Two weeks ago, I saw a Facebook comment in which someone called Obama a draft dodger (they weren't joking or saying that with any hint of irony - they were serious). I pointed out that Obama was 12 when the draft ended in 1973. In spite of me pointing out such an easily verifiable truth, he still doubled down on his comment.
I'll never understand what compels people with such fragile worldviews to go through the most strenuous and unnecessary mental gymnastics.
Garrett Gavley
I guess they don't remember you praising the Trump campaign for being disruptive instead of traditional.
Berton Averre
Why am I shocked that you've received hate mail for this? I saved it last night to write to you today...to say YAY! I started watching Rachel in 2011 and became a fan for the depth and context she brings to every subject. History lessons wrapped in current events give a wider understanding of our world. What is there to hate about information? And yes, you feel like she is talking to YOU. I remember years ago reading about a radio personality/DJ (Jean Shepherd?): he said his secret was he was talking to one person. He wouldn't say who. But I've thought about that and how well it worked. And how, when you write about yourself, I feel you're talking to me. We have a lot in common. Not only histories and such...but habits, views and preferences. Keep up the good work. I think you are loved by many.
Johanna Hall
Bob....I completely agree with your take on Rachel Maddow. She does the work!!! I learn something new every time I watch her show. She and her team do careful research on their stories, and if she later finds out she was wrong about something, she CORRECTS it! Yes, I am a "snowflake". So sue me.
TONI TENNILLE
Well, I agree with you and on a side note I love Rachel Maddow.
Wendy Waldman
thumbs up Bob.
Layne Feldman
Get em Bob!
Yogaroots
Loved your email Bob. Regrettable that some people’s ears get pinned back soon as they see a trigger word. From then on, they’re deaf.
Keep up the great work.
Colin Seeger B.Juris LL.B
I am sorry but fuck the inbred right wing fox suckers in the ear repeatedly with a brick. If they don't like your column, then they can drop face down in a vat of rancid weasel pus and die choking on it. I might not like all your columns but if I don't, I just stfu.
James Walker
Welcome to Facebook:)
Stu Cohen
Bannon is known to be a big fan of her and you can be certain it's not because of her outlook.
Davis Lewin
Fuck the haters. Rachel is a god damn treasure.
Joel Amsterdam
They're like those knee jerk nitwits who thought the recent article about couch surfing baby boomers not getting enough exercise was political and an indictment of their voting for Trump.
Melissa Ward
Hi Bob-
The strong reactions to her reinforce your point - she wouldn't elicit such vitriol otherwise...
Try not to sweat the small stuff (and people) and keep up the writing (though agreed maybe not 4x a day but hey your prerogative - we don't have to read it)!
Best,
Eric Stern
Bob, as someone who oversees a publication, I couldn't agree more with your assessment of people's behavior in response to your newsletter about RM. I deal with these folks on a daily basis. It's beyond draining. Fuck 'em
Brian "Z" Zisook
VP and Editor-in-Chief
DJBooth.net
Love you Bob – keep on keeping on – I forward your emails to Vanderbilt pre-law undergrads as a contemporary model for speaking truth to power… let it go or be dragged down by it -
Carrie Elizabeth Russell
You taught me not to feed the animals.
Jason Hirschhorn
Roger Ailes thought Rachel was talented. That should end the debate.
John Hummer
You made no mention of her CV. Her education and mentoring on the road to who she's become is a big part of her brand story. PhD in Pol Sci, Rhodes Scholar, Oxford, Stanford, ran track, catholic, bent on accuracy, highly praised inside the political industry, has chops like any athlete, musician, or tech star - and does it everyday, day in, and day out. Tell a full story instead of trying to be so inside and make people do their own work, cuz they won't.
Jim Beaumont
INSPIRED! I SALUTE YOU!
Harold Bronson
Rachel is my girl, my therapist. I couldn't have gotten through the past 10 months without her. She has educated me and calmed me down every night after work. I came home late tonight and am just watching her on Tivo. I always knew she was good, but now she is my lifeline.
Amy Madnick
Rachel Maddow #jesusofcool
William Bennett
Ignore the trolls. Lots of dumb hate out there fueled by lack of knowledge and facts and bolstered by sensationalistic headlines. Stay who you are. Lots of people on right, left, middle appreciate your commentary. Dialogue is important. I feel like people are trying shut down the concept of debate...
Melinda Wilson
Great letter.
A real first thought, best thought letter.
John Rodriguez
The right wing have proven themselves to be a myopic self serving bunch... who votes for the same asshole who doesn't condemn white supremacists.
Do you really think they would understand anything when it came to your blog post?
Sorry you have to face this shit Bob... you've been very fair on both sides
Mick Dalla-Vee
You are so correct. You just can't reason with some people. Keep up the fight.
Bill Sarnoff
Now your making people read, comprehend and think....you are really going to piss some people off...:) Love It!
Biff Malibu
Tell it Bob. My how fractious our world is.
Peter Barker
The Maddow piece was so spot on. Seriously great piece.
Marc Platt
Please Bob don't let the bastards grind you down. Talk about "smart sells" that's what's so great about your newsletter is how intelligent it is how you are. Thank you as always.
Gerald Pelrine
Sir,
This article may be tangentially relevant to your recent post:
digest.bps.org.uk/2017/09/01/believing-widely-doubted-conspiracy-theories-makes-some-people-feel-special/ Kind Regards,
Leon Brownrigg
You asked for it. You got the reaction.
Class of Trump 101. That's how he won the election. He threw some paint constantly on the board and most of it stuck and created an art piece.
Will happen again in 2020. It's probably because of Rachel Maddow!
Clarence Jey
You nailed it with this response. Brilliant and to the point! Dona Spangler
Maddow's intellect and analysis is so apparent one has to be pretty invested in stupidity to deny it. I have gotten so burned out reading comments on Facebook from people who would have shut tfu in high school and college because there was some objective measure out there. Now people with no analytical training believe their opinion is worth something. Many of these geniuses decry the 'everybody gets a trophy' mentality but believe they can criticize anything because they can type. Palin gave them a reality star and they helped give us trump.
Gary D. Strauss
Amen!
-Christian Staehely
Amen.
Brett Currie
I should be asleep...
I might be one of the few who isn't on the list for the reminiscing of the glory days. The shows that made legends. The album's that made careers. That ain't me. My favorite bands had fleeting mainstream but persevered. Most of them never truly made it, but the definition differs person to person.
Regardless...
I'm here for the perspective on the world, the music industry. The different angle rather than the hot take or the pandering messages. Your perspectives, specifically.
If I don't like to read the musical track / album / artist history lesson, I change the channel or in this case delete the email. This is a free email service that you offer, and I appreciate it.
The audacity that someone feels that they have the right to complain that the free monkey isn't dancing the way they want. Holy fuck, Bob. Holy fuck.
I don't believe you ever written anything that has enraged me. Your points are well thought out, you bring context, cite examples, and you don't write as if you are better than me or assume I am an idiot.
311 once sang "fuck the naysayers, cuz they don't mean a thing", and it's surprising how often I've recited that to myself and pontificated it to others.
I'm sure this will go into the pile of support backing you up, but this is more of an attempt to show appreciation and hoping that it even slightly decreases the amount of rage you feel.
Goodnight sir and thank you.
Mark Hinkley
Often people don't read the articles at all and just respond to the headline. But you knew that.
People are idiots. They don't read and spout off of some tangent.
Whether you like Rachel Maddow or not, she's not an imbecile. She was a Rhodes Scholar for chrissakes.
Martine Ehrenclou
You thought people would care about specifics? The morality is in the MEtadata and people don't acknowledge such ephemeral invisibilities, you typing her name is enough, that Ends the subject, plus you call her a rock star, how you think people wouldn't feel strongly about that notion makes me laugh.
Richard Altman
thanks for the fourth email.
keep going, you are loved out here!!
Evan Reidell
You're just showing how stupid you can be, because you can't even see it.
Yes, we are all biased and that includes you.
Stop preaching your bullshit!
Stick to what you know --- STAY IN YOUR LANE!
Have a good evening.
Mark Cutone
If I could subscribe to your letter twice I would! Always look forward to getting them… each one worth reading. Not all I agree with, but that’s the root of intelligent discourse.
Screw the haters, they don’t “get it”.
Cheers
Ric Walkington
I think your work is fantastic.
Send four blogs everyday!
Keep up the great observations on popular culture as those are the best!
Cheers,
Mark
Mark Jacob
keep doin' what you're doin' - fuck 'em if they can't take it. that rachel missive was true (and gold)...
Denise Mello
Thanks for all the great emails and insights, we love you out here!!
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
Satoshi Nakamoto
I thought your piece on Rachel Maddow was right on - and knew it would get a reaction.
Don't let the morons get you down. You don't have to read their drivel, as you say it's about them not about what you wrote.
I never bother writing when I agree, but thought that this time you sound like you'd appreciate the support!
John Lobel
I like it better when you are pissed. Thank you for stirring the pot so well ! I don't agree with everything you write, but I keep reading. You on the edge is great. The same way the Stones on the edge are great.
Stay thirsty, or pissed.
Best,
Paul Logus
and i’m cool with 4 posts per day. when you’re on fire you gotta burn!
David Brownstein
You know this shit is going to happen. At least people open it up and read it. You said it yourself, people are stupid!
Keep going! so you get pissed off once in a while. Welcome to the regular world where people have to deal with stupid, insecure, combative people all day long.
"Testing the limits" You do it well.
Jeff Grossman
Love it
Ted Rupp
Well Bob, for what it's worth, you caused me to add her show to my TiVo. Hope that evens the score for you a bit.
Your pal,
Leo Munter
Right Rachel Maddox!
And right on to you Bob!!
PS If you didn't see tonight, Lawrence O'Donnell (not one of my favorites -- waaay too predictable) raved about Kurt Anderson's new book, "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500 Year History."
Toby Byron
Four messages seems just about right today. Thanks! :) Loved your Walter Becker post!
Was sure it would arrive - and loved reading it.
If it is the same people giving you heat all the time - maybe an outlook (or whatever mail system you use) email rule that puts anything from them in the trash would be a welcome relief? Or even a reply rule for their accounts on specific subjects? Must be some technology to bag this crap in advance.
Thanks again for all the emails!
-tom murray
Best email of the year! Preach Bob - testify!!
Tony George
Hell to the yeah!
Defensive and irrational and for god sakes, can’t be wrong, is social anarchy…
Sandra Vaughan
Preach it!!!
Rob Lamothe
I've never replied to you Bob, but ...
THIS was GOOD.
Enough.
Mike Frelone
Bobalooo
Hang in there Bro!
Fuck the idiots. They were stupid morons long before they sent you their garbage! But you know that.
And most of the Neanderthals can't even ski a lick!
Keep up the good work and know you are respected, pretty entertaining and mostly right on!
Jeff Shoaf
I don't mind if you send five Bob! There's always a point or two which is news to me, sometimes the whole letter is so refreshing I can't wait to forward it to those I know aren't on your list. It’s not a diatribe, it’s a point of view...should be the stimulus for thought and not a statement to EXCLUDE thought. I get it.
Brian Todd
Yikes. Probably should have slept on this one...and then decided tomorrow whether or not to hit “send.”
Mark Foreman
Take no notice of the naysayers, FWIW, they are the ones making the most noise, always. The majority would agree with you, but won't always write to tell you that. That's the way it works.
Empty barrels ...
Regards
Pete Meehan
I was looking for a Joseph Campbell quote for you about how caring too much about the opinions of others with regard to yourself is the surest path to hell, but I found this instead:
“As you proceed through life, following your own path, birds will shit on you. Don’t bother to brush it off. Getting a comedic view of your situation gives you spiritual distance. Having a sense of humor saves you.”
Rumi's "Guest House" poem helps too
Best,
Barb Prisament
You are so right on it just makes me tingle to read your efforts, so push on friend.
All the best,
Vern Fotheringham
Pearls before swine, Bob.
So many now are blindered by the sheer magnitude of the bullshit we are being assaulted with...things are far from "normal" right now.
"Interesting Times"? Understatement of the fucking Millenium.
Eyes on the prize...preach on, brother.
Byron Beyer
Daaaaayyyuummmm!!!
Props to you, Bob! Fuck the haters!!
Drew Massey
Thanks for the rant response. Loved it!
Jason Taylor
BIO. I can handle 5.
Be careful. You are flying too close to the political sun. Better people than us have been impaled here. Common sense has left the debate a long time ago. Best to wait it out. Sanity will return. History tells us not after needless destruction though.
Thank you for the passion.
Regards,
Konrad Hoenig
Keep your chin up. It takes a lot to constantly write, and consistently put out interesting columns.
Don't let it get to you. Thanks for the good reads.
Jeff Hyman
Keep up the good work. I've subscribed to your letter for a couple of years and I appreciate seeing the world through your eyes once in a while. You offer your insights and seems you cannot help but ruffle some feathers once in a while. Good. Keep them squeaking in their nests even if the sound is annoying.
Remember, don't feed the trolls. Remember the point you made about Taylor Swift sinking to their level when she should be above it. Keep your head up too.
Its the age. Everyone has a voice and an opinion on everything. As the saying goes, you know how stupid the the average person is, well, half of them are stupider than that.
Good night from NYC,
J Kinard
Let it out Bob, sometimes you have to vent. It must be insane the amount of bullshit replies you have to deal with. I'm not saying I always agree but calling Maddow a cow or an imbecile haha it's laughable.
And why people reply bitching and nitpicking is beyond me. You take the time to give people tons of value and great perspective. It's theirs to take or leave. And obviously a lot of people take it or you wouldn't have the following you do.
To quote Kat Williams "If you've got 5 haters you should get 10 by the weekend. It's their job to hate"
Fuck the haters bob, keep doing your thing.
Best,
Jebidiah Pinnell
Thank you Bob.. for your wonderful acknowledgement of Rachel.
I forwarded your piece to several friends.
Her research is thorough and impressive and I learn each time I watch
her. Fierce intelligence like that? That's attractive. I am grateful to her for
the serious work she puts into her show.. every show. This is brilliant Bob:
"Rachel keeps giving you information, history, and lets you decide."
Thank you again..
Very best,
Marc Shulman
I'm a Republican and thought what you wrote was wonderful. You used a successful person and taught people how one achieves success and more importantly keeps it. Please don't let people get you. You are far too important a person for that.
Warren Zide
Bob, you can't be one sided and expect the other side not to hate you. You wrote a hero piece on a talk show host who, while being very intelligent, is trying to play "GOTCHA!" for a $ just like the rest of the assholes on TV (both sides)
You either wrote this to get a reaction and you're being a smart man in today's media market or you're dumber than we thought and deeeeeep inside that CA bubble over there. Either way, I feel you got what you wanted - some sort of attention. Well done.
If you can't stand the heat etc... (but don't really get out of the kitchen, its too entertaining with you in it)
James Lyell
"why don't you start your own newsletter.
But you won't. That takes effort, and perseverance."
F those people Bob
Jim Henderson
Fuckin a. Love you bob. Fuckin a.
Chris / Seldom Family
Thumbs up! I needed this before I turn out the light. And I'm going to try to remember to watch some Rachel Maddow tomorrow. Thanks.
David Hutchison
I want to THANK YOU for encouraging me to check out Rachel's piece on MSNBC tonight (even if wasn't the point of your post ;), and sorry to hear you are getting bombarded with hate mail.
Rachel Maddow haters want to unsubscribe? As much as i'm for diversity of opinion, i think you have little to lose here - particularly if the indivdual who called her a cow wants to unsubscribe.
Jeff Pachman / GM - North America
Domino Publishing Company of America, Inc.
I'll dig in a bit: she is an investigative whistle blower who backs up her facts on a nightly basis - with no fat. She is a performer too, usually making us wait for the finger pointing punch (sometimes too long of a carrot dangle, IMO). I feel like she is about to jump into my living room and further her reasonably and mostly liberal point. She is the immediate future and here to stay while we wonder what she will be doing in five years.
Written while listening to Jethro Tull's Stand Up (on Spotify).
Rich Pagano
It stopped blowing my mind awhile ago, how many people in the music business are right wingers. Given how low the bar has traditionally been set for being "in the business," I am no longer surprised.
Jim Anderson
Aristotle once said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Still good words to live by.
Carolyne Mas
I'm gobsmacked that you even have readers that are so far right! This is the arts. This is showbiz -- and we veer left.
Wishing you well. And, please keep up your excellent work, as it is really appreciated!
EdwinRojas
Nice rant.
But, you're right.. Keep up the good fight. I'm a fan who appreciates it.
Jonathan Marshall
Don't let the trolls get to ya. After all trumps whole appeal - his superfan base- the angry, aggrieved, vengeance is mine muthafuckas who see everything as zero sum game. If somebody else is getting something that means that somebody is taking it from them. It's all attack. Second wave civil rights or whatever you want to call it, we're going to go through a race and culture war so to speak. It's time I guess. Too much under the rug for too long.
Laura DiMichele
Just now you're discovering this country is full of dumb-asses? And surely you've read the illiterate mail from your readers - even the 'smart' ones -- who don't know when to use an apostrophe, or why? Have you ever scanned Facebook? The percentage of people who know the diff between 'your' and 'you're' -- particularly in this biz -- continues to dwindle. It's all pretty dispiriting . . .
Deb Wilker
This is the exact type of shit I love to read before hitting the hay!
Thanks for doing your thing, Bob. Especially this flagrant "I don't give a fuck" to the idiots we are all subjected to read every time you send a "Re:" e-mail. You are communicating a sentiment I, and I assume many others, share every time we see their half-baked mutterings in response to anything even remotely political that you send.
Cheers!
Kyle Kuhns
Bravo, Bob! Good for you.
Best,
Pete Giambalvo
Bob,
I still like you!
Michael Busch
LOVE IT!! Seriously. I've felt this frustration over fellow members of my species more times than I can count. Every point you just made was so well said. Bravo!
Cheers,
Rhiannon (yes, like the song) ;)
How could anyone hate Rachel Maddow??? She's brilliant! She diligently researches the facts and explains them in laymens terms.. what has come to light recently and truly amazes me, is how different we really are as the American people! A split that is becoming larger and more pronounced under this leadership!
I never used to watch political news.. I never used to pay attention to politics ... now I can't wait to get home every night to see what Rachel Maddow is talking about! As a country, we're at a crossroads... I am hoping that our leaders will choose the right thing over party lines... but that hasn't been evident in the last 8 months!
Casey Lauren
You just crack me up. Isn't fascinating you can't even move a thought or observation forward without one side vilifying abject lesson. If there was a time in history to learn significant lessons it's now, as you so aptly observed, you included. These influencers are just that influencers with their finger on the moving pulse of thought. This is the best show on earth, they should look at this analytically Mable they'd learn something, god I have. Keep it up Bob, write your heart out its one of the best learning experiencing I have.
Thanks
Allen Miller
A perfect example of what is going on in the USA: Nobody bothers to read
past the headline?
I enjoy your missives. Don't let the semi-ignorant get you down.
David V. Neugebauer
No problem with sending this 4th email!
"BUT I'M STILL GONNA GET HATE MAIL!
And I do my best to ignore it, but sometimes it gets to me. You can't answer these people, because even if you prove your point they change the subject and say you're still wrong. It's about them, it's always about them."
This is the way it is on both sides. Both sides are prejudiced and intolerant. Both sides plug their ears if you go outside the parameters of their own belief system. What the heck happened to us?
Signed,
An American
Suzanne Bianqui
I totally "get" what your article stated. However, I hate Maddow anyway. :) She is good for feeding lefties the Trump Hate they require, though, and that's the real reason for her success.
