Hi,
Dig this story ... about my mom and dad ... and you will know that "someone" is always looking, regardless of the situation.
As I've mentioned before in here, my dad made his name in Literature and his work is still being published today in many languages. When the family left for Brazil in 1959, so my dad could pursue his academic career and go after a literary degree -- he was already published by then with poetry and film reviews and many other literary essays and translations -- there had already been in Portugal many incidents ... with other writers and artists ... and about 10 years ago or something like it ... someone published a book that featured many of those film reviews and showed the censorship that was done at the time in Portugal ...
In 1965 dad got his PHD and was immediatly snapped up by the University of Wisconsin in Madison ... no biggie there. In 1971 dad got a chance to put together the very first "Comparative Literature" program for the whole University system, and did so from UC Santa Barbara, and taught many seminars for Graduate Students at UCLA, Stanford and Berkeley ... which was insane ... burned him out.
So my dad died in 1979 ... and now dig this part ...
Around 1984 someone that had "known" the family named Father Simao" showed up in Santa Barbara ... and my mom the congenial hostess that she is, housed him for several days and all that ... and he talked to mom about everything and did his religious thing and all that ... and then he left ...
So on Friday, a couple of days later, my mom happens to be talking to the Consulate in San Francisco and while talking to the gnetleman in charge she happened to mention the visitor ... and he asked about it ... and said he was not aware of it ... so he went looking for it, and on Monday called mom and told her that there was no record of anyone of that name, or travelling with a Portuguese passport -- and they could not verify any of the information she had mentioned that he told her. And on top of it, there was no one in Portugal that could locate him either ...
So ... while this can be scary ... it is even more so, when it prays on the innocent ... and a nice lady that has spent one third of her life publishing more of dad's work ... a lady that might have an opinion or two about the war and the days in Portugal, after all ... she was there in the middle of it all ...
But sometimes paranoia strikes hard ... and deep ... and you never know ... how far it's gonna go ... so ... don't ever wonder why your military budget is so high ...
But even I, who happens to be known as a person that speaks out a lot ... has mellowed out ... there is some serious pain ... and sometimes it is vindictive and murderous and not caring ... even if it was a joke -- something that a local system could quickly and easily verify ... but won't ... it's easier to shut somebody up and cut his hand off so they can be made an example.
That's the part that worries me the most ... too much hatred ... and people that would rather shoot and kill ... and worry about the results later ... the veritable EQ/WoW gamer mentality ... I personally believe that a comedian has the right to say it ... and if it is on HBO, we might think it's funny, but if it is on a blog, the sucker will spend some time in jail ... there is something wrong with that equation ... and the mis-use of law and it's concept is what bothers me the most ... it's no longer about the law ... it's about doing what ... guess what ... the same thing that used to happen to us in Portugal in the days of Salazar and Spain in the days of Franco ... and let me tell you ... those were not pleasant for anyone ... please ... at the very least ... know that ... before you throw the next stone at your victim! ... in the name of whomever, or whatever.
post edited by Moshkiae - 2010/01/19 20:37:57