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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1815
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 02:36 pm: | 
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February 1, 2006
A Match Made in Neutrality
Oprah and Elie Wiesel
By JOSEPH GROSSO
After the last memoir for her "Book Club" faced accusations of fraud (now confirmed to be true by the author), Oprah Winfrey came back quickly last week with another selection: Night by Elie Wiesel. As a public librarian I can already relate that many of her minions are already making their regular post-selection appearance at libraries throughout New York desperately trying to snatch up any remaining copies.
Few would deny that Night, a recollection of the Nazi holocaust, is a work well worth reading. Oprah herself had this to say about her selection, made on Martin Luther King Jr. day:
Like Dr. King, I have a dream of my own, too, that the powerful message of this little book would be engraved on every human heart and will never be forgotten again. That you who read this book will feel as I do that these 120 pagesshould be required reading for all humanity.
One could appreciate Oprah's lack of ego and still agree that Night is indeed powerful reading. The Washington Post reports that Oprah will be modifying her tradition of having the author of her book-club in studio with her and will travel with Wiesel to Auschwitz next month.
The sight of Oprah and Wiesel at Auschwitz may bring tears to the eyes of her audience, yet the accusations of fraud attached to her previous selection should not be so quickly forgotten. Aside from whether or not Night should be considered a novella or memoir is the overall question of Wiesel himself.
It's beyond debate that the Nazi holocaust is one of humanities greatest tragedies, one in which the world still seems not to have learned from considering events in Rwanda and Darfur. Yet Wiesel, widely hailed as a champion of human rights and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, falls consistently short when it comes to one of our other post-Nazi tragedies: The tragedy of Palestine.
While commenting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wiesel, who has written fairly extensively on the conflict despite claiming "neutrality" and always, in his words, desiring peace while feeling "sadness" for it being out of reach, has consistently blamed the Palestinians completely for the conflict and, despite any notions of peace, has indirectly endorsed the worst of Zionist politics.
In a 2001 essay for the New York Times titled Jerusalem in My Heart, Wiesel began with the following:
As a Jew living in the United States, I have long denied myself the right
to intervene in Israel's internal debates. I consider Israel's destiny as mine as well, since my memory is bound up with its history. But the politics of Israel concern me only indirectly.
Those who know of Wiesel may question this alleged neutrality given his membership in Begin's Irgun in the 1940s (or his 1982 statement "I support Israel-period. I identify with Israel-period") but he goes on in the same essay to renounce any such neutrality on the question of Jerusalem:
Now, though the topic is Jerusalem. Its fate affects not only Israelis, but also Diaspora Jews like myself. The fact that I do not live in Jerusalem is secondary; Jerusalem lives in meThat Muslims might wish to maintain close ties with this city unlike any other is understandableBut for Jews it remains the first. Not just the first; the only.
This ode to fundamentalist thought, enhanced further by Wiesel pointing out that Jerusalem is mentioned more than 600 times in the Bible (a statement that ignores the fact that up to 20% of Palestinians are Christians), is followed by the blatant lie, now universally know to be false, that "incited by their leaders 600,000 Palestinians left the country (in 1948) convinced that, once Israel was vanquished, they would be able to return home".
Wiesel then ends with a call to defer the question of Jerusalem until all other pending questions are resolved, perhaps for 20 years to allow "human bridges" to be built between the two communities- which would figure to leave the city completely in Israeli hands until these bridges are built or until the rest of the world accepts that it belongs there afterall.
Nearly five years later again in the New York Times (Aug 21st 2005), and some time after Wiesel was paraded through the spotlight by the Bush Administration to endorse the then imminent invasion of Iraq, Wiesel appeared with another putrid effort that spoke of peace while covertly praising the worst of Zionist mythology.
Titled The Dispossessed, referring to the last holdouts of Israeli settlements in Gaza that were evacuated last year, Wiesel writes:
The images of the evacuation itself are heart-rending. Some of them unbearable. Angry men, crying women. Children led away on foot or in the arms of soldiers. Who are sobbing themselves.
Left unsaid is that nearly all the Gaza settlers left peacefully with generous compensation packages. These "dispossessed" by Israeli soldiers were the hardcore remnant of a Greater Israel ideology more committed to fleeting territorial dreams than individual homes. Of this remnant Wiesel reminds his readers: "Let's not forget: these men and woman lived in Gaza for 38 yearsin the eyes of their families they were pioneers, whose idealism was to be celebrated". Given the complete lack of interest Wiesel displays to Palestinian feelings on the same issue can it be reasonably assumed that Wiesel shares that same sentiment?