Paul Christy
"we live in a world where no one is ubiquitously loved"..........:)
Michael McNabb
F*** the haterz, Bob. Keep on keepin' on, to paraphrase those dreaded Boomers.
Edward Ryan
Yep.
Deborah Hopper
Keep doing what you do. I am in "unsubscribe" mode BUT I'll not unsubscribe from your newsletter, for exactly the same reasons you connected to Rachel Maddow's show. BTW: found out about u from reading Seth Godin.
Again, thanks.
Julie Melmrich
I love Rachel.
Have for years.
The only show I dvr.
Rob Giles
I happen to agree with you on ALL points and shared it with my staff. We had a lively, good discussion. The point about "reaction" got the most "reaction" and led to some critical thinking. Everyone had different opinions but really listened to each other. We also discussed "new product" and "new ideas" and what that means to what we do for a living. Ahhhh, ,, the wheels are turning
insightmgt
Hi Bob, she is stellar. Night after night she weaves together the story and puts the puzzle pieces in place. I cant believe some of your readers think she's anybody's tool. She is so not pimped out. Don't waste your energy on stupid idiots that like to argue. Cinzia Zanetti
Rachel Maddow is brilliant, and she makes great points with substantial documentation to support those points. It's hard to disagree with her perspective ... if you one actually bothers to really listen to her. Hard to find holes in her theories. I'm totally a fan. Have not read your full Rachel write up yet, but look very forward to it.
Thanks.
Al Moss
I totally feel you, Bob. Haters are like right wing, conservative talk radio hosts. They just want to fight and it is super easy to make personal attacks and accusations. It is the ultimate go to for people too dumb to want to learn. Their lynchpin to win a fight is the equivalent of, "oh yeah, well your mom is fat."
Your loyal reader,
Allyson Marino
Feeling your pain...
www.ecosophia.net/hate-new-sex/ Mikabo Mikabo
I hope I can still appreciate a conflicting argument. Not yours, which I appreciated. But we all seem to be on one side or another these days and not open to allowing another opinion to change our minds---because it makes us look "weak"? Or "lacking integrity"? Who knows. It is just so depressing.
Where is kindness. ?And respect.
Chris Schmidt
NICE!!!
"...I'm only here to spark thought, to stimulate you..."
Much appreciated - keep doing what you do!
Michael Aukofer
Get 'em, Bob!
Dominick DeGaetano
Anyone who doesn't like RM isn't your reader to begin with. As TS would say, "SHAKE IT OFF"!! LOL
shalaman1
If you had only made a link between Ms Maddow and perhaps Foghat ,the reactionaries could have focused on the death of frontman "Lonesome" Dave Peverett and skimmed over your non musical analysis. It's weird how some of your readers can accept so many other opinions on a variety of topics and freak out over kind words for the smart lesbian. Makes one wonder about why they read your work.
Thanks for the recent information on the WTF interview with Alice Cooper and my feet thank you for the Allbirds.
John Brooks KFWB-KNX (retired)
you irritate sometime, but ALWAYS spark my critical thinking. thank you.
lol.
ps, it’s the neoliberal’s fault ;)
Lee Vandeveer
#micdrop
Bring it on Bob!
Jayne Haugen Olson
I'm pretty angry at you you keep calling you letters/posts "missives". You are a cow.
A tan one with black spots.
Christopher Sarda
Tell it like it is, Bob. On the money.
And four letters in one day. What a treat!
Mark Cubey
You snapped lol
Effess Records
Good on ya.
Douglas Jay Boyd
Please, at the very least consider shutting up!!
P.S. Yer piece on Walter and "Dan" was perfection,
Cheers,
Magic Matt Alan
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yes!
Lori Santos
I love you and your crotchety old Jewish point of view.
Throwing yourself right into the middle of the conversation is what you need to do, I mean how many years can you keep doing this? This is where you belong not talking about the music industry even though you love it and your following eats it up. You should be in the real conversation, there's too much crazy s*** going on out there and we need you Bob!!
You probably never read these letters anyway, but you've definitely got to start putting books together! There HAS to be a book called the Lefsetz Letters. They're absolutely has to be Bob, don't f*** around anymore get this done while you're still alive!
I think you've probably got at least three very very strong books in you. One is a version of your life story, because it's all of our life story.
The second is probably a Seth Godin meets Malcolm Gladwell meets Tim Ferriss. Don't take offense to that, that shits for real. The mothership of them all, is a book called the Lefsetz Letters. This is your Manifesto, this is your legacy, this is the be-all end-all.
You're probably be shocked at the publishing Advance as you can get, then that turns into speaking dates worth a minimum of $10,000 and up, complete with every perk you'd ever want.
THE BOOKS BOB - THE BOOKS!!!
Really grateful that you're alive.
Chris Johnson
Thanks for this follow up.
I usually lean right, for carefully considered reasons, but I voted for Hillary. I watched O'Reilly here and there, but Maddow just as much, and before that, Olbmermann, Ed Schulz, Hannity, both sides.
If you don't get opinions and fact from both sides, it's not different from being a bigot, really. "I hate Republicans" is not better than "I hate blacks". You don't know them all, you can't judge them without knowing them.
So your points here are perfectly clear and perfectly well taken.
Preston Bealle
Darien, CT
Love it!
Elaine Frontain Bryant
No Bob. She's a "useful idiot".
Kenn Kweder
Hate mail is a compliment and Rachel scares some of your readers who have a hard time believing the President is supposed to be smarter than us except this genius cannot even spell......you know you re on point when the C Team chimes in
Chris Apostle
Yes Rachel Maddow is not smart in my book but she is very organized. She misses the big and real picture . But her main problem is that she IS a LIBTARD and will always be, and therefore she is not very interesting. But only interesting to the middle brows who think they're being deep and informed. YUCK!
The truth is I'd rather hear about your first big rig that you mentioned but didn't go in to. It's those things that get the old neurons firing and evince the creative (non-fiction) writing.
So you had 4 missive today. The Maddow thing was not necessary. She's a pariah in our world!
John Barone in Hollywood
Send as many missives as you like each day, Bob. Every one is interesting, challenging and thought-provoking
Even the ones I don't agree with...in fact, especially those.
With best wishes.
Alastair Thomson
Maybe you were just simply wrong about her. She's not worth this much conversation.
Cheers,
Quentin
Now Bob, there's a lot of beliefs you hold that I think are total BS. If you're getting a lot of hate mail on Rachel Maddow that says a lot about your readers. I could get very insulting here, but anyone can draw their own conclusions.
While Rachel Maddow can be repetitive when she's trying to make a point, but as you said, she does her research and she's not a talking head. And she's bright and she's a progressive liberal.
So, what's there not to like? Unless you think Global Warming is junk science, the Russians didn't hack our last election, we need tax breaks for the wealthy, and doing away with DACA and building a wall make America a better country.
Or maybe it's just because she's a woman. An openly lesbian woman.
Will Buckley
Fuck’em, Bob — Rachel’s a Genius, writ large…
Thx for the articles!
Tom Asakawa
Keep doing what you do Bob. I sincerely appreciate your viewpoint. I don't speak up enough.
Phil
Bob, yours is a voice of reason making sense of the cacophonous roar that's out there. Popular opinion is polarized so you're gonna lose a few through the cracks. Screw em if they don't have the breadth of understanding beyond their own bias!
Sean Dillon
I am pretty sure MOST people are against "What she is" and therefore this negates anything she says or does. After all, most if not all her views are from the left of left.
and Thank God that is only about 1/2 of the country. The other 1/2 are glad we have a great President in office finally to protect our rights and laws the left so desperately wants to destroy.
AMEN and Go TRUMP!!
Jeff Whitner
I always enjoy reading your missives, Bob, but I gotta say you're super sexy when you're angry.
Gavin Miller.
Reading is fundamental. Most people don't read, however.
People are self important. They believe their opinion matters. They get likes on social media therefore the believe what they think must be valuable in the real world as well.
People are idiots. They get cut off in traffic or spurned by their spouse, and decide to rail against the first thing they see that ticks them off. If it happens to be an email, they hit reply.
Maybe they need attention. Positive or negative...so they troll you until you respond. After all, we work in a fame driven industry.
And lastly, take the regular assholes off your list. You don't need that aggravation. Fuck them. They don't deserve your insight. Be selective. Haters gonna hate. You have the ability to delete them from your list. Do it. Fuck. Them.
Wendy Day
The problem is that nobody understands basic logic anymore. I took it in college but they should teach it in high school. Once everyone understands the fallacious tendency we all have to apply the specific to the general, then maybe we can start to adequately break down the issues. Don't let the idiots get you down. But also be careful not to be as impatient with the ignoramuses as the conservatives are with anyone who doesn't agree with them. You're better than that and I can point to a thousand instances in your posts that support that. Stay impervious to the haters who will always hate. You are a bright light to too many of us.
Mike Barker
Thank you.
Really.
- Aaron Bock
Love your writing, Bob. Thank you for doing it with such passion and dedication.
-Bill
Keep fighting the good fight my brother!
B Peace
Continue on my friend. We are living in the true times of darkness and light. It is coming to a climax. Carriers of light and truth speak from the heart and intelligence. Rarely are they truly understood or appreciated. Their function in this play is pivotal.
Keep on challenging us all.
Best well wishes,
Brian Batch
Love this post Bob. Critical thinking is hard to find in people these days. I applaud anyone who fights against shallowness. I look forward to reading your posts everyday, I always get some piece of value out of it.
Best,
Bindu
1-If so many people missed the key point to your story, Rachel's stellar execution, then maybe the fault is with the author of the piece? For a stellar penman you may have missed the mark.
2-I DID recognize that your bigger point was that it was Rachel's execution you were so applauding; however, Rachel's show is such a 1-sided forum - not coincidentally coinciding with your politics - that it overshadows your point on her execution. If in any way her "building block" analysis has even a hole (or another side) there's no one that can really b a party to the forum that properly counters it. The show is not set up to "hear" the other side. To get a legit airing of the other side one needs to go to the WSJ editorials (notably NOT the WSJ news cuz their NEWS coverage is stellar and objective - yes sir it is and I'd implore you to give it a chance) or the Sunday morning news shows.
Good night and thank you for reading the commentary and always keeping us entertained and, most often, well informed (but, again, skip politics cuz your too passionately lefty!).
Howard Rosecrans
Right on! Actually, write on!
Britt Benston
Bob, You nailed it the first time. But I like when you essplain. I will never not read every word you write. I don't know much about Rachel Maddow. Seen her maybe 2 or 3 times. Not sure I even get MSNBC on my crappy cable tier. I seek to be informed, not entertained. Why are people so stupid? One word; laziness. Goes hand in hand like 2 adolescent lovers. Lazy about what goes in our mouths and what comes out as well. As well as the traffic in and out of our brains.
Greg Fegley
What is TRULY refreshing is the Truth and anyone on the Left is saying every thing but the TRUTH.
Maddow is letting her lifestyle determine her political views. On the left, they really like sexual perversion and lies that help their agenda of destroying OUR Country!
I will take what is BEST for the USA over Maddow period!
Jeff Whitner
Yes!!!
You are great!
And so is Rachel Maddow!
Robert Rosenheck
As an Independent voter, you fucking nailed it Bob. Keep on keeping on, and as you said, "The Haters will never be Players"...ain't that the truth.
Onward and Upward,
Jonny Zywiciel
Glad you wrote the original email and glad you wrote the follow up. And glad Rachel's getting the credit she deserves for being the smartest person on TV, working the hardest 5 days a week.
Sam Weston
Because of you I watched Rachel tonight.....
and was reminded once again there is nothing new under the sun.
So thanks for your voice, I don't always agree
but I always hear it.
Keep this going, we need your voice
Mark Richards
Nice!!!
Michael K. Clifford
Fuk the haters Bob - great writing. Keep on brother.
David Elkins
Nailed it.
Dennis LeBlanc
Love Rachel. Love you.
Beverly Mason
You are right on point Bob. Unfortunately we live in a country where ignorance, arrogance & fear seem to be the law of the land! Good Luck out there...you'll need it...we all need it!
Brad Rosenberger
I thought you nailed it in both emails Bob. The first one detailing why Rachel is so huge. And the second one (which you kinda presaged in the first) about all the pissed off "wish they were a fraction as smart so they'll bring out the big guns on ya... Libtard!" knuckle draggin' mouth breathers to tell you a thing or two about how she... well... stammer, commie, cow! Ugggh... Facepalm times infinity...
Nice work.
Ken Adams
No One in Particular (and damn good at it!)
Thanks for this and all your e-mails/missives.
You score target in almost all your messages. I LOVE to receive you in inbox always. Please send us a fifth one today. Please, do it!
Best regards form Spain,
Jesús Amaro
Whoa! HATE! e-mails? That F'ng SUCKS or...The Readership's DIVISIVE. On the Brink, Wits End, MELTDOWN. A Nation/A World IN Turmoil; Forces of Nature DISASTERS, Leader of the FreeWorld...A Disaster, Lunatics GOT the BOMB, White Supremacist RACISM...Escalating IN THE Union, Terrorism Marches On, The 800,000 PLUS ARE Disenfranchised...and Pop Music/Culture's Turning Our Brains To Mush))) That's a lot to be Pissed ABOUT. People GOTTA VENT, SO Let 'Em.
Keep up the fight Bob, Keep up the fight.
Olie Kornelsen
These people who sent you hate mail for expounding on the virtues of the Rachel Maddow show and missed your message are also responsible for the sh*t stew of a horror show we're now in as a country. They're Ignorant. Just breathe. This too shall pass hopefully sooner than later.
Best,
Seth Abramson
i just saw this in my inbox as it was approaching midnight , doing what I love. So glad I took a minute to read , and Amen to everything mentioned
Ps . feel free to fill my inbox on any subject about what pisses you off. I love it
Tim James
You're doing good work...smart and informative...amend that... very informative... very smart....thanks, for your hard work.
Dave Yarnell
Keep up the good work.
You continually focus on your circle of influence while the haters focus on their circle of concern.
I know I am in good company when I bring up your newsletter and someone else is a fan like I am.
Malama Pono
(Take Care, Be Right),
J Hatchett
Fuck the alt-right Trumpsters, Bob.
Maddow is excellent. Smart, informed, articulate, cool.
Dave Curtis
Don't let them get to you. The same trolls who thumbs down to everything. And don't be surprised by the vitriol of today's politics. You are doing good work. If they are getting in the way fucking block them.
Kevin Shipman
Truth
Cheryl Schayer
Jesus Lefsetz,
You don't even see that YOU are part of the problem now.
Ooooooh, you are "pissed off"..... Ooooh. "I never do this".....
Wow... Don't you see that Maddow is just another divider? Like all the others? And you lift her up as a champion to be honored? Like a rock star? Because of what? Her technique? Her execution? You wrote to praise her execution? Really? What did you expect? Seriously. You didn't think that this would bring a negative response from a portion of your readers? And now you are shocked? You seem a little smarter than that. She's a divider just like Rush Limbaugh. Just like Stephan Colbert. Just like Glenn Beck. Keith Olbermann. Michael Savage. Bill Maher. Bill O'Reilly. John Oliver. Matt Drudge. Just like all of them. They all earn money by picking a side and then helping them to dig in their heels. They aren't helping. You don't see that? And then you state "Hell I listen to Fox news on a regular basis, I read the "Wall Street Journal," I want to see where others are coming from, I'm open to the possibility I can be wrong."
But of course you couldn't be, could you? I mean the opposition hasn't swayed you to that possibility has it? So why are all these readers sending me these mean emails?? Why?
ALL these people are THE problem. They make a living off of dividing people. Don't pick one, point out how awesome they are, then say "I was just telling you why they are SO awesome!" and not expect a negative response.
"And god forbid you change your opinion."
How could you EVER be wrong?
Jesus Lefsetz. You seem a little smarter than this. What did you expect?
C Wolf
Mooresville, Indiana
Spectacular, Bob. You threw petrol on the IS-style self-absorbed locked-in mindsets in your midst. Instant Karma to them with this one.
Bruce Lipton did the same as a faculty-applicant to Harvard Physiology. The existing faculty and other delegates screamed their orthodoxy from the panel floor. He first slid down the white-board wall in shock, got his pants belt loop hooked on the edge of the white-board - true story - froze in the face of the unbroken wall of vitriol, cleared his head, shouted back at the slathering hoard with his breakthrough truths-in-ripost, was applauded at the end of his ‘F..k you too’ volleys carrying his inspired breakthrough research loudly into the mob, WAS APPOINTED TO FACUTY, immediately told them to FUCK OFF AND RAM THEIR FROZEN FACULTY UP THEIR ARSE, then went on to now be one of the guiding lights in the breakthrough field of Quantum Biology and epigenetics. Today’s heresy is tomorrow’s orthodoxy.
Keep rocking’ Bobby : ) : )
Paul Bailey
Well expressed, Bob.
A 'rant' of sorts is necessary at times to fend off the fuckwitz.
Bravo.
I first heard of you on Jay Mohr's podcast and the next stop was 1 on 1 with Gene Simmons ( classic )
Later on, Stern after show and EVERY newsletter in archive in spare time.
Many thanks for effort.
I am from Adelaide, South Australia, where Jerry Seinfeld told us last month he cannot leave quick enough from.
I quickly scanned your "Maddow, R." content couple hours ago and incorrectly assumed you were 'washing her balls' a la, vis e vis "Brokeback Mountain" styles, HOWEVER, when i took the time to read what you ACTUALLY wrote, NOT just what i THOUGHT you wrote, i was quite surprised and pleased in the latest newsletter and disappointed in myself.
So FUCK THOSE HATING LITTLE BITCHES that have no clue what lies beneath the layers of your simple CLEAR words.
Let them continue with their dismissive attitude when schooled and tubular arguments to fall back on.
Jesus Christ was the perfect man - and they killed him !
You gotta have ya ill-informed haters, without them, you work has no lovers.
And that ain't no way to spend the day...
Kind Regards,
Glen
Adelaide, South Australia
On a day like this I’d like to counter by saying I’m very Grateful for your though-provoking articles. I look forward to them each day and your insights have even helped me define some of my strategic plans. So FUCK the haters and know that a lot of us are true fans of your work. And btw your work resonates far beyond the good US of A… know that. The world needs two simples things right now. Empathy & Gratitude. We’d all progress so much with that.
Edo Van Duyn
What I learned from you is: set your boundaries! It’s okay to alienate the people who you don’t want to be your fans, customers, whatever. I hope you weeded out a good chunk of haters tonight!
--Kai Strandskov
This is the first time I've ever written a response to one of your emails...
I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your thoughts, perspectives, and especially your fire. I'm a working, touring musician, who has saved numerous of your "rants" because they're not just advice and perspective, they are checklists for me on how to create within the new paradigm of today.
Thank you so much, you're a brilliant writer and such an evolved intellect.
Gordon Bash
Bravo!
Patrick Pierson
Good for you, Bob. I would rather you "never" do this again. And again. And again. And...
The only reason I subscribed is because a person I sometimes see eye to eye with hipped me to your newsletter. You've provided and nurtured a house of critical thought for a severely destitute population. Artists are insane... if they're any good. Your views on perseverance will be taught over and again. Some people are statues. You're animation. Keep on keepin' on, man.
Maddow teaches like she wants to be taught.
I'm dying to have a conversation with you. Just about the Stern connection alone.
Terry Gottschalk
Keep going Bob.
I don't always agree with what you say, but at least you make me think about it.
I love your newsletter, one of the few I really enjoy reading.
Thanks!
All my best from Belgium!
