Dear Arnon,

As I have been reading your blog only for one week now, I can't help wondering what is the goal of your quest in Iraq or generally a war territory ? you can take this question both on surface as well as deeper epistemological digging level ...what do you want to get to know, experience , understand in such a context ?

Resp. to Sylvia and Arnon

Wouldn't you agree that reading the concerned articles would be the best answer to you question?
Or is it that you distrust his qualities as a journalist, and therefore see yourself forced to give up your dignity as a reader - through reafraining from actual reading?
If you would answer 'yes' to that question, would you please elaborate on your mistrust?

To Arnon

There was a beautiful quote in this week's 'Die Zeit' that reminded me of your mother. Would you accept this as a public gift for your birthday? Or do you consider that to be too cheap?

Sylvia

For a starter you could read: thttp://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/06/03/iraq_dispatch/index.html

Pjötr

I'll accept the gift.

Long live dogmas and their followers :)

Thank you Arnon ,

I will certainly do so ....
as for the reactions of Pjotr... I wonder why are you and some others so impulsive and intolerant on this blog ? I was following in silence the interactions this week....and I have to say that the dynamics of the group was quite interesting... I thought this a space where open-minded intelligent people may interact ....and have some exchanges with the author of the blog without the mediation of self-appointed ( or chosen ? ) lawyers, translators, bodyguards of his .... this almost medieval royal court structure ;) is quite funny ...why do you have to react instead of Arnon ?

as for my questions , they do not arise from some kind of laziness to read but a belief in the continuous change of a human person....

I do not believe in messages uttered and sealed for ever...I believe people change with every meeting if they are open to the Other ...with every journey....therefore I dared to suppose that Arnon started this journey this year with different expectations than a year before... and a glimpse of this very personal quest might be sometimes very different than hundreds of pages written about it before....

that's all... if you believe that Arnon answered once and for all to some questions and elborated a set of dogmas... that would make you a good Catholic maybe :) but not a tolerant nice discussion partner ....

Arnon ;) see how nice it is, some followers made you a pope ?! not trendy nowadawys but who cares ....

Sylvia

Pardon my impulsiveness and intolerance, but If you want to come out and play with the "intelligent people" interacting on this blog, please stop sprinkling around ellipses and "smilies" as if they were "pepernoten", or "hagelslag"; it hurts the eyes. (Come to think of it, the Dutch do seem to have a strange tendency for sprinkling stuff). But otherwise, welcome to the blog.

Sylvia

I've tried the same remarks as you some months ago but the reactions were disappointing, so I decided to become (and stay) a silent reader. Mieke, Eric et les autres, keep -as happy incrowd- up the same good work as you all do apparently for by now many years, it's a pity that it has become a boring imitation of real life.

illegally cheerful

Dear Strasse's partner , don't worry....I'm not so easy to break ...and you guessed my thoughts , I was also thinking that it seems some want to make the group a perfect micro-copy of our society...

Sandy , apologies for translating my spontaneous face mimicry by these virtual tools....u know why I consider it important especially in a discussion as the one above ? cause I have to express somehow that I can relativize, I dont get pissed off at intolerant outbursts...it is not some sort of uncontrolled giggling , rather a zen smile or at other times stoic grin ....

I am always sceptical about people who take themselves too seriously ... but I adore them ...cant't help it
does serious intelligent discussion exclude the possibility of a smile here and there ? if I met you face to face , I should freeze my facial expression before uttering anything worth to be expressed ?

thanks for the welcome, anyway :)...and I will do my best to learn the rules of the site...

Well, for centuries people have been able to communicate in writing without feeling the need to "cheer it up" with smilies and the likes. Call me conservative, but I think the need to put endless series of happy winking faces and "fill in the blanks" mostly comes from a lack of written communication skills (please don't take this personal). Also, there are certain general rules of punctuation, which do actually help in making your point clearer to the reader. Read the excellent "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", by Lynne Truss if you don't trust me.

PS I don't think there are any rules on this blog; written or otherwise. Just kind requests and some rare interventions by our host.

Strasse's partner/Sylvia

Strasse's partner, thank you for staying silent then.
Sylvia, I also can't stand those stupid smileys. Grow up. And while you are at it, drop your self-righteousness. As for your question about Iraq, Pjötr's reaction was a bit oversensitive, but in the core your question was not very intelligent and to let us know that you just learned what epistomological is, well good for you.

Dearest Strasse's partner ,

I'm so happy your back. You made my day and probably my week. Thanks!
Staying a silent reader of something that is a boring imitation of real life. !!!!!
Unforgettable and please once in a while, *do* come back and drop a note.

With the utmost feelings of love and compassion,

Eric

Dear Sylvia Hubel,

very welcome to this site indeed.
A person like you -not easy to break, who adores people who take themselves too seriously but is also sceptical about them- is exactly what this blog needs!
Not to mention your critical observations......
Well girl, I predict you a great future on this blog!
And do keep using al kinds of signs to get you message across!
Zen smiles, stoic grins or even uncontrolled giggling....
Let these intellectual debaters mind there own business!!!!!

yours truly,

Eric

Eric

I can't help it , but I'm starting to like you.:)

Sylvia

If you want to read some of the best that was written on this blog, you should go to the 'Flu' entry of the 16th of September last year. There you can have a look at an ongoing conversation between Eric and Jeanette. I consider it one of the highlights.
Welcome.

Mieke

Let me quote from this ongoing conversation:
“My dear J.
You received the package from Pitcairn already?
How is this possible?
We arrived some days ago and were completely taken by all the welcome ceremonies on the Island.
And people talking about 2004....
But you received my package. This is really mysterious.
I'm sure I still have to post it.
Just wait a minute and I'll find it.....”

We are looking here at messages meant to wake up a sleeper cell. What you call highlight is coded language to escape the attention of law agencies.

Do you know how many people come to this site just to see if their "package has been received?"

Dear Helena Derkoningen,

What did I do?

yours,

Eric

@ Mieke

Came home late but saw your nice comment, thank you!
I really appreciate it coming from you.

Somehow this conversation with Eric is like a snowball that brings a lot of topics with it to exchange and exchange etc. ... without ending....

Be sure to mail whenever you get to A'dam.

@ Arnon

It truly is nice to receive cards, books and a powder-package from the South Pacific of someone who is unknown but clearly has good taste .....and it is even better to try and return it...

To Sylvia, and Arnon

I never intended to be impulsive, nor intolerant. Neither do I have the ambition to be ‘in’ with any crowd. My questioning came forth from the firm conviction that it’s a journalist task to communicate through writing on his intentions, and findings. And that bad journalism is prose not meeting this expectation.
Whether or not the writer has fulfilled this, is up to the reader – the final judge of the writing in this case.
But asking beforehand what the writing will be about seems me to do little justice to thoughtful reading. And could also be considered as outright lazy.
I ask this sincerely: is this the reasoning of a mad man?

To Arnon

“Ich sehe schon, was für ein Gesicht die Zivilisten machen werden, wenn ich ihnen sage: ‚Noch nie habe ich soviel gelacht wie im Lager.‘
Lachen in Auschwitz? Gab es das, und wenn ja: Darf man darüber schreiben? Ana Novac überlegt keinen Augenblick: ‚Die Leute wissen gar nicht, wie das Leiden ist. Man wird trocken irgendwann. Man lacht die ganze Zeit so blöd, wie wenn man jemanden begräbt. Ein nervöses Lachen. In Auschwitz haben wir oft gelacht, so blöd. Zum Weinen hatten wir keine Tränen mehr‘ Tatsächlich lächelt sie oft, auch jetzt. Aber es ist keine Fröhlichkeit ‚Ich bin nicht fröhlich, ich sehe so aus. Das ist eine physische Deformation.‘“

Anna Novac in Die Zeit Magazin

@Pjötr
I think you mean the nervous laughter I so often witnessed on the faces of those people who lived real terror, like for example, I remember, the Vietnamese boat refugees.
(Impostors are mostly extremely serious and absolutely convincing about their experiences.)

Pjötr

Thanks for sharing this quote with us.

Dear Arnon,

Are you suggesting that 'coded language to escape the attention of law agencies' can't be considered a highlight?
I'm also quite curious about the exact number of people that come to this site just to see if their "package has been received".

take care,

Eric

Eric

Answer 1: yes.
Answer 2: please, ask Sander.

Dear Arnon

your answer 1: why?
your answer 2: I will.

E.

Dear Sander,

what is the exact number of people that come to this site just to see if their "package has been received"?

E.

Eric

It tickles my imagination.

Arnon

Exactly, their conversation tickles the imagination.

Dear Arnon,

Just to see if I understand you correctly:
You *don't* consider 'coded language etc.' a highlight but still you have a positive experience while reading it since it tickles your imagination.

E.