[FairfieldLife] Personalizing forwards with fiction (was Re: Sweet letter from Japan)
I want to take a moment to commend Rick for passing this letter along prefaced by the truth: I have no idea who wrote this, but received it from another friend. That's an honest thing to do, and admirable. I say this because today I've found literally dozens of copies of this letter, many heavily edited to either remove or add text, many of which are introduced by the phrase, This is a letter from a personal friend of mine or This is a letter from a member of my family in Japan, or This is a letter than my Dad received from his girlfriend in Japan or something similar. Google finds literally tens of thousands of hits on this letter, *lots* of them personalized in this way. If we were to believe all of these personalizations, Anne really gets around, has enough boyfriends to qualify as a real slut, and has immediate family in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries. :-) Stuff like this reminds me of letters or quotes purporting to come from the Dalai Lama or someone else famous, but which really have nothing to do with them. People find some quote that inspires them but then can't just pass it along like Rick did with a simple I don't know who wrote this, but I like it. Instead they have to make something up to improve its believability or its forwardability. Color me too real world based or non New Age, but I think that this *very* common Internet practice just sucks, and detracts from the believability of such writing. As far as I can tell there really might be a person named Anne Thomas who wrote the original letter, but this practice of personalizing her letter with fiction would lead any thoughtful person to suspect that there isn't, and that the whole thing is fiction. I'm giving the situation the benefit of a doubt and assuming that the original letter is not fiction, but given the way that people passing it around have tried to amplify or personalize it *using* fiction, there is no real reason I should. It's a really dumb practice, and I wish people would just stop it. Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. - Albert Einstein ( The above quote is really by philosopher G.K. Chesterton, but you laughed harder because you thought it was by Albert Einstein, didn't you? You laughed at a lie. 'Nuff said. ) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@... wrote: Letter from Japan Friends, I have no idea who wrote this, but received it from another friend A letter from Sendai 3/14/2011 Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful. During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets. It's utterly amazingly that where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another. Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often. We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group. There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time. Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently. And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is
[FairfieldLife] Personalizing forwards with fiction (was Re: Sweet letter from Japan)
Following up on these thoughts, I wanted to comment on a line thrown out casually here yesterday. The person who had earlier claimed that Bevan Morris had been written into Maharishi's Will as the leader of the TM movement in the West felt the need to post a followup, saying that he heard this from someone who saw the Will. Not a single comment from the peanut gallery here. I grew curious, so I searched FFL, and found not a single mention of a will (other than a put-on Last Message that someone wrote that was very funny). Then I searched Google, and similarly found zero mentions of a will ever existing. Then, because I was once curious enough about the actual wording of Rama-Frederic Lenz's will to track it down and get a copy (easy as pie in the US because wills are public documents), I tried the same thing here in the Netherlands. I was unsuccessful. Then I called a Dutch friend who is a lawyer and she was similarly unsuccessful, even though if one existed it would have to be registered in the country in which he died, in law libraries that she has full access to. So am I wrong to assume that any mention of Maharishi's Will is a similar attempt to personalize a made-up story to theoretically give it more weight or credibility? Has *anyone* heard of an actual legal last will and testa- ment written or dictated by Maharishi, witnessed by lawyers, and recognized in any country? People make up shit all the time to make it seem that the things they believe should be believed by others. Until someone can produce an actual piece of paper (or a scan or photocopy thereof) that can legally be certified to be Maharishi's Will, I have to assume that no such document exists. This might make me sound like the TM- critic version of a birther, but I prefer to think of myself as a deather? :-) :-) :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: I want to take a moment to commend Rick for passing this letter along prefaced by the truth: I have no idea who wrote this, but received it from another friend. That's an honest thing to do, and admirable. I say this because today I've found literally dozens of copies of this letter, many heavily edited to either remove or add text, many of which are introduced by the phrase, This is a letter from a personal friend of mine or This is a letter from a member of my family in Japan, or This is a letter than my Dad received from his girlfriend in Japan or something similar. Google finds literally tens of thousands of hits on this letter, *lots* of them personalized in this way. If we were to believe all of these personalizations, Anne really gets around, has enough boyfriends