Jan Digneffe
Yup, you have to realize that most of your subscribers either agree and/or simply don't have the time to craft a statement in agreement of your thoughts.
Most of the time it's because you're right, or at least make a compelling argument.
You have support. So much damn support. Keep doin yo thang, Bob.
Peter Husting- USC kiddo in the music industry program who values your words
Best to let it out Bob. What are the intelligence levels of your followers outside the US like?
On the plus side, at least your readers are taking notice!
Pete Flatt
Thank you!
This entire dialogue and reactions are why we are where we are. Facts are the used to be's. It used to be we ..... it used to only cost ....
as bill maher said so brilliantly, it's fine of us to argue about what the weather will be tomorrow. But only looney tunes debate what the weather was yesterday. And no, it's not debatable. What happened yesterday is set.
Another great thing about Rachel, she gets her errors out of the way at the top of the show, not during the credits. And they are few in number.
Thanks !
Matthew Kleiser
Actually you writing a fourth the same day made me nervous!
I thought the world truly must be coming to an end and bob needs to get it all in!
So now I know not to worry about you writing 4 in a day...and I can go back to sleep...
Just some imbeciles (fucking morons) who didn't read through or just didn't understand!
Phew! Lights out!
Roberta Shoten
Just a word to express my appreciation of your bulletins. I don't agree with every word, nor indeed do I read every word if the subject is skiing, about which I know little and care less. But I truly value your insights and punchy writing style, from which I try to learn every day.
So many thanks and more power to you!
Mat
Mat Snow
Thanks Bob
It breaks my heart how so many have found social media bravery to become negative, judgmental and antagonistic.
We created the greatest tool ever (internet) to investigate and form educated stances on just about everything and on so many levels it has gone to waste.
A recent political battle I witnessed on a friends Facebook page, the typical liberal/conservative diatribes, sent me on a search for a quote.
I found this.
It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness
Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for your writings. I certainly disagree on occasion but I respect your effort and intellect put into each missive.
Regards,
Rob Max
Executive Director
Sweet Relief Musicians Fund
Don’t be fooled by the fools. Lots of “us” get you. Your fertile mind prompts mine to celebrate all that is offered. As for Rachel, been following her since the early days of Air America. Now, there’s an intellect to respect. Details! Details! Details! Give me details.
As for the whiners, keep them pissed off. Encourage the thought police. Stops them from doing additional damage elsewhere. ……….j…….
Jean Raidy
Best epistle in a while, Bob.
I like it when you get pissed off. Never passively accept dumbassery.
George Rossi
Did you see this meme? "Boomers Get Of The Couch"
Not enough people read the article, everyone assumed they know what it is about without reading it.
www.google.com/amp/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59adfe8ee4b0354e440bf44e/amp Stephen Chilton
I'm really glad you live by your own advice and don't play to the 10% who are going to bitch no matter what. I find myself agreeing with most of what you say, but every now and then I disagree. It's always ok, though, and not just because of the infrequency of it either. It's ok because you clearly put in the work to articulate your point and you always give enough of a shit to assemble a case. On a lot of these issues it boils down to taste or what angle you're looking at the issue from. Thus, I care less about your "rightness" or if I agree with you than I do about you taking the time to think and articulate honestly. I've always valued that you speak your truth and it never feels like you're just trying to anger people just because you have a platform and you wanna piss on someone's shoes.
As Kevin Hart would say, "You do you, boo boo."
Regards,
Evan (a longtime fan)
Bravo Bob. Not about politics or left and right. Story-telling balanced journalism. We need more of it. And we need people to care about it - to want it and need it - and celebrate it.
It is a necessary piece of Democracy - fragile system that needs all pieces to work to serve its function. We are learning how fragile these days and the past eight years.
Keep up the dialogue!
Peter van Roden
I can see now I should have cc'd you when I forwarded your take on Rachel to 20 others. Only two responded. Variations of the same thing every time. Rants. Insults. Obscenities. Repetitive. Boring.
Hang in there my friend. Do not let them get to you.
Pat O'Connor
Only in America can you find so many people who are so wealthy and so lacking in culture and education. That will explain most of your hate mail. 2017 seems to be the Year of the Blowhard(Trump, Harvey, Irma, etc). Don't let them get you down!
-Geronimo Son
Loved this one. Just love it. Thank you. Never give up and never give in! And thank you for being of the male persuasion unafraid to stand up for a girl. - Roberta Donnay
"You can't answer these people, because even if you prove your point they change the subject and say you're still wrong."
This is something I learned. Well, not learned. Learned would imply that I "learned from" it. Sometimes I can't help myself and dive in. I'll give clear data on why what they have said is questionable, or clear examples that (for example) Muslims aren't cancelling Christmas. Then I think maybe it will get us somewhere, and they totally pivot to some mad tangent with the same frothing certainty. It's frustrating when you want to have a proper, grown-up discussion.
Andy Vale
Tell 'em Bob!
The #1 thing everyone should learn in life, is to be excited about being proven wrong. What big, new worlds it opens up...
Keep on,
Simon.
Keep doing what you do, Bob.
I don't always agree with what you write -- I'm a tech journalist at
TechCrunch by trade, so your tech business references in relation to
how the music industry needs to learn to innovate again are
particularly provocative, but it almost always makes me think, which
as you say is kind of the point!
Also I'm an old timer musician/band member who once had a dream of
getting a record deal, but, despite a few close calls, we didn't quite
make it. Still friends for life and I pulled a bunch of them back in
for an album I'm writing and recording 20 years later.
Love your playlists, too.
Steve O'Hear
Amen
Leon Alexander
I know you think you are the smartest guy in the room but your feedback speaks otherwise , this time you are wrong and the feedback indicates such ... MAYBE you don't get it .. As you are out of touch and are you used to being on a pedestal... That sound I heard was you falling off that pedestal... CRASH
Joseph A. Ondris
Don't let them dent you Bob. You're spot on.
Simon Bailey
I feel very sorry for you that you have to live with those "people" in the some country and breathe the same air.
Unfortunately stupidity is not a crime and I feel very fortunate that I dont have to deal with such kind.
I enjoyed your article about Rachel.
Have a great day,
Alexandra Winkler
Some of us are quiet. Thoughtful. We read. We watch. And we digest.
We talk to others and bring your points to them. We continue the conversation in small corners of the world outside of social media.
You bring prickly things to life, and for me, that’s incredible.
I want to be challenged. I want to look at something differently. I want to rethink what I “think” I know.
Stay weird and please keep on challenging us.
~Lynn
This isn't the critical thinking, curious brain's finest moment, is it?
Writing and making nuanced points. Real fun these days.
It's all about the knee jerk.
I'm a non-parroting-liberal in the Bay Area. I'm a pragmatic. I'm on team science and stats. Fuck dems and GOP. I'm anti-shit-that-has-proven-not-to-make-people's-lives-better. I'm very anti-violence. I was appalled by my fellow citizen's behavior two weeks ago, beating up on Joey Gibson and groups not recognized by the Souther Poverty Law Center as hate groups—groups with black members (self hating blacks, I guess). People tune out when I try to explain why it was shameful. I don't buy all the spoon fed, pre-chewed stuff that makes all my friends feel so good, like heroes (but solves no problems), all agreeing with each other. I don't, and they know it.
So here's where the knee jerk happens these days: When they see my name. I've had people fire back blazing when I was totally agreeing with them.
Real fun these days.
Andy Beach
Haters gonna hate.
Your system invites anybody (like me, for example) to comment whenever, directly in reply to your email. You curate those responses fairly, at least it seems that you do, meaning that you share many with us so that we get a flavor for reactions, other points of view, suggested corrections, additional stories, etc. This is good.
So take what you need and delete the rest. Fuck 'em if they don't get it.
Have a great day, thanks for all you do.
Jim Warren
You only have to say two words to those who accuse you of complimenting ANYONE other than Donald Trump: and those words are Donald and Trump.
Anyone ill-informed enough to vote for someone almost entirely BECAUSE he's uneducated, uninformed and spreading a racist agenda, shouldn't really throw stones.
What the FUCK has happened to this country that this even has to be SAID?!
It's damn scary - and YES, I'm damn scared.
Nuggitz
My father passed a few years ago as one of the most respected musicologists in the world. His number one lesson to his number one son? "People are stupid."
Micah Sheveloff
Bob, take a break. You're letting the news make you crazy. You are fighting with you own blog. You need to get back in touch with what's important. I suggest you rent a nice mobile home and drive out to the Bryce Canyon for two weeks, scramble some eggs over an open fire and look up at the sky at dawn.Clear your head from all the cross currents. Be well again
Thomas Geimer
Sorry, you just do not get it. You have no idea how many real people in this country totally disagree with you and your misguided beliefs. The silent majority has returned.
Rod Short
You're right to be pissed off, Bob, and it's OK to say so. Frank Zappa used to say that stupidity was a virus. I think he was on to something.
Keep on keeping on and don't let the morons drag you down.
Best
Adam Blake
"People would rather be haters than players."
So true.
Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck.
Bernard Punt
You were clear. Your writings brighten my days, and these concepts you share translate very well with my line of working also. It helps. Tunes me. I'm 62, and although I understand and enjoy many of the references, connecting the dots of memories, I don't need to swim in the past daily eh?
Keep up the good work, keep teaching. It's helping.
Scott Chmelar
Anyone saying "Libtard" ( or calling Maddox a "cow") is scared. Pretty simple.
Like you said....clearly and more than once - she is really good at what she does, irrespective of her politics.
Hugo Burnham
Bob, it's been a long day. Get some sleep. Keep in mind that 50 percent of the population has an IQ under 100. Ricky Nelson said it--"you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself."
Barry K. Herman, MD, MMM
Yup.
Signed,
Same Old Lady in Oakland.
I got your point which was lucid and an interesting one. I keep tabs on Rachel and watch her shows after the fact as well.
We don't politically agree and you and I don't but we have other touchstones and we each listen and Absorb and sometimes move needles.
And we can filter out wheat and chafe for our own interests
And you are a force of nature writer who has hits and misses but missing the hits like yesterday's piece on Walter would be a personal loss.
You have the ability to resonate and reach inside our emotions when you write about the music world. It's sublime and no one else does it like you do. Sometimes I feel all young and 60s and 70s again. Sometimes when you write up a song or group, memories stir and moments lost reappear. You are a kind of mind magician Bob. If I don't express my appreciation often consider it so and soldier on. They are idiots not to understand your gift. Lol
And I am still hoping you do the book!
Rick Vogt
Rachel Maddow an 'imbecile?' Please publish the emails of these ignorant assholes; I'm totally fascinated by this level of stupidity.
Darren Scott
Give it to them Bob -- I enjoyed this!
Paul Nash
Amen.
Greer Fredericks
Keep going Bob. The haters will hate. Your words inspire and inform. We need this, particularly now!
Ralph Jacodine
I never do this.. meaning I always read what you write, I'm always interested in your views and everyone else's .. I devour everything that gives me clues on life, humans, why we do what we do..
So, when I say I don't usually do this it means that I'm supporting you with my voice.
I'm a 60's hippy, I say that loud and proud..
I grew up having to find my voice against what I knew was basically unjust and wrong, black and white, no gray at all
My friends were being drafted right after high school with no say at all about that horrible war.. they were 18.. if they weren't killed they came back maimed and mentally gone.. I protested against that, marched for my belief.
Civil rights.. don't get me started!!! I'm so ashamed that everything I I thought would change with my voice with so many others hasn't changed at all!!! Seriously WTF!!
And we all had long hair , were judged for that, thrown in jail for a small spliff for 30 years.. those were the days..
But.. one of our saving graces was the fact that Minneapolis was the in between place for every great band to stop at when they were criss crossing on tour from coast to coast, Chicago too. So I saw everybody!! List too long to mention but Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix . Jim Morrison, Bob Marley, etc.. too many to say but we had an amazing legacy of brilliant musicians that came to play in our town and we so needed that to give our souls joy, hope, enjoyment in the moment of great music..
"How do I get you,
To mean what you say
And say what you mean"
Song lyrics I'm working on!
Never stop Bob, your voice is important!!!!
Kristi Kimsey
Happened to read your angry email before this one, and I'm amazed (sadly, not surprised) that people would react that way - you said it best, not ONE of those people would say that in a bar, at a supermarket or in front of strangers.
But inside, that's how they FEEL - you can't change that, and nothing drives greater pleasure than bullying the bullies themselves.
Cliff Rigano
All you hippy liberal baby boomers who SAVED THE WORLD in the '60's! With your protests and....what ultimately was a tail-turning exercise revealing how little belief there actually was in what was being said on the streets at the time. It was cool to do then, sure. Problem: it was vapidly empty in purpose or commitment. When money came into the picture hippies went to wall street, got rid of all practical regulations so they could get more money and look where we are today. Turns out Michael Milken was the hero to spur change, not Martin Luther King.
Oh, but the baby boomers. Everything is the best. Best music. Best of times. Best of everything. Funny thing is....not only was it the baby boomers who screwed it all up by protecting their pot of gold but now they all want to go back to the '50s. When they/you were kids and pretend all that they "did" in the '60s is still in front of them.
Now your followers in this tradition of music that led the way to your "revolution" are calling people on the left retarded. Retarded Bob. Really?
Maybe you need to do now what you did then and question your beliefs.
Hope you actually do read everything. Though I'm not cool enough to get a response because only people you can name drop have opinions that matter.
Greg Upham
1. Keep'em coming. As you say yourself, in this era, we're looking to go deep, so a fourth missive is very welcomed as far as I'm concerned.
2. It was clear, if anything, this proves people just see what they want to see. I may not agree with everything you point out sometimes, but in other to formulate an opinion, one must seek the information and explore.
Now not only it seems people don't know how to read, forget listening...
3. I've yet to get to the first two emails, but I just wanted to send you a message of support.
Best regards,
Pablo
The crux of the American problem
Ron Fierstein
Bravo
Thanks, Ed Fleck
Sorry you had to go through this
I thoroughly appreciate your efforts to bring important discussion to the forefront of minds of those in the music industry community that follow your blog: whether it's Taylor's outright mercantilism, general artist malaise at sticking it to the man etc
It's admirable you're taking a stand and willing to be transparent about such "sensitive " but necessary subjects - in Europe we are flabbergasted by the apathy shown in light of current events in your home country
Keep writing, keep provoking and keep sending
If only the haters could be persuaded into self - reflection and there would be some semblance of maturity amongst this community
Peace out
Vijay Thakur
The great irony in this latest 'missive' of yours is that you could be describing yourself, accurately! After all your bullshit YOU don't get it. There ARE two sides to every issue.
No hatred here, just annoyance
merky1028
I love it! Keep doing what you do Bob. Those of us with our critical thinking caps on get it, I assure you.
Bryan Lee
HATERS = SUCCESS
Most of your readers would KILL to have your HATERS.
Any Major Dude with half a heart would surely tell you so...
Brad Merritt
Right on, Bob! The level of ignorance about information and the focus on personal attacks of people who just might be different is unreal today.
Twitter and Facebook has made everybody stupid and reactionary, like WWF fans. The Hammah and the Claw! Get ‘em. Sheesh.
Ken Rimple
Reading...wrestling with the issues, and putting yourself on the line again and again... YOU are a BEACON OF HOPE, Bob!
And thank you for it. DG
This post is why I read your letters! This helpful list describes you, also. In addition to your content, your writing makes me feel as if we are friends even though we've never met.
I'm in Brazil for a week working with churches (more than 1000 Pastors)! Ever had Brazilian pizza? It's different but it's delicious. That's us.
As I was being enlightened by your letter, I thought of two songs reminding me of you: Imagine and You've Got a Friend.
Thanks for what you do and thanks for being you.
Best regards,
Rick Muchow
Bob - The people who wrote you clearly didn't read your whole piece on Maddow. You're right, they did miss the point.
The days of people reading to be informed are over. People want to opine more than they listen. That makes people perfect shills for politicians on both sides. The only antidote is working hard to be an informed citizen. But in an age of polarizing silos, I fear that's an ideal that's not going to be achieved.
Write on!
Tony D’Amelio
It's ironic - I read your Maddow missive and, as much as I disagree with her (and you, in general, on politics) it's not possible to argue with you regarding her success. In fact, you have helped me understand it better. Also, O'Reilly was more like reality TV than a true source of news or commentary. Couldn't stand him - or Hannity, for that matter - any more than her. You're right, she takes the time to carefully explain things - she is often beating dead horses. The problem I have is what she is trying to explain is often wrong. That's a different email.
David Murphy
Thank you for calling out the right wingers. So sad our society is so fractured that the only interaction between right and left occurs when they're helping each other in life or death Harvey type situations.
I'm 54 and don't remember such polarization or was I not paying attention when I was younger?
Hal Kempson
It's great Bob. Do your thing. Love or hate you take a stand and make us think.
It's about technique and a persons ability to raise the bar no matter heir craft. A great melody, a great line, or informing others in a unique way then letting us make our own mind up.
The fall of the American empire - New Statesman
apple.news/AnRJUfgzEQai_HBemukHPRw On holiday from UK with my wife and largest base is Americans. It's a study in the above link in many ways!
Alan Cassidy
Thank you, Bob.
Brad Callahan
Keep doing your thing. You are right and Rachel is nobody's tool or fool. She's as smart and as well informed as anyone on TV and her IQ undoubtedly exceeds that of the collective total of the 3 halfwit hosts of Fox and Friends.
Don't let ignorance and prejudice get to you. As HL Mencken famously wrote" No one will ever go broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.
Keep the faith.
Stephen Dessau
"She radiates intelligence. She assumes you're smart."
"But self-evaluation is out the window. And god forbid you change your opinion."
You just summed up Maddow and progressives...cognitive dissonance. Yes, all white people are Nazis.
Your political missives, and adulation of rappers selling a sickening misogynistic death culture and mind poison like Drake, they're just ridiculous...but your heart is in a good place, I think.
Love your stuff Bob!
Michael Lang
Bingo.
Thanks for sharing, Bob. And thank God for you.
Melissa Marchese
You aren't always right---who the hell is?
But in the case of Rachel Maddow, you're absolutely right. Spot on as they say.
So keep going.
Chuck Mitchell
1). There was a time when I used to be "right of center". When political lines were a little more blurred, so to speak. That changed, for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the rights tendency to enthusiastically insult anyone who dares to think and express a different view from their own. And put their name - not always a fake one - to it!
It's all about hate now, not pragmatism.
2) I suspect that most of your negative, hate filled responses are actually from paid trolls who monitor "left wing sites" like yours. You may think your just a guy with a keyboard, but to them - you're the enemy.
Dave Betts
Thank u for this. I honestly believe TRMS should be required viewing in high schools. The best history teacher I've ever had is Rachel Maddow. And as icing: she also makes me extremely proud to be gay. I cannot sit through any news program but hers. I like watching Maher and Noah, but they're a completely different breed. Maddow is a true journalist and she always gives credit to the local journalists that make her show possible. Maddow 2020
Rami Ramirez
Love it. Your letters have always been thought provoking and entertaining. Excellent writing. Keep going and check the stupid ppl occasionally.
~ Tamara
Maybe Diane could help wrestle these lyrics into shape? Who knows, never hurts to share.. Ok sometimes , but let's be positive!!!
Kristi Kimsey
Love it Bob. Keep them coming. We need you.
Justin "jb" Bolognino
I'm with you Bob.
Michael Des Barres.
But if my audience can't read, can't wrestle with the issues, what hope do we have for America?
It's the same all over the world, Bob.
As you know, the thing that freed us from ignorance and the medieval mind was the Enlightenment. Less than 400 years ago we began to learn Critical Thinking. It created the modern world.
