About Contact Subscribe RSS Feed

Bio

Pat Piper has made a career learning something new. As a journalist in the news business, “something new” occurs every hour so he’s becoming an expert at understanding stuff he never thought about. Learning became a common word in “Future Talk: Conversations About Tomorrow” (Warner Books), the popular book he ghostwrote with Larry King as […]

Continue Reading »

Contact

Pat’s email:pmpiper@gmail.com

Mobile: 410-591-6315

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Subject

    Your Message

    Social Media

    LinkedIn

    RSS Feed LinkedIn

    See It Here

    Democracy and US and the U.S.

    By on September 13, 2021 in See It Here

    There’s been a lot of yelling and finger-pointing in 2021 which was preceded by the same in 2020, 2019 and, well, you get the idea.And we’ve had commissions to investigate who-did-what which have resulted in a lot of yelling and finger-pointing.

    Anyone see a trend here?

    Anyone wondering if this is the way it’s supposed to be?

    When I co-wrote “Future Talk” at the beginning of the millenium 21 years ago, I interviewed Ross Perot about the future of government, since he had some experience in trying to make it work. He cited a Scotsman named Fraser Tytler who has been linked to saying democracy has a lifespan of about 200 years before it blows up and starts again. Mr. Perot thought he could see this starting to happen.

    Tytler said every democracy has 8 stages:

    *Bondage

    *Spiritual

    *Courage

    *Liberty

    *Abundance

    *Selfishness

    *Apathy

    *Dependence

    Granted, we see each of these every day but there can be no argument we’ve seen (and heard) a lot of noise about my rights vs. others (i.e. masks on airplanes, don’t need a vaccine-don’t believe the CDC-don’t believe vote totals). And there’s a lot of “I don’t care” as well as “the government owes me” this and that.

    Each of us should give some thought to trying to talk. It can work better than yelling. And it doesn’t require all caps to do.

    A Look Ahead by Looking Back

    By on August 6, 2021 in See It Here
    When you’re 68, the death of someone at age 72 is unnerving. AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka has died after a bout with heart disease. I interviewed him for the book “Future Talk” which was published in 1999 and looked at the coming new century.
    Sitting in his office just a few blocks from the White House, the union leader had this advice for anyone living in the new millennium:
    We will succeed or fail depending on whether we build a society with a vision, and that is something we are willing to commit to and work toward. And if you can’t do that, then we split up and become another Montana Freeman group where everybody opts out.
    The Montana Freeman group made news in 1996 when it decided the area near Jordan, Montana would be known as “Justus Township” and no longer be a part of the U.S.
    We have a lot of work to do and it begins with looking inside instead of pointing fingers.

    3 Lessons in What We See (and hear)

    By on June 30, 2021 in See It Here
    1-The Democratic National Convention that aired last August is being considered for an Emmy Award. Nielsen ratings ratings were better than the Republican National Convention which probably has someone we’ve all heard about really pissed off (he has a delicate ego). That said, the idea of putting a political convention into an award category forces us to see things differently. That doesn’t always mean the new way of looking is a good idea though. The “award”  (and not an Emmy) should be for getting political support, not for best lighting or best female lead. The speeches are worse at the Emmy Awards than at a political convention though.

    2-CBS Network news anchors continue to end each correspondent report with (correspondent name) “Thank You.” There’s a writer’s guild that oughta be screaming right now. Common sense oughta chime in too.

    3-Ms. Nevada, Kataluna Enriquez, is transgender and will compete in the Ms. USA pageant this November. This is a lesson in what you offer society, not how you look.
    Older Entries »
    Top