A condescending, rational, methodic, Venezuelan, and over-educated view on the world, life, and everything in between.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
No comments (part II)
From: Ivan Raikov
Subject: Your rather perplexing response to Edgar Brown
Date: August 30, 2005 5:56:22 PM EDT
To: billmon@billmon.org
Cc: Edgar Brown
Dear Billmon,
I am a long-time reader of your blog, and I have thoroughly
enjoyed many of your well-researched and thoughtful posts. I hold your
writing in a very high esteem, and consider it a fine example of what
independent, critical journalism should be, in stark contrast with the
shallow opinions and farcical analysis that have become prevalent in
the corporate media.
I found your post entitled _Bring me the head of Hugo Chavez_
intriguing, because it was what I thought a good piece on Robertson,
while at the same it did not cover the subject of Chavez and Venezuela
in sufficient depth. The reason why I say this is because I believe
the "left" in the United States (i.e. those who loosely align
themselves with Social-Democratic ideals) is sharply divided in their
opinion of Chavez, and I have thought for a long time that both sides
would benefit from a serious, thoughtful discussion about what exactly
is going on in Venezuela. While it is difficult to get the facts
without living there, and without being fluent in Spanish, I have
witnessed many misinformed and pointless flame wars on "leftist"
forums, and as I am keenly interested in both Latin-American politics
and oppressive regimes, I want to get as much information about the
subject, and to have reasoned arguments about it.
This is why I asked my friend and colleague Edgar Brown to write
a rebuttal of sorts to your post---not really a rebuttal, but an
elaboration of the weaker points you make about Chavez; I imagined
that if you do get around to reading Edgar's email, and verifying
the information contained in his links, you would perhaps do further
research into the subject of Chavez, and gain further insights and
perspective into Venezuelan politics and how it relates to the United
States.
I have not finished reading Edgar's email, and I do not know
whether his sources are reliable, but nevertheless I thought there was
a good chance that all sides involved might learn a little something
in the subjects they are passionately interested in.
Your response, however---"fuck off, pig"---stunned me. Quite
literally, I am dumbstruck. Stupefied. I had imagined you will
completely disregard Edgar's email, or that it will get lost in the
vast ocean of email that you probably receive every day, but to say
that your response was unexpected is an understatement of an
incomprehensible magnitude. Even if Edgar is completely wrong and does
not make any sense, what kind of a response is that? How could you
possibly write something worthy of Rush Limbaugh and the rest of
"America's leading mental patients?" I am ashamed and disappointed
with you, I really am. And I hope you respond to this email and
apologize, because this is ridiculous and unworthy of you---of anybody
over the age of 12, really. I am waiting for your response.
Sincerely yours,
Ivan Raikov
--
Democracy isn't Freedom. Inalienable Rights are. Democracy is only a
precondition for Inalienability of Rights.
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