BUT WHAT IF THERE ARE NO SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET!

From the Dallas assassination of Kennedy to the summer sightings of UFOs, some people always see plots. It usually turns out, no plots. More like patterns.

Currently there is a compelling pattern which divides us into the 99% & the 1%. And while this is indisputably true financially, there are two equally true yet less apparent patterns dividing us. Each closer to say 80% & 20%:

* The Power Struggle ~ Most times most headlines are about the grand struggle for power. Google, Apple, Comcast; NBC, CBS, ABC; NFL, MLB, NBA; Iran, Israel, Iraq. But lets be frank. Aren't the people most invested in these struggles no more than about 20% of us? Technocrats, studio execs, team owners, elected officials, generals and their various entourages and fellow profiteers. The rest of us...? Come on, these struggles interest us but bottom line don't always impact us.

The brutal reality is we may be faithful news junkies and keen observers, but whatever the outcomes -- even of a war! -- won't necessarily affect our everyday lives. To use an extreme case study: The celebrated French Resistance against the Nazi occupation in WWII never involved more than about 20% of the citizenry. The rest...? Unlike their passionate portrayal in "Casablanca," they mostly went on living their lives; only now under a different flag.

* The Science Struggle ~ There is little in our lives today that doesn't have some spectacular scientific overtone. Medicine...technology...energy...transportation...nutrition...weaponry...male pattern balding ...erectile dysfunction. Whereas you once looked for the answers to life's questions in your holy books, now more likely in your pills, DNA, and genetic profiles.

Can't be sure, but lately this seems to be about 80% of us. The other 20% -- often including the scientists themselves -- will tell you over a private drink that in all honesty they're still testing their answers. But meanwhile, the masses, dazzled by the media hype, have begun the same mistake their ancestors did: Deferring to the imposing voice of science as they once did to their imposing chieftains, shamans, and clergy.

Be it a struggle over power or science, the operative word is "struggle." Both these campaigns call for serious rather than frivolous strugglers.