Thank you for your belligerence and charges against me, and calling my writing tedious. Now the truths come out. I'm not trying to promote myself through any stunt. After sending you Postcards for 6 months, I got an email from Josh Frank, saying:
"I think this will be the last of the postcard series."
No explanation, just a we've had enough of your postcards from Frank. I then posted a notice on my blog saying my future Postcards will not appear at CounterPunch, but only at my own blog, and several other webzines. There was no recrimination on my part, and no promotion, as you ridiculously charge. I'm very saddened by your behavior, Jeffrey, as I thought you were at least more mature than a Josh Frank.
When Justin Root wrote to CP, on his own volition, Josh couldn't owe up to his decision to cancel my postcards, but said that Justin had the wrong information, and since the information was derived from me, on my own blog, Josh was basically calling me a liar. This forced me to post a screen capture on my blog to show that CP did tell me, all too tersely, that my Postcards were no longer welcome. Since all I've written in the last six months has been these postcards, with one exception, and since I envision writing these into the future, Josh's decision meant that I would not appear on CP for a while. This was fine with me, since I'm a writer, and not a solicitor or beggar. Since CP is your and Josh's forum, you can do whatever you want with it, obviously, and I'd not want to impose my tediousness on your sensibility, but I wanted to alert readers to the fact that just because I could no longer be found on CP, I was still writing politically. I haven't disappeared myself, in short.
Again, I'm very saddened by your arrogant and immature behavior, and I haven't spoken a bad word about you or Josh, but since you feel so free with insults, I'm forced to respond. I do not want to continue this unpleasantness any more, as I have tedious writing and thinking to do, but to make sure that readers are not confused about what's happening, I will post this exchange on my blog, with its handful of readers.
Linh
From: Jeffrey St Clair
To: Joe Callahan
Cc: CounterPunch Clair
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 10:27 AM
Subject: Re: Thoughts on a contributing writer..
Joseph
I've received several of these letters, but I must confess I have no idea what you are talking about. Really! I haven't exchanged a single word with Linh about this. Not one. As editor of CounterPunch, and a friend of LInh's, I've published his work for nearly a decade--regardless of the quality, which can, as with all writing, be uneven. I published Linh even though Alex thought much of his writing tedious. I do think Linh's descriptions of his travelogues as "postcards" is bogus--since many of the pieces are several thousand words long. Perhaps it's a bit of poetic irony. In the end, however, if Linh's pieces don't appear on CP it's entirely Linh's choice--though if he doesn't want to write for CounterPunch why he would quaver so shrilly about being "censored" is baffling. Perhaps he's trying to promote a book--if so, he just lost about potential 100,000 readers. Nice move Linh--perhaps its a Dadaist thing!
Best
Jeffrey
On Sep 25, 2013, at 11:11 PM, Joe Callahan wrote:
Hello from a Frequent Reader,
I was very disappointed to read of recent words exchanged with Counterpunch and Linh Dinh regarding his Postcards from the End of America series. I enjoy exploring the various viewpoints expressed through your website, and given the unique perspective and style of Linh Dinh's work, I have come to await his contributions with an eagerness I rarely feel for most authors. It may be argued that there is a science to writing an article, filming a commercial, or producing a song. This may be painfully, inescapably true in the plastic-lined scenes of our mass media world. All the more reason, I believe, to encourage the writing of such contributors as Linh Dinh. I have stood in a Greyhound security checkpoint at 2:00 A.M. in February, slept in alleys on the outskirts of Miami, and hitch-hiked along interstates just to hear the stories of strangers. There are voices that need to be heard, and there are alternative news sites that can help that happen. I believe that Counterpunch is one such site. Please consider the relevance of the unedited cultural snapshots presented through Linh Dinh's work, and the fact that such honest, unscripted Now is essential to the future and freedom of us all.
Thank you.
Joseph
Jeffrey St Clair
sitka@comcast.net
"Force doesn't constitute right. Obedience is owed only to legitimate powers."
J-J Rousseau
13 comments:
P.S. I spent yesterday in Norristown, walked about 8 miles, and woke up today thinking I'd procress the photos and thinking about a Norristown Postcard, so that's what I'll do presently...
not to worry, strange things happen in the life of the living - some intended others not.
Also, whenever my articles appeared on CP, readers would click on links in these articles to come to this blog to look at the places and persons discussed. That's why I had to alert such readers that they would have to come here directly for future postcards.
Lihn, you should be honest with your readers. We have since told you we would consider running your Postcards in our weekend edition.
Thanks,
Joshua Frank
Josh,
I've been entirely honest, and have reproduced your rejection email, then the one saying you have reconsidered. It's you who have lied by telling a reader that he had the wrong information.
