Sorry for double posting, but I can clear up the misunderstanding now: I twice missed a sentence by Sanford that justifies what Josh and Steve have said or implied regarding the piece. All I can say is that it isn't the kind of article I read with full concentration once I grasped the idea of it. That sentence is unexpected and below Sanford's level. Sorry about that. (By the way, Phil and David have left good comments there.)
Like Phil I'm interested in Harlan matters and hope this place will continue to be open and informative, despite Josh and Harlan being ahead of us. Yeah, no reason to come here just for American Mental Prison talk or side amusements like Rob's bootlicking.
Josh, nothing of weight here, but I just want to tell you I'm truly beginning to appreciate your presence here. It's bringing a new, very needed balance to the site.
Consider the Source
Not to get personal, but since DTS opened that door -- as usual -- an observation: Dorman T. Shindler is an expatriate American who lives in Australia. If one disdains a country enough to relocate to another one about as far away as one can get, critical words regarding the old home might, you know, be taken with a grain of salt.
I'm not trying to be a cheerleader for America the Beautiful. We have more than our share of problems, serious and frivolous, and plenty of things that need to be cleaned up, figuratively and literally. Nor am I impugning the characters of the folks who inhabit Australia. I'm simply pointing out that the rules of civilized debate require evidence to convince skeptics, and DTS is much like Frank when it comes to providing it.
My attitude toward Mr. Shindler arises from a prior discussion which started out with him calling U.S. Border Patrol agents jackbooted thugs when they arrested a Canadian writer. This writer, it must be said, was found guilty of the charges, and had a record of getting all up into police officers' faces, demonstrated by a previous arrest for it. Once is an experiment, twice, a pattern.
DTS and I exchanged emails, and I found his attitude unyielding and disagreeable.
DTS made his jackboot-thug observations based on a posting, and didn't bother to do the research, which painted a somewhat different picture of the incident in question. Sloppy fact-checking is a no-no for people in the news biz, and DTS offers that he was a stringer and freelancer for a number of newspapers back in the USA, so in theory, he knows this.
In our public discourse here, I invited the attendees to do their own research and check it out for themselves.
Unlike Frank, who trolls and pulls chains because it amuses him, Mr. Shindler seems to truly believe in his offerings, and while that's not in and of itself a crime, it makes him seem righteous. Righteous people as a whole make me nervous. If God is on your side, you will happily slay a room full of babies. I don't impute such crimes to Shindler; I merely point out that I am disinclined to accept what he has to say at face value, given our history. Thus the notion that they read much more in the land down under based on his observations and conversations with what has to be a statistically-small sample is not convincing.
Could be. But he hasn't made the case, and while my numbers are certainly open to debate, at least I provided some. DTS most recent posting blew smoke and flashed mirrors, and if you look past it, you can see there still isn't any evidence.
I'm happy to be proved wrong. Because he *said* so ain't gonna do it.
From Ghostbusters:
Dr Ray Stantz: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.
Walter Peck: They caused an explosion!
Mayor: Is this true?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes it's true. (beat) This man has no dick.
Walter Peck: Jeez!
Mayor: Break it up! Hey, break this up! Break it up!
Walter Peck: All right, all right, all right!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Well, that's what I heard!
What you *heard* can be amusing, but not really evidence ...
If one is shifting the conversation from quantity to quality -- well, okay, but "Americans read a lot of trash." -- is a different argument. And since I expect that Sturgeon's Law holds as true in Oz as it does here, then I'd need to see some sales figures showing that the Australians are ever so much more highbrow than we are here in the land of jackbooted thugs. How many more copies did John Irving's latest sell in Australia than it did in the US? Since he was happy to drop his name, DTS might as his good buddy John.
Evidence is not the plural of Shindler's anecdote.
Perry
Jan,
It's simple, really. Harlan has had enough of reading shit about himself that is untrue, or derogatory. If he wanted to read such things, he could easily Google himself and find it. This is the internet. My mechanic can go online and find people talking shit about him, so imagine if you're someone in the public eye.
