SECTION FOURTEEN
EMAIL PAGE ONE

sm
COLUMN SIXTY-SEVEN, JANUARY 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 Al Aronowitz)

BOB DYLAN ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE  

Subject: Fw: bob dylan on gh
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 00:18:00 (CET)
From: ydgroot@elnet.nl
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

this from another list I’m ok. it's taken from the www.bobdylan.com site. thought you'd like to know.

 

    Bob Dylan's Remarks about George Harrison

"He was a giant, a great, great soul, with all of the humanity, all of the wit and humor, all the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man and compassion for people. He inspired love and had the strength of a hundred men. He was like the sun, the flowers and the moon and we will miss him enormously. The world is a profoundly emptier place without him."
_______________________________________________________________________________ ______________ 

still amazed
Yvonne

* * *

THE CORRECT SPELLING  

Subject: Re: [AGALIST] COLUMN 64
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:11:18

From: Bear bear@thebear.org
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

It is "al Q'aida".

The ' indicates a type of glottal stop, a sound peculiar to Arabic and certain other tongues, but not found in English.  "al" is not capitalised, it is Arabic "the".

--

Cheers,

Bear

http://www.thebear.org  ##

* * *

RIGHT, LEFT OR WRONG?

Subject: Please Read
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 00:15:01 EST
From: Channah521@cs.com
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

Mr. Aronowitz,

I must say, for as long as I knew the difference between Right wing and Left wing I thought I'd always be left.  I still am, but for some reason people think I am ultra-conservative when I tell them I am not against the bombing in Afghanastan (or whatever else we do over there).  I have to tell you I am tired of hearing the old history of how great we are because of how we defected from all of our other countries and formed this one, one that holds church and state separate.  I will never embrace islam or any moslems who walk around preaching it.  Do I hate moslems? No, I just would rather treat them as I would treat Jerry Falwell and other bible toters...I can't help but shake my head as I see them, and you know what?  I will also shake my head at moslems who walk around preaching asalamalakum my brother?  I am all for people being able to worship whatever they want to worship, but leave it in your church and home.  That goes for islam too.  Mother fuck the Moslems in arab countries who praise the plane wrecks and protest our bombings and who gives a shit about ramadan?  Did they care about whatever the people in the plains and buildings celebrated?  No, and you know what?  I couldn't care less about ramadan or honika.  Let me let you in on a little seceret! People with no faith celebrate Christmas, you get it?  I was listening to NPR yesterday and heard five women from Afghanastan telling people how much they hate the Taliban...they were bashing all moslems, people of Islamic faith and origin, in all the countries that they prodominately reside in...Pakistan, Indonesia, Phillipines, Iraq and Iran...they said, and I heard them screaming this to the interpreters,"...we have lived under taliban rule for a little over five years now and we have been beaten down, our people, as a whole.  I understand too many of you are protesting the Americans over here and praise the terrorism, what I want, and every single other woman in this country wants is for your country to be under their control for merely five months.  We have been for five years, I just want you to experience this for five months, then lets see what your reactions to the Americans coming over here are."  I quote.

They have the women wearing those things so they don't interfere with the men's followings of islam?  Everything they do has to be related to their religion?  It's funny, people over here say, "you know? you have to respect that."  Yet then they would turn around and bash the christian right?  Get your priorities straight damn it!  They have too much hatred over there, you know what we have?  A little racism, professional and college team fanatics, conservatives and liberals, old and young.  You are thinking... well then why don't you shut up and be thankfull?  Because they brought over their hatred, there religion.  Keep your religion, but if it interferes with my pursuit of happiness get the fuck out, and you know what Ron?  islam has, now get the fuck out and take Jerry Falwell (and lynchburgh, Va), Bob Jones University, Pat Robertson...take them all.  I pay my taxes so I can go to work, come home, read a little, jog, drink, talk with friends, cook...I don't pay taxes so moraly bankrupt people with a death wish can come over and destroy what we so undeservingly have fought for in the past.  So now my taxes are paying for the defense of my wish to work and benefit from it as much as it is monetarily willing to benefit. If they are pissed about us interfering with the six day war and Isreal becoming Isreal, fine.  But bomb them and give it back to the palestinians.  I don't like what is going on sir.  Email me back a little lesson so I can drop some of this hatred. Because I am full of it.  ##

* * *

MY ANSWER: I LOVE NEW YORK---ALL OF IT!  

