The unraveling of the mystique surrounding the meeting of someone new is beginning to be a thing of the past, reserved for old movies and die-hard romantics. Nowadays, one is tempted to check “him or her� out before the truth can be uncovered to either set us free or keep us hooked. Is this good? Or does this tell us something else about our dynamic, lazy and neurotic natures?

What the hell happened to personal judgement? Is it that we don’t have any or that it somehow flew out the window as we matured as adults? Is that why we must entrust an impersonal software to uncover dirt on someone who may be very clean? One system, Detective Choice, is very reasonable in price, and for only ten bucks anyone who can read can find out if that new someone has led three four or even five lives with a shady past as a political spy, escaped convict, bigamist, counterfeiter or murderer or worse. (What could be worse? Don’t ask me. I obviously have no judgement of my own to fall back on)

Truth be told, everything we really need to know about someone new is right there by our lazy, unimaginative fingertips. We can “get it� just by being good listeners and picking up on “red flags.� These annoying little items would include the likes of inconsistencies of statements, evasive responses and other body language clues that belie honesty. To study these cost nothing except perhaps a bit of time, which seems to be a very elusive commodity in our modern world. I believe that this is the culprit. Save time, not money seems indeed the true battle cry of the lazy republic.

Of course, it is important to know whom we spend our time with, but are we really so dumb that we need outside help with this? Most of these softwares promise “free investigative tools and reading materials.� This means, at least to my demented mind, that they are free to all that know where to find them. How about the library, folks? You know, that place where they have all those books and people on hand to help us find information! Check it out. Find the time. There must be some that can be spared during a busy week. Can there really be an automaton that substitutes for our own intelligence and good judgement?

Who Knows? I would say “the Shadow, he does� but even he has been investigated and, last I heard, has been replaced by a much sassier, younger and wiser robot!