I am guessing that few of us appreciate being kept in the dark. Yet, that is precisely where so many of us remain, and usually because we simply choose to be there.

Regardless, when for whatever reason something comes to light, many of us express frustration about having been "kept" in the dark.

Mainstream media plays its part in keeping the public in the dark, when the opposite should be true. Practically every outlet has jumped on the global warming bandwagon, for example.

Few have picked up on the number of significant scientists who assert that what has become known as global warming has in fact occurred periodically throughout history -- even before man-produced greenhouse gases!

Most of us remain in the dark about that.

I was reading an article in American Heritage magazine last week that shed some light on a subject for me. Did you know that many legendary musical recording artists never played on their own records?

Recording stars like the Monkeys, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Paul Revere and the Raiders and Kenny Rogers and the First Edition did not play on their own records? That's what American Heritage reports.

One of my favorite groups was the Monkeys. I was surprised to learn that on their albums "The Monkeys" and "More of the Monkeys" they merely showed up to sing their parts and go home.

Remember the tunes "Monday, Monday," and "Mrs. Robinson"? That's right. The recording artists did not play their own instruments.

"Preserving the illusion that famous bands played their own instruments was big business, very big business," according to the magazine. Consequently, we were all kept in the dark.

So exactly who played the instruments for all these stars? The group of musicians who played for the stars became known as "The Wrecking Crew."

That is an interesting name, I think. "Wrecking" is an appropriate expression to apply to those who would keep the public in the dark, no matter who it is attempting to keep us there.

Remember Watergate, to site only one example?

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.