15-08-2012, 10:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 15-08-2012, 10:50 PM by Charles Drago.)
Today I received the following private message from Mark Prior, author of "A Manifesto for the 50th" --
Dear Mr. Drago,
My name is Mark Prior, author "A Manifesto For The 50th,"and I would simply would like a moment of your time regarding your post in the thread started by Jim DiEugenio(https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/sho...r-the-50th).
I was not a member of this forum until I discovered the Mr. DiEugenio posted my article on this site. It is not my intention to seek notoriety for the article or myself, which is why I'm messaging you directly and not airing this as a forum post. I am not familiar with your writings or your history, so I mean you no disrespect in what I am about to write. I feel as if you did a disservice to the Manifesto with your post for several reasons. And I'm sure this seems hard to believe but this is not about pride of authorship. This is about the cause. I sincerely ask that you please take a step back and look objectively at the points below:
1. After only one person replied to the post, Mr Vazakas, you posted something that was not about the article in question and turned the thread into something about you. "...but I basically made the same argument 15 years ago." Okay. What is the point of that statement? Are you the only person who can make arguments about the lackadaisical efforts of assassination proponents to mobilize? You then posted your entire article to make sure every saw that, yes indeed, you had written such an article. Look at the rest of the thread...there is no discussion about the Manifesto or its content. The Manifesto is suppose to be about something bigger than you or [B]I. I would hope that it inspires someone to do something, if not any of the specific actions which were mentioned in it.
2. Your post also included these words of encouragement: "[COLOR=#333333]And nothing changes. What's old is old again." Yes...that motivates, doesn't it? I do apologize for the sarcasm. Seriously, if you do not want to get involved, you will not be called upon. But for the sake of the cause, please do not promote the growth of mold while the fruit is still on the tree.
I did read your article "In The Blossoms of Our Sins," and while I agree that our articles are similar in their themes of addressing apathy, "A Manifesto For The 50th" provides suggestions to change the attitude within our culture and offers specific suggestions to those who may be motivated to in fact do something. And I simply did not see any parallels between our articles in that regard. I think it's a shame that
As I mentioned before, I am not posting this, nor am a sending a copy to anyone else. I only ask that you be a little bit more considerate of the TOPIC of thread before you post. Please remember, that this is not about you or I; it is about justice for a man who died nearly 50 years.
With respect, I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Mark Prior[/B]
I responded with the following:
Dear Mr. Prior,
I fear the gentleman doth protest too much.
Please keep this in mind: I do not need to be reminded by you or by anyone else about what is at stake here. Perhaps if you had been less defensive about what you published and more open to having your ideas challenged, you would have taken the time to familiarize yourself with my deep politics-related credentials.
But then again, I don't give a gusano's ass if you do or you don't.
Given my decades-long experience in this case and my accomplishments as writer, researcher, and activist, I could not help but find your "Manifesto" to be exceedingly derivative and written so poorly as to induce tedium of epic proportions.
To answer your question: No, I am not "the only person who can make arguments about the lackadaisical efforts of assassination proponents to mobilize." I am, however, among the first to have done so. It should come as small surprise to those who know and value my work that it would be impossible for me to bear silent witness to your eleventh-hour appearance among us to declare the obvious with an air of discovery .
I did no "disservice" to your precious "Manifesto." It is clear that on its own merits, it simply could not manage to stir imaginations, intellects, and debate. It is equally clear that my own work, in its depth, breadth, and eloquence, so eclipsed yours as to render it invisible.
My "involvement" in the struggles to find truth and justice for John Fitzgerald Kennedy and, by extension, for free people everywhere, is deep and of long standing. Peddle your self-serving arrogance somewhere else.
I shall not sit by quietly and allow second-rate minds to re-invent wheels.
"The mold on the tree," sir, is what you see when you look in the mirror.
And by the way -- I am publicly posting this exchange.
Sincerely,
Charles R. Drago
Dear Mr. Drago,
My name is Mark Prior, author "A Manifesto For The 50th,"and I would simply would like a moment of your time regarding your post in the thread started by Jim DiEugenio(https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/sho...r-the-50th).
I was not a member of this forum until I discovered the Mr. DiEugenio posted my article on this site. It is not my intention to seek notoriety for the article or myself, which is why I'm messaging you directly and not airing this as a forum post. I am not familiar with your writings or your history, so I mean you no disrespect in what I am about to write. I feel as if you did a disservice to the Manifesto with your post for several reasons. And I'm sure this seems hard to believe but this is not about pride of authorship. This is about the cause. I sincerely ask that you please take a step back and look objectively at the points below:
1. After only one person replied to the post, Mr Vazakas, you posted something that was not about the article in question and turned the thread into something about you. "...but I basically made the same argument 15 years ago." Okay. What is the point of that statement? Are you the only person who can make arguments about the lackadaisical efforts of assassination proponents to mobilize? You then posted your entire article to make sure every saw that, yes indeed, you had written such an article. Look at the rest of the thread...there is no discussion about the Manifesto or its content. The Manifesto is suppose to be about something bigger than you or [B]I. I would hope that it inspires someone to do something, if not any of the specific actions which were mentioned in it.
2. Your post also included these words of encouragement: "[COLOR=#333333]And nothing changes. What's old is old again." Yes...that motivates, doesn't it? I do apologize for the sarcasm. Seriously, if you do not want to get involved, you will not be called upon. But for the sake of the cause, please do not promote the growth of mold while the fruit is still on the tree.
I did read your article "In The Blossoms of Our Sins," and while I agree that our articles are similar in their themes of addressing apathy, "A Manifesto For The 50th" provides suggestions to change the attitude within our culture and offers specific suggestions to those who may be motivated to in fact do something. And I simply did not see any parallels between our articles in that regard. I think it's a shame that
As I mentioned before, I am not posting this, nor am a sending a copy to anyone else. I only ask that you be a little bit more considerate of the TOPIC of thread before you post. Please remember, that this is not about you or I; it is about justice for a man who died nearly 50 years.
With respect, I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Mark Prior[/B]
I responded with the following:
Dear Mr. Prior,
I fear the gentleman doth protest too much.
Please keep this in mind: I do not need to be reminded by you or by anyone else about what is at stake here. Perhaps if you had been less defensive about what you published and more open to having your ideas challenged, you would have taken the time to familiarize yourself with my deep politics-related credentials.
But then again, I don't give a gusano's ass if you do or you don't.
Given my decades-long experience in this case and my accomplishments as writer, researcher, and activist, I could not help but find your "Manifesto" to be exceedingly derivative and written so poorly as to induce tedium of epic proportions.
To answer your question: No, I am not "the only person who can make arguments about the lackadaisical efforts of assassination proponents to mobilize." I am, however, among the first to have done so. It should come as small surprise to those who know and value my work that it would be impossible for me to bear silent witness to your eleventh-hour appearance among us to declare the obvious with an air of discovery .
I did no "disservice" to your precious "Manifesto." It is clear that on its own merits, it simply could not manage to stir imaginations, intellects, and debate. It is equally clear that my own work, in its depth, breadth, and eloquence, so eclipsed yours as to render it invisible.
My "involvement" in the struggles to find truth and justice for John Fitzgerald Kennedy and, by extension, for free people everywhere, is deep and of long standing. Peddle your self-serving arrogance somewhere else.
I shall not sit by quietly and allow second-rate minds to re-invent wheels.
"The mold on the tree," sir, is what you see when you look in the mirror.
And by the way -- I am publicly posting this exchange.
Sincerely,
Charles R. Drago