When Wiesel does turn to the Palestinians it is to criticize a lack of gratefulness in the face of noble Israeli concessions:
And here I am obliged to step back. In the tradition I claim, the Jew is ordered by King Solomon "not to rejoice when the enemy falls". I don't know whether the Koran suggests the sameI will perhaps be told that when the Palestinians cried at the loss of their homes, few Israelis were moved. That's possible. But how many Israelis rejoiced?
After this demonization, Wiesel again ends his essay with a call for a "lull" to allow "wounds to heal"- during which time Israel can presumably redraw the borders of the West Bank by finishing its "security" fence. Again, like in the previous, essay he mentions the sadness he feels over Palestinian hatred of Jews; so much for neutrality.
To this critique of Wiesel must be added his white-washing of the Israeli army's culpability in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila; all of it shows that despite any longings for "peace" and claims of neutrality, Wiesel comes down on the side of quite warlike
policy.
One would like to expect someone with the platform and influence of an Oprah Winfrey, who Michael Moore ridiculously and at least semi-seriously endorsed for president, to present a balanced picture to her adoring audience. Perhaps it can be hoped that a tough question or two be asked at Auschwitz about charges that the Nazi holocaust is being exploited and perverted by elites (including Wiesel himself) for financial gain. Yet odds are long against such a scenario; in the world of corporate sponsorship and high income Oprah will play it safe and continue collecting millions without any risk.
On her website Oprah exclaims about Wiesel "I gain courage from his courage". Unfortunately she seems to gain much more than courage from him and they appear to be a perfect match.
Joseph Grosso is a librarian and writer living in New York City. He can be reached at: ax4130@aol.com
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3667
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 02:52 pm: |
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Just another example of Oprah doing what's in her own best interest. How many Jews will now flock into her fold? If she wants to see the next best thing to Auschwitz, she need look no further than Chicago's west side ghetto which is a prison for those who can't escape the violence of street gangs and the devastation of urban renewal. It's just a few blocks away from her studio. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1816
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 03:31 pm: |
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Cynique:
Ouch! Don't be so mean! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3679
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 05:24 pm: |
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Are you suddenly Oprah's defender??? |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3697
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 05:24 pm: |
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The letters-to-the-editor section of The Chicago Tribune dedicated one whole page to comments on the Oprah-Frey brouhaha and boy, were these white folks lettin "O" have it for sanitizing her image by ambushing this poor ol best-selling millionaire. Could it be that Oprah has gotten a little bit too uppity, - too big for her size 12 britches?????? Will her core constituency turn on her? Will she have to break down and start recommending books by male black authors?? Stay tuned. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1820
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 12:28 pm: |
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An old neighbor of mine, who knew this by bitter experience, said that "Black People Stay at the Party Too Long"
Being The Big O, the Queen of Daytime TV has gotten to her. When you get to the top, the only place to go is down.
She has taken the affection of the public for real love and is about to get the Bill Cosby/Michael Jackson treatment because America loves to build its celebrities up and it loves to tear them down.
She should go head on with her man hating self. |
Prettybabygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Prettybabygirl
Post Number: 204
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 12:52 pm: |
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Oprah doesn't hate men at all, Chris. That's a flat out lie.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4183
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 12:58 pm: |
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I think some good ol' fashion AUTHENTIC humility would do Oprah a dangsight bit of good here. I think when it's clear to most that Oprah understands she's human too and is capable of fuhking up, all will be right and whole in Oprah world again.
In fact, they may be even BETTER.
Because foks were going to eventually lose touch with her Ominpotent Oprah act. This mistake and her SINCERELY owning up to it might bring back a little bit of that flawed, sympathetic woman foks first fell for to begin with.
