Saturday, September 4, 2010

Documenting Industrial Misdeeds

There's always misdeeds, I don't care what the field. Mistakes, missteps, peccadilloes, sins, errors -- to err is human! You get out the eraser and start over.

But usually with misdeeds, you're not just talking about mistakes, but something with a bad intention behind it. You know you're doing wrong but you do it anyway. And some of this can't be easily erased, like if you send miners into a shaky mine and they're suddenly trapped. The problem, obviously, is that it might make the news and you'll get bad publicity.

One of my purposes in writing this blog, in posting this vital information, is to expose misdeeds, to bring into the light of day the many things the major industrialists do that are wrong. In this way, I hope we can drive them out of business sooner or later, that goodness might prevail. The sooner the better, of course, because there will be more worthy residential industrialists on the scene to step in. And I've never heard of a misdeed within the Residential Industrial Movement. Ever.

In writing these things, I always do a lot of research beforehand. Like when I was out at the park the other day, checking it out to see what I might see of the major industrialists, who had been hanging out there. I didn't see them, but I did see some apparent wrongdoing, all the men who were walking the paths. I believe there are things going on out there that would curl your hair, or at least expose some of your already-curled hair if you were publicly taking part in them, if you catch my meaning.

Now, I wasn't on the scene with the intention of documenting any of that. I was hoping to catch the major industrialists in some kind of embarrassing misdeeds -- because nothing makes me happier than to catch them in flagrante delicto, that they might be cheerfully (by me) exposed. But it's not just wishful thinking that makes it happen, of course. Yet I know they're out there somewhere doing things, and since that's so, I may as well be trying to find out what.

Concerning the men walking the paths, then, look at the beautifully succinct way I documented it -- four words! I always like to get things thoroughly documented. But that is thorough documentation, even in its brevity. Because the things that are going on there, were I to see them, I know I wouldn't forget them. They would be burned in my memory. So in that case, any brief documentation is still fulsome, because I'm not going to forget it anyway. And it's actually nicer, because it crystallizes it perfectly, like a cameo, whereas a long and drawn out description would be clinical, and overkill to boot.

When I was writing that little entry in my notebook, remember, there was a guy walking the path who glanced over at me just as I was getting my notebook. So I'm trying to look nonchalant, like my writing had nothing to do with his latest misdeed (or peccadillo, and a brazen one at that, in this case). One thing, I didn't want him charging me in my car. There's no way I could know what precisely he might have on his hands, and I certainly wouldn't want to get any on me. A guy like that, in danger of losing his reputation thanks to a momentary lapse into lust, could try anything in retaliation against an unknown reporter sitting in his car cooly writing times, dates, and observations in a notebook. I don't know what's been going on at home, whether his wife suspects, whether it's been an issue between them, or if he's actually fearing a private investigator right at that moment. So he could do anything. He thinks he's down the path and in no danger, the whole thing's over, and all he has to do is get back to his car. And there wasn't a guy with a notebook 10 minutes ago, so he'd be cursing his bad luck to see me sitting there documenting the whole sordid affair.

So that's why I made my notation in such a succinct and scrunched up way. Yet it definitely is beautiful in its brevity, with the little box and date, so I'm happy. Plus, I have my good memories of exactly how totally freaked out he looked when he glanced over and saw me there. I actually felt a little embarrassed for him, since I didn't mean anything, but how can I call out, "Hey, I'm just taking notes on such-and-such and not on whatever it was you were doing down the path," which, heh-heh, should probably be obvious to all. The drives we have we have in common, that's true, so there's a certain human sympathy that could come into play. However, we don't all act on our basest drives, and certainly not in broad daylight and without taking all due precautions. I know I wouldn't. And I know I would be freaked out by an unknown guy with a notebook. But I'm a lot happier when I'm the guy with the notebook instead of the reverse!

Anyway, it's important to catch the major industrialists in their misdeeds, that's my point. It's good when someone is there to document it so we can bring them down! And if they're not anywhere in sight, just do what you want. Keep your eyes open, because you never know what else you might see. I actually do know what I might see at this particular park, and that's what makes it so endlessly fascinating. If the major industrialists aren't there, there's plenty of the rest of humanity's flotsam and jetsam still present to keep us all entertained. Doing what comes nature, albeit in an unnatural way, if you catch my meaning. With strangers and perhaps all over the leaves of innocent bushes. Disgusting.

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