Reading & Influence

[cloudy]

I had an epiphany, of sorts, this evening.

I've been reading In The Spirit of Crazy Horse: The story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's war on the American Indian Movement, by Peter Mattheissen, for the last few days (a great book, by the way), and tonight my rather clueless husband tried to pick a fight with me.

I reacted sort of out of the norm, on the offensive instead of the defensive, and I think it surprised him. I realized later on that I was angry already because of what I was reading - it's the type of book that if it doesn't make you mad as hell, you just don't care. If I hadn't already been put in an angry state of mind by what I'd been reading, I probably would have blown off his opening volley, like I usually do.

Have any of you been so influenced by something you've read that it affected your state of mind in that way?

 

[impressive]

Oh, absolutely!

Being an activist, I am often put in a particular frame of mind by what I read. It's usually nonfiction that does it -- a scathing OpEd or other treatise on injustice. However, fiction can do it, too.

 

[TheEarl]

Always. When I'm very much entranced by a novel and I have to come out of it and do something else, I will always have the feelings of the main character. It works when I'm writing as well; I have actually snapped at a friend because I was in a bad mood due to something that had happened to my main character.

The Earl

 

[CharleyH]

Not with fiction typically, but certainly when I read ill-informed non-fiction. What incensed you, if you don't mind, since I have not read it, and I doubt my library carries it?

 

[cloudy]

Not with fiction typically, but certainly when I read ill-informed non-fiction. What incensed you, if you don't mind, since I have not read it, and I doubt my library carries it?

The railroad job done on Peltier, and other AIM members by the FBI, complete with perjured testimony, threatened witnesses, and judges aiming for a position with the FBI. At one point, the FBI even had a contract out on his life while he was in prison. And wonder of wonders, right after they finished scattering AIM leaders (in jail, dead, or underground), turns out there's 'valuable' mining materials under land that belongs to the Lakotas.

I knew most of the basics already, but it goes into great detail on all the incidents that led up to the shoot-out at Oglala, and the aftermath.

You really ought to try to get ahold of a copy. Enlightening, to say the least.

 

[velvetpie]

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged did it for me years ago. The Autobiography of Malcolm X was another. Just totally mind-blowing and literally life-altering for me.

 

[CharleyH]

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged did it for me years ago. The Autobiography of Malcolm X was another. Just totally mind-blowing and literally life-altering for me.

Between you and Cloudy, I would love, not the storyline - BUT WHY? Inscenced? Humor me, I get angry so little

 

[Gekken]

Yes. I am a strange guy

"Before European Hegemony" by Janet Abu-Lughod is a book about International Macroeconomics right after the fall of the Roman Empire. It guided me to my passion for history.

Also, "Salt" by Mark Kurlansky brilliant.

 

[cloudy]

Between you and Cloudy, I would love, not the storyline - BUT WHY? Inscenced? Humor me, I get angry so little

For a synopsis, read my essay: And Justice For All - it's about Leonard Peltier, and the way he was literally framed.

His case is just one among many, unfortunately, in a long line of American Indians that have been denied justice with our "justice" system.

 

[Gekken]

For a synopsis, read my essay: And Justice For All - it's about Leonard Peltier, and the way he was literally framed.

His case is just one among many, unfortunately, in a long line of American Indians that have been denied justice with our "justice" system.

Just a question, ok?

IF the reservations (yes, evil, but that's not the point right now) are soverign nations, then why would he get justice from the US? I would think that he should have been punished by his nation of birth.

 

[cloudy]

Just a question, ok?

IF the reservations (yes, evil, but that's not the point right now) are soverign nations, then why would he get justice from the US? I would think that he should have been punished by his nation of birth.

Exactly. Except that the only people who thinks he's actually guilty are the FBI. Add to that the whole backstory of why they were so interested in keeping people stirred up around that time, and you find that the gov't was continuing to screw us out of our land and our rights.

 

[Gekken]

Exactly.

I still think that the Ogala nation should have kicked seven kinds of crap out of him though. He caused too much trouble in stupid ways.

there were alternative paths.

 

[cloudy]

I still think that the Ogala nation should have kicked seven kinds of crap out of him though. He caused too much trouble in stupid ways.

there were alternative paths.

Do you know the whole story? He was invited there by the residents, and he's also a member of the Lakota Nation.