This, here, is an electronic extension of Harlan's kitchen. He's given everyone here the opportunity to sit at his table and shoot the shit with him.
As someone who's spent a good deal of time in Harlan's REAL kitchen, in the REAL Art Deco Dining Pavillion, let me assure you that if I wandered in and said, "Hey, pal, some guy you don't know is making fun of you for leaving the internet," Harlan's response would NOT be, "Wow. Cool. Tell me more!"
Odds are, if I did that a couple of times, I would find myself sitting around wondering why I hadn't been invited over recently.
My pal is not an imbecile. He's aware of the fact that there are people out there who have bad things to say about him. It's the price of celebrity. But there's a difference between knowing it's out there and having people come into your home and rub your face in it.
Use common sense. That article was not even remotely positive. It was obnoxious and insulting. In light of Harlan's response to the last one, and the fact that it's been indicated he's rethinking that decision, posting that link was a bonehead move at best, an asshole move at worst.
Step back, take a breath, say you're sorry, and don't do it again.
This shit isn't tough. It's not rocket scientist. If you want to post links about the guy, do it in the forums. The last guy who needs the internet to find out what Harlan Ellison is up to is Harlan Ellison.
Of course people are free to come and go as they please on the Internet in general and this here site in particular, but what I find somewhat annoying is the apparent belief held by many here, alas including our Esteemed Host, that the Internet consists solely of blogs and message boards.
It pays to have interests and passions. The Internet rewards those who search with some degree of acuity. Of course the swill cup spilleth over but to pull the plug on such a resource just because some asshole posted his moron thoughts on some blog or board seems much too high a price to pay.
reading in America
Dropping in briefly here to point out that, according to NEA studies, reading in this country in the last few years has taken a sharp rise.
http://news.bookweb.org/news/new-nea-report-shows-literary-reading-rise
As president of the Missouri Center for the Book, I get to talk to some of the folks involved in this and, although the numbers came as a surprise to everyone, they are too large to be a statistical aberration. For whatever reason, Americans are reading more.
This came after almost 18 years of tracking steady declines.
We also run a little program called Letters About Literature which is a competition among students from grades 6 through 10. The student writes a letter to his or her favorite author about the impact of a given work. After reading these letters now for going on nine years of involvement in the program---and yes, this is a self-selected group, but even so---the level of perspicacity and the range of material on display never fails to impress me. I'm less pessimistic now than I was ten years ago.
"favorite criminal state", ya know, if I had not made a promise to a friend that I would restrain myself when it comes to you, I might have paid you a little visit already.
Furthermore, if you had not revealed yourself to be a borderline illterate, anti-semitic shmuck, I might be offended but I am not going to take this any further.
Israel's actions in recent months are repuslive to many American Jews. The latest legislation, my mention of which in the Forums may have prompted the latest missive from our least favorite troll, is that the ultra-orthodox rabbis want to take control over who can convert to Judaism. This is a power play, pure and simple, and they are trying to force Netanyahu (who for once is trying to do the right thing and opposes this legislation) to sign the bill. Should he do that, the world may witness the first major schism in Judaism in a very long time, 'cause the rest of the world's Jews ain't in support of this bill in the slightest
DTS, I would follow your example of bold non-anonymity and use my real initials, except that they are also DTS.
One example I can follow is Harlan Ellison's, and take leave of this board, and of an Internet that brings far more irritation than succor. The Man is right...you'd all do well to follow him out as well.
The Voice of Reason
Dennis T. Stinson
New items - attention Jan in Köln
Jan in Köln:
(see how I got your attention by judicious use of the umlaut?)
I hope you WILL continue to post items of Ellison news you find on the web. I have found them generally interesting. Someone suggested we could all easily get the same effect by simply setting up a Google alert, but I know this to be not true: Google alerts will pick up all sorts of irrelevancies and repetitive memes, whereas a Jan of Köln alert is usually hand-picked and given some form of introduction and explanation.