I also think that she should consider a vacation. And if she REALLY smart and, has some GUTS, she'd pull a Johnny Carson and let somebody ELSE host her show while she's away. Doing that would REALLY help to quicken the desire for her return. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3711
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 01:26 pm: |
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Well, everybody's favorite pundit Stanley Crouch wrote a column in praise of Oprah's mea culpa. He claims that at the root of all of this is the fact that Oprah's feelings were hurt because Frey violated her trust. Maybe Crouch has a book coming out soon and hopes that "O" will recommend it to show her gratitude for his being sensitive to her vulnerability. Snort. Oprah is on her way to fulfilling the axiom that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Her corruption will take the form of a messianic complex replete with delusions of omniscience. And - for my final number, I will declare that, to me, Oprah has started to come across as asexual. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please, please, be seated....Cynique has left the building. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1292
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 01:53 pm: |
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What a load of pure utter unadulterated CRAP! As if Oprah is going to fall off of her daytime throne because the regular inhabitants of this nether world opine that she will. HA! What a laugh, as I'm sure MS OPRAH will do--all the way to her 20 or so banks!Yall keep hopin tho' and keep being shining and stellar examples of how black folk keep trynna tear black folk down! TA-TA! |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1293
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:14 pm: |
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And cynique goes on! again full of herself thinking that because she types something on this board that it is sho nuff the gospel! NOT. now chicken--keep hoping that everyone else's writing is the flop that yours was is and will ever be! Im certain that YOU are certain that Oprah will never annoint anything of yours. NOW that's the truth! nyaaaaaaaaaah! HA! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3715
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:14 pm: |
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TA-Ta is right. What a numb skull. Nobody implied what you deduced from these posts, a-woman. Who said Oprah wasn't going to remain rich. But it's possible her popularity might wane and it will be because her WHITE audience becomes disillusioned with her. Everybody but you knows Oprah couldn't care less about black folks trying to tear her down because black people are not her demographic audience. Now go back to revising your manuscript and hoping that Oprah will one day anoint you with success. Not. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1294
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:19 pm: |
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am i supposed to be insulted, cynique? just in case you don't already know, there is nothing you can ever say about my writing that will even remotely nudge a nerve on me. i'm sure you and anyone who has read your...ahem...writing?...will know why. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3716
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:26 pm: |
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And a-woman goes on and on, lurking on the fringes, festering with bile because Cynique has realized that book-writing is not her forte. Now it's your turn, babe. (Hint: originality is not your strong suit. All you did in your response was re-cycle what I said to you. LOL) But - maybe you could try writing a memoir which I'm sure you would have to lie about in order to make your life sound interesting enough for anybody to want to waste their money on. God, I've missed you. You really exhilirate me. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1295
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:29 pm: |
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YYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!! and Im yawn afyawnraid you have yawn the exactYAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWN! (scuse me!) opposite Yawwwwwwwwn! effect on me yawwwwwn!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3717
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:32 pm: |
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Ain't nobody trying to have an effect on you, airhead. Another one of your delusions. I'm doing this for my own enjoyment. ROTFLOL |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1296
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:33 pm: |
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zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3718
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:41 pm: |
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LMAO. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1297
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:44 pm: |
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SMAO (snoring my azz off! hahahahahhaaahahah!!) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3719
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:50 pm: |
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If you were asleep, you'd stop responding to my posts. We all know you're sitting at your desk, looking like a deer in the headlights. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1298
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 02:52 pm: |
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that's cause Im learning to be just like you... oh yeah,zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3720
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 04:00 pm: |
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In your dreams you're learning to be just like me, a-woman, but.....then you wake up.....disappointed because you're still juuuuuuuuust you. LOL Why would you leave yourself open for that? Go on back to sleep now. Dreeeeeam on. Maybe one day - you'll be like herrrrrrrrr, the person who you come to this site everyday to check out, hovering there in furtive anticipation, longing to post something but holding back until you just can't control yourself. Help her, "just write". She needs you. She can't do it alone, she needs a support group to aid in the battle to beat the insidious addiction that has turned her into a sweaty, salivating, frustrated lurker. |
Crystal
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Crystal
Post Number: 258
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 06:12 pm: |
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ABM: you may be right. It sure worked for Martha Stewart.
