“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”
Albert Einstein
blogging
It Can Happen Here: A Lesson from Charlottesville, Virginia
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This will not be a post about my normal subjects.
In 1935 Sinclair Lewis’ book It Can’t Happen Here spoke to the issue that many Americans held that fascism could not occur in the United States of America. His book is satirical, frightening, and, unfortunately, still applicable.
Erik Larson’s nonfiction history book In The Garden of Beasts, 2011, detailed the experience of Ambassador Dodd in Berlin in the 1930s, during the rise and solidification of Hitler’s power, and it is a terrifying read.
We must always remember that it can happen here, that bigotry and hatred can lead to terrible results. That white nationalists and neo-nazis brought their horror and bigotry to Charlottesville, VA yesterday, resulting in violence and death should make all Americans, regardless of political party, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, aware of what can happen.
We should all be frightened of the possibilities of such hatred. We should also speak to the singular lack of condemnation by President Trump of the neo-nazis and white power groups. As President, he should not have said “on many sides.” This is an issue of hatred, brought by those who worship hatred and the defeated, in World War II, obscenities of Hitler. The President should have, without equivocation, stated his condemnation of their actions and beliefs.
We must always remember that fascism, bigotry, hatred, and dictatorship can occur here as it can anywhere. As Americans, whose freedom was paid for in blood, by those who fought in World War Two, we must speak out against such injustice and horror.
There should be no place for neo-nazis, white nationialists, and bigotry in the United States of America.
Quotations on Strength
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“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.”
John Steinbeck
(https://commons.wikimedia.org)
“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Book Lovers’ Week!
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I realized that I had somehow missed that August 9 was the day of the unofficial Book Lovers’ Day. So, I have decided, without any authority, of course, that I am declaring the entire week of 8/9/17-8/15/17 to be the unofficial holiday of Book Lovers’ Week!
Why should we celebrate only one day? Let us embrace the week as a period of declaring to the world that we love books!
If you are with me on this idea, please spread the word!
I love books!
Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book I by Charles F. French is available for purchase on Amazon either as an ebook or a print book!
Please follow the following links to find my novel:
Thank you!
The book trailer:
Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I
My radio interview:
Thank You to all Writers and Readers
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The relationship of writers and readers is symbiotic and wonderful. Without one, the other does not exist. Imagination and interpretation coexist to create the wonder of the experience of books.
I want to extend my thanks to all writers and readers!
What are you reading?
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Occasionally, I write a post in which I ask this question, and it has been some time, so I wanted to ask all of you again: what are you currently reading?
I am reading Aggravated Momentum by Didi Oviatt;
In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson;
Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr;
and rereading for classes that I teach at the Wescoe School of Muhlenberg College:
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
and Dracula by Bram Stoker.
I wish Happy Reading to all!
Quotations on Thinking (Revisited)
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(https://commons.wikimedia.org)
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates
“Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet it bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man”
(Russell, Bertrand. Why Men Fight 178-9).