(I use Google alerts constantly for other things, and while they are useful, they are also painful to deal with. I have one set up for "Ray Bradbury", which I use to find some of the material for my Bradbury-based blog. Only about one in thirty of Google's finds turn out to be new, relevant or interesting.)
I started coming here to the Pav mainly because I found out Harlan visited and posted here. I've stayed since his withdrawal, but without Jan's posts there's not much to stay for. American politics and related concerns don't mean so much on this side of the pond.
- Phil
We have literacy studies that pretty much tell the tale about how little Americans do read. This is not really controversial.
Every culture reads junk, but at least they read.
Just as other cultures have better public transport, better healthcare, this leads to people having more freedom, being more able to understand that literacy is a form of freeing oneself from the shackles of ignorance.
We can blame our education system that stresses testing not learning and the religion of gadgets like Blackberrys and cell phones. Best we put down the gadgets and pick up the dusty wisdom of ages past.
----------
African immigrants also had recent protests in Israel. Netanyahu wants to build a border fence, quite like the Arizona one, mostly to keep out African immigrants:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-illegal-african-immigrants-a-threat-to-israel-s-jewish-character-1.302653
If Arizona's law is a racist outrage we cannot act cute when it comes to our favorite criminal state.
Especially after the video came out where Netanyahu admitted to killing the Oslo agreements.
According to Finkelstein and others Ethiopian Jews are treated as second class citizens in Israel. They live in slums and are not treated as well as european jews.
Quick Reply to Iain Aitken
Mate, thanks for the thumbnail sketches of a WorldCon SF shindig. I only have a vague idea of what to expect from such an event. Alastair Reynolds (REVELATION SPACE) hinted on his weblog that he MAY be planning a slower-than-light trip to AussieCon. So list me as 85% committed. It's $300+ Aussie pesos to join this late in the game. That's a lot of Wild Turkey and Coke. (On my 4th can as I write this. Ahem.)
Speaking of Hugos...I wonder whether Harlan has aspirations to win a 9th, and then 10th, Hugo?
If you can wing it to Melbourne Iain, I'd be happy to play host to your family for the duration -- with slack on either side -- if your friend is not able to do so. Otherwise, same goes for anyone else reading this. Contact me on the board (my e-mail 'addresses' are fakes).
Kind Regards #2,
Rod
English as a language having the place it has, America is a book-exporting country. I have perhaps a hundred original American books, and I'm sure the British and Australians tend to have even more of them than us Germans. That's profits for American publishers. It's also easier to make profits when the population is large enough to justify expensive hardcover editions of most books, which can be printed at lower cost. In Germany (and presumably in Australia), more books (especially translations) go directly to paperback.
The list of newspaper circulation numbers indicates the market conditions and says nothing about a nation's proclivity to read. Also, the largest German "newspaper" on that list (#2) is a tabloid.
As Dorman indicated, the scary part is not how little people read but what they read. American authors have an above average tendency to write purely for money, and those books are printed and marketed for profit as well.
---
"A little editorial judgment before copying and pasting might help lower a lot of blood pressures."
I select about 5% of what I find as worthy of being OFFERED to you and or Harlan. In the cases where I'm conflicted about mentioning something, I remind myself that I'm dealing mostly with adults who can make up their own minds. Read or skip, your decision.
Less than five percent. But I know you were talking in general and not necessarily about me alone.
If people have a Google alert set to Ellison, like you say, then it's interesting they find nearly zero percent share-worthy. I don't use that, by the way.
---
Steve, congrats on scoring that book!
"if Harlan WERE to pop back in and see some of the things you've linked to below..."
I asked for something more specific so I'd know what you mean. I can live with the Sanford piece (presumably) not being considered worthy of our attention, though I personally think Harlan likes to know his decision has been noticed by the world and that Prince is his new soul mate. It is certainly not possible to dismiss the piece as having been written by someone who has an axe to grind with Harlan. As for other offensive links (you speak in the plural), I don't know what you mean. Again, you might have been more specific while accusing me of setting the world on fire and overreacting to something. I'd like to have to known what you're talking about.