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A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1299
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 12:38 pm: |
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Says the slobbering need to get a life outside this board wish she could write a book self deluded blow hard think her opinion matters to anyone but herself need to be heard lonely heart club president of aint got a man to keep me busy so I sit on this board cutting and pasting my intellingence from the internate granny--otherwise known as CYNIQUE. I mean get real 3700+ posts? Who is salavating waiting to post?????? UNH HUNH! that's what I thought! |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1300
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 12:43 pm: |
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PS I don't lurk I post EVERYTIME I check out the board--and I know without a doubt that a board sucker like you is gonna be right here waiting with bated breath to answer each one I put up! HA! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3735
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 02:32 pm: |
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LMAO. Feel better now, asshole-woman? Must be tired from expending all of that energy. And, my what a vivid imagination you have for someone who can't write well enough to get your book published. Heh-heh. Now, go back to lurking like the good little loser that you are and always will be. Sorry I took so long to respond but me and my husband had to go pick up some things for our super bowl party before I could return to my favorite passtime. Ahhhh the pleasure of leading a life of leisure. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3738
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 02:59 pm: |
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Look at ol a-woman hunched over there, biting the bullet, trying to suck it in, not daring to respond because it will blow her cover and prove that she hasn't gotten on with her life, and that being a good lurker tops the list of what little she has going for herself. ROTFLOL. I'm done. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1301
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 01:03 pm: |
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You been done, you are just too old and senile to realize it! NO FOOL like an old one EH GRANNY?? HAHAHAHHAHAA. asswipe! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3750
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 01:36 pm: |
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GOTCHA! you silly-assed lurking loser. Yep, ol senile granny got over on you. That's why you crawled out of your hole to desperately try and do damage control. So, did you have good night at the club last night, hangin off a bar stool trying to get somebody to buy you a drink, hoping they would since you are light-skin-ed with long haaaair whose last boyfriend probably left you for a white girl who Moonsigns reminded you of. PS you and Kola need to stop using as a frame of reference the way I misrepresented myself to Lambd when he and I used to exchange e-mails. How could I play mind games with him if I told him I was a retired senior citizen who led an ordinary life. It was more compelling to claim that I was a poor middle-aged housewife entombed in the solitude of boring existence. siiiiiigh. heh-heh. My 5 kids and 9 grandchildlren would fall out laughin if they knew the mischief Mommy and Nana liked to foment. Unlike you and your clueless self, however, they have figured out that to me this site is the next best thing to having A BLOG, - something MILLIONS of other PC users have. Control yourself now, a-lurker. You can do it. Don't give into the temptation to respond. Gee, are you peeing on yourself. LMAO. |
Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 846
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 01:55 pm: |
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You should start a blog, Cynique. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4216
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 02:58 pm: |
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Cynique: "So, did you have good night at the club last night, hangin off a bar stool trying to get somebody to buy you a drink, hoping they would since you are light-skin-ed with long haaaair whose last boyfriend probably left you for a white girl who Moonsigns reminded you of."
DAPS!!! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3751
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 09:23 am: |
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Yvette, people keep telling me I should get my own blog but I tend to be a reactor who depends on an interaction with others to inspire me, so I just meander around this site and respond to the ideas that others come up with. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3752
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 09:27 am: |
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ABM, what does "DAPS" stand for. Or should I ask? LOL. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4217
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 12:12 pm: |
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Cynique,
"Daps" is just another word for "props" (which means respect, recognition for what someone else did/said/wears/etc.)
Btw: My having to explain to you what "Daps" means requires that I give you a 1/2 "Daps" demerit. Sorry. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1302
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 12:38 pm: |
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whatever...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz z that's for you AND abm! HA! now post on granny--IM DONE. for now. but don't worry I'll be back! HA! |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1303
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 12:44 pm: |
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ps granny, you know you don't really want to challenge me with the cuts--now go on back in your room and play with your self so you can get a thrill somewhere else besides this board!! Ha--i know i know--it's hard work you gettin a thrill but aint nobody else to do it! lonely ass old maid. |
Prettybabygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Prettybabygirl
Post Number: 217
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 12:46 pm: |
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Btw: My having to explain to you what "Daps" means requires that I give you a 1/2 "Daps" demerit. Sorry.
LMFBAO!!!!!!! 
Falling off the god-dangIT chair!
HAHA!
