I’ve been forced to resubmit [a shorter version of] the letter, as follows:
Billy Joe Mills’ column entitled “What defines our generation” speaks quite highly of our American way of life. Mr. Mills suggests that the only threats we face are physical, that no ideology poses any threat. I must disagree; the ideology that most threatens us is our own. What defines our generation? Self-absorption and self-service. The success of democratic capitalism comes not from an inherent superiority, but from its marketability. We let ourselves believe that we choose our government, and we let ourselves believe that we buy as we please. Our capitalism teaches no sense of responsibility to buyer or seller, so that we exploit each other endlessly. We consume voraciously and are utterly ignorant to the suffering and need in the rest of the world. We delude ourselves with lofty tales of democratic ideals, but those who have power in our “democracy” derive it not from the governed but from the financiers. Corporations, whose sole responsibility is to the bottom line, derive their power from consumers, who coincidentally learn what to crave from those selling it. We cannot declare our triumph until those with power are accountable to those without.
Apparently they didn’t like the length of the first submission. I told them that size doesn’t matter, but they didn’t want to listen. I finally gave in and put it in flaccid.
I’ve been doing some work on some of my creative stuff, namely the stories I’ve published online. I’ve done a very little bit of revision, but mostly I’ve just made .pdf versions of them for easy downloading and/or printing. I intend to eventually do this with all of the work posted on these websites, so check back often. I also have something like twenty new documents that I intend to post, pending some possible revisions.
All in all, check back often for plenty of new stuff!