---
"If you want to continue to post the spectrum, I'd suggest the forums as a far better venue."
I've come here since '95 to find out and discuss what's going on in Harlan-land. That includes discussion, news and (unavoidably) the occasional controversy. I don't come here to read about blockbuster movies, politicians and conspiracy theories. Like I said many times, THAT stuff can move to the forums. I'm also not a big believer in sanitized news. There isn't that much to sanitize anyway. It's not like the world hates Harlan. On the whole, news and reviews are pretty positive. I'd hate it if Harlan had to think, "I wonder what they're keeping secret from me", for no real reason. That would make it harder for him to enjoy positive things. Harlan is interested in truth.
---
"I might suggest the standard of "Is this something Harlan would appreciate reading?". This would eliminate those less than complimentary blogs you've linked below."
There seems to be a misconception as to why Harlan left which extends to you guys just as much as the outside observers you're dismissing. Harlan has no problem with other peoples' opinions about his actions or his personality. He has had opinions too. Nor does he have sudden problems with the Pavilion. His problem is the lack of professionalism of the people that run internet news sites. Falsehoods delivered as facts.
The idea of changing board policy and trying to cut Harlan off from outside opinion on our end is pathetic, just like the hope that he'll return if we present the world as only complimentary.
---
In any case I don't think I can work up the motivation to post news items again. I'll still keep you and Harlan informed about continental European matters though. It all brings to mind the old aphorism about good deeds. It was unfortunate enough, though not as surprising, that noteworthy Harlan news items and reviews regularly went under. I didn't have time to post my own thoughts directly along with the items, but they were still intended to bring life to this place. Well, sometimes they did, through Harlan.
---
Don't mean to close on this note but can't think of anything else except to say, no offense taken.
Worldcon in Melbourne
Hey Rod,
Glad to hear youre going to the Worldcon in Melbourne. I had hoped to be able to go with my wife and family, but as usuall money has proven a slight hurdle. I am trying to persuade my friend John who emigrated to Australia to go but I think he is not that interested.
Worldcons are great fun, I have been to two, both times in Glasgow. So that would be 1995 and 2005. Both were great fun and there is always loads to see and do. So much in fact that you are probably going to do what I end up doing. Reading the program and thinking "Well I want to go see this, but it clashes with that and that. Hmmmmm." And of course you'll get to meet loads of really nice people who all share a love of science fiction and fantasy.
When youre there go to as many of the bid parties as you can. Show your support for future worldcons and drink as much of their free booze as you can. Apart from anything else the praties are usually great fun. It was due to Melbourne's party at the Glasgow Hilton that I think they won. So go support the 2014 bid for London. You know it makes sense.
Have a great time and think of this poor Scotsman who wishes he could be there too.
All the best
Iain
Books Down Under...4 Related Points
I know nothing about book reading or book buying statistics in Australia. However...
- You'll always see ME clutching a book while I endure the Endless Commute to/from the corporate antfarm. At present, it's Steig Larsson's second entry in a series that seems to be more popular with Aussies than ABBA.
- Earlier this month, an ex-girlfriend had her first novel published by Picador. An unexpected question that arose: since we lived together for a few years, am I in the book somewhere? Severely doubt it, but...it's a surreal thought.
- I am considering attending the World SF Convention in Melbourne in September. It'll be my first. Are you going, Dorman?
- My eight-year-old niece looks to be a future avid reader. Since I own WAY more books by Harlan than any other writer, you can bet she'll be introduced to his work in due course.