If you decided to reject my future Postcards, then that's fine, since it is your webzine, but don't lie about it. Owe up to it.
I am a writer, Josh, not someone to be tersely dismissed, then just as suddenly readmitted after having been called a liar. It's you who should be honest, not me, for I haven't spoken one untrue word about any of this.
I have work to do now,
Linh
P.S. And I only screen captured your emails after you've told a reader that he had the wrong information, information that he got from me, on this blog. If I couldn't reproduce those, people would think I'm making up all of this, which is ridiculous. I don't sit around scheming publicity stunts, I write, and I apologize to my blog readers for having to put up with this ridiculous spectacle. You didn't come on here for any of this, and, trust me, I find all this as annyoing as any of you. For the rest of today, I will post Norristown photos taken yesterday, so hopefull those images will bump this nonsense out of the way soon enough.
Lihn, I said he had the wrong information because he said we weren't going to publish ANY of your writings. Which WAS the wrong information. I was very specific that we were happy to run your other stuff. And now we are saying we'll consider running more in your Postcard series for the Weekend edition.
But no, I wasn't calling him a liar, or you for that matter. I was correcting his mis-information/confusion.
Cheers,
Josh
I originally discovered this blog through one of your postings on CounterPunch. Since then, I spend more time reading your work than that published on CP, though sometimes I first come across your latest post on CP rather than here. Given the choice, it would be this, rather than CP, FWIW.
Keep up the good work, showing the other side of the US for those of us not in a position to see it for ourselves.
Mr. Dinh,
I have always enjoyed your articles and photos. Your's is a voice of honesty missing from many important dialogs on a variety of subjects.
Reading your descriptive 'Postcards' was a window at street level of life in an increasingly bleak Corporate dominated dystopia.
If CP can't handle that reality, then they are losing out on an important voice.
P.S. - If you ever have the mind or inclination to take on Rebecca Solnit and her pedantic, entitled liberal whining, I for one would love to see it.
Best regards,
G.
Hi Linh,
This is Gypsytravash again, and I hope that you are still reading the comments related to those insults hurled against you by the Counterpunch Eco-Activist Central Committee.
At first, I had thought that you were overreacting to them, but when I read the e-mail that St. Clair sent to one of your readers - I was shocked by the callousness and denigration used in the letter all in referring to you, with such words as 'uneven, tedious, poetic irony, quaver so shrilly, promote a book, nice move Linh, and Dadaist thing.'
That letter by St. Clair was definitely over the top and beyond rude. He belittled you and like you stated before, underhandedly insulted you. St. Clair used fighting words - and it was obvious that he wanted that letter made public, since he is quite a good writer himself.
I mainly want to contribute to this comment section because I have also had my own negative issues with Counterpunch. In the past, I have submitted various articles to them and I have never received any responses from them whatsoever. I am a decent writer myself, I have a PhD in history, and I have worked as a local, small town journalist for year, but for some reason they refused to even acknowledge my works.
On the other hand, I have a journalist friend, who is British, and lives in Mexico City, and they have been publishing his works for over a year now related to the political situation in Mexico.
I also noticed one time that William Blum complained about them in one of his newsletters. Counterpunch retaliated with a veiled threat in one of their Friday editions, (when Alexander Cockburn was still alive), that they were disappointed in him and that they might not have his Anti-Empire reports in the next editions. I believe the CP Central Committee still publishes Blum's Anti-Empire Reports however.
Counterpunch was great, and the main reason was that Alexander Cockburn was the true spirit and work that led the edition. The friday editions were exemplary with Cockburn exposing both the fascist tendencies of Amerikan capitalism and the cowardice of Amerikan leftists and their fellow travelers in Britain. A.C. still had that wonderful European edge of satire mixed with in your face condemnation. Meanwhile, the readers learned so much more on the corruption amongst the state terrorists in D.C. and in Westminster.
Now, the periodical is led by two environmentalist hardcores, St. Clair and Frank. It is a different beast and they know it. I can't even read it anymore during the week because it so filled with Liberal-Leftist whining. They often have the same writers each week, and they seem to prefer academics or academic related complainers. Although, the editors might consider themselves erudite writers and noble sages, they are still white skin privileged Americans, and devoutly religious-ecologists.
They live out west, and probably in Oregon, since so many Nature true believers live out there. I live out west too, but I am a historian and know that once the US govt. paid certain hunter sociopaths to mass murder the wild buffalo and the wild cattle populations in the 1840s-1870s, the west was lost - including the beautiful mountain and forest nature preserves. It will not come back again. Extermination means forever.
I am so sorry that you had to experience the reading of such an insulting and derogatory letter, but you learned a valuable lesson about a once powerful, Internet essay blog that stood for truth and courage, which has recently deprecated itself to university educated elite, pretentious attitudes and left-wing weirdo vulgarity. As you can see by this letter, we can fight back too.