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3755
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:11 pm: |
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Damned if the little worm didn't crawl out of her hole again. Straaaange behavior for a non-lurker. What amusing about you, anus-woman, is that you really think you are scoring and that you are a formidable foe. You actually think calling me "granny" is an insult and thast there's something wrong with me participating in a discussion forum. Just a testament to how shallow you are and how narrow are the parameters of your petty little mind. Bring it on, bitch. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1833
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:16 pm: |
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Cynique:
Why must every exchange by you end in your resorting to vitriol and invective and name calling? Why can't you follow the non violent humanity loving precepts of Dr. Martin Luther King and myself? Be like me--try to spread some LOVE in the ghetto. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3756
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:22 pm: |
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LOL, ABM. You and your shorthand always stump me. I knew I should'nt have asked that question. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1304
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:26 pm: |
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Shut up Granny! You are so childish! Resorting to the old screen name pun technique, you old ass board troll! I don't have the time nor inclination to splatter your tired old ass all over this board YET AGAIN. You just don't get enough! Find someone else to spill your bitter swill on you old sow! Admit it..go on you are just old and BITTER and don't get no love from no one but the people on this board. I aint feeling you Cinnie baby. Try something more than weak ass barstool jokes to get me riled and the ever anal screen name jabs, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWN!! I MIGHT consider bringing out my barbs and slinging some your way. but right now--NOT. So far, I ain't heard nothing strong enough to set me off, contrary to what SOME think. HA! Buh-bye--greatgranny! HAHAHAHHAHA!!! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3757
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:32 pm: |
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Oh shut up, chrishayden. Like you don't engage in insult fests. I guess since you are regularly getting your ass told off by Rustang, you now want to play the peacemaker. And it's not like I start these things. I just respond to those who take me on. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4221
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:34 pm: |
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Cynique,
Hahahahaha!!! I thought you kept up with the hip-hop lingo, babe.
Hey. Cut A-womon some slack. She is working hard on her writing and is probably too distracted to put forth some worthy rebuts.
But regarding Chris: Please continue kicking his a$$!!! |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1305
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:41 pm: |
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OH yes! absolutely cynique and you think you are bringing down the board with your weak ass...insults?
I aint distracted--I just can't let myself get way out there anymore like I used to, you never know who reads these boards so I need to be a little more tame in my responses. Plus--it just don't tickle my fancy to get all raw and riled up over NOTHING! hahahhahaha!! I leave that to bored old chicks. or old board chicks--whichever one would prefer hahahhahahahhaha!!! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3758
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:44 pm: |
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Your "barbs" have the hollow ring of a desperate fool, a-woman. You have to create a character to try and tell off because you are in denial about the fact that a person who is married with kids and grandkids can't be an old maid. You have to try and convince yourself that because you are lonely and frustrated that I, who have so many people in my space that I can hardly move, am in the same boat as you. And the idea that I have come to this board to get love is the most ridiculous statement of all. Who the hell on this board loves me???? LMAO. You're pathetic. Glad you're gone. |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 223
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 02:44 pm: |
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I disagree with the article posted at the beginning of this thread. First of all, Oprah Winfrey chose Elie Wiesel's "Night" as her book club selection well before the James Frey controversy, so, despite what "Joseph Grosso" would have us believe, there's no connection there. In addition, she had previously chosen two novels about the Holocaust, "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink and "Stones From a River" by Ursula Hegi, so her selection of "Night" by Wiesel, an account of the author's experience as a 15-year-old in the Nazi death camps in the 1940s, has nothing to do with any supposed postion by either her or Wiesel regarding the Israel/Palestine question.
I don't know who "Joseph Grosso" is but let's take the first sentence in his article:
After the last memoir for her "Book Club" faced accusations of fraud (now confirmed to be true by the author) . . .
It's a lie. James Frey never "confirmed" that he'd committed "fraud." Let me just say that I first heard the phrase "fictionalized memoir" in Mary Mitchell's Chicago Sun Times review of Gloria Naylor's "1996," posted earlier on this very forum, Thumperscorner.com (see the thread entitled "Is Gloria Naylor For Real?).
One of the libraries in my area has a copy of the Naylor book, which, incidentally, is classified as "fiction," at least, in this library, so I am interested in reading it, but my point is that if the Frey controversy is about "genre-bending," then it seems to me that the morality issue (about truth vs. lying) goes by the wayside. For example, Tsitsi Dangarembga's "Nervous Conditions," considered an African classic, is described as a novel, although its form mimics that of a memoir. In other words, the narrative is framed on either end by an author/narrator in the present reflecting on her earlier self and events in the past. That's typical of a certain type of memoir. It's a beautiful book (and I agree with Alice Walker's estimation in her cover blurb) but after reading it I learned that it's autobiographical. In other words, the main character's experience is very close to that of the author herself. Let's say that, like Frey, she was unable to sell it as a novel, and then changed it around a little and presented it as a memoir. Would it then be "untrue"? No, I don't think so.
I think there is a valid ethical question about the issue of labelling a book as a memoir as opposed to an autobiographical novel, however, i don't think that was addressed in the whole Frey debate, which I felt was more of an accusation or a witch hunt.
Just my 2 cents, could be wrong.
