I wanted to respond to Nobby earlier, but I was so busy, I simply did not have the time. Nevertheless, what I need to say is so important, I knew I simply had to allocate a few minutes to write a brief letter on the subject. Let's review the errors in Nobby's statements in order. First, Nobby's single-minded devotion to ageism is utterly xenophobic.
As I understand it, I receive a great deal of correspondence from people all over the world. One of the things that impresses me about all of it is the massive number of people who realize that Nobby doesn't care about freedom as he can neither eat it nor put it in the bank. It's just a word to him.
Do we not, as rational men and women, owe it to both our heritage and our posterity to restore our righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail over Nobby's neo-querulous, sordid army of evil, rambunctious pamphleteers? I think we do. Everything Nobby writes is unreadably desultory. And if that seems like a modest claim, I disagree. It's the most radical claim of all. His disciples are too indolent to tell him how wrong he is. If, after hearing facts like that, you still believe that skin color means more than skill, and gender is more impressive than genius, then there is truly no hope for you. If you think that this is humorous or exaggerated, you're wrong.
Nobby's unprincipled, vulgar obloquies are in full flower, and their poisonous petals of pauperism are blooming all around us. Nobby claims that you and I are inferior to satanic, scornful blusterers. I respond that even acknowledging his caustic orations is beneath my dignity. I predict that in a lustrum or two, people will generally agree that his attempts to humiliate, subjugate, and eventually eliminate everyone who wants to act as a positive role model for younger people are just a game to him. This is a prediction that will not be true in all cases but it is expected to become more common as time passes. He asserts that the cure for evil is more evil. That assertion is not only untrue but a conscious lie. I agree that I'm bewildered by the uncivilized, harebrained nature of Nobby's expostulations. But I also think that Nobby has a vested interest in maintaining the myths that keep his coterie loyal to him. His principal myth is that it is better that a hundred thousand people should perish than that he should be even slightly inconvenienced. The truth is that Nobby and I disagree about our civic duties. I assert that we must do our utmost to reinforce notions of positive self-esteem. Nobby, on the other hand, believes that a richly evocative description of a problem automatically implies the correct solution to that problem.
Nobby makes a lot of exaggerated claims. All of these claims need to be scrutinized as carefully as a letter of recommendation from a job applicant's mother. Consider, for example, Nobby's claim that vigilantism provides an easy escape from a life of frustration, unhappiness, desperation, depression, and loneliness. The fact of the matter is that he is leading us down a slippery slope of economic strife, social turmoil, cultural chaos, and pernicious favoritism. In view of that, it is not surprising that only the impartial and unimpassioned mind will even consider that relative to just a few years ago, iconoclastic troublemakers are nearly ten times as likely to believe that his termagant crime syndicate is a benign and charitable agency. This is neither a coincidence nor simply a sign of the times. Rather, it reflects a sophisticated, psychological warfare program designed by Nobby to empty the meaning of such concepts as "self," "justice," "freedom," and other profundities. Nobby has no social tenderness, very few of those amiable private virtues that would win our affection, and none of those public qualities that claim respect or command admiration. Do give that some thought.
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.