And now it's under attack. By religious leaders who recognize the threat of thinking. By governments that see the same thing. And, what most people miss is that certain media - TV is number 1 - have rewired our brains (yes, "the medium IS the message") so that we are losing the ability to think critically.
The embodiment of all this is Donald Trump.
John Parikhal
I have never felt compelled to write you. I read you faithfully but this post was too important not to write something.
Most people are so busy reacting, (or I should say over-reacting), to an opinion or to a written presentation or story that they not only miss the point while shoveling loads hate and distain upon one who dares to make an intelligent stand, but they continue to drown themselves in the swamp of ignorance and negativity. They miss out on all the details. They an never understand another persons position. They don’t read. They skim read and call it knowledge and spew the hate while waving the banner of “MY freedom of expression - MY constitutional right”. True one has that freedom, but that does not grant one the license to be stupid though.
Haters unfortunately have alot of followers and HUGE pep-squad and audience. Hate breeds hate and history shows time and time again the pitfalls. All the more reason for you to keep writing and stand your ground.
Keep pissing people off Bob. Even me and for the record I won’t hate you for it.
Have a great day! You deserve it!
John Jackson
Cmon Bob you've been doing this long enough. Most people who responded most likely didnt read the entire email. They saw one sentence where you said something positive with out considering the context. They stopped reading after that.This is the world we live in. What you wrote was more than a paragraph and damn whose got time for that.
I dont always agree with you in fact I disagree more than agree but your points on Rachel were spot on and it had so little to do with her politics. People dont read people dont listen. You shouldnt be surprised
Jeff Appleton
Much respect, Bob.
Justin Noto
Keep it up Bob.
Please.
I really appreciate your emails.
No i do not always agree.
That's great.
We are a richer society thanks to the exchange of ideas.
Seeing the world from someone else's point of view.
Guess i was lucky.
My father decided to leave the states when i was 7.
Grew up with 3 different cultures.
Helps you see the world differently.
We are in the same boat.
Just we don't see it.
We have so many distractions.
Created by us.
And the media.
To keep the mindshares away from the important topics.
Topics you bring up regurlarly.
Corrupt america/governments
Inequalities
...
Thank you,
Mathieu Spencer
Plac Zamkowy 15/19 m3
00-267 Warszawa
Your newsletter is remarkable, ever since I read the first one months ago I've read virtually every one which usually never for me given all the "drinking out of the firehose" garbage we're all inundated with. I read you because your experience is real, your point of view is well thought out, I worked as a musician and I'll always will be interested in music and the music business. I'm a curious, hopefully creative person. Screw the ignorant half wits that think they can annoy you.
Earl Oddstad
Bob!
Nice work.
Billy Fields
"I'm open to the possibility I can be wrong.”
Nailed it. The problem is 99 and 44/100 of the population feel they’re NEVER wrong.
Mat Orefice
Right on Bob. As Churchill once said, the best argument against democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter.
Zach Ziskin
I love it when you're pissed off.
Nancy Folgmann
I've been reading you for a few months; your writing has made my day on more than one occasion. You speak my language as one who appreciates the music that formed so much of our culture - and ourselves - 40 years ago (or so).
With this last letter, you've won me completely. Thank you for articulating the truth about the ridiculous, self-absorbed, mindless ways we try to label people and make them fit our paradigm of what's right and what's wrong. What you've written about HOW Rachel Maddox has found success demonstrates, at its core, a tremendous respect for people. Which there is a shortage of, these days.
Grateful for what you're putting out into the world. Don't give it up.
Beth Stoddard
You were right then and you are right now. Imbecile? Maddow was a Rhodes scholar. She is whip smart, and a great communicator. If people can’t understand your observations about her the non-political elements of her success and respond to the substance of your review, they are too blinded by hate to engage. Don’t waste your time trying to convince them to understand. They just hate.
Scott Johnson
I'm a young person in the industry, I can say most of my peers have started to learn to ride out hot air, and act in the blind spots of those who don't get it. That's the current long game, and that's the only way we'll truly win or be heard. At least for now.
Blake Foster
It's really disconcerting. When you wrote about Kid Rock I didn't complain.
I'll say it again, the foundation of rock and roll is very liberal. Elvis loved black music. Sam Phillips loved black music. Black music is the foundation of rock and roll. The old delta blues guys invented the blues out of nothing. There was nothing prior other than the melodies they brought from Africa.
A little bit of mountain (hillbilly) music and some old African rhythms and blues scales and there it was.
Our music was always a rebellion against closed minds. That's gone, and with it went the vitality of the music.
Richard Sales
Thank you for doing what you do, Bob. Don't always agree, but find your missives thought provoking.
As they say, "Haters gonna Hate."
Marty Corry
Never stop speaking from the heart sir! Fuck all these ignorant, brainwashed pawns who just regurgitate the catch phrases Fox News etc implant in their impressionable, fearful, and racist minds.
They're lost and will never return. They're asleep and will never wake up. They've got Stockholm syndrome and don't even know they're in a prison of thought(lack of).
Josh Rice
I like it. One of my favorites bc I feel the same way as a moderate in a world of polarized extremists.
Craig Davis
I loved your article(s)!!
Keep your chin up!!
Dave Westrich
I'm on your side. Anyone whose argument consists of calling someone a "tard" doesn't have an argument.
Donald Bartenstein
I sent you two knee-jerk response emails about Dave Morell a couple of weeks ago that I have regretted ever since. It's been close to 15 years since I've even seen that guy - why put that negativity out in public? People are predictable in the way they respond to that which they disagree with. At least you know you're pushing buttons.
I'm sure it gets exhausting.
David Wallace
Bravo!
Brian Carrion
Amen.
And by the way, Rachel is not a cow. She's a work horse and a damn fine one.
Mary Storms
Although I don't have an opinion on Rachel Madow as I've never watched her show, calling your readers; stupid, assholes, jerks, idiots.....says a lot about you.
Your anger will destroy (has destroyed) you.
Calling someone a cow is just as bad as calling someone an asshole.
Maybe being more stoic would benefit you as you are taking your blog way too personally.
Michael L Feinman
Keep on keepin on Bob....you're great at what you do and I look forward to your articles!
~Pam Colon
Rachel Maddow is mandatory viewing in this house. As you say, she breaks complicated issues down to the bone, injects back history and stays on point. Her August vacation caused us spend more time watching CNN restate the obvious, one talking head after another. No depth, no care. Also, too many arrogant unworthy face time pundits from Trump arsenal there to disrupt and bury the facts. I too give Fox a view, not for facts, but to check out who scrubs their teeth the whitest.
You are right, Maddow is a star. You can watch to her or you can listen to pop icons so far out of touch they have become as irrelevant and comical as Fox and friends. The Rachel Maddow show, as you say, is ‘hard work’. That’s no jam session with a few aging rockers at a local pub. That’s research, rehearsal, timing, staging and craft.
Wait, I’m the guy who watches the View and thinks the cast injects more passion and truth in the first twenty minutes than FOX or CNN twenty-four-hour news cycle.
First time ever posting. Damn, you can write!
Bill King
Love it Bob.
The world has too many pot-shotters and armchair quarterbacks looking only for echo chamber validation.
Give em hell.
People are digging Rachel because she sets context, and makes a smart, detailed presentation. And she does it with charm and earnestness. Her content's not full of stock liberal bumper stickers. And you can watch cable news all night and still be surprised by her. She's an original, and she works her ass off.
Thanks for your honesty and energy.
Paul Gigante
#1 They don't know the definition of paradigm
#2 They are threatened by strong women
Not your issues, but surprised you didn't see this coming.
Have a good day.
odail lawson
Count the yes votes. Ignore the whackos. Keep it rolling!
Paul Rasmussen
In the words of Tay-tay....Shake It Off.
U da man. Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Joe Griffin
Relax and enjoy! You are getting a (predictable) reaction.
Best line here: "I want to see where others are coming from, I'm open to the possibility I can be wrong”.
Now, that’s the message EVERYONE I KNOW needs to hear!
Happy Hump Day!
Larry Allen
Thank You.
Sincerely paul sansone
For the record, I am very happy to get new emails from you, even if it's 4x in one day! And for the record, I got your Rachel point the first time. Not bragging, just wanted to be one of those who weighted in on your behalf. If you're keeping score I'm sure we are still in the minority. But plugging away nonetheless. Thanks Bob
Buck Williams
shake 'em off, Bob!
I, for one, appreciate you shaking me outta my self imposed liberal bubble once in a while (even though I live in Oklahoma, you'd think that would do the trick)
libtards...hilarious! the stupidest put down of the right, yet you use it with skill to get me thinking.
Joe Schicke
Fuck the haters. Ignore them. You’re doing a great job, and you know it.
Bob Davis
You should do this more often. Amen.
Taylor Calley
Not sure what all the fuss is about. The points to cover in this email are valid and can be applied across the board.
I happen to like Rachel for the very reasons that you mentioned because she lays out facts and lets you decide. However, I've got friends on the other side of the aisle, very opinionated ones, who can't stand her and I get it. I've even been thinking of declaring that I'm now an independent because there are too many holier than thou voices on the left which I never saw till I moved from Los Angeles to South Florida. For me it's all a matter of common sense and what works for me and/or my business.
Anyhow I just wanted to send something to balance the hate mail, to reinforce what you've stated. Now I'm off to prepare for the hurricane…
Greg Philippi
Haha. This was a long time coming. THANK YOU. I have been reading your emails for only 3 years and the main reason I keep reading is that I like to see a well-articulated piece from your perspective (toward which, most times, I have an opposing view). But I love the challenge of seeing it your way. Learning. Intelligently. Perspective is everything. Thanks so much. Keep it up! ~ Barbara McGee
I thought it was a brilliant article, while I don't agree 100% with her I still read the article. Keep up the good workrk
Tim
love it, keep writing!
Seth Crothers
I recognize the need to vent. It's a frustrating world these days. I did not comment on the Maddow post and have never emailed anything negative to you. I enjoy reading your content. Calling people that disagree or think differently with you dumb and idiots is probably not the best example of helping the situation. In a world where the line has been drawn your either left or right - you stand for the national anthem or support Kapernick it's hard to say or write anything and not have it labeled, judged and attacked. I would love to have an option to watch an unbiased news content producer - but that does not exist anymore. As long as you write negative content about Trump and positive content about Maddow - sadly you will be quickly labeled and dismissed by most readers. I'm in the middle on so many topics and for the most part a caring and genuine person. I'm a white Republican from Indiana so my role in this divisive battle has been chosen for me. Nobody wants to understand each other or talk it out, but I'm raising my hand to let everyone know I want to talk about it all! Be nice, do good. That's the right path to follow. Look forward to your next post. Keep writing as you feel and know even though we have been put on opposite teams I'm still listening and reading.
Mark Dubec
The political divide in this country is ridiculous.
Ken Madson
I share your sentiments exactly. You wrote everything I would love to say if I had an audience big enough to make a difference! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, it's unfortunate that some people are so thin skinned that they can't consider an opinion that differs from their own, but then again it's difficult for those people to entertain the idea that they are wrong.
Preach on brother, preach on! Maybe, just maybe, someone will realize that they have been a complete ass and really need to consider the possibility that they have had it wrong all along!
Thank you for showing that common sense still exists!
Dan Tackett
Dude you need to relax.
You should know better than your subs. you created this community, don't get mad when it bites back at you.
1) Ignore the trolls.
2) If your community blows up at you, maybe it's you.
3) at the end of the day, it's not life and death. They are just words, and no one's perfect.
stirlingllc
Preach, Bob.
Colin LaVaute
I couldn't agree more! People today talk AT each other, meaningful dialog is dead. ;-( They express their opinion and may or may not listen while you express yours as they are thinking about what they will say next. Intelligent conversation on critical topics has stopped.
I don't know where we go from here but I'm saddened overall at where we are.
Thanks and Best Regards,
Gordon Shenkle
Keep doing the great work that you're doing.
Appreciate your missives even when I don't fully agree or relate.
Rachel Maddow is doing a wonderful service and widening the depth of the understanding in the conversation, when there is one.
Thanks,
Paul Bronstein
Rachel Maddow is The Now and Future. Fully support your hypothesis. I’m an older almost wanna be rock star but I tried, I see the same fire in her eyes. Brilliance is nothing without the work, and she’s in it for the story, pure and simple. That’s how it used to be and that scares the bejeezuz out of the “caretakers” of the other paradigm, one where we are to obey and not think.
Len Ottesen
Rachel Maddow might be a little pedantic for some, but not for me. She does the things I care about: ferrets out the facts, provides well – researched context and she tells the truth. Not to mention the fact that she will correct herself willingly when she makes a mistake.
Reporters like Maddow and Chris Hayes and, more recently, Ari Melber, are exactly what cable news needs: smart, educated people with the desire to ferret out the truth, the energy and resources to back it up with research, and the courage to discuss it frankly with credible sources from a variety of perspectives. Melber has been particularly good lately at finding people from the other side who are willing to go toe-to-toe using facts and without rancor. It's useful and it's great TV.
You seemed to backpedal a bit in this latest email. I'm surprised. I thought your comments about her and the reasons for her success were right on.
Mike Farrace
FANTASTIC!!!
Good for you. Makes your point even clearer!
Mike Alviano
I've been reading your emails for almost a year now .And I want to let you know how grateful I am for you and for what you are giving to the world. I really appreciate all your viewpoints and self expression without trying to please anyone. You are one of a kind and I am sure you are helping a lot of artists staying true to themselves and making a difference in this world and encouraging them to move on and think big . You definitely have inspired me . I would love to meet you . I am based in London and happy too meet you whenever you are around or have some time.
Looking forward hearing from you ,
Margit Viirma
You once wrote something like "if you can't juggle two opposing thoughts in your head, the joke's on you"
They can't keep up. Not your fault.
Keep it up.
Bruce Prokopets
Keep doing what you do!
Now more than ever please!
Anne Buckley
Yes, you might disagree with her politics but it is impossible to hate Rachel Maddow. She is an intelligent, well educated and beautifully spoken woman who presents in a very agreeable way. So many creeps out there to hate, if that's what you're made of.
Suellen Zimet
I'm at a loss as to how to talk with my friends about politics.
Try flipping back and forth between "Morning Joe" and "Fox and Friends" if you want to strobe your epilepsy.
Critical thinking didn't used to mean being critical of thinking...
Carry on,
Kevin Ritchie
Bob, the haters tripped over "paradigm." The same blowback you're receiving, I fear, is how we have a dangerous incompetent as president.
Michelle Kane
First off, I enjoyed your article on Rachel Maddow, so I'm not writing ot complain about that. I just want to ask a question. Did you ever consider that maybe you are not as good of a writer as you think you are? Perhaps that's why people misunderstand your missives.
Alex Speer
it's impossible arguing with Trump supporters. unlike you and me, they will not stray from any belief that doesn't fit their narrative. and that narrative is molded from Fox News and now reinforced by a president who only watches Fox News.
they don't see that we've slipped into fascism and authoritarian rule and it's getting worse by the day--our right to vote and to assemble and to have clean air and water all being under attack and a president who thinks he and his white cronies are above the law.
I seriously wanna shake these people but you can't get through to them, so it's not worth trying. but sometimes I try and wind up pissed off and frustrated like you were.
Mike Farley
Smart, articulate, educated Women and especially those that aren't attracted to men, scare the shit out of uneducated, small minded men's little brains - both of them.
John L. Mooy
Kudos on the Maddow piece. It’s insightful, as is your rebuttal to the imbeciles who rule America.
Terry Maraccini
Hey Bob. When it comes to politics your are as divisive as anyone I've read. How you define everyone on the right is disappointing. You paint with this gigantic brush of hatred. Hannity - go away, Tucker - go away, Madow - go away, Matthews - go away. Everyone of these people will say anything for ratings. They are ALL responsible for a country divided. Turn off the TV and help your fellow man. Be kind. Respectful. One person at a time. It my hope that those on both sides of the isle can get together and compromise. It's what I continue to pray for. I'm praying for you too friend.
Dan Weigleb
You nailed it when you said 'I want to see where others are coming from, I'm open to the possibility that I could be wrong.'
That's the definition of generosity! Wouldn't half of this country's problems be solved if that was the statement we all had to live by? Make America Great!
Steve Chrismar
I agree with your points about Rachel Maddow- I think she is very courageous in what she does, and I very much appreciate her vibrant energy and, as you said, her assumption that her audience is intelligent.
Yes, she makes mistakes, but so do we all.
With appreciation,
Anne Trachtenberg
Thank you for you!
For being intelligent, well-informed, articulate, open minded, and unafraid of speaking your mind.
Exactly the kind of people we need!
Merry Brown
I think you're right on the money, Bob. Keep it up. Don't let the assholes get you down.
Kevin Griffin
Wow Bob! What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where your readers don't....or won't...simply READ the newsletter they've subscribed to?
Keep on keepin' on!
Brian Illes
Mechanicsville VA
I thought we maxed out the hate meter back in the 60's with the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK along with the trial of the Chicago 7, Kent State, etc. I thought the election of our first African-American president signaled a watershed moment in our national healing but apparently I was wrong.
Recent events have had me realize the slowness of human evolution. We take a step backward for every two we make forward. We don't live long enough to see the big picture so what is there to do but continue working to make ourselves better human beings? In the end, I know the only person I can change is myself. As for those who only want what they want no matter the cost to society and the planet? Well, it is said virtue is its own reward... the same can be said for stupidity.
Don't let the haters get you down.
Jack Casey
Good that someone finally did say this….thanks!!!!
Arte Nathan
Send as many posts in a day as you like, Bob. Never get sick of them
Tim Lemieux
Like it or not Bob, you have the eyes and ears of many and with that comes the unwanted stuff. You have way more people that are inspired and aligned with you than the people who spew the hate. Toughness is face to face interaction and these people will never say the things they say to the flesh. If you're pissing them off you are truly winning.
We are with you my friend.
Thanks.
Lee Posner
Well said Bob!
David Wolnik
Three Oaks, MI
I guess you have to stop using polysyllabic words like “paradigm”, so the knee-jerk reactors don’t have to think when they read your emails.
Thank you for your passion and insight. I am so glad I found your newsletter around the time I retired. Not only do you spark my memories of the 60’s and 70’s, but you also make me think about the world today, sometimes in ways I would not normally. You, sir, are a national treasure!
Best Wishes,
Gerry Hebert
I love you!!!
Go Bob!
Ray Foley
Bob,
Loved the article, AND your directive here. Thank you!
Josh Orenstein
excellent! I sssooo look forward to your thoughts .. and rantings even! keep up the great work and thought provoking writing.
Diane Hayden
I loved your article on Rachel Maddow! It was right on point, starting with the title, "The Rachel Maddow Paradigm"!
Ed Maly
One of your very best,Bob.Keep at it!
Clark Luster
Thank you Bob .You will loose some sleepers on the way. Sometimes you've got to shake people to wake them up . There are few to do the shaking in this apathetic god bless america world. And if people are reasonable they are being roused. I feel a sense of hope because of your blogs and that you actually give a shit. Please don't stop
Love
Michael Brunnock
Good morning Bob.
I enjoy your newsletters . . .for the most part. They are thought
provoking, but sometimes come across as the old man screaming "get off my
lawn."
Keep doing what you are doing. I'll keep reading.
Best wishes for the new year.
Phillip R. Hurwitz, Esq.
Don’t back down and don’t stop….your newsletters invoke the best emotions and thoughts in my world …yes you even piss me off to the point of me sending a not nice email ….but I know that you are always on point, never back down, and have a moral compass that points true.
