Open letter to Deepika Bahri and all people who think all birds that walk like ducks are ducks

Greeting! I was just reading the Article in The Atlantic about the colonialism of the Facebook platform in India. While I agree that it is self evident colonialism, I am asking everyone I can to quit using the duck analogy. I ask because this go to analogy for self evident truth is deceptive. While a duck does indeed quack and walk like a duck, this world has many great water fowl species, such as the Grebe, the Coot, the Goldeneye, and the Merganser, which are similar to ducks yet have significant differences which should be noted. 

     Indeed, the "Daffy Duck" of the waterfowl world, the Cormorant may look like a duck while driving by, but upon close inspection is able to dive and swim underwater for astounding depths and distances. The Cormorant does not have the oily feathers most ducks have and has to dry off before being able to take flight. Quite different from the Mallard duck.

     Perhaps we can find a better analogy in math? If two plus two equals four the numbers add up.

If I sound like a naturalist frustrated by my fellow humans I am,

 Clinton A Biggs

It is election time! Time to think about power!

  With the election of 2016 a mere ten months away you are probably anxiously awaiting the chance to pick from 1 of 2 choices for the executive branch, or if you are in a third party like the Green Party or the Libertarians, the chance to make your more mainstream friends angry by throwing your vote away when they desperately want you to vote the way they do. Thanks to the consolidation of power, you will effectively be left with two choices.  So why worry? If you have a leaning, go with it. Select Democratic candidates if you like social programs like Social Security, infrastructure like highways, Safety nets like food stamps (which also stimulate agricultural economies) and government in general, OR if like Ronald Reagan is quoted as saying you think the government should only deliver mail and declare war, vote Republican. Of course it is more complicated than that, but we do have a simple choice, D or R. And sure, it is possible that a third party candidate can win or supporting one will change policy.
     But voting is only one thing we do, one small, albeit important aspect of power. According to John Kenneth Galbraith and his book The Anatomy of Power, there are three kinds of power. Rock Paper scissors! No, actually, Compensatory, Condign (appropriate) and Persuasive. Condign is used as a euphemism for force, as in pointing guns at people, incarcerating them, beating them up etc. As these three forms of power are used and abused, balanced, taken, expanded and enhanced, the world and the people on it are subject to the use and abuse of power.
     In 1984 the idealistic new wave rock scene, minus the ska artists and various other artists made the hit single Feed the World (let them know it's Christmas time) Under the name Band Aid They made a powerful piece of persuasive power. It raised about 25 million dollars and brought the starvation occurring in Ethiopia to the attention of everyone connected to media. The US response, We Are the World raised $63 million, notably more than the Band Aid release which featured the artist Sting. As a mean aside I would argue that Sting cost starving Ethiopians close to $40 million in aid. Obviously, this is an abuse of the Persuasive form of power. Used just as an example and jab at Sting.
   Anyway, they went on to have some epic landmark concerts and raise lots of money. The problem with money is that it is power in storage, not real power until it is turned into something like grain, movies, guns, medicine...something real, not symbolic. As the money from Band Aid began to be transferred into food the powerful in Ethiopia intercepted it and war lords were able to cement their power by being the ones to hold and withhold the food. Such is the dynamics of power,those in  power will do all it can to keep power and keep themselves as the conduit of power.
   The world's largest source of force is the United States military,With sixty percent of our budget dedicated to military spending (veterans benefits included) we are the biggest military power on the globe. While we are not in total control of the globe, the military industrial complex has enabled a military empire that is established all over the world.
    Not only does the United States have the biggest military, it also has the largest entertainment industry, and movies from the US are seen all over the world. In fact Hollywood has the power to tell stories, play music, promote ideas, inform or distract not only it's own populace but the people all over the world.  Combine that with the huge agribusiness in the US and we are in the middle of the most powerful place on earth. So do you feel powerful?
     Well, power in the large organism or system comes from the power of the small. Just as one small part in a car, a few cells or hormones in a person or animal, the citizens of a country all play a part in the larger unit. You can't run a car without a drive belt, you can't run a city without garbage haulers, you can't breath without a windpipe.
   We all contribute our power to the larger power weather we like it or not. It is hard to think of ourselves as powerful, but we are. Collectively and individually we have power. Power to feed, care for, influence, entertain, inform or misinform, we are powerful. The choices we make about which corporations, products and ideas we support are powerful. The most powerful people in your community may be the hair stylists, they have the ability to talk with and influence many people.
   Those who are greedy will abuse power and abuse other people. From the schoolyard bully to the terrorist, they will take the power of force and use it to their will. They will kill and maim, make others suffer to control and threaten others.
   So as we enter this election season, think not just in terms of party or ideology. Think about power. Think about how power is used, how you would like it to be used and who best will use power. Who can you trust with power?