TRANSPARENCY

HATE ME OR NOT, HERE I AM

Welcome,

Thank you for visiting my website. Even more so, if you are visiting because you read my book, MISSION OMISSION, thank you for investing your time and following up.

There is a perplexing and awkward truth about transparency. Everyone wants to receive it, but almost all of us are reluctant to provide it. I am no different. I am anxious about providing what you will read below. Yet, I offer it because I’m more afraid of being a hypocrite.

Making matters worse, I am not alone in my wariness. In the interest of not offending potential readers, my earliest advisors implored me to withhold relevant personal disclosures from the beginning of my book. Their reasoning was most certainly correct, but I was not sufficiently convinced. I would rather lose sales to weak and closed-minded readers than withhold transparency from those whose minds are capable and open. My book is part of a quest for a more truthful and just society. How then could I decide otherwise?

I did not take this decision lightly. In my dual and conflicting roles (i.e., a$piring author and disclosure ethicist), I arbitrated between my advisors’ wise commercial advice and the compulsive nagging of my conscience. Though argument(s) could be made that I granted neither side a pure victory, I have done my best to provide a just compromise. All of that said, please allow me to introduce the parts of myself that seem relevant to the topics, analysis, questions, and discussions in MISSION OMISSION.

• Born – 1964
• Race – Caucasian
• Citizenship – Native-born American
• Relentless Personal Paradox – I always agree with myself, even when I say, “I know I’m not always right.”
• Regarding Vice – I favor decriminalization and regulations congruent with those regarding America’s legally approved drug and narcotic vices (i.e., alcohol and tobacco).
• Religion – Devout Christian. Odd though it may seem, I am more likely to be found playing pickleball than attending church on Sunday mornings.
• Regarding Crime – I favor law and order. I am pro-military and pro-police. I believe in longer sentences and time served for violent criminals. So too for white-collar criminals. 
• Economics and Politics – I am a fiscal conservative and pragmatic Libertarian. My twentieth-century heroes are Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Ronald Reagan. I overwhelmingly, but with persistently diminishing enthusiasm, voted Republican all of my life. But there have been two exceptions. I voted Libertarian in the 2016 presidential election, and I voted for Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
• Compulsion – As a general matter of conscience, and especially in writing a book about omission, I am compelled (to the point of being irritating to many people) to provide precision, thoroughness, and credibility. But I found it impossible to include every detail of every item and process I discuss in my book. That makes me nervous because I don’t want to have omitted anything substantial. I made my best effort. Because I know my effort was sincere, though surely I have not achieved perfection, my conscience is clear. 

So, there I am. Inevitably, something among my experiences, opinions, and biases is disagreeable, challenging, or uncomfortable for you. I get that. But may we agree that no two intelligent and thinking adults agree on everything? To whatever extent we agree or disagree—about anything—I hope you will enjoy my book. From there, I will look forward to continuing our thoughtful conversation about untold lies. 

Sincerely,

Jeff Seeley

December 2020