I have never sent you an encouraging email and that will change today….you fight the good fight and you should know that there are some grunt workers in music biz that love your writing, views and passion….if you are ever in NYC and like to hear the day to day world of indie distro or need a good spot in midtown for a beer on me just give me a shout-out.
Best and always a fan
David Kerr
You compared journalism with art. I'm proud that you felt the need to explain yourself but not necessary. I totally got your allegory on comparing Maddow's viewing numbers with streams and the "proof is in the pudding" and all. You just picked up the rock for all of us to look under and some can't help but be bug and crawly thing bigots. To be gay and to tell the truth to many moravangilists is an oxymoron and cancels her out. A cow? Now they are really showing their hand. You did good and I loved the Walter Becker comparison. After all, some people just hated Steely Dan and the volatile sarcasm and conjecture stacked on top of sophisticated chords. In other words the truth with class and Shakespearean wit. And that's what Rachel Maddow does with her journalism.
Kenny Lee Lewis
Settle down, Bob. Don't let them make you blow a fuse, it's not worth it.
Everyone at home's just another shmuck with a keyboard, trying to make sense of life and doing a bad job at times.
Who cares what we say?
ljcurletta
I hear you man. Loved the R M piece. Remember that folks like me have the window down and are listening, but you've got your head out the window taking it full on. Appreciate it I do.
Steve Kirkman
go for a walk.. in the forest or on the beach or just anywhere ... best with a great four-legged buddy.
These people suck and they suck any and all positive energy surrounding them into their black hole of anger.
...and they are everywhere.
"Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."
Jimmy Buffett
K Hunter
Vancouver
Love email-
To balance out the hate mail.
I love your writing, love the Rachel Maddow show, and love our crazy country with all of its flaws.
Love, love, love,
Ashleigh Prather
Hi Bob, just needed to write and tell you how much I enjoy your e-mails, you have quickly become one of my favorite messages. I know this because I often think when I read them, I have to tell my wife about this when I get home, and I find myself quoting you often and thinking about messages from months ago that stay with me.
No sure HOW you have the time to do these but thanks and keep it up.
Sincerely, Peter J. Riley
Not surprised at all about the reaction you're getting (disgusted, but not surprised), and the reason is fairly simple: we live in an "us vs. them" culture that feeds itself on outrage. There is no "self-relection: as you mention, no room for nuance, no attempt at understanding when we'd rather focus on what once was a superficial "other side" is now doing to wrong us. And, sadly, that separation has now taken hold and become frighteningly real.
Keep writing, Bob...and don't worry about getting pissed off at the simpletons that you occasionally provoke. Bubbles burst when the winds around them grow stronger.
Michael Wolfe
Westport, CT
Thank you for being a voice of reason in this turbulent world. Keep it up...
Mark Donovan
Right on Bob!
The reaction you evidently got is EXACTLY the problem with America today.
As a Futurist, I get the same problem when I speak about what is going to happen and why; people don’t realize that having a point of view is a filter through which they see the world. Which means they are missing something as the only constant is change.
I have followed Rachel since her Air America days [I was working with Chuck D on a project back then and he was on their air] and sure she can annoy me with her mannerisms, tapping the pencil and such, but she takes the time to provide CONTEXT. In these new times ‘context is king’ more than content.
Good piece on what successful execution means today.
P.S. as a blog writer I am always amazed at your ability to be so prolific. Four from Bob in one day: no problem!
P.P.S. you are right more times than not, but you always make me think. What more could anyone ask for? Thanks!
David Houle
FUTURIST. SPEAKER. THINKER.
It's the backlash against intelligence, Bob.
Tom Lehr
Visiting some grown-up educated friends in San Diego (60’s; a scientist and an attorney), and as we watched Rachel last night, we were echoing your thoughts that we love the context, we love the ‘vintage’ pictures, we love the history, and not merely histrionics.
And I love that the first break doesn’t come till about 15 mins in! Now there’s proof that she is making MSNBC money!!
Cheers, Marcia Hrichison
Good Morning, Bob! You rock!
Please keep telling it like it is!
THANK YOU for your insight! Most of the time I agree with you and sometimes I don't. However, you make me think. Much appreciated!
Darlene Gorzela
Warner Bros. Feature Post Sound
I definitely enjoyed your response to the haters out there. I got the paradigm thing first time I read the original Maddow piece. It wasn’t a political polemic at all. Sheesh. No wonder there are so many dumb musician jokes out there. But hey, I hate to use Nixonian terminology but most of us readers are the silent majority. We like reading your columns, feel little need to engage in a debate with you. Keep those hits coming! All I want is some truth!
Chip Lovitt
I really appreciate your e-mails. I often don't agree with you, but your opinions are very thought-provoking at the same time. I'm sorry you've had so much hate mail. Don't stop sharing your ideas and evaluations of the music business and the world.
I met you at NAAM several years ago with my producer Barry Marshall after we sat in and listened to your panel. It was so refreshing and you really hit the nail on the head with your commentary.
You probably get so many e-mails that you won't have time to respond which is totally fine. I just wanted to send you a note thanking you for all the time you put into this newsletter.
Becky Zigo
St. Louis, MO
Fabulous. Fuck ‘em. Blessings.
Gregory Conniff
This is absolutely spot-on and well-written, Bob. I understand your anger. I'm in the music and composing worlds and I've been following you for a while, and though I don't alwaysagree with you (usually I do), I respect that you've got a viewpoint like this and that you aren't afraid to be wrong or to change your opinion, both of which happen to be the tenets of true humanity and real science. They are also the only way that the world can move ahead and not stay stuck in the hardened, pouty mud of the past.
I know plenty of the people on the right and the left who are guilty of this, and it's exhausting. I used to be more like that when I was much younger, so I'm not completely innocent either...but luckily I had some clarity as I got a little older.
What you describe feels like the foundation of so many issues in our society -- thank you for writing about it. Really reading something and making the effort to understand it without getting submerged in one's own pool of emotion and history is a lost/non-existant art for many. And if I'm being honest it definitely still happens to me sometimes, before I try to reign it in. That's the key: Being aware of it and making the effort to not let it rule your brain and actions.
Cheers,
Noah Lifschey
Amazing rant Bob. Thanks for sharing and for speaking your truth.
John M
You are a brilliant beacon of truth, a treasure. Keep doing what you're doing.
Best,
John Sebastian
I enjoyed your note about Rachel Maddow. The woman has a PhD in something like political science. She knows whereof she speaks. And the effort she puts in and her people put in is remarkable. She is working all the time, and I'm sure her people are as well.
It's a treat to watch her. And it's great to see someone beat the demographic odds with hard work.
Here in the Baltimore area we have another lesbian who has achieved tremendously--Marin Alsop. The Baltimore Symphony hired the first female music director for a major orchestra, one who was also a lesbian. All of which, of course, matters not--what matters is that she is a SUPER music director for the BSO. She is raising that orchestra to new heights, and she now has a new contract that's more or less forever.
Like Rachel Madow, she is seriously loved by the people she serves, because she does a damn good job.
Dave Roberts
Why exactly do they dislike Rachel, GAY????, What she speaks...??????? let them go.....let's hear the noise!!!!! Maybe I need to wake up????
Dennis Rubenstein
Thank you for this. I love how you point out the POINT. Rachel is being herself - so few are doing that nowadays. And you’re doing it, too. Which is why I keep reading. I hope that you publish more and more that makes the haters hate more and go away. We need to filter out those who never want to change their narrow view, and invite in those who want to think bigger. So appreciate your work. Keep going. And I love Rachel for everything she IS.
Trista Hill
A large segment of the population (on both sides) lack an ability to be honest with themselves.
Stay well.
Joshua Hall
I loved this post but I would have added one thing.
Rachel has the rare ability to produce and deliver a 15 to 20 minute monologue that is intelligent, coherent and extremely well organize EVERYDAY. She has a good team, but she is the writer, producer and performer EVERYDAY. Not many humans can do that. Imagine writing, producing and performing a very solid and compelling song EVERYDAY, five days a week while keeping the worst songs at a very high level and the best over-the-top excellent.
There are just not many humans on the planet that can do that.
BTW - your email predicted that the alt-right imbeciles would attack this particular email because they would not focus on the point you were trying to make and, I'll be damned, it happened like clockwork. Sad, really.
Mark McLaughlin
Your Rachel Maddow blog actually made me realize how much I miss not watching her show more regularly. I’m now planning to put her back into my daily media mix -- Thanks for reminding me what I've been missing!
Keep up the good work. I may not always agree with you, but you always make me think.
-Sheila Kenny
Keep up the good work Bob. I love reading your posts.
Thomas Wilder
I subscribed after enjoying your "appearance" on Rupaul's podcast immensely, and I love your missives, how they're almost stream-of-conciousness. Rich with history, and lots of informational tidbits about an industry I'm not even in the slightest a part of. But it's the principles of what you share that I love to latch onto. I only recently added "writer" to my career, and it was years ago that I read Stephen King's "On Writing" and found so much useful information that I could use as a performance artist.
I hope those insecure, misogynistic fuck-heads unsubscribe so the rest of us can enjoy what you have to offer without their impotence fouling the air.
- Alexandria Boddie
Short and sweet: Agree 100%
James Starace
Did you actually believe that rational thought was still alive in the majority of the American population?
Seriously, you have to have deluded yourself or you don't get out half as much as you say you do.
Francesco Sgambellone
thank you for taking the risk to trust your gut, to be honest, be vulnerable, state the truth. Truth with care wins. It takes a very long time, but in the end, it wins.
Scott Hughes
Fuck em if they can't take a joke!
Jimi LaLumia
Yup. Idiot America rules. Carry on!
Lynn Crosswaite
There you go, Bob. People are afraid of a smart woman who doesn't apologize. Your points about what make her successful were right on target, and you didn't endorse her, but people are very afraid.
Joe Henderson
P.S. Sorry, I don't mean to say she doesn't apologize when she gets something wrong (rare but it happens...) but you know what I mean
She’s a Rhodes Scholar so anyone who calls here “an imbecile” is one.
Michael Fremer
loving the piss and vinegar lately. was gonna send a note saying as much but didn't want to be annoying :)
fwiw i think the people who resist having their viewpoint challenged the most are those who need it the most. i posted a gq article about charlottesville on facebook and a family member piped up, WITHOUT READING THE ARTICLE, that it was poorly written and trying to paint all conservatives as idiots. just hate and division being spread by the liberal media. when i asked which parts he was referring to, he had to admit he only saw the headline. at least we were able to have a discussion. but honestly some of my "democracy now"-loving friends are just as bad.
also, dude- i often disagree with your music picks but i don't write in to complain because i get so much value for FREE from this newsletter. duh. i don't know a single person i agree with on everything. does anyone else?
loved the joni mitchell piece. thanks from a canadian!
Ryan Brown
I am pissed off.
HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TEACH ME SOMETHING I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW ?
What the fuck is WRONG with ME ?!?!?!?
Scott Sechman
Thank you!
Jim Hanna
It wouldn't surprise me to learn you got numerous replies from a limited number of people - perhaps hired for that specific purpose
Tom Moughon
Bob, I know it’s easy for me to say, but don’t let them get you down. I started reading your newsletter about five or six or seven years ago, because my brother is a musician and we were trying to think about how he could break through. In the time since I subscribed, you have become not simply a music-industry pundit, but one of America’s most important cultural critics. Your voice has grown and grown in importance and insight. Please don’t stop.
Bill Higgins
I haven't said much lately Bob...my creeping cynicism has made me lazy and withdrawn...but I want to give you a shout out on the best missive on Rachel I have read...fuck the imbeciles who will remain imbeciles long after Trump is gone...Patricia Britton
I enjoy reading your blog – and I can totally relate to your frustration – reminds me of the backlash NPR had the other day regarding health advice for baby boomers – really, if you are going to comment on something, you should read the whole article first – not just the headlines!
Marijo English
DON'T STOP
YOUR BRAIN IS STILL TOP-NOTCH AND YOUR MOTIVES ARE TRUE
Robin Eichleay
Amen, brother Bob! Ignore the ignorant and the truth (we hope) shall rise above.
Of everything that has transpired over the past 15-20 years, the thing that scares me the most is the attack on intelligence and those who think. The dumbing-down of America is occurring in real time and there's no one strong/popular/capable enough to change the dial back to reason and rationality. Hell, if Obama couldn't do it, what chance does anyone else have??
I truly fear for the world that my young children will inherit in 15 years, but I've vowed to at least go down fighting for their sake...
So, please keep on keeping on, because there's still plenty of us out here who are able to walk and chew gum at the same time!
Matt O.
People are dumb.
Thank you for this.
Jeffrey Masters
Bob you are a good person even if we agree to disagree
You are a kind soul. But a kind soul does not fix our immigration problem only enforcing the laws and making our immigration system into a pathway to citizenship. Remember we allow over 1 million people to come here legally every year. They just over stay
Jeffrey Farrell
Amen. I'm with you, Bob.
fpdenmark
You just figured out there's a lot of assholes in the music business? Half these guys had only a slight preference for playing heavy metal over being a "made man" on Tony Soprano's team ...
John Ferrari
Keep it up Bob! Technology
has now fomented insecure, ignorant mouth-breathers' ability to just release their id on the world, thinking that'll fill their hole-ey souls but it never does... so they get angrier and righteous-er....Debate is a dying art- along with conversation- but we need writers like you to make us think and call attention to what needs it!!!! Cheers, Sue Quigley
Fuck you
Dave Word
People are so quick to hate that they didn't actually read what you wrote. I hope you heard from fans, too, though. If one actually watches you see that she's incredibly smart, which is apparently threatening. She never attacks DJT, usually her reporting is about things other than him directly. As you said, she reports the facts and lets you decide. Last nights first segment was actually short...she usually goes for 20 minutes before the first break. Her reporting about the history of ADAPT was educational. I learn something every night.
Cheri Smilanick
I dug all of it yesterday!
Started where you did w/ Rachel and now I have to say I'm a huge Lawrence O'Donnell fan. This program is clearer on process and the procedure end of government than anything else in media. And that stuff is going to become hugely important if (big "if" I recognize) the Congress takes serious action against this administration.
Tom Moon
Just a quick note to say thanks for your newsletter. I don't always agree with it, but your perspective is interesting and thought provoking. It is one of less than 10 newsletters that I read regularly and recommend to others.
Hope the frustration passes quickly.
Dan Studebaker
(nobody)
I never respond to things but in this case I will. I AGREE WITH YOU!
First Rachel is awesome and second, you are right about haters.
~John Schoenberger
Bob, I assume you've seen the movie Idiocracy. If not, try looking under Documentaries, not Comedy, because it's all coming true.
BTW most of the negative comments I get regarding my endeavors are from people who can't read.
My fervent hope is that if aliens are monitoring our communications, they're not reading the comments on YouTube. Otherwise they'll assume we're a world of morons, and it would be a service to the rest of the universe to just blow this place up and be done with it.
Craig Anderton
I like Rachel. I’m glad she does what she does. I just don’t like her delivery. In our fast paced world, I find myself watching her and talking to the TV, “C’mon, get to the point already.”
Mitchell Manasse
"What made you so angry and insecure?"
That's the core of the question right there. It's so overwhelming that they disconnect their brain.
Good post. It needed to be said, although it won't change anything.
Greg Cagle
Keep up the good work, Bob and fuck the haters. For every one of them there are thousands of us who enjoy what you do but never write to tell you so.
Cheers,
John VanderHaagen
I hope you don't think I am one of the haters. I love you, man, and I love Rachel Maddow.
But you are too easily fooled by sponsored media. Nothing someone else pays for us to read, be it WSJ, FOX or MSNBC, and everything in between, or even at most of the fringes, tells us anything remotely connected to what constitutes OUR best interests.
Sure you've got to read. And read. And read some more. Check out theory, analyses, polemic; lurk on reddit (or become a redditor;) or gather news from international sources of disparate perspectives and composite your own opinion. Just don't follow the narrative spoon fed by the networks; they are ALL owned by the shits who are keeping us down and in the dark.
As for Maddow, yes, you are right, she is a unique personality and does present us with a new paradigm. But she still shills for Pentagon. Maybe she needs to do that to get the cover she needs to report on other things. But she is still, and only, just another liberal.
Big whoop.
Chill, man,
Ken Shain
It seems the film Idiocracy has been taken less as a warning and more as an operation manual.
You have my sympathy. Rock on, Bob, rock on.
Henry Warwick
You're giving me an early morning headache.....take a break from the keyboard....now close your eyes and pretend you're downhill skiing with the wind in your face; as the best french onion soup dipped in a crunchy bread await as your reward....ha!
Scott Hazlewood
Something so many people still need to learn... Unfortunately can't say "retarded" anymore in today's politically correct world so...
Arguing over the Internet is like competing in the special Olympics, whether you win or lose you're still "special".
Dan Millen
Haters jumped up your ass for this? Damn. Maddow just breaks their toolbox of dip shit insults.
Larry Gassan
I have my Sonos system set so that at 9 pm, it comes on playing MSNBC…for Rachel. I wouldn’t call myself an acolyte but I love the intelligence and even more, she understands the art of story telling. Even if I’m watching baseball, I turn it down and blast my Sonos speakers from my bedroom loft so I can listen. I’m with you my friend. I get the paradigm.
Steven Ehrlick
Facts never penetrate Cult of Personality, Bob, until it's too late. Even if one is profoundly mesmerized by Donald Jim Jones Trump and therefore believes that every single word that comes out of Maddows' mouth is unmitigated, conspiratorial evil, allowing yourself to convince yourself that she is an 'imbecile' would merely show the rest of us that no, you are not thinking at all; you are under a spell and not thinking straight. And that, I believe, will ultimately lead to the downfall of these true believers, and their Vichy enablers.
Steve Jones
Last night as I was watching Rachel Maddow (about the same time you were probably drafting your email) I was commenting on Rachel's brilliance and how she uses history as education rather than hateful diatribe to make her viewers understand and learn. That's the mark of a true journalist - and I respect and appreciate her dedication. Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking-
Best,
Lisa - New York
I am always amazed by your audience. I always assume all music people are libtards like myself.
Seriously... who would ever think it was OK to refer to someone that way and who ever thinks it is helpful to call someone fat?
I am curious as to whether these people drop you or whether they keep reading so they can send rants when you stray into politics.
I like you Bob. I am not sure I would like to drink with you but I know I would like to see a show with you.
Peace!... and if not peace than fire and fury. What a country.
mab
Michael A. Becker
Great points Bob and thanks for calling them out on it. As you say they change the subject and say you're still wrong. It's about them, it's always about them.
Those people are what makes society unbearable. Keep doing that you do.
Regards,
Ronnie Thomas
Nashville,TN
Someone called Rachel Maddow an imbecile? That's like calling Leonard Cohen inarticulate. Not only are they missing the point, but that's the laziest attempt at an insult I've ever heard. Calling her a cow is a close second. Insult her if you must, but be a little clever about it.
Robin Mitchell Joyce
Bravo! Unfortunately the trend these days is to keep people stupid so they'll fall for anything... Politics, Big Pharma, hate groups all prey on ignorance.
I love your newsletters and I wish there were more people on this planet like you.
Warm regards,
Jeanne Sheridan
What you're really saying about Rachel Maddow is that she is an effective propagandist. All of your points re: her delivery and execution are correct, and she's still selling something...which is a point of view that does nothing to bring this country together, and everything to further spread hate and fear. I used to be a big fan of hers until I realized that she isn't any different than what I see on Fox news. She would like to sell me her opinion, but she cherry-picks her facts just like the rest of the assholes out there. If you agree with her positions and conclusions, she's great. If not, prepare to be shouted down by the fascists of the Left. She's the poster girl for confirmation bias because she's so good at what she does.