Regards,
Rod
Percieved Internet Entitlement
Sadly, this only makes me support Harlan's backing away from the internet. Can't believe the internet/world is full of these idiots. Make your own damn art, try to make a living off of it, and then shut-the-hell-up. Anyone who could create a method of stopping illegal downloading would be SOOO rich right now...
http://www.treygunn.com/blog/2010/7/19/free-downloading-and-the-creative-process.html?lastPage=true#comment9079525
Perfidy
Far be it for me to contradict the dictums of the Church of Frank, but you're dead-as-a-doornail, Morley's ghost and the whole mishegas WRONG about Israel's plans to "deport" African immigrants. Which immigrants are you alking about? Where do you get your information? In the 1980s and 90s, Israel rescued more than 35,000 Ethiopian Jews -- "Falashas" -- who were living under conditions of famine and horrendous persecution, and resettled them safely in Israel, where they're highly regarded as a branch of Jews with a Judaism which developed separately from the other two mainstream forms (Shephardic and Ashkanakic, for the uninitiated). If you're trying to build a case against Israel as being 'racist' based on the treatment of the Falashas, you're building a house of cards, the cards are marked, and the house bears no resemblance to the tolerant home these black Jews are now fortunate enough to live in.
Stop talking about tolerance and start practicing it.
And learn the difference between fact and rumor, while you're at it.
Just popping in briefly like to say hi, and hope all are well. Just been really busy lately.
That was a cool story about how Harlan and Susan met. Warms my romantic heart. Who knows maybe there is even hope for an old spinster like moi?
Kafka gonna try to send you an e-mail re your new story, if my server cooperates. If not will pm further comments on the Forums if not tonite tomorrow for sure. Brief overview - excellent narrative, well drawn characters. Liked your idea for thread there.
Take care Diane
At the risk of getting banned --
(At the risk of being banned for good, with apologies to Rick)
Before I sign off for two weeks, I gotta say something to
the retro-liberal,
STEVE PERRY: I've actually talked with more than one well-known writer about how foreign sales compare to domestic. And I'm not sure why _you_ -- in particular -- would take umbrage to what was written to the anonymous VOR, but...
I'm not intersted in getting into one of your usual flag-waving debates. I criticize America because it is _capable_ of doing better -- but most American's settle for less, and (when taking umbrage)sometimes pull out questionable sources(wiki? give me a break!) and laughable polls out of thin air -- or the side of their mouths (even when I was writing for "the Dallas Morning News" on a regular basis, I _knew_ their circulation numbers were fudged -- just as the majority of circ. numbers are blue-skyed at dailys).
But I don't expect to sway your opinion on _this_ anymore than I did regarding all the many other matters on which we disagree. (And even your secondary source, wiki, admits that "rates of literacy in the U.S. depends on which of the various defintions of literacy is used." Kinda like the definition of Harlan Ellison's character -- and the veracity of what has or hasn't happened in his life -- depends on whose story is being told, whose viewpoint is being sold...on _wikipedia._ Great source, Steve. You're my go-to guy next time we need more confirmation on WMDs in a foreign country).
Furthermore, in point of fact, there are no specifics in those numbers you so cavalierly used to support your unprovoked slam (unprovoked unless, of course, you and the "Voice of Reason" are close acquaintences). So even _if_ the figures are right (wiki is a sad source, and as we all know; and even honorable folks who own big publishing companies or big newspapers sometimes lie)...even if the numbers were dead-on, how many of those books sold in America do think would turn out to be, say...books on cooking, books on gardening, bibles, books on computer games and how to work them, photo books, puzzle books, how-to-books, gimmick books (the ones on the spinracks in B&N and Borders that contain phrases about kissing, puppies, etc.), etc., etc., etcetera? And of those books, how many of them are actually read cover to cover? The cookbooks probably get the most use, but mostly for the 10 or 12 recipes (out of probably two or three or four times as many totoal) which are used over and over again. The MAJORITY of those books -- which aren't novels and aren't thoughtful, nonfiction books -- aren't even read, cover to cover (least of all the King James bible) by folks who buy them for themselves or give them away.