to qualify as a real slut, and has immediate family in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries. :-) Stuff like this reminds me of letters or quotes purporting to come from the Dalai Lama or someone else famous, but which really have nothing to do with them. People find some quote that inspires them but then can't just pass it along like Rick did with a simple I don't know who wrote this, but I like it. Instead they have to make something up to improve its believability or its forwardability. Color me too real world based or non New Age, but I think that this *very* common Internet practice just sucks, and detracts from the believability of such writing. As far as I can tell there really might be a person named Anne Thomas who wrote the original letter, but this practice of personalizing her letter with fiction would lead any thoughtful person to suspect that there isn't, and that the whole thing is fiction. I'm giving the situation the benefit of a doubt and assuming that the original letter is not fiction, but given the way that people passing it around have tried to amplify or personalize it *using* fiction, there is no real reason I should. It's a really dumb practice, and I wish people would just stop it.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Personalizing forwards with fiction (was Re: Sweet letter from Japan)
Bevan in MMY's will wasn't worth a mention because it's some dome zombie's fantasy! --- On Fri, 3/18/11, turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com wrote: From: turquoiseb no_re...@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Personalizing forwards with fiction (was Re: Sweet letter from Japan) To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, March 18, 2011, 11:10 AM Following up on these thoughts, I wanted to comment on a line thrown out casually here yesterday. The person who had earlier claimed that Bevan Morris had been written into Maharishi's Will as the leader of the TM movement in the West felt the need to post a followup, saying that he heard this from someone who saw the Will. Not a single comment from the peanut gallery here. I grew curious, so I searched FFL, and found not a single mention of a will (other than a put-on Last Message that someone wrote that was very funny). Then I searched Google, and similarly found zero mentions of a will ever existing. Then, because I was once curious enough about the actual wording of Rama-Frederic Lenz's will to track it down and get a copy (easy as pie in the US because wills are public documents), I tried the same thing here in the Netherlands. I was unsuccessful. Then I called a Dutch friend who is a lawyer and she was similarly unsuccessful, even though if one existed it would have to be registered in the country in which he died, in law libraries that she has full access to. So am I wrong to assume that any mention of Maharishi's Will is a similar attempt to personalize a made-up story to theoretically give it more weight or credibility? Has *anyone* heard of an actual legal last will and testa- ment written or dictated by Maharishi, witnessed by lawyers, and recognized in any country? People make up shit all the time to make it seem that the things they believe should be believed by others. Until someone can produce an actual piece of paper (or a scan or photocopy thereof) that can legally be certified to be Maharishi's Will, I have to assume that no such document exists. This might make me sound like the TM- critic version of a birther, but I prefer to think of myself as a deather? :-) :-) :-) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: I want to take a moment to commend Rick for passing this letter along prefaced by the truth: I have no idea who wrote this, but received it from another friend. That's an honest thing to do, and admirable. I say this because today I've found literally dozens of copies of this letter, many heavily edited to either remove or add text, many of which are introduced by the phrase, This is a letter from a personal friend of mine or This is a letter from a member of my family in Japan, or This is a letter than my Dad received from his girlfriend in Japan or something similar. Google finds literally tens of thousands of hits on this letter, *lots* of them personalized in this way. If we were to believe all of these personalizations, Anne really gets around, has enough boyfriends to qualify as a real slut, and has immediate family in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries. :-) Stuff like this reminds me of letters or quotes purporting to come from the Dalai Lama or someone else famous, but which really have nothing to do with them. People find some quote that inspires them but then can't just pass it along like Rick did with a simple I don't know who wrote this, but I like it. Instead they have to make something up to improve its believability or its forwardability. Color me too real world based or non New Age, but I think that this *very* common Internet practice just sucks, and detracts from the believability of such writing. As far as I can tell there really might be a person named Anne Thomas who wrote the original letter, but this practice of personalizing her letter with fiction would lead any thoughtful person to suspect that there isn't, and that the whole thing is fiction. I'm giving the situation the benefit of a doubt and assuming that the original letter is not fiction, but given the way that people passing it around have tried to amplify or personalize it *using* fiction, there is no real reason I should. It's a really dumb practice, and I wish people would just stop it. To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links fairfieldlife-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com
