Our Global Village

PHOTO:KCS

If it weren't for technology, you would not be reading these words and I would not be able to reach an international audience. The last piece I wrote attracted viewers (readers?) from around the globe, from Argentina, Brazil and Bengladesh, to India, Singapore and Vietnam. And, of course, the United States.

This is according to Google analytics that tracts blogger posts. This does not include readers on Substack where my last post also appeared.

A knowledgeable friend says, “They could be using your stories to learn and practice English.”

I’d Like to believe that my words are going toward education, rather than robo searches. Or something worse. But I remain positive and hopeful. 

I am reminded of Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan's famous pronouncement in 1964: "The medium is the message." He was talking about television! He claimed that we were now part of a "global village."

McLuhan died in 1980. Only four years earlier, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the Apple Computer. This was long before iPhones, -Pads -Pods, blogs, podcasts and social media. McLuhan was far ahead of his time.

As we prepare to enter the year 2026, we find ourselves walking around staring at a small hand-held device with a screen. We, the people of planet Earth, are truly members of a global village. We can only imagine the full-fledged introduction of Artificial Intelligence knocking on our village door.

I'm not an expert on any of this, consider myself more of an analog guy. I majored in communications in college in the late 60s, including graduate courses in mass communications. I found McLuhan the most provocative thinker of that period, yet I was still hooked on newspapers and magazines, the printed media. 

Ironically, my college hero was Edward R. Murrow, originally a radio WWII war correspondent broadcasting war-time action to listeners in the US and Great Britain. After the War, Murrow made his name in television and became known for the guy who took down Sen. Joseph McCarthy in his news program See It Now in 1954.

McCarthy was a red-baiter, pronouncing various public figures to be communists. After exposing the Senator from Wisconsin's lies, Murrow and his "boys," including reporter Mike Wallace, went on, under Bill Paley, to set the standard for broadcast news media with the debut of CBS's 60 Minutes, now in its 57th year.

War Coverage changed in the 1960s when TV brought the war in Vietnam into people's living rooms. Today we watch wars from around the world while we sit in our easy chairs. What we see is appalling, yet unmistakably real. Michael Arlen's book, The Living Room War (1997), explained the cultural shift with literary flourish.

The power of media is immense. Consider that today our President, Secretary of Defense and Director of the FBI were each propagated initially as media personalities. Podcasters like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson have humongous audiences. This, of course, is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and has led to conspiracies galore and endless churning and rehashing of issues such as the Epstein files. God help us. And the poor young women victims and their families.

The medium is the message has never been so true. The question is how to sort through the blizzard to reach clarity. What is real or closest to the truth?

How do we deal with these things emotionally? I pose that anger is a legitimate feeling but will only get us so far. It will not solve our problems. Anything that directs us toward hate is suspect. Blaming others is only an excuse for not taking responsibility.

Recently Barbara and I had an intriguing conversation with a middle-aged woman who has spent most of her life on the small island of Kauai. She tried living in an urban environment only to be driven back to her island home. "I feel safe here," she said. She's a working mom and extremely personable and seemingly content.

She noted, however, that the school system in Hawaii, as far as academics, rates on the same level as Mississippi and Alabama, very low.

I mentioned this to our daughter Vanessa who is an administrator and teacher at a posh private school in Los Angeles. She said schools across the board are scoring lower. It's likely due to interference of technology combined with economic disparity. 

As we communicate more, our standards of learning are falling. But are we actually communicating? I  believe we're much more interested in selling  -- our rigid political opinions and wonderful products guaranteed to make our lives better. Really?

I've always been a reader. Today I find myself reading and even writing on a small screen. I rarely use audio, which obviously is faster. I am able to sort out my thoughts easier when I write them down in words. Once written, I have discovered that my words sound better when I read them than if I had recorded my stories orally.

Writing gives me an opportunity to select the right word, as well as capture thoughts that spring from memory or the subconscious. I believe our earthly village would be happier and more learned if we gathered together around the global campfire and shared our stories. We may not know who is listening but it could lead to a safer world. Our stories are our life and our survival.