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Something toTalk About I love the movie ‘Something to Talk About’. There people suddenly realized that they had a lot of issues to resolve. Issues that sometimes carry a big baggage. I also love O’Henry. He has a novel ‘ Of Kings and Cabbage’. Even the King has to eat sometimes… So, off we go.
If only even for a moment we consider that there is something more important than human compassion then any crime is possible and permitted and we are all doomed. L. Tolstoy 2. On freedom of speech. a) I published this quote on Opednews long ago: One of the practical lessons inculcated by the history that has now been released is that no duty is more certain, none more important, than a free and fearless expression of opinion by all persons, on all occasions. No wise or philosophical person would think of complaining of the diversities of sentiment it is likely to develop. Such diversities are the vital principle of free communities and the only elements of popular intelligence. If the right to utter them is asserted by all and for all, tolerance is secured, and no inconvenience results. It is probable that there were many persons in 1692 who doubted the propriety of the proceedings at their commencement, but who were afterwards prevailed upon to fall into the current and swell the tide. If they had all discharged their duty to their country and their consciences by freely and boldly uttering their disapprobation and declaring their dissent, who can tell but the whole tragedy might have been prevented? and if it might, the blood of the innocent may be said, in one sense, to be upon their heads. When I published it I was expecting hundreds of comments of admiration for the wisdom and language of Mr. Upham; I was expecting the above to be put as a slogan on the Opednews desktop… I got no response. NADA. Looks like some people still believe in witches. b) Tell it to the dead. In the 1960s Trofim Lycenko, the notorious Stalin’s scientific pogromist who personally snitched on many scientists wrote an open letter to the Russian scientific community saying that he ‘just had some ideas to discuss’ and that ’that what he was doing all his life and was ready to debate those any time’. Academician Volkenstein replied dryly that ’No argument and no debate are necessary. Comrade Lycenko could benefit from the basic science and literacy courses’. I guess some folks on Opednews would defend the Lycenko’s freedom of speech. Tell it to the dead people: Chayanov, Vavilov, Koch, Milovich, thousands of those who died because of him. 3. Slutty eyes. I was watching the SAG rewards Red Carpet and there was something bothering me. Then my mother-in-law came in and said, ’Why is that they all have such slutty eyes?’ That’s what was bothering me: Slutty eyes.
A writer is a rogue goose. All other gees fly in a flock formation; every goose knows his place and time for honking. The rogue goose is undisciplined. He leaves the formation indiscriminately to have a look at it from aside. He roams back and forth, takes a peep at the leader, honks a little bit from behind, distracts everyone and writes on what he sees. Time passes and as he wants to return back to his place he discovers someone else there. Thus he either has to wait until they land for rest or join another flock in emigration. Those other birds could be cranes, storks or even crows. If he makes it he will become a rogue again. Whenever he goes and whatever he writes he never reaches a destination or enjoys a landing. There's only Kipling's God of Fair Beginnings and skies above and beyond. And the only way for a writer to make peace with the Deity is through the language of Poetry
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