Posted by pancho from adsl-64-166-22-178.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net (64.166.22.178) on Friday, December 06, 2002 at 10:18AM :
I'm sorry...I know it's mean...I know I shouldn't...I know it sows disunity and spreads urine and all of that...but jeesuschrist I'm only human!
In one of his more somber and sober "essays to curl you hair" Fred Aprim, over at Zindalite, gives a passionate appeal...well now, I don't know exactly what it is...let's say it's a bit of passionate wishful hoping that the opposition chumps the United States is toying with...who will be meeting at a Starbucks in Liverpool sometime, will forge a new and greater democratic bit of fluff such as Iraq has never seen..yatta yatta yatta.
It looks great...all those paragraphs, with sentences in them...and not just any old sentences either, but ones filled with words...some long ones too.
It has a very solid, down to earth...appealing sort of appeal...filled with hopes and aspirations...till the last sentence.
Now I admire a good clincher as much as the next person....but this is where it pays to know the subtle uses of a language...especially one as rich and nuanced as English...or you achieve startling effects you weren't planning on and leave the reader feeling badly used. The reader who signed on from your openning sentence...followed you through the ups and down of your roller coaster thoughts...twisted and turned, ducked and cowered...enduring all you could ask for till the ride reached the end where, instead of coming into the station, slammed you against a brick wall.
The last sentence, that sums up all of Fred's hopes for us...and praises these bold ones who'll be meeting to bring about the realization of their dreams...of all our dreams...is....
"One week before the conference in London, for the sake of a free and democratic Iraq, it is our solemn hope that the other 300 delegates will hallucinate the same dream as the nine Assyrian representatives do today"
I know. For the sake of appearances I should keep quiet...I mean all the rest of it was okay...sort of. Why don't I support Assyria...why do I emphasize what doesn't work...why wont I be a "JOCK STRAP FOR ASSYRIA" and "support" all these pricks!!!
Because I can't stop laughing...and I don't appreciate being made a fool of...as a group. If someone presumes to speak in our name...let him at least do the job well...not "good enough for an Assyrian who suffered at Simele". We can't keep pulling that...can't keep using past injustices and losses as a cover for today's inadequacies. NO, it is NOT a big deal that we got killed...everybody is getting killed...it isn't anything new. What is unique to us is our penchant to use the harm inflicted on us by others, as a starting point and justification for the harm we're inflicting on ourselves.
note: Fred...I find you pedantic, morose, petty, obscure, dull, witless...to name a few, BUT...I promise I'll edit your future papers and leave them none the worse. In fact, I feel I can say this in all honesty...by the time YOU get done with your papers...they can ONLY be improved.
-- pancho
-- signature .
Follow Ups: