Thanks George, for your kind understanding and moral support.
Koon
-----Original Message-----
From: Geoheld7
To: aimbeanshooter20
Sent: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 4:45 am
Subject: Re: Hi, how are things?
Dear Koon,
I recognize your (Kantian) idealism because it is largely my own, and I'm very interested in what you say about modal philosophy and logic, particularly because our world operates with so little logic from either leaders or followers. I am for rational thinking and for avoiding the slippery slope myself, and I admire your resistance and independence. I too have always felt a stranger in this country and can only imagine what you must feel as an alien, even naturalized (strange word). Camus has been one of my touchstones since I read most of his novels, plays, and stories and THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS in my twenties.
While I am also on FaceBook and post work there, I am not as sanguine about it as a way to find readers as you are. Very few fb "friends" ever comment on any of my posted writing, so I have the feeling that they are not interested in the sort of stuff I write. Still, I admire your willingness to give your poems away; like you, what I want most is READERS.
Please forgive me for suggesting you allow Kaya to publish your new book, and sign me up to buy a copy when it is available.
Best, George
In a message dated 8/17/2010 7:26:49 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, aimbeanshooter20@aim.com writes:
Hi George,
I don't get that much money from Kaya anyway, and so I will self-publish on the Internet and give it free to websites so that the poems will get out there just the same. These days one out of fourteen people in the world are on Facebook and many more on the Internet that are not on Facebook. I have given the entire petry manuscript out to one high school student I met on Facebook. The prose I have not given out yet. People can also download the poems and print them out and give them to friends to read. After all, it is not my compensation that matters to me, but the fact that the poems might do some good somehow. And like you, if I were to "teach" the art of writing poems, my efforts hopefully might motivate others to write and to do a better job at it.
You probably are familiar with the concept of "slippery slope" in philosophy and elsewhere, that if one were to take a step down a slippery slope, one inevitably ends up at the bottom. That's what I am trying to prevent. I am a firm believer in Immaneul Kant's categorical imperatives. Ethics are categorical.
Anyway, I am now reading George Edward Hughes, the Modal Logician, whom I found out was also a student of my philosophy teacher John Wisdom. G. E. Hughes was a philosopher and logician who specialized in modal philosophy and logic and gave the first treatment of modal logic in his seminal work with his student Cresswell in their book, An Introduction to Modal Logic. They were both at Queens' University at Wellington, New Zealand.
This sounds like paranoid thinking, but I am having a lot of difficulties with getting back into school, due to bureaucratic bungling and arcane rules that seem to apply only in my case. It reminds me of Kafka's "Letter to the Academy" in which an ape was thanking the academy for his education.
It looks like a nuclear confrontation with China (which I had assessed to be 50%) just 2 or 3 days ago has been avoided, due to Australia's possible alliance with China (China is now Australia #1 trading partner and the top country of Australias' foreign investments). Even though sea power is no longer invincible due to anti-ship missiles such as the DF-21D missiles China has but peaceful use of sea lanes is still crucial for economic behavior in the development and survival of nations. To this end, China has now become the world's largest ship builder. And their recent port visit of a military boat to Greece was probably no coincidence (since previously Greece was the number one ship builder except for military ships which the US was dominant).
So, the question is, how am I going to survive and do the things that I want to do? If they are "necessary" in the modal sense of the word, then there will be ways to do them. But if they are merely "possible" again in the modal sense of the word, then they might not get done because of the limitations posed by the "actual." This is where your saying that the world is infected with complicity of institutions with various "interest groups" and power elites is accurate. If I were to prosper within the system, that would be the way to go -- to take the crumbs offered. I am not asking for the moon, on the contrary, I am asking for nothing in compensation for roughly 15 years of work in these poems, but merely some honesty in an organization which purports to be honest and truly reflects the Asian Diaspora. I cannot lend my endorsement to that, however great the monetary or other intangible rewards. As you say, I am a "survivor," and now I am beginning to understand what a survivor of the Holocaust must really feel. For the first time in my life, I respect the philosophy of Albert Camus as it applies to the victim, namely, the Arab shot by the protagonist in his book THE STRANGER. I am still a stranger to this country in its view of me and my view of it.
This is no reflection on your beliefs, George, and I shall try to fulfill all my promises and obligations as before. I am an eternal optimist in the sense that if God wants it done, it shall be done.
Your friend,
Koon
-----Original Message-----
From: Geoheld7
To: aimbeanshooter20
Sent: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 3:43 am
Subject: Re: Hi, how are things?
In a message dated 8/16/2010 5:26:50 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, aimbeanshooter20@aim.com writes:
As a consequence, I withdrew my ms. from Kaya because of South Korea's complicity in the naval exercises
Dear Koon,
I understand that your withdrawal is motivated by idealism, but if you're head is cooler, you might want to reconsider. Based on your poems I've read and your previous Kaya book, you really should take this chance to publish a new book with Kaya. Almost all of our institutions are infected with one sort of complicity or another, but the world goes on--not as we'd like but as reality dictates.
Best,
George
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