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From our Mailbag 01/05/05 - 01/31/05

by YOU

THE WORLD - From Catherine S., Midland, TX, USA:

SUBJECT: The Compassionless Conservative

Photo courtesy of
Patsy Crocker, Chicago
Independent Media

For some reason the author of this article was not mentioned. Usually, if someone wants to be anonymous it is mentioned in the article. Do you know who wrote this piece?

Thank you,
Catherine S.
Reference Desk
Midland Public Library


ROD RESPONDS:

Catherine,

Thanks for visiting G21 and for writing! It's appreciated. Mr. Ahsan's name is clearly listed at the top of the article, on the cover page for that issue and our the archive page for that feature. I'm not certain how you missed it.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Rod

From Ric W., Austin, TX, USA:

Subject: A Writer's Vanity

Yes, it is nice. Well written.

And of course young humans need role models (violent, hegemonic ego-archetype models such as Caesar and Alexander are examples of patriarchal, ego-consciousness--and the whole notion of patriarchal and Darwinian hierarchical reality has been roundly and rightly questioned for decades--as you noted, "I" felt this instinctively long before "I" found a philosophical legacy that supported "my" heart.)

Remember, I prefer the Bakunin & Kropotkin type of anarchy to enlightened despotism. Serve the tender heart & try to do as little harm as possible & good luck with that, pal. I'm no fool. Frankly all philosophies have their holes, their unconscious or even conscious shadows & there is always a deeper shadow no matter how much light you throw out. In fact, the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. Remember the burned shadows on the walls of Hiroshima? Keep this inherent contradiction in mind as you read further. An awareness of unpredictability & the dangers of certainty are ideas we could really find beneficent in this age. (The resistance to this idea is evident in how people like the certainty of Bush. Follow him into the pits of Hell just because he doesn't have inconvenient doubts. Sheesh. That IS a problem with heroes. By holding certain "great" men as standard bearers, people surrender their own lives into the hands of mortals who are no more capable of predicting outcomes than they are. Heroes are for lazy mo'fos. )

You might want to look at Dostoevsky's take on the problems of the privileged immorality of the hero/superman. Nietzsche etc.

The "nature" of what is admirable in human behavior must change. (I made your argument about Gandhi in a class at Pacifica. Fun to do. It opens eyes to see that for nonviolence to succeed begs that violence be unleashed on the "innocent." The whole idea of unintended consequences. Still, I prefer it to Bush's Armageddon philosophy.)

Photo courtesy of
Patsy Crocker, Chicago
Independe nt Media

The clashing truths of freedom & responsibility is an issue that will not be brought under the umbrella of one Truth. The beauty of a Francis Bacon painting versus the beauty of a Da Vinci. The conflicting interests of filial and romantic love. The Gods were always in conflict because their truths conflicted.

Right thought right action. In the moment it changes. The monolithic trap of monism, the false monotheism of Christianism (& its enlightenment/Hegelian/communist/fascist progeny) sets an a priori for ONE Truth. It is a false notion, or at least a notion that relies on a logic that even Bertrand Russell abandoned in the end. The idea of one reality insists on the old joke of infinity plus one & is also undone by it--infinity is meaningless--finding the one truth, the holy grail, the pot o gold, magic elixir, philosopher's stone, GUT, etc. is based on the hero's model--the hero going out & finding the boon for the tribe & returning with that boon.

The BIG BOON is of course omniscience & omnipotence, the Jesus story, predated of course by Inanna, Osiris, Dionysus, torn apart & brought back together, the wholeness, the ONENESS. Yet, in that Wholeness (mother/child, except for Inanna, a smarter myth) the listener still wants INDIVIDUALITY. Not transcendent UNITY with GOD (being GOD) but a communion, a twoness, nay a multiplicity of subjects & objects reflecting their ever-changing, mystery & glory (witness, say, Alan Watts' simultaneous universes).

Ultimately, Aquinas realized all he had written was "mere straw". Wittgenstein, even Russell, pulled up the rope & said nothing.

Perhaps the Tao is close to what you mean by the Truth, the "what it is & what it isn't all at once, the miraculous inclusion of the set that is outside the subset of all subsets"--the neti neti neti.
or Ecclesiastes/Dylan: to every season . . . turn turn turn

or The Hell with Heroes

My fervent prayer:

Lord, save us from the Salvationists & their heroes.

Heroes?

I prefer this answer to all others: "I" don't know.

But you still write well.

scary for the clueless

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From Vern A., Grants, NM, USA:

Subject: Charles Krauthammer

Sir:

We would like to see more of Charles Krauthammer on the Bret Hume All Stars late afternoon panel. We consider him along with Mort and Freddie?see the world ?situation as it really is.

Thanks,
Vern A
Grants, New Mexico


ROD RESPONDS:

HUH? Vern, I'm not sure why you would believe that I have anything to do with this sort of thing. Are you sure you're writing the right guy? I'm nonplussed.

From Cheryl N., West Fairlee, VT, USA:

Hi Rod

In the most recent issue you wrote: "THANKS & A TIP OF THE HAT TO SCOTT SALIN: When Scott and I first met upon my return to the Big and Not Easy At All, he shared a tidbit from his job as a cab-driver in this town. It seems that there was a dispatcher call in the wee hours for someone to pick up a fare in the 1100 block of Decatur Street. The fare was described as "a guy with a raccoon on a lease and a jar full of bees."

You know I live up here in the hills of the frozen north where we don't have cabs - but what? Our raccoons live in the woods and only stop by to eat and thumb their noses but if I were taking them or my bees to town in a cab surely the cabby would want all of them contained or restrained - no? How do most people get around with their raccoons and bees in NOLA? I thought big cities all had leash laws???

:-)


From Skip B, (apparently New Orleans, LA,) USA:

SUBJECT: super sunday

what date is this years??

thanks
skip


ROD RESPONDS:

Skip, thanks for writing. It normally takes place on St. Joseph's Day, I believe, but you should check with the Mardi Gras Indians during Carnaval. Cheers!

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