I don’t know how many (if any) people read my haphazard bloggings, but I’m going to depart from my normal detachedness from substantial issues and do some out loud thinking…

My research job revolves around one main premise – “find information”. Since I’ve worked at CWiMI I have found information on many, many issues. And I’m good at sourcing what I need to find – policy, legislation, production figures, GIS data…the list could go on for as long as I wish to flatter myself. I enjoy my work for that reason. For the most part I am a ‘describer’. I describe current situations; events; contexts. Very rarely (although with increased responsibility this is changing) do I have to go beyond describing what’s there and start delving into cause and consequence. I see if something has happened…not how or why it’s happened…I do not make judgements about the future or make inter-contextual extrapolations.

Now, before I carry on, I would like to state that I understand that descriptive information may be incorrect, biased, and incomplete – I am primarily a secondary researcher after all (ironic heh) – but I can’t help but feel that there is some sort of ‘objective descriptive reality’ which may be uncovered and partially/fully viewed. The advent of the internet and the increased transparency of descriptive information, in my opinion, improves my chances immensely in this regard. Anyways,

back to my point… I am really starting to struggle again with my emotions (alas, they’re back already) and understanding of current goings-on in the geo-political sphere. I can see what is happening – soldiers were kidnapped, missiles are being fired, people are being evacuated…but I don’t know why…

You see, with cause, you have to come down on a side of the argument. There doesn’t appear to be an objective reality behind what is going on. If you watch Western TV or read Western press, then Hezbollah and the incessant meddlings of Iran are to blame (strongly emphasised on ABC’s Lateline report tonight). If you’re immersed in certain non-Western media, then an opportunistic Israel and the U.S. are the real culprits. Which one is true? Is neither? Is either? Are BOTH?

Even if there is an objective causal reality, how will I ever uncover it or see it? History reveals no crisp picture, a la Australia’s European and Indigenous past. Do the actors themselves even know what drives them? (This is no light point…analyse one of your insignificant actions for long enough and the motivation behind it becomes muddied and uncertain).

Yet, unfortunately for me, Description does not make the world go round; rather it is Cause and Consequence that shape opinion, actions, and retribution.

Do I have to take a side, make an argument, and feel the power of my conviction? And fully understanding the desire of different sources to alter (shock) descriptions of events, is it only a matter of time before that most sacred of things – objectivity – disappears altogether?

I guess the one being who knows the objective answer to all this is the one whose hand created and/or creates it. Does he/she/it really understand their reasons for doing so? Je ne sais pas