Harry Overiper
Anyone calling Ms. Maddow an "imbecile" is guilty of some serious projection....
George Regis
Amen!
-Venus Brown
Ex-Producer/A&R (Fergie, Justin Timberlake, Black Eyed Peas, Janet Jackson)
I couldn't agree more with your points here.
I wonder about people who have decided they know it all about something that they automatically react (not think) after seeing a word or phase setting them off. The issue in my view is once a person thinks they know everything about any topic, they become closed to all new information pertaining to said topic. Human ideas evolve and change over time, it's not like building a chair that lasts forever in the exact same stance.
Keep up the good work,
Bob Fasinski
Hey Bob - Pass on those emails of trolls and haters to me. I’ll contact them.
robert dubac
It's not too many letters, Bob. You're speaking truth, and people in each camp don't want to hear truth. Maddow is an intelligent, witty woman - A.K.A. a threat to a lot of the insecure fools out here. I don't know if they're the majority, but they certainly have the loudest voices - online that is.
Are Americans stupid? Do they lack analytical skills? Clearly, a fair amount do lack the latter. I just graduated from college and my fellow millennials are definitely looking at people like, "What the FUCK?" But they think they know best. Ok.
I've been reading your letters for about a year now. I like to get a variety of perspectives. I wish more people did, but most just want to stay in their echo chambers. Music would be a hell of a lot better off both artistically and financially if people were more receptive - if the labels and Top 40 let the good songs rise to the top, gave more artists a shot, and stopped worrying about irrelevant (and manufactured) sale and streaming records. But what do I know, my generation just tanked the record business, is all.
Just like the labels were afraid of a bunch of kids with computers and watched their whole business come crashing down because of their inaction, I'm afraid the same people in power in government will do nothing to stop the shitstorm lurking over the horizon.
-H
I read it. Loved it.
Sorry for the haters.
Mimi Mayer
Bob, your message was clear as could be. However, your vitriol that is intertwined with almost every email you send, causes the reader to switch from a well reasoned theory of yours to your political prejudice.
Richard Rosenberg
I'm wondering how many people even got to the reiteration of the first letters facts? Nobody seems to like facts, they just enjoy responding to what they think the headline was. It's like having a conversation where the person you're speaking with is so bursting at the seams to spew whatever's bouncing around their own head that you may as well be pantomiming.
Don Jantzen
I'd be pissed too. How could anyone NOT understand your message... Rachel is
wonderful, thank for pointing it out.
Tom
You're spot on about Maddow.
Jim Bowers
Don't get downhearted. The vast majority of us love to read your blog and in the case of Rachel Maddow, I love her and what she's brave enough to provide. Period. And lots of people are depending on her for the continued insights. And putting two and two together. For your music industry folks, it's too bad they can't see the correlation between a regular cadence of new music delivery, and one of insightful news delivery. Many of us are hooked, like we used to zoom out to get the latest album. I hope for a silver lining to this period of foundering democracy — that it may trigger a new wave of inspired, masterful, 'good', protest music.
Keep on - please.
Joan Carlson
I still love ya Bob, lol even when you imply we're full of shit...i know you're trying to teach....it's all cool..get out of the house and have a sunshiny day...All the best! - Randy Dawson
I totally get your point about Rachel. Nobody executes better than her. She asks her audience probing questions and leads you down that path and lets you decide for yourself. No one ever has to agree with her line of logic. I would love to see her do a talk show similar to Firing Line with guests on the other side of the fence who don't force their point of view, but lead you there using the same technique as Rachel.
Donna Denise
Keep doing what you do.
You get people thinking.
You challenge us to grow.
Fuck the insecure dipshits who are afraid of facts, afraid of change, afraid of healthy discussion.
Keep doing what you do...so well!
Damn it, Bob, we need voices like yours!
jc richardson
Don’t stop your work. We need ya.
And maybe just take a break from reading replies every now and then :)
Robbie Klein
I enjoy your missives. I don't read each one, but when I do, I find it to be a worthwhile experience, and I rarely disagree. Keep up the great work!
Jack Shell
Hang in there, Bob! Don’t let the haters get you down. I love your newsletter, and have learned a lot from it – even though I am not in, and don’t know much about, the music business.
With best wishes,
John C. Berg
It's much easier to destroy than to create.
Brett
right on!
Sarah Edwards-Schmidt
Go get em Bob, stay smart and suffer the fools along the way... it's just the way it is , tune them out and keep listening to the media that doesn't treat you like an idiot....
Gerry
Mad respect for your calling out some of your readers for their pavlovian knee-jerk reactions who began to salivate the moment they saw the dreaded “Maddow” name.
And we ALL on the left AND the right need to shut up and listen to each other now and then…open our minds to the thoughts and ideas of others. We all should be stopping by MSNBC, Fox, and even “Fake” CNN every now and then as they all do interesting segments and make valid points at any given time.
All of us living in our own little bubbles will not make America great again. Stepping into someone else’s bubble every now and then will.
Steve Norris
Co-Founder
MondoTunes
Fuckin’ a right!
Kevin
ps happy to overload each other’s mailbox
Well done. It's not easy being an open-minded and objective thinker in our, unfortunately, far too polarized and narcissistic world.
In that world you are either a “winner” or a “loser”; ergo, why we have Mr. Trump as our president; but, there I go again making judgments.
Nice to have someone involved in music who shows he has another side to his mind.
By the way, I don’t always agree with your premises or conclusions (music and otherwise) but it’s fun and interesting to get your musings. Keep it up.
Elliot Goldman
I'm new to your blog world & just want to thank you for your refreshing, no bullshit take on---well, EVERYTHING!! I've recently been turned on to Rachel Maddow (I know, I know---I work too much and have lived under a giant rock...) and am just awe-struck by her. I could go on and on and.....but I'd prefer to just say THANK YOU!!!!!
Have yourself an amazing rest of your day!!!
Paul F Antonell
The paradigm YOU missed is Rachel has been busted NOT educating as you've given her credit for, but......Lying and if you think that's too strong of a word, certainly misrepresenting the polls and potential outcome of a presidential election. The snarky smile and negative spin on anything not leftist provides red meat every week night for those who subscribe to said beliefs, but for the rest of America, it's the classic example of fake news. News that is disguised as factual with little or no journalistic standards applied. Many will cite Fox News as another example and that's fine as every partisan prefers to get their info cooked their way. Credit Donald in part for her success, without him her syncophants wouldn't need their nightly fix.
marc ellis
Sadly, the one's that need to hear it, they hit delete after "Didn't you read the title of the article".
Even though I am a musician (admittedly a 'work a day', 3rd tier freelancer), I enjoy your socio-political commentary more than I do the overtly reminiscent music stuff. And I'm not a kid. I'm 55.
Thanks! - KL
I never respond, but felt compelled to encourage you to keep on doing what you’re doing. You’re a rare voice of honesty and reason in this turbulent sea of divisiveness and extremism that has afflicted our society. It’s a sad, sad fact that people have come to love their hate these days.
What I like best about what you do is that you constantly talk about mechanics. You did exactly that with your piece on Rachel Maddow. I’m not really a big fan of hers, but I do watch her occasionally, and I agree with your assessment of her. Moreover, I totally got where you were going with the article: CONSISTENCY, APPEAL TO PEOPLE’S INTELLIGENCE, BE OUT THERE – ALWAYS.
You yourself are consistent in your message. You’ve been giving people in the music business - actually your message applies to pretty much any industry - a recipe for success for years. That so many are so mired in their apparently narrow worldview that they can’t get it just boggles the mind – admittedly, I find it quite amusing...
In any case, I just wanted to thank you personally.
Brendan Delumpa
Hey Bob,
The Smartest people I know, or read what they write, are also the same people that I don't always agree with.
Many times, they make me rethink more about what I believe.
No! You can't make me unsubscribe. "grin"
Bill in MN.
Wow, man…just saw your missive about the (probably inevitable) backlash from your Maddow piece – but I’d say it’s a pretty accurate indicator of where we stand.
I’d wager every liquid asset that I have, though, that most of the mouth-breathing assclowns who actually took time out of their day to reply with misdirected expletives about her looks or her intellect have never actually watched an episode of the show.
Everything you singled out is spot-on. I don’t watch CNN anymore because it’s essentially become episode-after-episode of the “Crossfire” dynamic you mentioned: Let’s line up two liberals, two conservatives, put them in Brady Bunch-style squares on viewers’ screens and let them tear each other apart. It’s not news, it’s topical entertainment, and every cable news network does it. Maddow stands out by presenting in the manner she does: by introducing nuance and context that doesn’t appeal to the typical short attention span monosyllabic drone who only wants to watch Ana Navarro and Jeffrey Lord chew each others’ asses for a few minutes before Monday Night RAW comes on.
You called it on this one…and you won’t be the first person to lose a few followers for trading in factual territory. It’s the cost of doing business in the world we live in now.
Tom Hampton
Don’t worry ‘bout it Bob. The haters are gonna hate. That’s all there is to it.
Al Hospers
Sounds Clever & the Valley Horns
Right on Bob . . . those who can do, those who can't hate. Or something like that.
Keep up the good work and don't let the naysayers get you down.
I, for one, enjoy your your missives.
All the best,
Gary Becka
Atlantic Beach, FL
True words.
Thank you.
I really appreciate that you are provoking me to think outside of my box!
Again, thank you.
Tjorn Dohn
Feel better?
That was a nice good long vent...
Don't let these trolls get to you Bob...
Your one of the few honest voices we have left my friend!
Hang in there :)
Signed,
Surrounded by knuckle draggers and some aptly appalled right wingers here in the deep south...
Blaine Leeds
PS You can't write too many times...keep the faucet dripping...
Bob, you're sounding a bit like a grumpy old man.
You should be honored that your readers, readers of all political persuasions, are engaged with you to such a degree that they take the time to write a response, any response.
When it comes to politics, you come across as a cult member of the left suffering from a myopia that impairs your judgment, like believing that Maddow is something she is not, a source of truth and wisdom.
Ratings prove nothing, Maddow's are tiny, her influence blown out of proportion by fellow cult members of the liberal press. In a nation of 320,000,000 citizens she matters not, except to nurture the delusions of liberal loons who want to believe her every word. She might matter to you, and that's OK. But don't be surprised when the rest of us who aren't cult members of the left respond to your musings about her as utter nonsense.
But it doesn't mean that we don't like you.
Frank A. Gagliano
You Go Bob…….quite 4-missive-able
stuieeee
You are right, Bob! And, you are right to feel the way you do.
It is Rachel’s delivery, constant exposure and new content settled inside the prime time daypart of 9:00 p.m. Eastern after a show that reports and begins to discuss the issues (Chris Hayes) and before a show awarded to be the platform of Lawrence O’Donnell of which MSNBC execs could not discontinue due to massive input from the audience. Voices from the street via keyboards. Yes, the audience. Rachel is rated Number 1, by an objective third party, by far. And, because of the reasons you state.
Amazing how people read the title, a first few word and maybe skim your articles thinking that their freshman class speed reading with detention class is still performing well for them. "Nothing matters, and what if it did?” - Joe Walsh Read the cover and then don’t listen to the record? That sort of action doesn’t matter. Knowledgeable action does matter which is why we have to hear what the other side is saying.
Read the piece, I say to all of your subscribers. Then write your opinion. That is called astute execution. I doubt people unsubscribe. And, if they did it is their loss.
Now, I apologize. I wanted to write two sentences max. But I ended up in the venting machine.
Peace.
Markie Z
Yes sir Bob I run into this kind of nonsense often enough in day to day conversation. People missing points due to, I believe, living in their black and white world. Or sometimes they're just not listening. I guess both are a form of stupidity and laziness. Oh by the way, you missed a question mark at the end of your 1st capitalized statement
Chris Stapley
I'm with you Bob. Seeing the rhetoric across the social media platforms these days it seems just so short sighted and close minded. Folks digging in for a vicious fight with their neighbors instead of making sure their grandchildren live in a decent world. The Clown in the W House breeds this divisiveness and clouds the truth.
I like to read your stuff because I learn things, I can't claim to even partially understand all the music biz complexity but I really try to have a growth mindset.
There are plenty of jobs to be had, but you've got to put your mind to it, not belly ache that some 1st gen kid is taking something from you so he should be deported.
Thanks for the continuing inspiration, I really dug listening to you on the Ru Paul podcast, nice to put a voice to the writing.
Cheers
David Harder
Keep fighting the good fight, Bob!
Stupid NEVER deserves a day in the sun! And stupidity and immodesty are ruling the day until the rest of us can get them to go back under the rock they crawled out from.
Robert Miranda
Hi, Mr. L.
I agree completely with your take on Ms. Maddow and her show.
You made a great point by saying that MSNBC gives us the facts and history of a matter and let's us decide as opposed to being told how we feel by the Fox people.
Thanks for a great piece.
You may remember me as the guy who got way, way p.o.ed over your take on SNL.
Like you say, doesn't make either of us bad dudes. As long as you know you're wrong hahahahaha!
Best regards and please keep them coming no matter how many a day it takes as long as your head doesn't explode.
Steve Silverman
Secure in a bunker in upstate NY, gateway to friggin' VT.
Hang in there, keep writing, and don't let the a_ _ holes get you down.
Be the provocateur.
D. Duff
Unfortunately, that's where we are today. Lots of brain-washing, one-sided bigotry and hatred. If you talk about a liberal, the right will attack you. If you talk about a conservative, the left will attack you. Sure, it was for an example, but that doesn't matter. The hate goes too deep. Whether your example is Obama, Trump, Clinton, Pence, Maddow, McConnell, Warren, Ryan or Sanders. It doesn't matter. There are enough haters who won't read past the name. And the name-calling and bullying has been approved and accepted at the highest level of our country. . . so that's where we are. . . in the modern equivalent to the McCarthy era, only worse.
Go put on a "comfort" album. That's what I'm going to do.
Russ Paris
I don't know how you deal with so many unsolicited hateful opinions. I don't think I could deal.
Anyway I enjoy your writing and respect our differences Peace
Lisa Gregory
Thank you Bob.
Thank you for truth telling - as you always do; as we all expect it: as you personally see it!
This is why people subscribe.
This is why we read your missives - maybe we don't always agree on every point, but there is always something...
something in your take on the then and the now.
(for me -something about just mentioning a Joni Mitchell title in the subject line immediately transports me to the musical poetry of my youth.
unveiling lost secrets from a past where the needle dropping on an entire album connected so many of us.
Something in your personal truth. Something in your honesty.
As far as television new goes Rachel Maddow does it like no other. She has a brilliant mind.
Her depth in research and reporting on a topic is above and beyond anything done on television today.
Excellence. You often highlight and connect the dots on excellence performed in many fields.
How things relate.
Just do you. Un-subscribers be damned.
Ps. Is this what's bothering the haters?
www.newsweek.com/republicans-believe-college-education-bad-america-donald-trump-media-fake-news-634474 xo,
Karla
DeVito
Venting is healthy, well done, we don't want to lose you!!
Tom Prychitka
Bob, you are the man! Love reading your emails, even when you're pissed off (understandably) and bombing my inbox.
Thanks for all you do and keep up the great work!
your fan Drew Larsen
Have you seen the documentary "Gore vs. Buckley Best of Enemies" on Netflix? After reading your email last night I couldn't help but think of this movie and the subsequent devolution of public discourse. It chronicles the 10 debates between Gore Vidal and William Buckley Jr. during the 1968 election and is a fascinating precursor to the punditry that we currently have on media networks.
Worth a watch if you haven't seen it as I think you'll enjoy it. Don't mind the Anti-Maddow camp, in this state of affairs, their only option is dig their heels in further.
Best,
Paul Milbury
I'm not upset
everyone is to hyper politicized
Ken Nelson
Thank you for this. I had drafted my own “pissed off letter” to my LinkedIn crowd. And deleted it. Lost my moxie. I love your words. There are a few things uttered by Seth Godin that I do every day. Reading your emails is one of them. And I spend my writing days listening to classical music and jazz. Go figure…
Be well,
Bonny Mcclain
Not "Enough"! People have to see the light, learn from you, debate these issues with you and their peers. Rachael tells the truth as she sees it. If you disagree do something about it! Write a guest column, go to Town Halls engage, let people know what you think is wrong. If we can't have reasonable dialogue on a grassroots level, we may indeed be doomed. Keep teaching, don't keep your opinions to yourself. Be your own version of Rachel ! I don't always agree with you, but you do make me think!
John Scher
I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you.
Nicole DeRobbio
Bravo!
Jaime Horwitz Rodriguez
Toronto, Canada
I love you
This is the best thing I've read all year
I've felt EXACTLY this same way
keep 'em comin'
Lisa Rivas
You're doing something few could ever pull off, and you do it with smarts, experience, insight and a point of view.
Fuck those guys--they don't even understand the point you were making.
I appreciate your missives, even when I disagree with you.
And for what it's worth, I have the Breitbart app on my phone just so I can keep tabs on what those guys are up to.
Keep going brother!
Don Meek
Hang in there Bob - it's a crazy world we live in ...if folks like you don't keep calling us out for our collective inability to "think" and "re-evaluate" our opinions then we'll surely be doomed. Yours is one of the few sane voices being heard and believe me it's appreciated by many.
~Vincent James
If she was a blonde on Fox News and kept to the crib notes the conservatives would love her….
Mark Felsot
It’s sometimes difficult to win a debate with an intelligent person ……. it’s nigh impossible to win a debate with an ignorant one.
As I’m sure you will Bob, let it go; there are a lot of people out there with rusted on opinions who will never challenge their own opinion on things
Mark Pope
I love Rachel. It's one of the few shows my wife and I watch together.
Tom Quinn
Well this is definitely the most relevant thing I've read this year.
patrick kudej
Hey now -
Joke em if they can’t take a fuck… Or something like that. You ALWAYS make me think, make me pissed, make me think some more, make me -really- read not skim, and then I get pissed some more. Why? Cuz I don’t like the truth allot of the time. But dig this - I SUBSCRIBE to you. How hard is that to understand? And I don’t see you selling my name or likeness or address or comments or complete existence to anyone which means you are doing this because you have to - LIKE ANY ARTIST. The people that exploit that affliction make tons of money off the backs of those artists, usually people without an ounce of creative juice and gallons of business juice. I guess we all are gifted somehow...
But thanks to you and your missives - good bad or indifferent - I don’t scream at the console as much when I see a waste of food making all the money… I just see where I am not seeing, or at least get pushed enough to take a look. And if I am fed up there is a key twice the size of all the rest of most all of them in the upper right that makes you go away…
Easy bro … I am a fan...
Nikoneeks
I thought I would wait for a few hours to respond to your last missive...
You are the sage/prophet the biz will need for the next few decades. The music business needs a prognosticator of prognosticators. You are that guy.
When I was in my twenties, I asked my father why he did not seem to care about the negative press he sometimes received as a business leader.
To which he replied, I care about what some people think, but not all.
Your Friend,
Joe Simon
"People would rather be haters than players."
So true.
Velina Brown
A wise man wrote recently: "Ten percent of the audience is ALWAYS gonna bitch." And he was right. At "least" ten percent.
Jim Lloyd
Bravo, Bob. It's been constantly like this for the past year. Emboldened morons. You have to be intelligent to know about humility.
Mike Newman
I enjoy your writing, it always make me think. I'm sorry so many people seem to confuse that with agreement. I hope someone sends you a smile or good laugh tonight :)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and wishing you all the best
- Kristen
I am thinking that anyone who has subscribed to your letter must have some kernel of intelligence, but I don't read your hate mail, so that must be a false assumption.