PS I think that Frey's book, although a flawed account, is basically true in what it says about addiction.
PPS "Night" (1958) is described as an abridgement of Elie Wiesel's first book, written in Yiddish, "And the World Has Remained Silent" (1956), a 256-page account of life in the concentration camps and a commentary on postwar Germany as well. He wasn't able to sell it, so he edited it (the present edition is 120 pages), and removed incidents that he considered too personal or too private. But NPR commentator Peter Manseau who read the original while a student of Yiddish, says it struck him as "angrier, earthier, and less concerned with religious mysteries" than the "Night" he knew.
The book ends as Eliezer looks at himself in the mirror and says "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me." But as the author notes in his preface to the new edition, "In the Yiddish version, the narrative does not end with the image in the mirror, but with a gloomy meditation on the present," which includes thoughts on Holocaust denial and war criminals strolling through the streets of Hamburg and Munich. However, in the recent NPR piece I referred to ("Wiesel, Frey: Difference Between Facts, the Truth"), Peter Manseau states that "In the Yiddish original he goes one step further, he reaches out to the mirror and smashes it."
"Night" makes a powerful statement. I do not know if the Yiddish original has ever been translated into English, but I would love to read it, as it sounds more opinionated and uncensored, which is what I love.
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A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1306
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 02:46 pm: |
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Desperate for what, FOOL? I am far from desperate! that sounds more like YOU! and I will be BACK! Pathetic? that's synonamous with cynique! HA! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3760
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 03:25 pm: |
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You are "desperate" to try and and save face, ding-a-ling. Do I have to explain everything to you? And when you return, try to come up with insults that will be grounded in reality. Your OBSESSION with me being old and lonely is wearing a little thin. Making up a lot of inaccurate descriptions and silly names just doesn't cut it. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1835
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 03:55 pm: |
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Steve:
If that 2 cents was a check it would be returned for insufficient funds.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3761
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 07:11 pm: |
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I found what you had to say to be very thought- provoking, Steve. (OK, chrishayden, that's your cue to undergo a melt-down LOL) |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 225
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 12:58 pm: |
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I had to chuckle at the following, from a 1989 "Exquisite Corpse Reader" edited by Andre Codrescu, one of my favorite writers. The E.C. is a journal of essays, fiction, poetry and illustrations. Codrescu, who I noticed authored one of the back cover blurbs for an Olympia Vernon novel (which, unfortunately I didn't finish) is currently professor of English at LSU Baton Rouge, but at the time was teaching at the University of Baltimore. I think this supposed controversy is funny, escpecially considering the nature of some of the stuff Reed publishes on his own e-zine, Konch. Nah, ain't no flies on any of that.
............
FROM THE E.C. CHAIR
Ishmael Reed, sacristan of the Neo-Hoodoo Church is waging a mighty raid on the Corpse. In response to an article published here, he had his attorneys in Oakland -- whose Telex number is MO LAW -- inundate Baltimore with threatening formal missives. These were sent to, among others, the dean, the provost and the president of the University of Baltimore, where our mailing address is. They demanded formal apologies from all these good people. Should these apologies not be forthcoming, further nebulous actions were threatened. Alas, our publication has no connection with the University of Baltimore. It is entirely the fancy of its editors, one of whom happens to be on the faculty. And so we wrote back to Mr. Reed, c/o MO LAW, likening his action to that of the sleazy kid in all our childhoods who goes and tells on you to your mother. Only in this case, the mother turned out to be a strange lady. In response to our reply, a fresh round of letters, addressed to all the people above, as well as to the Attorney General of the State (!) rained down on us. In this round, Mr. Reed claimed that we had admitted making scurrilous "anti-semetic" (sic) attacks on his person. Now this is a patent lie. We did nothing of the sort. But administrators being what they are, they suggested that we modify our address so that our lack of connection with the institution become clear. This we have done, beginning with this issue. Mr. Reed has done us a favor. We never did want to be suspected of institutional ties. As for the sic "anti-semetic" attacks, we have a rabbi standing by to check Ishmael's bris.