Hi gypsytravash,
Many thanks for your email, and thanks to all for your comments on this matter. This has been a farcical week, and I've come into a new understanding of CP--I can't even bear to type out the name now--I've come into this new understanding without doing anything, save notifying my readers that they won't find my future Postcards on CP, but will have to come here directly. This I did in a completely neutral language devoid of rancor. Though privately I was disappointed, sad and yes, a little angry, I did not show my emotions, for I saw no point in it. Further, I’ve come to expect such weird callousness in my life, such abrupt dismissals, but I’m sure we’ve all had our fill of such moments. Not one to brood over bullshit, I then went on with my preoccupations, which are wandering, looking, listening, photographing then writing, all the activities that make up this blog. These I did very cheerfully, because I’m lucky enough to be allowed to do what I love, and I was on the streets when I called my wife to ask her to check my email, something I rarely do. She then read me one from St Clair and two from Frank, and so I had to rush home to respond publicly.
Frank had told a complaining reader that he had the wrong information about me being removed from CP, which is technically correct since only my Postcards would disappear, but since this is what I've been writing for half a year, a cancelation of my Postcards would mean I won't be on CP for a while, if ever again. Confused, this reader posted Franks' and Jeffrey's responses to him on my blog, as a comment, and this was already up by the time I got home. Since this query was posted publicly, I had to respond publicly, and I thought this would be best done by reproducing Josh's two emails on my blog, both the rejection one and the one where he stated that he had reconsidered, after talking to Jeffrey. As he stated that he had talked to Jeffrey, I saw no need to email Jeffrey to explain anything.
[more below]
I thought the matter over, and as I had promised CP to give them some poems to publish for October 4th, I figured I’d use that opportunity to lighten the mood a bit, as in sending the poems with an accompanying email, saying, “Tell Josh not to jump, for these are only poems, not postcards!” You see, at this point, I assumed that perhaps Frank had acted outside of his authority in canceling my Postcards, for he’s listed as a “Managing Editor,” not a “Co-Editor.” Several years ago, by the way, all of my articles were rejected without explanation during a brief stretch, and so I stopped sending to CP, only to be solicited by St Clair after he had returned from vacation. (Of course, I had no idea that he had been on vacation, nor should I care.) In light of what transpired this past week, I can only assume that it was Frank who rejected my writing while St Clair was gone, so Frank has disliked my verbiage for a long time now, which is fine, for you cannot demand that anyone likes anything about you, obviously. Throughout all this, I’ve stated repeatedly that a webzine reveals an editor’s vision, so he’s entirely free to do whatever he wants with it, without explanation, for it is his baby. Further, one should remember that the editor’s most common task is to reject, so he’s very used to rejecting people left and right, and this he must do as ruthlessly as possible, in the service of his vision. Writers and readers also have voices, however, and just as they may be judged by editors, they can also scrutinize and judge these gatekeepers and deciders, and so St Clair did no service to himself when he sneered at readers who complained, very civilly, about my disappearance from CP, then mocked both my character and writing. A man who cannot admit to a friend or working partner what he has just done, a decision that affects them both, is a coward, of that I have no doubt, and a man who so freely lobs insults at someone he considers a friend is, ah, I don’t even know what St Clair is anymore.
St Clair suggested that I had dreamt all this up as a publicity stunt, which is a "bad move" on my part since I would miss out on 100,000 readers. I was “quaver[ing] so shrilly,” he charged. In a private email which I won’t reproduce here, he also referred to my “tactic.” As anyone who knows me can attest, I have always had a strong aversion to politicking, schmoozing, maneuvering or scheming for personal gains. As a poet, I don’t go to the annual convention, as expected, not even when it has been staged right here in Philly, and I don’t gravitate towards powerful editors. Though I spent a month in Berkeley this year, I didn’t see Robert Hass or Lynn Hejinian, not that I have anything against them, but I was simply too busy roaming the streets with every free minute I had. Of course, they might not have had a minute to spare me either, though I have met them both on other occasions, and I’ve had dinner with Hass. I’m only bringing this up to illustrate that my priority has always been on the work itself, what I must do to make it better and truer, and not on the promotion of it. Everything human is pocked with flaws large and small, and these only become more glaring over time, so we all have our hands full trying not to look entirely ridiculous.
So this week has been sad, for me, though sobering, but it has also been worthwhile for I’ve learnt something new, and so I thank you for helping me to see more clearly, and by you, I also mean Mr. St Clair and Mr. Frank.
Linh
This all ticks me off & disappoints me; I didn't think counterpunch had a halo but now & then they'd put in something not-tedious -- like your pieces, for example.
I hope they're not going Respectable!
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