"Illigitimus Non Carborundum". Don't let the bastards grind you down.
I have learned more watching Rachel Madow and reading your letter than the years I spent in college.
Reread paragraph two!
Best,
Jan Burden
I appreciate this response. Thanks for all of your writing. I can’t imagine the ridiculous responses you get.
-Nathan Peterson
I get ya bro.... some days you gatta rave at the machine...and some days we are surprised as hell at who the machine is...
I know I don't matter a hill of beans but I read the article and I agreed with you. "Don't let it get you down...it's only castles burning"
Jim
I'm pissed off too. But she is not as smart as you think she is. She is misinformed as much as Sean Hannity. I don't want a fucking rock star feeding me news. I want facts without spin. Sorry, but there is no relation between news pundits and musicians. Our government has been co/opted by executive orders. We do not elect dictators but the ignorant among us believe the president is king. We elect congressional people and senators and they refuse to govern. Our system is in danger.
At any rate, Keep the spotlight on. It is appreciated.
Bob Brookie
P.S. One last thing, believe it or not we are the worse imperialist country in the world selling phony democracy for economic gain. Our government is a slave to 50-60 corporations who want to control the natural resources in the world. They lone it when we are obsessed with tv and music. That's the fucking irony. You said it Bob, we are t paid for our productivity. The rich get richer and the rest of us act like tv snd music matters. Welcome to the society of stupid and powerless.
She’s horrible. Her persona is one of an over-caffeinated high school sophmore desperately trying to show the student council she’s the smartest person in the room.
Stick to music Bob.
Crooked Cove
Charlie Gaylord
Bravo! Well stated!!! I appreciate your blog and your opinions...and I agree with you 99% of the time.
David Kopaloff
Mr. Lefsetz,
Stick to your guns Bob. You always have. Keep firing away. Loving it in Vancouver.
All good things,
Paul Barriscale
Enough, indeed.
It’s frustrating, huh? You will never be enough for some, and always too much for others. All that remains is to be true to yourself and your mission.
Keep it up, Bob.
Jon Sinton
Nevermind the haters and don't worry what 'most' people think.
For the most part, they don't.
Philip Hicks
Bob...I don't always agree with you (although mostly I do), but I always appreciate your thoughtful consideration of some tough issues. Thanks for doing it.
Stuart Gunter
Right on Bob…
You call it like it is and that is your magic.
I didn’t even read the last few emails but I can only imagine the reaction.
The schism in this country has literally gone off the rails.
Whether or not someone agrees with Maddow is not the point.. She’s a success. That is the point.
Sorry people don’t think you’re towing the line one way or the other.
Keep it up!
-Scott Marino
This post made me laugh out loud. It is so accurate (and funny). I agree with her viewpoint AND har execution but you’re right, it was about execution!
Wayne Yeatman
Rachel Maddow is the true, sane Howard Beale. She and we are as mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore.
Any reasoning human being can see we have been conned, manipulated & sold down the river.Colluding and colliding with the Ruskies.
Yes, with Diane Warren's assistance, and Springsteen marathon performances she could be the biggest revolutionary rock star in America..
Michael Des Barres.
You provide the facts, and your personal opinion. Don't let those that act
'emotionally,' as opposed to 'rationally,' change the insight, spirit and
great forum you willingly and openly share with the world. Your great work
does not go unnoticed. Don't let the random 'barks' outshine your intellectual
bites / bytes :-).
Best,
Sat
Word
Gregg DeMammos
Well said
Carolyn Gowen
Amen
Widnikprod
Hey Bob
I feel ya
Go have one of those great sandwiches you made me drool about and let the flavour take you away!...kind of like the old Calgon commercial
All the best
Jeff Harris
Time to toke up. Chill!
Richard Arfin
"But if my audience can't read, can't wrestle with the issues, what hope do we have for America?
Not much.
Which is why we're in the situation we're in.
Enough."
Yes!! This problem is everywhere. On the left and, more so, the right. On its more extreme manifestation, by Richard Hofstadter (sounds like it could've been written in 2017):
harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/ Regards,
Greg Smith
The Article "The Rachel Maddow Paradigm" was spot on, Bob.
But if someone is a 'close minded' type you've got to read "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck if you want to understand the difference between those 'closed minded' and those 'open-minded'- they are not equipped to look at such a breakdown of MADDOW in an objective way.
And that begats he Problem of most 'closed-minded'' persons not admitting to being 'closed-minded'!
However, HOPE REIGNS...: if any of the Haters are big time FACEBOOK types, wait till they absorb the FACEBOOK confession that just 'dropped late yesterday...: FACEBOOK- Denial denial denial denial denial about RUSSIANS using FACEBOOK to Interfer in 2016 ELECTION.
Because a BOMBSHELL dropped on Wed., 9/6/17:
"Okay, oops we (FACEBOOK) just discovered (really...? please.) The RUSSIANS DID PAY FOR (foreign money) AND PLANT THOUSANDS OF TRULY 'FAKE' STORIES on FACEBOOK to 'TROLL for TRUMP VOTES and SUBSEQUENTLY DERAIL THE HRC CAMPAIGN IN ORDER TO SWAY THE ELECTION OF 2016.
PRESSURE = CHANGE.
Now the bigger question will be "WHO" was orchestration/assisting/directing(?) those Russian Efforts...?
JARED KUSHNER not sleeping soundly as of late is my guess.
The Tide is Turning.
Great stuff Bob.
Kevin Patrick Goulet
L.A., CA
Bob,
I'm sorry that not enough people emailed you to agree.
So I'm writing you now.
Feel better.
I agree.
I read the WSJ and the NYT to see the different perspective, which are quite interesting. And I'm a knee-jerk, feminist, animal-loving liberal if there ever was one.
Never hurts to listen to others. Hear what they have to say. Consider it. Wasn't that what a liberal arts education used to be for? (I like to think so. I went to Amherst and hope I still can keep an open mind - at least enough to see if I'm wrong, as you say.)
I also grew up in New Haven and lived in Fairfield from 1990 - 2016, so I get a lot of your references. Which is fun. :)
Keep on truckin'. You're doing great.
Janet Granger
You have articulated something that has been just out of reach for me and niggling at my brain - thank you. Please relax, Bob. I sincerely worry about your health and the effects of anxiety. I'm not going to make sweeping generalizations about the people who make the comments to which you refer because that widens the chasm, but, suffice to say, I understand where you are coming from and I now understand how Donald Trump got in office. What a long, strange trip it's been.
Jennifer O'Sullivan
Hey bob, just wanted to say I love your emails, just like you said about sam smith "sacrificing a bit of his identity so you can see the truth". You do the same with your newsletter. Don't let the haters get to you. Big up Bob. Thanks for being one of the brave ones. Jon Tessier
Nice rant,Robert.
Trying to speak intelligently to people who have neither depth not breadth.
Glad I'm not you... OH WAIT!
Yes I am. Constantly.
Feeling your pain and your vibe. You have moved me from point A to.... further down the alphabet.
Kudos.
Keep on keeping on, Brother!
You need a hug! We all do!
Bill Shafer
I came for the music, but i stayed for the thoughts... (oh and the
skiing stories)
Stewart McGowan
Totally agree, Bob. I've always said it's much easier to be infamous, than famous. Famous is hard work, unless Andy Warhol got your amount of fame-time wrong.
Osama Bin Laden - infamous. Did he want to lead his people and try to improve their lot in life? Nope, easier to make the West your enemy, and have zero to show for your life but dead bodies and a hole in your head.
Part of the problem, or the solution. Choose.
Armand Sadlier
AMEN Bob, amen
Shannon McSweeney
This needed to be said.
Casey Rae
Bravo!!!!
Jerry Sirbaugh
Cape Coral Transportation Inc.
I appreciate u and what u offer.
Jack Lynady, D.C., P.A.
Well written! Hang in there.
Peter Scheffler
Bob,
Thank you for your take on Rachel Maddow. I watch her pretty regularly and I agree that her approach is fairly unique given the modern conventions of current affairs television. I don’t have a particular horse in this race, watching as I am from the physical and experiential distance of the Great White North. Sure I skew comparatively left but not always and not as much as the Fox news bunch would like to portray of that frozen and irrelevant (as they put it) Soviet Socialist Republic of Canuckistan--that’s one of the few right wing bon motes that always gets a chuckle up here.
I felt a need to respond positively in the face of that reactionary ground-swell currently filling your in-box about your positive take on Rachel, particularly as it relates to ideology, in that I don’t believe Rachel particularly has one aside from the left leaning context of just being on MSNBC I believe all her modest flush-faced passions are not particularly ideological but instead focused on a particular form of journalism that attempts to (as you effectively alluded to in your former post) , night by night construct a cohesive narrative.
Constructing a narrative is beyond and superior to the usual devices of telling (or rather selling) a sensationalist story on that great trivializer that is commercial TV. It is problematic to the format and difficult to squish between regular commercial breaks--as you remarked on how she resists going to commercial for extended periods. Even with that allowance she doesn’t always succeed but it is important to remember that this approach was preferred by the long ago broadcasters of the like of Edward R. Murrow because it gave the public more than a short list of sexy sound bites to regurgitate around the next days’ water cooler. Narratives give people hooks into which they can attach their personal experience and so resonates to their moral center, binding itself to their sense of what is rational and therefor more or less true.
Ironically enough it is also a small ‘c’ conservative journalistic method that was preferred by the first generation of broadcasters like Murrow in conveying a larger truth without talking down to the audience . Constructing a narrative is, for all the Republican talk of Canada being a haven for lefties, still by and large the dominate and small ‘c’ conservative approach in Canada to current affairs and I like to think it’s the reason that pure ideology (which is really just cover for the irrational fear of ‘other’) doesn’t get much play up here. So for what its worth from my perspective in the GWN (great white north) Maddow is successful because she is a left leaning centrist with some conservative core values (at least as a journalistic old-form ‘classicist’) in how she runs her TV program. I like to think it’s in the same tradition as our ex-pat editorialist like Samantha Bee, Malcom Gladwell and current Republican heretic plus Atlantic Editor David Frum at least in the way they attempt to imbue their arguments with all-to-uncommon common sense.
Best Wishes,
Maurice On An Island
Hi Bob,
I'm a consumer yet hardly ever comment on all the buzz that comes my way daily. I avoid commenting as no matter what I say it becomes a lightning rod for people to spew their often acidic opinions. The jackasses just waste my time.
So many people are pre-pissed off these days and ready to tell us how we are wrong and stupid because our opinion differs from theirs. The middle ground between differing opinions was a demilitarized zone, a space where ideas could be expressed and discussed free of judgement or aggression. Now it's strike first - the loudest voice wins. Don't confuse me with the facts - that's fake news. Has life in the USA become a team sport? Pick a side and prepare for battle?
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Regarding your comment "why are people so stupid," we have always had them. Through technology and society they now have a voice with global reach and a tribe ready to listen and amplify their message. It's stupid is as stupid does on a grand scale. Thinking is discouraged. Stay on script. And there is the problem - they stay on script, following it blindly.
We all should be fine with differing opinions when presented with thought. We may learn and change our opinion, or be a catalyst for change in others. How's that for idealism, that's how we treated each other not so many years ago.
It looks like dealing with trolls is the new cost of doing business. If you step into the public arena be prepared to scrape troll off of your shoe. I'm working on a book that's a comedy that features the leader of a fictitious generic church that's the antagonist to the main character. They will come out of the woodwork and lose what's left of their minds over that. The cost of doing business.
Don Thomas
Bob,
Wow. We must've touched a nerve Bob.
So let me get this straight, you don't believe in most of Rachel Maddow's message, your point simply being that she's very articulate and bright in delivering it? Come on Bob, equivocating is something you generally avoid.
Yes Bob, the culture war is over and the left scored a resounding victory. Next is their war on free speech and expression -- to call everything that does not adopt the left agenda as micro or macro aggression, not entitled to free speech protection. But not to worry Bob, at least for now, because you're protected since you join in the left chorus more often not.
But remember Bob what Lenin did. First he went after the capitalists and then moved onto the socialists and then finally the communists that did not agree with him, all of the name of what is best for the people as a whole. Certainly freedom of speech and expression was not one of those things.
Consider how deep the resentment is to all of this to the point where a jerk like Trump was elected president of the United States. What's the left's answer to that now, no more borders, no more free speech and even more identity politics.
Rachel Maddow is not the Beatles Bob, she's the Knack.
She's is as much a shill for the left establishment today as the New York Times and TIME Magazine were for the conservative establishment in the 60s. The fact that she is ubiquitous and smart and living in the now as opposed to the past, doesn't change that.
Think about all of this Bob before you reflexively discount all the responses you're getting as being over blown or misguided.
Looking forward to your next and many more posts.
Allan Gabriel
Hi Bob,
I never really chime in, but felt I had to today — especially after hearing you got hateful responses regarding Rachel Maddow.
All you said is 10,000% true! And cliche’ as it is: people can’t handle the truth.
For me, Rachel is my savior every night, when it comes to the Trump nightmare we are living through right now. She has been the ONLY news anchor who has methodically — and factually and contextually — covered all the jigsaw pieces related to what I believe is decades of laundered, dirty money by a family of heartless, vicious, professional grifters. And more importantly, the now-blatant and seemingly flagrant collusion and cooperation with Putin and Russian operatives. I can’t even imagine how many times Robert Mueller’s jaw must be on the floor now, with what he is uncovering. Time will tell what that end result will be.
But just a few thoughts about the style of Rachel's show and her presentation.
First — no stupid theme music for her show. Not even music stabs!
Second — no panels of talking head “experts” all shouting over each other.
Third — the smart and concise interviews with one person who can speak to what she is covering.
Fourth — her rule: don’t focus on the talking and the insane Tweets, focus on the actions and the doing.
Fifth — no flashy set or bells and whistles and noise.
Yes, she can come across like a wonky, nerdy civics teacher who repeats these facts and details as if her viewers might be suffering from a short-attention span. Which they - and we - are, for the most part. Because that’s what the masses expect of the “news" now: sound bites that confirm what the viewer wants to hear, then on to the next sound bite. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.
I personally believe that she is #1 in the ratings across the board, because there are MILLIONS of people that have finally woken up to the horrors of what is actually going on here. And they are mortified. They are scared. And they feel powerless. But then we can watch Rachel and realize: at least we have this one person who fearlessly always has our backs.
But the most important word among Rachel’s viewers is: TRUST.
All the networks boast that claim. But none can back it up.
And stop and think about this: ever notice that Trump and all of his repugnant surrogates NEVER mention her as “fake news” — and rarely mention MSNBC in their attacks? It’s always CNN, which is clearly his thin-skinned obsession.
I have a feeling they all know that Rachel will EVISCERATE any attack on her or the facts she is presenting. And let’s be clear: they know she will assist in taking them all down, and it scares the hell out of them.
And when all the dust settles and the indictments and prison sentences are handed out, I hope that Rachel wins a Pulitzer Prize for everything that I described above. She absolutely deserves one! And every accolade that might come her way.
As for me, I’m a 2-year college dropout (1982) who went on to be (and still is) a club DJ who also once promoted alternative music to FM radio all over the US in the mid-90’s. My only schooling all that time, I guess, is street smarts.
And perhaps a keen, east-coast instinct to call out bullshit when I see it!
That is another of Rachel’s traits that keeps me tuned in every night.
Thanks for all you do —
DJ Paul V., Los Angeles
I didn't get around to reading The Rachel Maddow article yet, sometimes I get pretty behind in your letters.
But this is interesting…
here's my point of view. It's pretty straightforward.
i love to hear about music and arts perspectives from you, but as someone who has zero faith in our two-party system, your political emails come off as fairly full of propaganda that you repeat unwittingly.
Fox, CNN, the Wall Street Journal et al....
all being run by the same interests.
look into "operation mockingbird"
now I don't throw the word conspiracy at me, everything is a conspiracy today. to think that rich men are not making illegal deals in secret is absurd.
And that's the definition of conspiracy.
Republicans are not the opposite of the Democrats. that's the great swindle. And most weak minded Americans fall for it. it's a rigged game with both teams kicking the ball in the same direction.
I think you should speak truth to power.
You've got a massive following.
Truth is not what's "programmed" on the news today, tomorrow or the next day.
truth many times are the topics that no one's willing to talk about.
truth is the chemtrails full of smart dust and aluminum nano particulates being dumped all over the United States.
truth is there's enough fluoride in everyone's water to completely calcify our pineal glands and generally make us dim and dull.
And power is not the puppet dangled in public for everyone to direct their attention to.. Power, is held by those at bilderberg group meetings.
And the Council on foreign relations
goldman sachs, federal reserve heads...
the bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the Rockefeller foundation, and the Ford foundation...
and... all the secret societies
These are the people with the real power.
not the people that are shown to you in the white house and on television.
so anyway, I don't read too many of your political emails, but I would if you started speaking REAL truth to REAL power.
keep up the good work bob, hope you are well
jeremybackofen
Hello Bob,
I'm probably one of the people who complains all the time to you. I don't apologize as I worry about the political direction our country had been moving, and my kids & grandkid's (someday) future. The issue is not Rachel Maddow. What you say about her is spot on, but funny in a sad way.
What do I mean? Here is a woman who believes in government control of most every aspect of an individual's life. That is the Statist Democrat goal and I think you agree with her. It's thinking it's o.k. to force others to comply to your beliefs. It's believing 51% can force 49% to comply.
So, the sad part of the story is Rachel works hard. Rachel puts in the hours & uses her brain to innovate, and is always looking for new ways to get her message out. Her message is anti American in my opinion but the working hard part, the figuring out new angles and being rewarded for it, gathering merit along the way I'm all for. It's the exact opposite of her Democrat socialist beliefs.
It's the Individual, the foundation of Capitalism she lives by but won't acknowledge. Is she ignorant of this fact, or she doesn't want to believe her own story? She's a Capitalist who doesn't want to believe working hard, not being told what to do, is what makes people, VOLUNTARILY, tune in. Not forced. And it's not just her who ignores her own reality.
It's amazing, all the Libs getting on the tube and telling us to help the hurricane victims in Texas. Here they are, no government telling them to do it, soliciting for others to send in money. Not a Hyphenated American message in sight. Nope. Just the American way, helping your neighbor. After they're done soliciting, they'll go right back to supporting a party, the Democrat, that doesn't believe in the very thing they're doing. I swear, Liberal statism is a mental disorder.
We are good people, all of us. Sadly, the East & Left Coast don't think so. They think they can tell & force the rest of us to do it their way, because only they know the righteous way, or else.. Well, that's why the Democrat & the RINO Republican I might add, are on the way to the garbage dump of failed philosophy.
People now see the hatred Rachel's side believes in. People see the violence and see that they don't believe in America. They hate America. They want a Collective. This is probably why you get the mail you do. You're seen as complicit with the Statist in wanting to tell your neighbor how to live. There's no new message by the Left. It's been the same since beginning of history.
Now that I think about it, I bet you've given money to help the flood victims. Were you forced to do it?
Enough said.
Take care Bob, Rich Case
Dear Bob,
The reaction to your analysis of Ms. Maddow should have been expected. The one thing I've learned from this past election cycle is no one wants to share ideas, they only want to be right...and at any cost.
One commonality in all the encounters with anti-leftists is that they are all or nothing. As you've said, if you're not for them, you must be against them. That myopic line of thinking to me is the problem.
No good idea lives in a vacuum. Look at how many different types of light bulbs there are now! It's okay to be different, as long as you're an 'acceptable' type of 'different'. Don't folks realize this country was built up dissonance and resolution? Compromise, not carpet bombing the opposition is the only way we've ever moved forward as a nation. What ever happened to being a good loser as well as a good winner? What ever happened to mutual respect of strangers? What ever happened to the Golden Rule? When will both left and right extremes realize that mutually assured destruction doesn't work??