THE REED EPISODE
In Vol. 1, nos. 2-3 and 4, we published an article by Richard Kostelanetz entitled "The Queen & King of Literary Grants." The queen was Galen Williams of New York's Poets & Writers, and the king was Ishmael Reed, publisher of \i(Y'bird}. The article detailed the fine grantsmanship of these people. The king was infuriated. He flooded the state of Maryland with letters from his lawyers (our Dean, university President, and Attorney General all got one). The letters threatened to sue us for slander, character assassination and l'ese-mageste. We were flattered by Reed's attention, because whatever one may say of his grantsmanship, he is a great writer and attention from a great writer is delightful. The University of Baltimore reacted by asking us to change our address. But it took a while for the furor to die down, as evidenced by the above and other references.
-- Editor |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 226
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 12:19 pm: |
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Just for the record, Elie Wiesel was never a member of Irgun despite claims by the author of the above piece to the contrary. Wiesel's alleged membership in "Begin's Irgun in the 1940s" is a sham. Was Ralph Ellison ever a member of the Communist Party? Wiesel was a translator for the Irgun newspaper in Paris but never contributed any written content of his own.
Irgun was a Jewish nationalist organization which committed acts of sabotage and terrorism while fighting against the British occupation of Palestine. One of the main issues was the British restriction and blockade of European Jewish immigrants during WWII when no country would accept them.
Elie Wiesel and a friend tried to enlist in the Israeli army - not the Irgun - while in Paris. His friend was accepted but Wiesel was rejected for medical reasons. Wiesel traveled to Israel for the first time in 1949, the year after Israeli independence and the almost simultaneous attacks by Arab states following the British pullout.
I've just read the Night trilogy: Night, Dawn, and The Accident (called Day in the original French and in some English editions). Night could be read by bright high school students. Dawn might require some adult input in the form of historical context.
Night is a 120-page memoir which in my opinion distinguishes itself from many other deeply affecting works about the Holocaust -both fiction and nonfiction - by its existentialist viewpoint. Following the war, the author settled in Paris, studied at the Sorbonne and attended lectures by Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Buber, et al. The book asks difficult questions about the death of God in an era of extermination camps and the dropping of atomic bombs.
Dawn is a novel about a concentration camp survivor who while preparing for university studies in Paris is recruited to travel to Israel to fight in an underground Jewish organization like Irgun or Lehi. He receives the grim assignment of executing an innocent British hostage in retaliation for a British execution of Jews. It explores moral and historical issues related to retribution.
The Accident is about the reconnection with life by a journalist who happens to be a Holocaust survivor. It explores the psychology of survivor guilt, the mythology that suffering is ennobling, and the individual's obligation to make suffering cease, not to keep it alive.
* * * *
Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate, has his critics but my advice would be to consider the source. This librarian obviously has an axe to grind by insinuating that the man was a terrorist, which he wasn't, but just be aware that this approach is called yellow journalism. And implying some sinister cabal involving Oprah Winfrey's book club is just plain silly. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1883
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 01:43 pm: |
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Ah, Steveland! Back again for more, I see! Great! I was about to post a "Steve, Where Ya At?"
Now I shall take my excercise...
"Weisel was a translator for the Irgun newspaper in Paris"
Trying to distance ourselves from bombings and assasinations, eh? Irgun blew up civilians, and killed women and children just like the terrorists do today. They were so dispicable that Haganah moved to disband them and the terrorist Stern Gang.
Do you suppose if I was a translator for some newspaper put out by Al Quaeda or Hamas anyone would make such a fine distinction? I am just a translator? If I deliver milk and bread to Osama Bin Ladin am I just a merchant? I bet it would be enough to land me in Guantanamo Bay--or you too.
If he was you, his name would be "Weasle"
I don't know that Ralph was a member, but he went to plenty of meetings and played enough footsie that he felt he had to distance himself later--especially with the book, "Invisible Man" (which he admitted privately was an attack on the Communist Party and an attempt to bury Richard Wright. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1886
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 02:02 pm: |
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Stevanovich:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Wiesel.html
In 1948, Wiesel enrolled in the Sorbonne University where he studied literature, philosophy and psychology. He was extremely poor and at times became depressed to the point of considering suicide. In time, however, he became involved with the Irgun, a Jewish militant organization in Palestine, and translated materials from Hebrew to Yiddish for the Irgun’s newspaper. He began working as a reporter and in 1949, traveled to Israel as a correspondent for the French paper L’Arche. In Israel, he secured a job as Paris correspondent for the Israeli paper Yediot Achronot and in the 1950s he traveled around the world as a reporter. He also became involved in the controversy over whether Israel should accept reparation payments from West Germany
Irgun:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. What do you think King George would have done with George Washington if he'd have got his hands on him? |
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