March 4, 2015 by CoB - Featured

Years ago, when I was a young man just starting out in the world, a mentor of mine, incensed by news of current events, said that he wished he could attain one day the exalted title of “Commissioner of” – well, he used a word that my Irish grandmother always replaced with the more family-friendly expression “bushwa,” and I’ll do the same here. He then explained what this title would mean.

When faced with injustice, or with media, politicians, advertisers, and the like neglecting logical or rational thought or argument, or engaging in propaganda or other deception, the Commissioner of Bushwa would be the one to expose and cut through the bushwa and get things right – and the world would be a better place for it.

That conversation has continued to resonate with me to this day. These many years later, that mentor is gone, but now, inspired by him (and by my Irish grandmother)… I am the Commissioner of Bushwa.

I will strive to investigate and discuss subjects without bias, in the pursuit of truth and reason; and I hope my readers will help me to identify those inevitable instances when I unwittingly inject my own biases into my work, so I can do better. The subjects I select will necessarily be those which 1) I’m aware of; 2) interest me; 3) I’m able to investigate and discuss with sufficient competence; and 4) happen to come up or come to mind when I have time to work on them.

No doubt some will come to suspect that my choice of subject matter itself reveals some personal agenda at work. The truth is much more mundane – the number of potential subjects is infinite, but my time and attention are not. My objective and my selection criteria are plainly stated above; anyone who distrusts them already distrusts me and, frankly, I don’t feel compelled to spend any of my limited time or attention trying to change their minds. I’ll allow my work to stand on its own, for better or worse.