{"id":11092,"date":"2018-03-28T14:19:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T21:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11092"},"modified":"2018-03-30T11:19:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T18:19:03","slug":"03-28-2018-angry-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/03-28-2018-angry-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"03\/28\/2018 Angry Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

From An Angry Reader:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Hanson,<\/p>\n

About 15 or 20 years ago, I used to read your articles voraciously. I sent them to fellow graduate students\u2014nearly all of whom were overwhelmingly liberal\u2014in order to give them a jolting shot of truth.<\/p>\n

That was then, this is now.<\/p>\n

I recently took a peek at some of your recent writing. Oh, how different it is!<\/p>\n

I expected a man of your background and intellect to be a fierce critic of the current President of the United States. Ancient history is chock full of bombastic demagogues. You know them well. The lessons of history are ripe for the plucking.<\/p>\n

However, I have looked over your recent words with profound sadness. I am reminded of the sci-fi thriller, \u201cThe Invasion of the Body Snatchers.\u201d It is as if your essence has been sucked into a pod and replaced by an alien being hell-bent on the destruction of our country and our world.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Jeffery Sult<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

Dear Angry Reader Jeffery Sult,<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have used the body snatcher image as well in the past for both Trump supporters and his critics, so, as you know, the metaphor works both ways: previously normal sober and judicious minds have become unhinged at the very thought of Donald Trump as president. As a result, they have become obsessive and nearly renounced all their prior positions as if contaminated by Trump\u2019s fingerprints upon them: their minds snatched mysteriously as it were by some mysterious alien force.<\/p>\n

You mysteriously write, \u201cPerhaps one day you will return to the side of freedom, democracy, and traditional Western values\u201d\u2014a charge which is mystifying. Where have you been the last eight years? Freedom? Obama rejected democratic Israel and reached out to undemocratic Cuba, Nicaragua, and Iran? Do you have any concept of what the IRS, FBI, NSA, FISA courts, and DOJ have been doing? Democracy? Hillary Clinton rigged the DNC nominating process, and perhaps as well the primary debates, and hired a hit dossier with unverified Russian sources, which, with the help of the FBI, DOJ, and FISA courts, was leaked before the election. Western values? Have you read the transcript of Obama\u2019s Cairo speech? Do you know the anti-Westernism of the university campus which unfortunately has become the mother\u2019s milk of the progressive movement? Are you \u201cshocked\u201d as it were in Casablanca style that a smiling Obama photo turns up with the racist, anti-Semitic and very un-Western Louis Farrakhan, a cosponsor of rallies with today\u2019s progressive luminaries?<\/p>\n

We do not live in a Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm<\/em> world, but rather on Election Day a Manichean one of sometimes bad and worse choices. I voted for the alternative to the Clinton syndicate and deep state, and on the side of the deplorables, irredeemables, and the out of work forgotten people in hopes of low unemployment, robust GDP, secure borders, deterrent foreign policy, a strong market, fair trade, and accountability for roguish globalized companies such as those in Silicon Valley that make the 19th-century trusts look tame in comparison. Despite Trump\u2019s melodramas, there has been progress on most of those issues. A Sophoclean Ajax, LeMay, or John Ford\u2019s Ethan Edwards were not necessarily nice people, but then again what they were up against was not nice either, and they were able to address crises that the other more \u201cmoral\u201d and \u201cethnical\u201d retreated from. Life is tragedy, not melodrama. As a professor you should appreciate that. Reread Paradise Lost<\/em> or the classic Achilles scenes in the Iliad<\/em> or War As I Knew It<\/em> to note ambiguity that is central to human nature.<\/p>\n

I have written of Trump\u2019s chemotherapeutic nature as well as the cancer it was designed to combat, and the side effects of the therapy upon the public. Try to avoid snap judgements in which someone who agrees with you is saintly and then satanic when they do not.<\/p>\n

I too am profoundly sad about your change of heart, but hope that you return to disinterested and empirical thinking because history is full of surprises, in which supposedly tainted messengers have needed messages, and flawed tragic heroes accomplish things that the Achaean hierarchy, the Western town council, or the Joint Chiefs cannot\u2014and often at great cost to themselves.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Victor Hanson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From An Angry Reader: Mr. Hanson, About 15 or 20 years ago, I used to read your articles voraciously. I sent them to fellow graduate students\u2014nearly all of whom were overwhelmingly liberal\u2014in order to give them a jolting shot of truth. That was then, this is now. I recently took a peek at some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-2SU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12220,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-02-28-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":11092,"position":0},"title":"Angry Reader 02-28-20","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Subject: Gray Matter Your articles are so offensively lacking in context, thoughtfulness, and reflection on history--basically simpleminded attack ads-- that I am going to erase the National Review\u2019s bookmark from my browser. And there is no case for Trump any more than there was a case\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10580,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/10580-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11092,"position":1},"title":"09\/14\/2017 From An Angry Reader:\u2026","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"09\/14\/2017 From An Angry Reader: Angry Reader Wes Bridgeman Dear Mr. Hanson, My father, Lt. Col. William Bridgeman (Retired), sent me the attached links and quotes that I would like to bring to your attention. This features the words of the figures themselves (Forrest and Lincoln), and I will let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11754,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-04-02-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":11092,"position":2},"title":"Angry Reader 04-02-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Dear Mr. Hanson, though your academic accreditations appear substantial, your view of history seems almost deliberately moronic. I generally don\u2019t like to wade into a debate with an ad hominem; but defending George Bush and his disastrous military policies?? The only rational explanations are intentional distortion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10974,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/02-14-2018-angry-reader\/","url_meta":{"origin":11092,"position":3},"title":"02\/14\/2018 Angry Reader","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader From SM: Your article sucks. What if CNN didn\u2019t hate FDR? You can\u2019t debate a hypothetical situation. Trump is probably going to prison. Have fun. _________________________________________________________ Dear Angry Reader SM, 1) Define \u201csucks.\u201d 2) It is called counter-factual history and offers food, however unwished, for thought.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11298,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/07-27-18-angry-reader\/","url_meta":{"origin":11092,"position":4},"title":"07-27-18 Angry Reader","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Your article\u2026about NATOs challenge is Germany, not America. Sir, With all respect but before you write any article you should learn about history. Germany did not start both World Wars. You might want to do some research before writing anything. Very sad how little people here\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10677,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/10677-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11092,"position":5},"title":"From An Angry Reader: You\u2026","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: You created this Frankenstein. \u00a0You have a lot to answer for. \u00a0G-d is looking down on you, and He is not smiling. \u00a0You all are in your 80s. That\u2019s the good thing in all this. Nobody lives forever and you all are a helluva lot closer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11092"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11099,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions\/11099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}