U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | OT: Re: Celebrate: corrections

OT: Re: Celebrate: corrections



Judy,

I don't want to argue the points you made.

This nation is almost evenly divided. No matter how you voted in the last election, tens of millions of people voted the other way. Despite what we, as individuals may think, they're not all stupid, crazy or operating from ignoble motives. It's likely that some each side are on this list of what -- 600 people?

So let's "stick to our knitting," and keep politics off this list. I apologize if I violated that rule. We all agree on one thing: we like photography.


As far as politics goes, we have a new president, and no matter how we voted, we will all support him -- as good Americans should. Nothing else matters.

Marco Milazzo,

(Who, if it wasn't for this nation, would be herding goats in Abruzzi, not learning photography from the intelligent people on this list)



----- Original Message ----- From: "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 1:05 AM
Subject: Re: Celebrate: corrections


Now I'm really annoyed:  I take two days off from this list and all sorts
of error creeps in -- compared to which Paul Anderson's gum-pigment- ratio
test is small potatoes.

So, as my civic duty and debt to this list, I correct a couple of
commentaries.
======================================

Dave Rose was not removed from the list for his political opinions, but
for the abusive (and as I recall, ad feminam) explosions by which he
expressed (or in fact debased) them.

"Share the wealth" is, as we see, an easily abused expression, but in the
current context just another term for taxation. If we don't "share the
wealth" through taxes, we can't build highways, bridges or parks, pay for
police & fire departments, public schools or public hospitals, even the
state-supported schools where some of us (lucky dogs) teach --- among
many other public necessities & amenities.

"National health insurance" might look like "socialism" to those with
employer-paid health insurance or the wealth to purchase it (or pay
medical bills) privately. Low income workers (including most artists,
writers and other free lancers) may lack health care entirely, perhaps one
reason why, to our eternal shame, both infant and adult mortality rates in
the US are higher than in all but a few other "first world" countries.

"Death taxes" hardly prevent "giving your children an inheritance,"
although, those laws having been written by lawyers, you do have to pay
tribute to the legal gods to maximize it.(And I mention in passing that
unmarried gay couples are at extra risk, therefore especially in need of
legal expertise.)

I've read numerous tax reports, including current political platforms, and
found no evidence that creative work is, dollar for dollar, taxed beyond
non-creative work or work by any other independent entrepreneur.

I, too, grew up during the reign of Hitler and Stalin, and have read
representative literature (both fiction and memoir) from those cultures as
well as the testimony of refugees. There is/was and can be no way on earth
either of those figures could be seen, in or out of their own countries,
as "benevolent dictators." Except for a few sycophants and cowed or
brainwashed citizens, they were seen, even by supporters, who approved
their goals and their ethnic or political "cleansing", as ruthless
murderers and all-powerful"dictators."

"Learning from history" is possible only when the "history" given is real,
not debased or tendentious. Even more important, history rarely in fact
repeats itself, except in terms so general as to be meaningless.

The first amendment to the constitution promises freedom of religion,
speech, the press, peaceable assembly and petition for redress of
grievances. I'm not aware of how Obama's election threatens any of these,
tho maybe I missed something. (The meaning of the 2nd amendment in modern
life is so fiercely debated that even I won't go there today.)

As for "creativity" only flourishing in a "free society,"that's more
platitude than hard fact. It can in any event depend not only on the
society, but also the eye of the beholder. By our standards, for instance,
China is far from free, but some enviably great art is made there and some
thoroughly debased art flourishes in our "free society."

"Socialist" societies can also be free in ways we are not, and also
produce brilliant art, as for instance in Scandanavia. (I think in
particular of Swedish ceramics and Danish modern furniture, among many
other art -- and government -- forms not requiring our approval.)

I'm unaware of the Pilgrims' attempts at "communism," but suspect the term
is loosely applied. In any event, "communism" had no theoretical existence
until Marx & Engels' theories of "ownership of the means of production"
etc., which didn't exist before the 19th century when capitalism and
industrializtion took those means out of the hands of the "common man."
For pilgrims, those means could be shovel, plow, fish hook, axe, etc., and
widely available.

Again, re "learning from history": The ability to
separate fact from opinion is crucial in that endeavor.

love & kisses,

Judy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.0/1774 - Release Date: 11/7/2008 7:58 PM