Subject: (no subject)
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 02:38:04 EST
From: Channah521@cs.com
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

I know we wer stupid for what ever we have done in the middle east and arab nations, but please don't expect me to even have a notion towards the idea of the CIA being directly involved in the wtc bombings.  I love your column, have you ever heard of Eddie Harris the Jazz musician?  I know, I know off the subject...but I was in NYC last week and heard a song of his.  I love New York, gramercy is my favorite neighborhood, what's yours?  ##

* * *

ORIGIN OF ‘THE FINGER' 

Subject: etymology of the one finger salute...
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 21:13:21

From: "G Evans" <bryte2@hotmail.com>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

The 'Car Talk' show (on NPR) with Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers have a feature called the 'Puzzler', and their most recent 'Puzzler' was about the Battle of Agincourt. The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, threatened to cut a certain body part off of all captured English soldiers so that they could never fight again. The English won in a major upset and waved the body part in question at the French in defiance. The puzzler was: What was this body part? This is the answer submitted by a listener:

Dear Click and Clack,

Thank you for the Agincourt 'Puzzler', which clears up some profound questions of etymology, folklore and emotional symbolism. The body part which the French proposed to cut off of the English after defeating them was, of course, the middle finger, without which it is impossible to draw the renowned English longbow.

This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and so the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking yew". Thus, when the victorious English waved their middle fingers at the defeated French, they said, "See, we can still pluck yew! PLUCK YEW!"

Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this symbolic gesture. Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like "pleasant mother pheasant plucker", which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows), the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird".

And yew all thought yew knew everything!

http://members.tripod.com/~ITES/FAQ.HTM  ##

* * *

LOOKING UP

Subject: Col 64
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 11:40:43
(GMT)
From: Andrew Hill <hill_a99@yahoo.co.uk>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

Al,

Thought your piece on terrorism was well balanced & fair. You made the right noises for me. Whatever the USA may or may not be guilty of, Sept 11th must always be seen as an atrocity committed by barbarians---anyone responsible for the proliferation of arms or terror is a barbarian. Bin Laden & Bush are cut from similar cloth - both are wealthy power brokers who understand that the theatrical is a useful tool to win hearts & minds or instill fear.

This year, like any other really, has been one of horrific tragedy for the world, but also for me personally. In Feb 1981 my little brother & I stood at the the top of one of those Trade Centre towers---a New York trip paid for by my father's friends & colleagues (he was a Metropolitan police constable) after my mother had died at 26 in a car accident that my brother & I survived. By Feb 2001, twenty years later & my little brother then 26, has also left this world, hit by a car. Within months those towers would disappear too. And, watching the horror unfold, something occurred to me....the utter selfless bravery of the emergency services, the compassion & stoicism of normal people..... ain't it funny how most of us, in whatever country we reside or whatever regime dominates in that country, just get on with life & each other the best we can " Sure there are crimes committed by us ordinary folk everyday, some them too horrific to speak of---but the VAST, VAST MAJORITY just want to make the best of things for themselves & those they love---END OF STORY! We don't want people to be exploited in other countries to make cheap trainers anymore than we would want one of our own children to work in a sweat shop, or be sent to war, or be abused etc...Its easy to blame the 'complacency of the West' or the mediaevalism of Islam for these horrors, but the fact of the matter is that these issues are amongst THE MINORITY of rich & powerful people on this planet, not those of us just trying to get on & make a life---trying to enjoy each other & this planet we have been given. I think you bring that point home well in your piece by revealing all who have a hand in these ongoing troubles and not just preaching from a dogmatic platform as the extreme left, right & religious fundamentalists do.

Think how much each of us compromises everyday---putting family first, not killing your boss etc...we all know how to do it & we do it well as a species. So if the majority are already doing this then the question arises---who ARE the flies in the ointment?

On a seperate note (or perhaps not) I have really discovered Louis Armstrong this year---he has been a great help know what I mean? One day during this melancholy summer, as I sat in my garden with some Satchmo on the portable, I smiled through tears as he sang Nobody Knows The Troubles I've Seen. Desperate for a light at the end of the tunnel, some wisdom beyond words, I actually looked up into the sky when he says "you godda look up sometimes" and saw a cloud formation of geometrical beauty than seemed as unlikely as it was welcome. He is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, THE MAN.

Get with the big boss.

Love,

Andrew

* * *

ANOTHER GREAT EFFORT!  

Subject: Re: [AGALIST] COLUMN 64
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 09:11:31 EST
From: Imagine1133@aol.com
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com

Thanks Al!  Yet another great effort!  

Lynn

www.lennontask.com
Literally Connected to John Lennon
Unity through Diversity.
Understanding from Diversity.
Together we can all bring the world to peace.
"And the world will live as one."  Imagine / Lennon

* * *

CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMN SIXTY-SEVEN


CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMNS

The Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted at P.O.Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964
The Blacklisted Journalist's E-Mail Address:
info@blacklistedjournalist.com
 
 

THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST IS A SERVICE MARK OF AL ARONOWITZ