Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Something's Going On...

C O R R E S P O N D E N C E

    W IT H   THE   C L O S E - M I N D E D

This is a collection of letters and comments covering correspondence I have received over the last several months. Names have been removed, the guilty and the innocent may well recognize themselves, but I do not want anyone else to be affected by this. I am saddened, shamed and concerned about the trends I see struggling for dominance in our lives. Too many people evidence my cautionary remarks quoting Thomas Jefferson, P T Barnum, and the writer of The Emperor's New Clothes, in which the critical remarks are "Americans will get the government they deserve", "No one ever went broke UNDER-ESTIMATING THE INTELLIGENCE of the American public" and "But, Mama, he's Naked!" These statements all bear upon the acceptance and sometimes furtherance of unAmerican ideals, by otherwise intelligent, decent Americans and their willingness to whistle merrily off down a road previously traveled by other megalomaniacs and evil empires and other similarly non-American poseurs, such as "Freedom Fighters", or like-sounding misnomers for what people like us want, and have come to expect as our birthright as Americans!

So here, in 11,000 words, cut and pasted and assembled in one fevered 10 hour period beginning one night when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep for the pain, starting around 2:30 a.m., stopping only to make more pots of coffee, until somewhere around noon, when I tried to post it to my journal--a doomed effort that I soon abandoned as pointless, after trying to cut it up, knowing there was no way to edit it.

Enjoy, or not as the case my be, for there are some journalers who come off as their real selves, the curtain pulled away, and I am certain that a significant number will KNOW who said this comment or that.   Several of these "correspondents" have blocked me from writing to them, because of these conversations.  I really do not care, for I believe it to be their loss, not mine.  I'm not interested in such pettiness, and anyone who fails to heed the dictum the First Amendment was based upon, as you will read in one of these corespondences, Voltaire's immortal "I may not care for what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it!" is not only not worth the time and effort for me to continue the conversation with, but someone who has no claim to be American or Patriotic.  There was a good reason the First Amendment was chosen to be FIRST, and denying someone their First Amendment Right is the most unAmerican act one can take, in my opinion.

Read on: C O R R E S P O N D E N C E

Sometimes I wonder if the Boys From Brazil was actually fiction, the creationof Ira Levin's feverish imagination, or an apocryphal story, one that got some of the details wrong, but the essential story is dead on, the "boys" having just taken on a new political "identity" of convenience, camouflage for their real intentions, and their actual heritage. Something to chew on, as gas prices rise, liberties dwindle, and we transition from a country with expanding horizons, and limitless possibilities, to one of diminished expectations, in a world bereft of leaders larger than life, replaced instead by small men (and women) with little if anything, to say, and poorly stated at best, even then.

 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow.  This is proof positive that my alerts are screwy.  I haven't seen you in ages...not that we are familiar...I only just got here a few months ago, but have had the pleasure of reading your journal.  Glad to be back ;)  C.  http://journals.aol.com/gdireneoe/thedailies

Anonymous said...

Geez, if you were thinking that this approach was a way that you might open the lines of communication with people again, then you are mistaken.  You state that you did not include names to protect the GUILTY...NICE (then you made sure you included the "offenders" first initial to make it easier for some to draw conclusions---that's passive aggressive and it is mean).  Bruce, perhaps the fact that you appear so close-minded yourself is one reason people have shut you out.  Correspondence implies that two people get to exchange ideas--- it is NOT one person shoving their personal beliefs down another's throat and refusing to listen to their point of view to the point where the person you are pretending to correspond with (but are in actuality lecturing) feels the need to block you.  So many people do not fight fair here.  Instead of taking the discussion at hand and sticking with that, they choose to attack the personal life or beliefs of the person that they are having the disagreement with.  They feel the need to write journal entries belittling others in an attempt to inflate themselves and deflate the people they are having problems with.  It's juvenile and it gets everyone NOWHERE.  Try listening to others and then perhaps they will give you the courtesy of returning the favor by listening to you.

Anonymous said...

Determination is born out of purpose...knowing that you are gifted for something and this something must be attained.  It is never enough to rely on luck or natural talent.  You must, above all, believe in yourself, face your goals, and then fight as if your life depended on it.  I love your determination!

Anonymous said...

Bruce,
My head is reeling right now. I have just finished reading all 11,000 words of "Correspondance with the Close-Minded" and I just want to thank you for taking so much time to summarize so much of what is wrong with our country right now. Indeed, I have saved this document so that I can go back time and again and use your very own words, when words fail me. Because more oft than not any more, words simply fail me, as I have tried over and over , as you have done, to try to break through the barrier of iron that seems to have permeated the brains of what I would normally consider intelligent and thinking individuals. The level of close-mindedness of the Bush-lovers is so staggering that it is frightening...almost as though these people have been brain-washed, (which of course they have.) In my own recent attempt to break through the barriers and demand some answers from this crowd, I had over 70 hits on that particular journal, entry. I know, because I noted the counter when I first posted it. Out of 70 hits, only one person responded with any lexicon of intelligence. I think I finally realize that in NOT answering my questions, they have actually answered them. Peace brother. As I have said before, in spite of the worst fears, which we both share regarding the consequences of this current administration's activites..hope springs eternal. Let's keep praying real, real hard.
By the way, I am flattered that I was part of your treatise:):)
Maryanne

Anonymous said...

Ahhh....but if they left their minds open, their brains would wander away:)

Chris
http://journals.aol.com/swibirun/Inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings
http://www.bigoven.com/~swibirun

Anonymous said...

BRILLIANT! I'd like to say more but find that I'd only be restating what you've already said so well in this entry. I was pointed in your direction by a friend of like mind and I'm very glad for the recommendation.
The happy ignorance that so many of our fellow Citizens is nothing less than a catastrophe threatening our very Nation, and sadly ignorance can rarely recognize itself. If only the one's who cry "Bush Bashing" when presented with simple public record and "Liberal Media Bias" while devoutly ingesting every morsel of O'Reilly or trying to turn the clock back to the previous Administration in utterly futile comparison tit for tat could take a breath, have a moment of quiet reflection, and see the Jingoistic manner with which they've cheered this morally bankrupt and ethically devoid group of Profiteers perhaps we could breath a little easier. And have our Hope strengthened.
I'm confounded by Americans who think that those with whom they disagree, upon things they are learned, have a passing reference too, are vaguely interested in or utterly misinformed of, must be the enemy. I doubt that most American's truly favor the despotic future awaiting should our nation continue blindly following the directives of people without the boldness to out and out state their goals and intentions due to their incapacity for the truth.
You have bolstered my faith however that there are still people with the capacity for knowledge and critical thinking. What our schools have failed, obviously, to teach is that information is just that, information. It is up to the individual to discern the validity thereof.
http://journals.aol.com/cowboyxxv/fromtoptobottom/

Anonymous said...

Well said Bruce.....I think you covered the basis and your theory was proven on more than one occassion!!!!
Peace
Hope you are well
Jodi

Anonymous said...

Bruce...I never liked him/never trusted him/I see his lips move and I know he's lying. The Republican party has made the US laughing stock of the world. I love my country, but OMG these people are burying us.  Sandi

Anonymous said...

YOU ARE AN AWESOME WRITER!!
PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH WITH ANY NEW JOURNALS YOU MAY HAVE!

Peace & Hugs, Donna Lynn~ Autumn Rain Eyez

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