There's Always a Chess Game Playing Out in the Basement

 Something New I Learned and Can’t Wait to Share…

Well, I’m not sure if it’s brand new.  It’s always brewed below the surface.  However, what I have come to understand more and more everyday is that there’s always more than meets the eye.  Whether it’s workplace politics, the publishing industry, the entertainment industry, education politics, domestic politics, geo politics, etc., there’s always more than meets the eye.

Sometimes I wonder why I can’t connect with coworkers. Sometimes I wonder why a manuscript won’t gain traction even when the notes I receive are positive (from multiple editors or my agent.) Sometimes I wonder how and why a movie gets made or a concert is performed that seems under par. Sometimes I wonder why the school board and/or the superintendent makes policy that seems counter to common sense and works against the best interests of children. Sometimes I wonder how anyone can observe this current presidential election without some hesitation and/or acknowledgement of the absurdity playing out right before our very eyes. And in regards to geo politics, I indulge myself in an analogy that there is always a chess game playing out by the powerbrokers (both corporate and their elected government representatives) in the basement while the rest of us are busy running around playing Chutes and Ladders with zeal as if our very lives depend on the outcome of that boardgame. There’s always more than meets the eye.

Image Credit www.pngmart.com/image/19220

Chutes and Ladders

Children know this.  It is perhaps why I choose to spend my day with 4 and 5-year-olds. They intuitively understand that there is a bigger picture and they wonder about it.

Years of experiences have brought me to these conclusions:  Experiences as an activist in electoral politics, direct action, grassroots organizing, policy work, campaign work, lobbying, and international travel as a delegate.  Slowly, pieces have revealed themselves. A peek into a world that operates beyond most of our day-to-day existence. I’m not advocating for conspiracy theories.  I am supporting healthy skepticism. Question and hear multiple sources. Be curious.  

I’m at an age that I remember what life and access to information was like before social media and 24-hour streaming news stations. I can remember a time before the information age took hold and dictated how we interact with information, giving the illusion that we have access to all information whenever we ask for it. I began my journey in journalism when the news had a few broadcasts a day. CNN was in its infancy. (Then, I made a left-hand turn into education and writing/entertainment.) 

Before we had 24-hour access to “news” and everyone potentially was the truth keeper of information, we knew that we never had the full story.  And, that facilitated wondering. The illusion of unlimited access has made us blind believers.  We believe that we have the ability to know everything whenever we want.  We think it is a mere click away on the tiny computers that we hold in the palm of our hand.  I am certainly guilty of sharing posts without checking all the facts, pretending to be a reliable news source.  A confession that I must admit is embarrassing for a former journalism student who believed that I was going to join the 4th arm of democracy. I believed that the newscasts/newspapers that I wrote, was news that would give viewers/readers the information they would need to make informed decisions about their everyday lives. It was never the whole picture but I think we knew it wasn’t. And now, the genie is out of the bottle.  Artificial Intelligence is coming in fast and hard, taking us potentially deeper down the rabbit hole.  Will we ever return to wondering?  Will we ever return to knowing that we don’t have the full, expansive, and everchanging picture? Will we ever think about that chess game in the basement while we play Chutes and Ladders upstairs? There’s always more than meets the eye.  Never stop wondering.

By Zeena M. Pliska