds and grass being sucked into the mud by speeding trucks -- that's what they cannot stand. They don't want any accountability, and so their reaction is anything but kind.

For a while they were demanding that I apologize, which I refused to do. I dug in deeper, even though I had the resolve to pull back and try to defuse the situation. Then they stepped up their demands even more insistently. I was suddenly helped, quite out of the blue, by a line in a Paul Krugman column. He shamed them and I've had it pretty good for over a week.

Still, I haven't felt like I've had my viability renewed sufficiently as to venture out and nose around their district at this time. One thing, viability is not eternal. It's very temporal. When I get out there I need to make it count, because it will quickly be depleted. And yet, think of it this way, I still have my memories of what I saw before. Add to that a renewal of my viability, and when I get out there, even if it is temporal, I will be able to build more quickly and effectively on what I experienced before. That means, in short, that I will need less viability to get the same amount (likely more) research accomplished next time.

Everyday I'm getting stronger in my position vis-a-vis the industrial powers! It's just a matter at this point of letting my viability level increase. Then we'll see who has the last word ... and the last laugh!

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