I have to apologize for not making it clear in my first, hurried post. But I (and I believe Frank) was referring to the reading of _substantial_ books: novels which challenge (or at least attempt to challenge -- and move) a reader or particular group of readers; books on history (current and past); books on politics (Ann Coulter doesn't count); books on culture and philosophy; well-wrtten biographies; books on art; even well-written myteries and thrillers (that enlighten while they entertain); etc., etc., etcetera (I always hear the voice of Yul Brynner when I do that -- sarcastically or not).
Not Reader's Digest "condensed books," celebrity bios, b.s. ghost written trash by the likes of Glen Beck or William Shatner, and so on (all of which should be added to the above list of books that are skimmed or tossed on a coffee table and counted among those that prove the rate of literacy in the U.S.)
Sorry if I confused you. Or your good friend, VOR.
Gone for a fortnight (this time for good, Rick -- I couldn't help at least a quick response to my biggest fan, Steve Perry).
--DTS
FinderDoug, thanks for the heads-up.
Numbers Games
With all due respect to folks who pull things out of their asses and offer them as factual observations, the notion that Australians read more than Americans being based on what one guy observed while riding on a train is, and one respected author allowing as how his books sell better there is, um, less than convincing.
It might be true, but that observation ain't evidence.
Here: http://bookstatistics.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate
And if it's too much trouble to read, I'll make it easy. The literacy rate in Australia and the United States is the same -- 99%. The numbers of books sold in each country based on how much money is spent show the USA has roughly twenty times as much.
Of course, there are magazines, papers, blogs, graphic novels, and all manner of things read, and then it gets a little harder to pin down, doesn't it?
A listing of the top 100 newspapers in the world, circulation-wise doesn't show one on the continent of Australia. The United States has four. Yes, newspaper readership has been declining here, but most big cities in the US still have a major daily. The champs are the Japanese, Germans, and English.
http://www.easypr.com/top_papers.php
Or course, the USA has about 310 million people and Australia has only 22 million but if you take away the illiterates, that drops the USA to 307 million and Oz by a couple hundred thousand. (More people in Texas than in Australia.) So if you crunch those numbers proportionately -- then there are fourteen times as many potential readers in the USA as in Australia, and yet the USA is selling enough books to make twenty times as much profit. So ... how does that equal to Australians reading more books?
May be that percentages have Australians reading for pleasure more overall than most Americans, depends on which survey you like, and what media, but you don't get to wave off America as a nation that doesn't read, nor make a wide-swath wave based on what one guy saw.
C'mon. Really.
Perry
Oops
OOPS. Hurrying off to some appts: In that note to "VOR," meant to say that when it comes to people who read more (or when it comes to more people reading), Australia (at least the states of Victoria and NSW) and many parts of Europe "have it all over" the U.S.A. Doesn't _have_ to be like that -- but most of our fellow citizens _choose_ to be semi-literate and willfully ignorant. If there are any other mistakes, bear with them. Gotta run! --DTS (who will voluntarily ban himself from remarks for a week, for double-posting -- twice)!
Response to Barber, Church and VOR
LIKE THAT SUBJECT LINE? Sounds like a combination law-firm and venereal disease!
BARBER: (Please note -- and at no times will my hands leave my arms during this trick -- my NOT mentioning You-Know-Who. No, NOT Voldemort!) Bringing up character flaws and misperceptions and misconceptions is missing the tree for the forest. As for loyalty, unless I'm screwed over (and with women, I always allow three chances, unfortunately) I'm one of the most loyal guys you'll ever meet. And I'm _no one's_ idea of a hero or an icon. Yet, _I_ would tell the truth on a world stage -- and "out" my friends and colleagues -- in a heartbeat if it meant saving the lives of others. And, as far as I know, Harlan's character flaws never contributed to the deaths of copious amounts of young men and women. As for Col. David C. Hackworth, I think (I didn't look back just now) I referred to him as "late," so need to worry about hurting _his_ feelings (but if he were alive, I believe he'd insist that you hurt his feelings if it meant clearing up the air on the matter of loyalty vs. lives).
