transparency grows less clear

In the software development world, transparency is a word used to describe something that works without the user understanding or even knowing what's going on behind the scenes. This concept is highly desirable when you're building software - the user doesn't need to know how the program talks to the OS and how the OS relays those messages to the machine itself. Lots of people don't even understand that simple chain of command. In this regard, transparency is a good thing - a desirable quality.

What I'm slowly coming to realize is that the connections between politics, big business, and the military have been largely transparent (to the vast majority of us anyway) until the last couple of years. I realize that there are exceptions to this statement both on the sides. There are people outside the connections - activists, journalists, scholars, etc - to whom these connections have been obvious and unmistakable. There are people on the inside of the connections - company employees, common soldiers, etc - who may or may not have any idea what they are part of.

Exceptions aside, this transparency has served no one except those in power. The less the common people know about what's really going on, the more things can be tweaked to serve those in power & keep them in power. All we've seen has been a thin layer of frosting, designed to satisfy us just enough so that we won't look any deeper. Now that I've started to see even the small bit that I've seen, I've found it incredibly discouraging. It almost feels easier to live in ignorance and just believe everything I'm told.

As the transparency becomes less and less transparent, I wonder how people manage to continue fighting and not give up. My admiration for those who have fought for equality and justice all their lives grows daily. Although I get the idea that you do what you can do and it will be enough, the sheer number of injustices is overwhelming. Although it's true that this semi-invisible network isn't responsible for all the inhumane and unjust situations in our society and the world, it has certainly exacerbated the problems.

More recently, however, the media has slowly been trickling out bits and pieces of these connections. Not consistently and not always accurately but enough to alert those of us 'out of the know' that there is something bigger that we should be aware of. To give the media some credit, especially the individual journalists who have made the effort, I realize it's difficult for them because they're part of the network. Although we give them much grief for what they don't do well, I appreciate how difficult it must be working from within to expose something they're part of.

What to do now? Good question and one I don't have a clearly defined answer for. For now, focusing my energy on learning as much as I can about the field I've chosen and continuing my own growth takes precedence. Activism is becoming a larger part of my life but I feel I have much to learn before I can make any decisions about the direction I'm going to choose. This has been a bit of a rambly post - I wrote it mainly to get down the thoughts about transparency and such so I can possibly develop them more later.