on 11/10/02 12:21 AM, The Korrows at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Will
> I for one have not been sitting on my hands for well over 20 years.

> So I don't want to see Think LOKI or anything else.

 >Thinking and talk is fine,

> If you want to talk about doing a project, then cut the BS

Dear Chris
I hate it that I seemed to have provoked so much DEFENSIVENESS. I am not
mocking what you have done and I could already sense that you were producing
volumes even before you listed them. I am pretty sure we are on the same
team too and I had thought we could work to destroy the "enemy" out there
not each other.

I thought we had been discussing Michael Moore's work in particular  (rather
than anyone's resume in this group) and, when I said "Think  LOKI, I was
referring to tools and metaphors one could use to understand HIS technique,
not yours.  To me, the real point, and the only point I was trying to make
is WHAT BEST ACHIEVES A PARADIGM SHIFT?

 Too much violence, too much humor or too strident a tone can be
counter-productive. We had a perfect example here in Minnesota last week
when emotions ran high at the Senator Paul Wellstone memorial. A lot of
strident  words were said and they had the opposite of desired effect: those
words basically elected the Bush lapdog, Norm Coleman. The whole world will
all pay for that for years to come.

On the other hand, we might not have had an effective Civil Rights Movement
if we had stuck to the NAACP plan.  From Martin Luther King,  Malcolm X,
Stokley Carmichael and a lady on the bus who refused to give up her seat, we
had paradigm shift. A bloody one, but it worked.

In the '60's JFK caused a huge national paradigm shift  with his stirring
speeches and many people I knew  joined the Peace Corps and, from his words
alone,  were permanently changed to the cause. For me, it was not only JFK
but it came mostly through the MUSIC of the times. The words of the Beatles,
Bob Dylan,  Crosby, Sills, Nash and Young and so many others INFORMED ME and
caused me to leave the safety of my upbringing, develop the conviction to
stand my ground, and ultimately get tear-gassed and even jailed for a cause
I didn't even understand at the time. When Viet Nam was over we were stunned
that we were actually right! Hell, we were just farm kids in the Midwest.

MOVIES have changed my life, permanently.  A string of anti-war movies
starting with Catch-22 (perhaps the best movie ever made IMHO) and Dr
Strangelove , showed me war is wrong,  A string of anti-racism movies
starting with To Kill A Mockingbird, to Hair, A Musical, changed my life
forever. This continues to be a powerful vehicle of change in my life. For
me, I can see the big picture better if I am clubbed over the head with
humor and absurdity (which is why MM works for me).

There are also BOOKS capable of starting a life change. I was reading
Richard Brautigan's hilarious prose and poetry during the meltdown of the
'60's. I read Juliette de Bairacli Levy's  "Herbal Guide to the Dog" and
tossed away 8 years of sterile education as well as a safe secure career for
this mess of a career I have loved (and cursed) for the last 25 years. One
book!

So, in conclusion, I come back to us.   On one hand you tell us you feel
"thinking and talking is fine"  (which is what I thought was the purpose of
this "discussion" group)  then on the other,  you tell me that  MY thinking
and talking is bull shit.  As a newcomer to this group, I really want to
know:  Are you trying to inflame me to action using insults (tip: My past
history indicates that SHAMING is an ineffective motivator for positive
change) or trying to shut me up with a resume measuring contest?

Will Winter   

Reply via email to