FRANK: Oh, shit! You agree with me on something! ;) :)
VOR: You're anything but; and you either haven't had much experience living in other countries (most likely) or you don't observe other humans very well. I was flabbergasted at how many people I saw reading -- papers, novels, etc., etc. --when I rode my first train here in Melbourne. Although I lived in Kansas City for the last 17 years before moving to OZ, I had many chances to visit NYC, Chicago, Denver, etc., etc. And the amount of readers I saw on the trains -- on that first day here -- was far more than the amount of readers I saw on trains in Chicago and NYC (and far more than the amount of readers I got to know in Kansas City -- where most people would say they "didn't have time" to read. And my buddy John Irving has told me countless times that his books (which sell very well in the U.S., compared to the sales of other writers) have a larger market in Germany, the Netherlands, etc., etc. Sure, there are plenty of non-readers and idiots in both OZ and Europe. But when it comes to people who read more -- even if it's simply the daily paper (which MANY Americans have given up -- I know, I observed the dropping reader rate from the sidelines, while freelancing). Frank is spot on in that observation. While you (as you were when trying so hard to insult me way back when)are stuffed full of wild blueberries.
Cheers to all from Melbourne (where the next big book/readers Festival in August will be followed by the World SF convention in Sept),
DTS
--Australians tend to read a more diverse set of books as do Europeans. --
Utter rubbish. Just more of the endless culturalist prattling from "Frank Church" that is for some reason tolerated here.
Dorman has his dots dotted and his t's crossed. Australians tend to read a more diverse set of books as do Europeans. We here are stuck with military analysts who make bank from defense stock.
The media there also has on actual leftists--strange people who actually think that people should have access to a doctor and clean air.
-----------
Colin Powell is a disgrace. Sat at the UN and told obvious lies about metal tubes and fake weapons. Bugliosi pretty much vets this out. Too bad he was blacklisted from the media. Even Olbermann and the Daily Show.
Mai Lai is one of many crimes.
----------
Israel now wants to kick out African immigrants because they don't fit the "Jewish charactor" of Israel.
Tea is universal.
Ostrich Syndrome
No, ostriches don't actually stick their heads in the sand when threatened, but the myth has its uses, and is often invoked to indicate a certain willful ignorance of reality.
Not looking at it doesn't make the problem go away.
If Harlan wants to exit the internet and spend his time doing things other, that's his business. That a fair amount of what gets said about him along the information highway is patently ignorant and total bullshit is certainly true. Instant access has made for faster stupidity, and I expect that most of us here have no trouble seeing that an internet connection and a keyboard allows a major influx of fools without clues to blather on endlessly.
Stipulated.
But: It's gonna happen whether you like it or not. And people have been getting it wrong since the mimeograph days and that hasn't changed. Maybe the medium is the message. Or maybe it's that there are more maroons -- thanks, Bugs -- and it is easier to stay anonymous. That's always been my major beef -- that people who would never dare say these things to your face will spew witlessly into the electronic realm without fear of redress.
(That's how you keep yourself out of trouble -- never say anything about anybody you wouldn't be willing to say directly to them.)
All that, yes ...
Harlan's washing his hands and leaving is his business, but it doesn't help the situation. The yahoos and dweebs are still going to prate and get it wrong. The unfounded rumors will get passed along, and like the old game of telephone, amplified and distorted yet more in the repetition. While he was here, Harlan could offer the occasional correction and those of us who had access could make some small effort to put the message forth. Might be like bailing against the tide with a bucket, but at least it was a recognition of Burke's Dictum about the triumph (and, in this case, banality of) evil.
Harlan is taking care of his psyche, and should. I don't begrudge him an iota. But turning his back on this group didn't make the situation any better. The war continues.
Folks here who can pick up the phone or drop round, can deliver Harlan's messages: "Yeah, I talked to him, and he said ..." is testimony, but it's second-hand when we get it. Not the same as coming directly from the horse's mouth.
Perry
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