And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that as I start this column, the Republican National Convention is within a few hours of starting.

A week from today, the Democrat convention starts.

Given recent events, I fear violence, particularly at the GOP convention.

I suspect there may be some inside agitation at both, with the “never Trump” folks this week, and some who still Bern for Bernie next week.

But based on recent events involving the shooting of police officers, I fear outside agitation is more threatening this week than next. That’s because it appears those opposed to GOP policies are obviously better at organizing opposition groups. The “black lives matter” folks seem to be able to turn out a crowd on short notice. I doubt police officers and their supporters could pull off a “blue lives matter” rally at this late date, indeed, if ever. The former don’t seem to mind a “take to the streets” call, while the latter, if they do anything, maybe take to the “tweets” and try to fight with words.

There have been convention battles in the past and even violence, as at the 1968 Democrat event. But the difference this year seems to be that both parties will be electing candidates who are disliked by a huge majority of the public.

A question that remains is how interested are those voters who have yet to make up their minds.

There is evidence that a large number of folks find national and world events not of prime concern compared to other interests.

Check the major network television offerings. And cable is only marginally better for serious content.

I found it sad that millions of Americans turned major attention to a game called Pokemon Go, or some such, recently. I have no idea how it works, but I do believe there are an awful lot of dumb people with smart phones. Why? Because I gather they are chasing things that don’t really exist into places where they do not really exist. They have invaded private space and public events while following their phones, and a couple apparently even walked off a cliff so intent were they on the fake chase.

A lot of those participants are adults.

But do young people promise anything better?

Well, witness the death of a young man, struck and killed by a passing vehicle while walking along a country road at night. Why was he there? Again, I don’t understand the game he was playing, called “Hostage,” in which apparently kids are blindfolded and taken to a remote area, where they apparently are supposed to use the GPS capability of their, you guessed it, smart phone, to attract help. Teams or searchers speed to the site to make the rescue.

As if anything could go wrong with that game!