I got caught up in Jeff’s comment too – he’s actually a hell of an analyst… that can write! I’ve taken quotes and bent them myself – and I really don’t have much of a problem with a little bending as long as I’m not pretending that I’m calling on this or that founder “who agrees with what I’m saying – see? He said virtually the same thing, except better…”

A good example is the movie “The Rock.” He uses precisely the quote I mentioned, and though the writer bent it, it works because when Ed Harris says the line, not only is he engaged in a little insurrection, it is for the reasons Jefferson alluded to in his letter. A side benefit of course, is that when Sean Connery self-righteously quotes Solzhenitsyn he does it for the wrong reasons – of course, the movie goer might not be familiar with that, which I think the screenwriter counted on…

So I definitely get your point too – because I’ll likely keep using awesome quotes that sound better than my own words but I’ll try to keep my intentions and outcomes honorable

Cheers Friend!

I gotta tell ya Jeff, I sure do miss the JavaSpook! You’ve a gift for taking what many democrats would call a “murky, complex problem” and throwing it into stark and “simple” relief. And you manage to do it with a style that cuts to the quick and yet conjures up a wry smile or two… sometimes even a belly laugh… because really, laughing at the misery is truly better than crying about it.

So, when are you gonna do a guest column for me?

Your comments about romantic love and the “over-reaching feminist cause” made me cringe – precisely because I have seen some of its effects. Is there a solution that can be implemented or taught? Should we jump right in and start trying to turn “the groves of academe” into a bastion of diversity… of thought rather than ethnicity or gender?

You’re welcome for the “therapy” and thanks for the razor sharp response! Oh, and about that guest column…?

Cheers Buddy!

This mass-narcissism affects the bulk of the United States, I believe, and it’s only getting worse. Just yesterday I did some thinking on the way home along these lines when I heard of a new practice called “mini-marriages.” This is where two people get married but live apart so they don’t have to deal with each other constantly in the hopes that the divorce rate will decrease. Why can’t two people live together in harmony anymore? Because everyone needs to be the winner. Arguments aren’t settled these days, they’re swept under the rug to bubble because saturnian egos colliding would lead to the destruction of one or both.

I further wondered if this has fed into degrading the belief in romantic love, where two people are able to complete each other – make a single unit. Women are largely taught that the idea of romantic love is degrading, the very suggestion that they’re not a complete entity leaves them as less than human. This argument ignores the fact that the male would be suffering the same thing, putting them once more on an even if different field, but it’s not convenient to an over-reaching feminist cause. It’s further reinforced by ‘cosmopolitan’ males who hold the African standard of polygeny up as the natural state of things (due to a lack of self-control in my opinion). This ‘natural state’ has led to an HIV epidemic. Nature usually favors the path with the best survivability, doesn’t it?

At the center is the individual who wishes to go beyond the bounds of what it means to be individual. They take the word to mean “me and only me” rather than one entity among many. Instead of “I think, therefore, I am” it’s “I think, therefore, I am better than you.”

I went to bed wondering if I needed to hurry up and die before I’m crushed under the divine weight of so many demigods walking the earth demanding worship for their uniqueness. Don’t even get me started on urban-diva-culture. I have to admit to a little satisfaction at imagining every overly-manicured razorbeast calling themselves a diva lined up to let Sean Connery discipline them old-school.

I suppose now that I’ve said that I can never run for political office… and I feel like I’ve just been to therapy. Thanks, Steve.