Wednesday, October 23, 2002

What Does One Do When Kenosis Doesn't Work? Prior to starting this Weblog, I hadn't really read any others (except Eric's), so I didn't really have a model in mind. As I've looked around a bit at the other Salon Weblogs, I've found that my model didn't end up being much different from everyone else's. I have my ideas, which are perhaps a bit different from other people's, and twenty or thirty people a day come here to read them, which is about as many visitors as most other Salon Weblogs get (except those about sex--actually or teasingly--and those with a link on Salon's home page). Today, I visited filchyboy and read it carefully. It's impressive--it actually exploits the form to make it more than it would be in another medium. And it's deeply touching. It's so good that reading it, I'm struck with what Harold Bloom has described as the "anxiety of influence." I want to somehow minimize the audacity of it's achievement, to find myself a creative space within which to write my own Weblog. But I don't feel like I have much to say. 8:13:51 PM     What do you think? ()

Why Do Stupid People Have So Much Power? In 1989, in the wake of the Central Park jogger attack, Donald Trump ran a full-page advertisement in four New York newspapers: In the ad, Mr. Trump said Mayor Edward I. Koch had stated "that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts," to which Mr. Trump replied: "I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes." At the time, the attack victim was still in a coma. The ad does not name any defendant, instead referring collectively to "roving bands of wild criminals." Now that the "roving bands of wild criminals" may be proven innocent of that particular attack, many people are understandably upset by Trump's hateful rhetoric. For his part, he seems befuddled: "They confessed. Now they say they didn't do it. Who am I supposed to believe?" "At the time there seemed to be very little question, but all of a sudden this seems to come up," Mr. Trump said. "I do have tremendous respect for the district attorney, and I'm sure the right answer will come out." The confessions mystify him, he said. "Why did they confess to the crime?" Michael W. Warren, a lawyer for the men, said there was a growing resentment for Mr. Trump's advertisement. "It was outrageous," Mr. Warren said, "the manner that Mr. Trump used to engage in his own personal form of rhetoric. A lot of people felt it colored the eyes of prospective jurors who ultimately sat on the case. Now it's even more appalling, with new evidence that points exclusively to another person. I think Donald Trump at the very least owes a real apology to this community and to the young men and their families." It seems to me that if Trump doesn't understand how the criminal investigation process can go awry in a racially charged environment or the concept of the presumption of innocence, then he probably shouldn't have weighed in on the matter so publicly. 8:53:40 AM     What do you think? ()

© Copyright 2003 Morgan N. Sandquist. Last update: 11/2/03; 10:30:01 AM.

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