Letters to the Editor
David L.
Published Letters: 186 Editor's Choice: 9
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Zen and Motorcycles...
[Read the article: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Take another new age philosophy book that is perhaps less controversial: Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance. Perhaps you've actually read that one? Are there any worthy concepts inthat book? Does it matter whether the story is literally true or not? Would it matter to teh quality of the book and its concpets if it was learned sometime after his death that Pirsig was a philandering jerk of some sort?
-- Samson141"
You assume that a Gen Xer like me would reduce myself to spending precious, valuable time out of my day reading about existential nonsense. But alas, that would not be the case.
But, if Pirsig was a philandering jerk that manipulated the minds of others, to the point where some of his followers might have committed suicide, then yes, I might just take exception to anything they had to say...hell, everything they say!
If you can't practice what you preach, then how can you possibly expect others to take you seriously?
Want proof of the corrosive effects that charlatans like Castaneda can create, with all of this Me-Me-Me philosophical bullshit? Read this one, from this very forum:
"As the only seeress in Manhattan, I am beholden to CC for all he has taught me through his books. A Catholic girl who dreamed of eagles, sorcerers and bears, the books were a hand reaching out to help me, I was not alone with my differing interpretation of the world.
-- luhren"
And people fault MY generation for being self-centered?
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Most telling quote from this story...
[Read the article: Is Rush Limbaugh next?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"In fact, the prominent conservatives, addressing a crowd of 30 on the ground floor of a Washington row house, described what sounded like a conspiracy. "
Crowd of 30...what does that tell you about their "marketshare" in our culture today?
Besides, Rush Limbaugh got bitch-slapped a few years ago for making racist overtures about McNair...so you might say he's already had his moment of truth, before Imus...
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George RR Martin...
[Read the article: Lord of the ruins]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I read this, I immediately thought of George RR Martin (A Game of Thrones, Storm of Swords, Feast for Crows, etc.). His work is much more pessimistic in tone, but still follows a similar line of fantasy writing that JRR Tolkien basically pioneered. Outside of LOTR and the George RR Martin line, I pretty much stay as far away as possible from the fantasy novel genre...mainly because I haven't found or heard of anything better than these works (but I'm open to suggestions from any of the real sci-fi novel geeks out there).
I've read that HBO has acquired the rights to put this in a miniseries format, so it'll be interesting to see if that plays out...that's actually the best forum for that kind of story, it's definitely not kidstuff. And yes, I'm sure they'll take liberties with the material in the interest of time like the movies did with LOTR, but I'd rather see it done than not...you LOTR purists out there just need to lighten up a little, there's a whole generation of folks that wouldn't even have heard of LOTR (or Narnia, to be fair to C.S. Lewis) if they didn't put these stories out in film.
I hope they do George RR Martin justice...
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Christopher1988...
[Read the article: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To clarify, I was one of those would-be hangers-on to that over-hyped, hippy-nostalgic bend in the late 80s as well...and having seen the same kind of new age spiritual con-game play out back then amongst friends I used to hang out, I turned my back on all that when I finally discovered that most of that hippy-nostalgic stuff was a lie as well...including the transcendental mumbo-jumbo that sprang from it.
The hippy culture was a nice, trendy cultural blimp on the radar screen, but Gen Xers like us wouldn't have known otherwise back then, based on a steady diet of classic rock stations and propaganda from the Boomer Generation. So like you, I wised up...haven't looked back since.
So no, Slacker and Clerks doesn't define our generation, I know this already. I didn't like Slackers anyway...Dazed and Confused was much better (and much easier to identify with).
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As Chris Rock said...
[Read the article: Why Democrats dumped gun control]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If every bullet cost $50 a piece...do you think we would be so quick to cap off a few rounds out of anger?
Maybe gun control isn't the answer...maybe it's ammunition control we need to think about. Then at least the "Right To Bear Arms" bit wouldn't be as direct of an issue, as the Republican talking heads like to parrot when they make wild claims about Democrats hating guns...whatever.
I do find it AMAZING that after 2 days of coverage, the topic of gun control is virtually unmentioned in the press...and politicians (particularly Democrats) are mute on this point. I attribute a lot of this to 9/11 as well...lets face it, 100 times more people died that day, and just about another 100 times more U.S. troops have died...so the VT shooting, while sensely and highly tragic, just didn't shock me as much as Columbine did, or Ruby's Restaurant, or the McDonald's rampage before all that, etc.
I hate to say this, but once it's all said and done, maybe gun control is pointless now...this adult (he was 23 years old, after all) legally purchased the gun(s) he used. Even if we put up more barriers to keep lunatics from getting guns, they're still gonna get what they need if they are properly motivated. Even Chris Rock's idea probably wouldn't have made a difference in this situation...although at the rate this guy fired his gun, it would have cost him damn near $5,000 to get enough ammo to pull it off...I dunno.
Call me a Red-dog Democrat I guess...but the Democratic Party's silence on this issue is probably a good thing this time around.