1000Watt Blog: Transparency, Socrates and the Red Pill

March 23, 2009

Transparency, Socrates and the Red Pill

"When people feel information is being withheld from them, they become even more skeptical and their trust begins to wane." -- Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.

For months he demanded greater transparency from AIG. And for months information regarding who benefited from the $173 billion bailout of the insurance behemoth were withheld. Regulators feared providing too much information to the public would further cripple the financial system.

Well, those fears now appear to be exaggerated.

As more and more bailout disclosures ensue, as information continues to leak across the wire and as transparency now begins to rear its righteous force, it appears to me that the world isn't ending like everyone thought.

Sure things are bad. And they may get worse. But...

The truth will set you free

The Matrix was a film filled with religious, social and philosophical symbolism suggesting we humans were being fed false sensory information by a giant virtual reality computer. Not that much different from the false information the public had been fed for the last decade.

We all sensed something wasn't right. Yet we all bought stock in unsustainable companies. And homes we couldn't afford. Or helped folks buy homes they couldn't afford with bad loans backed by the likes of AIG.

We were a Blue Pill society.

As Neo reaches for the Red Pill, Morpheus warns, "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more."

As the film proved, the truth hurts. But it also sets us free.

Transparency

As the opaque veil of false bliss is ripped off everything around us, truth and rationality stream in. Virtuously. At every turn.

It's painful no doubt. But it leads us to the sort of examined life Socrates envisioned, one created from the positive results that stem from the excellencies of rationality.

The goods of that experience are the greatest and highest goods of all.

A Red Pill of transparency now finds its way across all mediums. As a result we are slowly, painfully, unhooking ourselves from our Matrix. And though we all seem to be somewhat shocked by the realities of the world around us, we are also realizing that the sky is not caving in.

And this is precisely what happens time and time again when the shit hits the fan. People come alive. We thrive on real. And honestly, we haven't felt real in a long time. So despite the troubles, the pain, the loss of equity, the devaluation of our business, the truth is, we are starting to feel alive in a way we haven't for a long time.

And the positive effects ripple ever so slightly.

Red pill

Take one every morning. And strive towards greater transparency. Seek to achieve it across everything you have. Your website. Your business card. Your blog. Your Twitter bio. Your collateral. Your market reports. Your core values.

Socrates was right.
As was Morpheus.

It will set you and those around you free.

- Davison
Twitter: 1000wattmarc