Lastly, I want to commend you on sticking to your convictions. Experience is a valuable thing...it's how we humans get from one day to the next. Your experiences are no less valuable than mine or anyone else's. To go into any political confrontation without that attitude is just begging for exposing one's ignorance, intolerance and fear. Hopefully, more will start to realize there is only one species of human on this planet. At a certain level, we are all one people and that's where we should try and grow our understanding from. While it's easy to be critical, it's much harder to be constructively critical. As long as we keep emphasizing our differences in lifestyle, music choices, political affiliations, income, sex, religion, etc...we will never be content in ourselves, or our world. Peace.
TeeWanz
P.S. Keep writing my man!!! Some of us 'get it'!!!
Bob first I'd like to say that I really do enjoy your emails, even when I don't agree with you but surprisingly I agree with you a lot. Not just om music but politics as well but I also disagree with you on issues as well. I get what your saying about Maddow but I don't think your "getting" what a lot of people are saying about Maddow. Bob your a liberal and that's OK and I know you watch Fox and other conservative news but at your heart your a liberal and you filter your perspective through this lens. So to you Maddow is a paragon of intelligent, intellectual discourse. So your looking at her through your prism of liberalism and of course she's phenomenal.
But
Bob many of us have a different "prism" to yours, we look at the world through our many and varied political, philosophical and cultural perspectives and surprise they are different than yours. I look at Maddow from a culturally conservative, politically socialist "prism" (I voted socialist here in Canada for twenty years), so to me, she is not your "Maddow"and that's OK too. Maddow to me only projects the left's agenda, I'm sure there are exceptions but they are rare. Is she fair and balanced I think not.
There are people from "the left" that I like, I don't agree with everything they say but I think they are bold and unafraid to step out of the ranks and express their opinion. One of my all time favorites was Christopher Hitchens, he was fierce and burned sacred cows on the left and the right with impunity. Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect I watched religiously, another who wasn't afraid of his peers. Just don't get a chance to watch Real Time as much being on HBO. Maureen Dowd is another, she is her own person and I like that. Last and not least, the person I read more than any other, he drives me crazy at times but there is something in there I like and respond to Bob Lefsetz!!
Doug Gillis
Bob,
Good one. I like Rachel Maddow, she's professional and smart.
Although I can't really watch too much of any talking head tv news stuff, it just is all opinion and gets boring after a short amount of time.
I can handle Washington Week for a half an hour every week because they are smart people and they don't over- opinionate.
You did write one thing: "we all want to learn."
Ya think?
Hey so sure. Sadly, I think that the educational system in this country over the last 60 or so years has just deteriorated to the point of absurdity. I grew up in the 50s and I am old as dirt, and I remember thinking that the education my parents got was probably an improvement over the one I was getting.
Now? Yikes. Geography. No history. No civics. No nothing.
And when the whole deal deteriorates to the level of The Apprentice, you get Trump. And we did.
In any event, don't worry about the haters, the rest of us think your stuff is terrific and I read every post. Actually look forward to it.
Even the days with four of them. LOL
Rik Shafer
I feel your pain, Bob.
Most people (myself included though I do try) can't or don't want to wrestle with their own prejudices. It's easier to spout received wisdom (or stupidity if that's your flavor) than to adjust one's paradigm.
It seems as if in this age of information overload and filter bubbled silos that to even accept that a new or different thought may hold a previously unregistered validity is to admit some sort of existential defeat. Better to be stubbornly, willfully ignorant than risk the pain of self examination.
What hope does a society have left when its citizens are either incapable or unwilling to employ empathy toward the other and when being right is not only overvalued but has almost become the sole domain of those with the most bandwidth and the loudest voice? And when that voice is used to reinforce an increasingly intractable position and to limit the society's ability to evolve...?
I'm somewhat heartened that in Rachel Maddow among others, we have been given a voice to bring some introspection and maybe some deeper insight to the American political reality, though I'm equally troubled by the knee-jerk vitriolic responses that even the mention of her name elicit.
Perhaps a time will come when reason and respectfulness will bring an enlightened and deeper understanding and utility to our society and I continue to do my best to realize this idea but truth be told I'm not holding my breath.
Regardless of all, keep fighting the good fight.
Jason Prack
Bob,
The next time you think you need to write something and hit send, I'm begging you, don't. When you write 4 e-mails in one day, I don't care if its Hemmingway, you lose more than you gain. It feels like the power has gone to your head and whatever internal filter you may have had was thrown out the window and ran over twice for good measure.
But more so, it seems to me that you think the world needs to hear your opinion on everything. Seriously, have you ever looked at your sent box? This is insane. You never do this? As if 2 or 3 e-mails in a day is different than 4 in a day. Are you high most of the time and just forget? This is absurd. I don’t know what you think, but I’m telling you when anyone writes this many e-mails, it comes across as a disgruntled 17 yr old girl who didn’t win prom queen.
It’s my fault. I subscribe. I understand this. I’ll do my part, but before I do I’ll sleep better knowing I sent this e-mail, regardless of whether you read it. I’ve never sent an e-mail complaining. I’ve never commented on something online. I despise these people.
The good stuff you write will make its way to me sooner or later. People don’t need to put up with the 148 e-mails over 3 months in order to read the one that may count. That is insane. The success rate on that is like 1%. You shouldn’t be rewarded for that. But you do, because it works, for now. But just cause it works, doesn’t make it a good idea. You should know this better than anyone.
In case you don’t have someone out there to be the voice of reason when you’ve gone off the rails, I’m here to tell you… You aren’t that important and you don’t need to share with us every thought that creeps into your head. I’m not sure how, but maybe you get paid based on quantity, not quality. It’s like a shotgun blast. Just hope that you hit something. And it works because someone will always respond. Always. Which would be ironic as you spend your days writing e-mails about how the system is broken, and it’s all about eyeballs and clicks, and brand dilution, and yada yada yada, which based on the picture below of my inbox from you, is exactly what you are doing. I hope you get paid, because if you don’t, than you think that the majority of what you write should be put in the “quality”, not “quantity” category. That is more concerning.
But I have an idea. Please seriously consider this. Just write once a week. This will force you to critically think about whether what you are about to send to people is really worth sending. Not every time you see a dick pick, a concert, listen to a new album, watch a tv show, read a book, get in a car, take a piss, have a dream, or just have a fleeting thought. Every time there is a social injustice in the world, we don’t need to hear Bob’s thoughts. People will not miss them, I promise. Sometimes doing nothing is much better than doing something.
A Concerned Reader,
Eric Fredback
Ps – Grammar/Writing is not my strong suit, please don’t let that confiscate the underlying message.
Three days later:
SO, this was a tad aggressive. Let’s chalk it up to heat of the moment. I’m reminded why I hate the people that comment a little more than I hate excessive, self-important emails. Even when they are right (very rare, even though I conveniently still believe I am), it does not matter because the way its expressed is unproductive and rude.
Hi Bob,
I'm currently reading this book.
thenewpress.com/books/strangers-their-own-land It's about the South, mainly Louisiana and how these folks think about the government's role in this country and the American dream.
Their waters are polluted from corporations that have dumped toxic waste in it, but they don't think the EPA should be involved.
They work for these corporations and get exposed to deadly chemicals which lead to illness, but they don't want the gov't to over regulate those corporations.
They are still upset about the BP Oil Spill but blame Obama for enforcing to many rules on drilling.
It's called the great paradox.
Now when it comes to Rachel, the right hates her. Why?
Cause she's smart. She actually does her homework. She just doesn't bring on a panel so a Trump apologist can make an insane comment and then get attacked by someone on the left and a moderate on the right, we'll leave that to CNN.
To watch her show requires some active listening.
The right will attack her, because she's a woman and her sexual orientation, but she doesn't care.
They hate her because she's a hard hitting journalist.
They were probably blasting this piece of garbage last year.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk_w4fZQXhI Rachel is a rock star and has an influence on a growing audience that is smart and open minded.
But don't expect a protest song from a mainstream artist anytime soon.
-Dan Rosenberg from immigrant friendly New York aka Diverse America
I have been asking it for years: "Why are people SO dumb?"
First off you used the word "Paradigm" you have taken for granted the fact that these portable super computers that give us access to more information than every library that has ever existed would be referenced to find out what paradigm means.
Not a chance.
They saw Rachel Maddow and said "stupid libtard.....I bet I could find some hot lesbians somewhere..."
Then you went ahead and made people try to analyze and interpret: guess what section of standardized testing people have the biggest problem with?
The biggest reason people's intelligence is on the decline: lack of travel.
Be it physical or mental. People are path of least resistance oriented so the expanding of ones circle is avoided like a vampire to daylight.
From reconsidering ones ideas, belief structures, social norms or anyone else's living situation and world experience: not going to happen.
That kind of shit takes caring, empathy and understanding all of which require effort-enh, fuck it.
People don't have to leave their city let alone their house to derive their opinions about the world outside. We all can sit around and wax about man and god and law from the comfort and safety of our couches.
"The world outside? But it's outside, I can have someone else tell me about it. I mean they are out there I am in here. Do I really HAVE to get up?"
If you want to thin out the morons start talking about white privilege, democratic socialism and how a lower corporate tax doesn't add jobs.
All of which take an understanding of the world outside.
People can't grasp the fact that the laws in this country were setup to keep minorities and women down. That would take some research.
Real Talk: my female cousin who went to Texas A&M was decrying Bernie and his socialism. I pointed out that there is a big difference between Democratic Socialism and Socialism. She still voted for "the used condom filled with orange Gatorade" (thanks Trevor Noah for that one)
I guarantee that the 20-something white girl that has a ranch, takes a few exotic vacations a year, ZERO school debt thinks that all of that is due to her hard work alone.
And just how dumb are people? The republicans keep claiming that job creation comes from giving tax breaks to corporations-and people buy it with NUMEROUS studies that show the opposite.
People believe that on the eighth day Reagan said "Take a break big guy, I got this..."
People are so dumb that they are going to spend a small fortune trying to buy their way into a Taylor Swift concert and there will be a story about some idiot who spent $500 and got a nosebleed seat but her friend spent $1000 and DIDNT EVEN GET IN.
Are people de-evolving at a rapid pace or is there better coverage?
Anything that takes effort people will avoid, now that all the thinking can be made by someone else: Why bother?
Mike Berry
Well said. Deep breath...
Hey Bob,
I just want you to know that since I began reading your newsletter, I have been inspired, educated, improved my vocabulary, improved my own writing and critical thinking skills, and even pissed off at some of your pieces. All in all, however, I feel included in a conversation that routinely moves me which has also affected how I approach both my music and healing work.
No one is perfect. Everyone is filtering through their own egos. An entire generation is watching their best slowly dropping off and those behind us will never understand the greatness that you yourself have been privy to. An era is ending.
So then, how do we go forward. To me, 2 decades behind, we still need to dig deep to hold the line in respect, values, and get our fingers off the "i have the power to reply so i will" button. Who contemplates today? Who ruminates? You are often suggesting that via inspired music again, not just profit driven drama.
I'd say this: you are heard. Those that don't aren't ready. They may never be ready. But don't discount those that do. You are heard and the ideas are considered.
Hell, Bob, I now walk around with Bob L imprinted in my consciousness. And, sometimes its annoying, but most the time, it's nice knowing you are out there doing what Bob does best.
It's like a proverbial family--don't always agree but it's still family. In this case a music family--a generational family and most of all, a national family.
Thanks and I hope you just still continue to be you.
Go jolly,
Winifred
The best man at my wedding, a Canadian I’ve known my whole life (as am I), moved to Atlanta ages ago. He’s since become an American citizen. His nephews are all fighter pilots (no shit). I can’t talk politics with him anymore. He came to visit me in Nova Scotia a few years ago (Obama admin) and we got into a yelling match: Fox News vs John Stewart. He believed Fox, unironically. Ruined our life-long friendship.
My bud is a “smart” man. He actually got to the “American dream,” as a Canadian in business when it was advantageous in the industry he was working in at the time. I cannot reason with him. He believes the whole planet is out to get America and it needs to be defended - at ANY cost.
The America I knew, when I watched JFK talking about going to the moon(!) and the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, was about something com-petely different. I trusted your country to look after us, the unknown (no Canadian history is taught in US schools, right?). its northern neighbour (sorry about the Canadian spelling) - the longest “un-militarized" border in the world - and felt safe as a result of that trust.
No more. For what it’s worth, I like that you’re branching out into some political commentary. Why not? I’m opinionated about music, as are you. Kid Rock is too, right, and we can maybe look forward to folks we’ve never heard of with decent “Q” ratings representing your folks. I can’t speak for my country, we’re by no means lily-white in all of this, but I know we’re all pretty much at a loss to what happened to a country we could all once look up to.
Mike Campbell
Halifax, NS
You've never heard from me. I love you thoughts, your process. And I am so grateful we have Maddow. I was moving back to Michigan just as she was breaking the Flint story. My movers were all from Flint. I see her focus, intelligence, power. Angry is not her default. She giggles. She also gets disgusted, but in a classy way.
I'm a politician, social worker, meditation teacher (but for real, for 30 years). I also raised a musical son and toured with him, etc. (he was 13 when he began to tour). Music left the house when he went to NYU, so I picked up my first instrument at age 61. It's hard, but I'm smart and brave. I have fun with it now since I found music in me.
I see newbies to politics so stressed about our future. I want to shake them or sprinkle meditation dust on them. There is a way to ease the heart and stay on task, stop this March of hate. The political arena will morph and find a way to marginalized the supremacists...but we all have to stand up. We all have to be able to go the distance in this 100k marathon we are running on shifting sand. I'm writing a book about it. Can't get it done soon enough.
They aren't all going to love her or you. But they don't even know me.
I know absolutely, without a shadow of doubt, that this work can change the tone and rhythm of the public conversation, even if only half of those whose knickers are in a twist would take to it. I know how impossible it sounds. Guess what, I don't care. I'm not stopping. I feel such a passion to get this work of brain training done, but I wonder who will read it.
Meanwhile I'm chasing money for opioid treatment beds and hope to work in the jail a bit to suss out what is truly needed. Funding cuts, bad policy, the Klan. Ain't easy. Won't be over in a season.
So I meditate and play bass when I'm frustrated (like THAT's not frustrating for this newbie). But music makes a bad moment better. So does reading stuff from you.
We need your brand of brilliance more now than ever. Hers too. We need community now, as odd as this one may be.
So thanks, from the depths of my mind that gets to read an equal, and from my heart that finds a soft place to fall.
I hope you meditate. It makes everything easier to bear. Just get a good teacher, not just an app.
Thanks again,
Jan Bidwell, MSW, LCSW
I love you and support you, and I feel like I understand you, always.
-David Appelbaum
"self-evaluation is out the window"
I'm starting to think that the issue is that we are all harmed in some way. It seems its more of a a scale- some have been really harmed and others not so much. And then there's another scale of who harms others and those who get harmed. And the end result is we are all in some way messed up. Scrambled by our parents, friends, lovers, peers - who get us involved in stuff we aren't really prepared to. And some end up dead and defeated and addicted. Some avoid the pitfalls somehow. And some just stay at home and peer out the window.
Self-evaluation / self-reflection is a painful process - you have to look at your 'self' - your shadow side as Jung named it and see your warts and ugliness and beauty and know they co-exist within your self delusional beliefs. They co-exist and depending on the temperature or way you slept you either harm others or get harmed or fight back.
As I age I see the places tied to my life disappear - the restaurant where I had my engagement dinner 44 + years ago, and where I returned 5 years ago to scope out the pictures and the symbolism - is gone, as is the nightclub and the high school and the vacation tennis resort - closed. And I wonder about these disappearances as I too will disappear.
As I look at pictures of family members I don't know who they are and one day some family member will not remember who I was. I will disappear and I wonder how not to. I mean physically yes yet what can I contribute leave behind that will endure because of its intrinsic value? Words, songs, poems, pictures? Maybe most of us struggle with this reality of life. Though we don't speak of it. We don't like to speak of death - like sex - or how much $ we have. Yet when you do talk about these things their power dissipates. Its no longer taboo - the shadows are gone and its secrets are exposed.
And yet we stumble around with our wounds and beliefs and lack of self-awareness. Why? Because we are afraid. Its just fear. Its not hate. Its fear of stepping out and telling the story of our world - our worries, our shames, what we like when we make love, what really turns us on - cause we think we are odd. Yet we're not.
It's true - ignorance is bliss. Awareness is a harsh bitch. And fear is the prison that keeps up apart.
Most hang on, some do better, some do great, most worry. Most are afraid.
Keep on writing your stuff. Fuck those who rant and rave. Most don't know, most have not taken the time to learn, most are just consumers - eat and shit it out never wondering why they eat what they eat. Or why they subscribe to your blog.
I know why I do. You teach me about stuff I don't know about. And it feeds my experience of life.
Ciao
Terrance Moran
You're so fucking right about Rachel. And it's not even about my politics aligning with hers. She IS smart, and careful, and thorough, and committed to truth, and deeply interested in justice. She deserves all her success and more.
And I'm not at all surprised at the blowback. Ever noticed how there seems to be an inverse correlation between name-calling and facile dismissals (that don't at all engage the actual argument and pay little regard to things like truth and logic and evidence) and extreme politics? On both sides? Though, I must say, extreme right wingers do tend do embody this more.
Ugh. Hang in there, good sir. And don't take the lack of positive response (as compared to the negativity and, well, the vitriolic stupidity) as anything other than a sign that a bunch people read your missive and simply nodded along, no response needed.
Cheers,
Jnan Blau
PS-Can't resist adding this: speaking of that inverse correlation, as a professor of mine pointed out in undergrad, there does seem to be precisely that kind of relationship between education and religion and educating and lefty politics. I mean, it's no coincidence that most academics lean left! Contrary to what Fox News would have us believe, academia isn't really lefty brainwashing; it's expanded, critical minds and opened hearts turning people into people who embrace complexity and diversity and, ultimately, compassion.
Jnan Blau
Invite the lazy readers to unsubscribe, because thinking is hard and risky. Hating is easy because it requires no intellectual reasoning. Real discourse is not for everyone and the Lefsetz letter may fall in that category. One just might have to leave his comfort zone. Yes there are ideological divisions but conservative writers, like George Will, warrant my attention because his is an intelligent analysis of any issue. One totally worthy of my consideration. I've agreed with him more than a few times.
I just read a piece on the evolution of the young alt/right/white supremacist movement recently. All they can see is that the pendulum of social favoritism has swung away from them. Now it is THEY who are being marginalized and left behind. One 25 year old had been in jail a few times and was outraged that he was targeted by black inmates, beaten up and insulted. He was a minority and yet, no thought was given to the question as to why the majority of inmates are black etc. Others resented being relegated to fast food jobs or joblessness. In reality they are merely pissed off that the American concept of racial meritocracy is now coming full circle. Whites no longer run the show. Someone else now has an advantage, no matter how marginal it might be. Pissed off white people complaining about how things aren't going their way anymore is absurd. I'm sorry, but you have to earn it. It's a free market ethnically speaking. You'd better start competing because nobody cares that you can't keep up anymore. You want to settle for doing meth and living on your mother's disability while complaining how it's someone else's fault....that's on you. All those who see DJT as the great white hope have lost the plot. There will be no cavalry coming, no sudden transformation of our ethnic make up. Better get used to the new world order or you won't have a seat at the table, but it sure looks like the libtards will.
John Brodey
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