The Chronicles of Amon book 2 The Sea of Marmara

  Chapter 5.

  This is what appeared on the screen:

  Reference Data

  Initial Orientation for 23rd C.

  “

  “In the latter part of the twenty-third century national governments were in the process of re-evaluating their positions and policies regarding interaction with one another. It had become evident over the last few decades that traditional diplomatic policies, adopted and instituted among governments around the world, were failing to fulfill expectations of those engaged in the diplomatic process.

  It wasn’t so much a problem of misinterpretation between languages, as much as it was a failure on the part of the participants to either recognize or compensate for shifts in priorities within individual countries.

  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to the individual citizen to realize that his government wasn’t performing in a way he thought appropriate. It was becoming apparent that politicians were more interested in attaining and retaining power than they were in doing the will of their constituencies. For most politicians, word parsing and obfuscation had become the order of the day.

  Few people really took the time or expended the effort necessary to stay well informed on the affairs of government. Complexities of day-to-day living made it easier to let ‘someone else’ keep track of national and international affairs. Frequently even local governing agencies were left to their own devices. It seemed that people were too busy living their lives to appreciate the extent to which they had relinquished control of their governments. Consequently, governments became more self-serving and less responsive to the people.

  What the individual had believed were “rights” (based on his experience and up-bringing) had increasingly become referred to as “benefits.” Governments continued to promise more and produce less (growing in size and cost in the process), even as the average citizen looked on in “shocked” disbelief (from the comfort of his recliner).

  Life had become so comfortable and routine that individual initiative had been replaced by a media-induced apathy. Only when the individual was directly affected did he put forth any significant amount of effort in behalf of any particular ideology. In other words, he assumed he had rights, and only complained when he realized that they could be (or had been) taken away. By then, of course, it was usually too late to do anything about it.

  Effectively, through an immature and corrupted education system, people were taught what to believe. Values and morals, having been traditionally taught in the home, were increasingly being taught in the schools and in the media.

  Anyone with a PCD (Personal Communication Device) had easy access to more information than he otherwise would have been able to acquire through traditional (and laborious) personal research. Sadly, most people never availed themselves of the information available, choosing to entertain themselves rather than educate themselves.

  The government-sponsored educational institutions theoretically broadened individual horizons. But was the information the individual was being taught correct? Was it true? Was it right? Was it designed to enlighten . . . or to manipulate? More importantly, was the individual willing to expend the effort necessary to verify that what he was being taught was correct? For the majority of the citizenry, sadly, the answer was no.

  Communication implies an exchange of ideas. In other words, one person puts forth an idea and the other puts forth a response. Concepts of all sorts take shape, are scrutinized, evaluated, poked and prodded until a consensus is reached and/or a direction is chosen. The individual learns how to function within the group.

  Order is created and maintained through effective communication. This is how an “enlightened” society ought to function. But, for many reasons, including those described above, this had not become the case.

  Global communication had in fact become a double-edged sword. While making it increasingly easy for governments to communicate one with another, this global communication network had also made it far too easy for misguided or poorly organized ideas to be transmitted between countries.

  International diplomatic communications had become so commonplace that, rather than being viewed by the general population as important events, they had become all but ignored by a majority of the citizenry. The population had become “comfortably numbed.”

  The citizenry in general, paid little attention to what went on within government. Busily engaged in day-to-day affairs, the average citizen paid less and less attention. Consequently, government bureaucrats and politicians became increasingly free to do as they pleased, without fear of being scrutinized and/or criticized by ‘the masses,’ as they preferred to call those under their influence and control.

  As would be expected from such an immature race, greed and subterfuge have gained a greater hold within government until ultimately it is now on the verge of destruction. The citizenry has essentially ignored what has happened and is oblivious to anything beyond the here and now.”