 

[rgraham666]

The book that's had the biggest influence on me has got to be Voltaire's Bastards - The Dictatorship of Reason in The West by John Ralston Saul.

Most people hate this book and the man who wrote it. But, to my mind, it explains why we here in The West are in so much trouble.

 

[Gekken]

Do you know the whole story? He was invited there by the residents, and he's also a member of the Lakota Nation.

oops, I keep getting the midwest nations mixed up. (I is a ferriner and not to be trusted, per the hicks in the political threads)

nah, I don't know the whole story. All I know is that the price of freedom and change is death and prison. That's the cost. Kinda underlines the point of why people who fight for the freedom of others are heroes. They're not just doing a job.

 

[cloudy]

The book that's had the biggest influence on me has got to be Voltaire's Bastards - The Dictatorship of Reason in The West by John Ralston Saul.

Most people hate this book and the man who wrote it. But, to my mind, it explains why we here in The West are in so much trouble.

It may have influenced your thinking, but did it leave you angry? Sad? How did it affect you specifically, I guess, is what I'm looking for.

 

[cloudy]

oops, I keep getting the midwest nations mixed up. (I is a ferriner and not to be trusted, per the hicks in the political threads)

nah, I don't know the whole story. All I know is that the price of freedom and change is death and prison. That's the cost. Kinda underlines the point of why people who fight for the freedom of others are heroes. They're not just doing a job.

Maybe so, but my whole point is that the price of defending yourself, plus the women and children that were there, shouldn't be prison, especially for something that the government admits that they're not even sure he did. In their view, one redskin AIM member is just as good as any other, and after everyone else was acquitted, he was all they had left.

 

[Gekken]

Maybe so, but my whole point is that the price of defending yourself, plus the women and children that were there, shouldn't be prison, especially for something that the government admits that they're not even sure he did. In their view, one redskin AIM member is just as good as any other, and after everyone else was acquitted, he was all they had left.

but didn't he start shooting COPS? even if the cops are outa line, you don't shoot COPS. you let the evil pigs pick you up and call the ACLU.

 

[cloudy]

but didn't he start shooting COPS? even if the cops are outa line, you don't shoot COPS. you let the evil pigs pick you up and call the ACLU.

Nope.

Two FBI agents died at the shootout that day, on private property that they had been asked to leave once that day already. No one knows who started shooting first, and most of all, no one knows who actually shot them.

Of course, Joe Killsright, that also died that day, merits absolutely no investigation - he was just an injun.

 

[Gekken]

Nope.

Two FBI agents died at the shootout that day, on private property that they had been asked to leave once that day already. No one knows who started shooting first, and most of all, no one knows who actually shot them.

Of course, Joe Killsright, that also died that day, merits absolutely no investigation - he was just an injun.

[sarcasm] nope, yer right. no investigation. Thur too easy t'hit whut with th'big feathers on thur heds an' all.[/sarcasm]

gimme a good NONBIASED (I like to think for myself) website that gives the facts, please.

 

[rgraham666]

It may have influenced your thinking, but did it leave you angry? Sad? How did it affect you specifically, I guess, is what I'm looking for.

It gave me contentment.

When I first read it, I was quite adrift in my life, for reasons I've stated many times here. Above all I was trying to figure out why we generally say one thing, that we're in favour of freedom, individuality and hard work, when the reality is that we prefer authouritarinism, conformity and proper social behaviour. I was trying to understand why I and the society I live in were so unbalanced.

This book showed me how Reason alone was not enough. That we and our society need all our traits, working together, in balance with each other, for us to be successful.

I'm still struggling, but at least now I know what I'm struggling for.

 

[cloudy]

I don't think there IS an unbiased site out there, but there's a whole lot more in his support than not.

The best one out there is the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee site. It has all the relevant docs available for download in PDF format, with a chronology of events, etc. The essay I mentioned in my above post gives a short version of events, but he was definitely railroaded. Amnesty International, along with a host of other organizations and world-reknowned people have been calling for his release for years. He's even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

[Gekken]

I don't think there IS an unbiased site out there, but there's a whole lot more in his support than not.

The best one out there is the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee site. It has all the relevant docs available for download in PDF format, with a chronology of events, etc. The essay I mentioned in my above post gives a short version of events, but he was definitely railroaded. Amnesty International, along with a host of other organizations and world-reknowned people have been calling for his release for years. He's even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

his moustache is creepy, but I will read it all and get back to you.