Hi Neil-
With all our brave military heros [sic] now serving in Iran and all over the world for our freedom; I was disappointed to read your page 2 Top News Article. It appears to divide the country; and/or, support the division of our country for political reasons.
Greg V.There's no point in answering something like that. But the day was young, and sometimes I can't help myself:
Downers Grove, Illinois
Greg:Another reader complimented Monday's column and ended his email, "Dulce Et Decorum Est," which I recognized as the title of the Wilfred Owen poem about a gas attack in World War I, and dimly remembered writing a blog post about it.
Our soldiers aren't in Iran, yet — in case facts still matter. Though I imagine that's coming. As for dividing the country, it's already divided — actually, not even. Only a quarter of Americans support Trump's war. What disappoints you is to see the division reported. Don't worry, if your tyrant has his way, with the help of people such as yourself, that won't happen anymore. Thanks for writing.
NS
I called up the 2013 post, after a far different president, Barack Obama, was considering approaching Congress to ask for permission to attack Syria after Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people — the red line Obama said they mustn't cross. Our president ended up dithering; he didn't order those air strikes, at least not in 2013. He did, a year later, for all the good it did. Not much — over half a million Syrians died between 2011 and 2021. I wonder how many Iranians will die in this adventure.
It troubled me, a little, to see some of the same thoughts in Monday's column as were expressed in 2013 — apparently, when America charges into war, I automatically think of World War I, that monument to pointless slaughter.
There are worse go-to moves, and 13 years is a long time. Few readers, I imagine, rattle their newspapers and think, "Heyyy, I read this metaphor in 2013!" Actually, few readers have physical newspapers to rattle. But still. You don't want to be a one-trick pony. "That Steinberg, he's really good at comparing whatever's happening now to World War I. That's his speciality of the house."
There are worse go-to moves, and 13 years is a long time. Few readers, I imagine, rattle their newspapers and think, "Heyyy, I read this metaphor in 2013!" Actually, few readers have physical newspapers to rattle. But still. You don't want to be a one-trick pony. "That Steinberg, he's really good at comparing whatever's happening now to World War I. That's his speciality of the house."
Oh well, there will be plenty of opportunities to develop fresh approaches to this war. It doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. World War I lasted four years.
I like when you share emails and wish you did more of that.
ReplyDeleteI read your blog every day, yesterday's too. However, with all that 47 dishes out, sometimes you just cannot write, you shake your head.. "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio."...
ReplyDeleteIn regard to the top photo, calling it "The Old Post Office" really annoys me, because growing up in the 1950s & 60s, we always called it "The New Post Office", because it replaced the post office that was part of the magnificent federal courthouse downtown, which the people of Chicago actually paid for, not the federal government in the late 1880s & then the stupid feds destroyed to become an empty lot for a long time before they built the current Klucinski Building & the small separate post office next to it.
ReplyDeleteIt should really be called "The Old New Post Office", with the newer & smaller "New, New Post Office just south of it.
I believe when it was built, it was the largest building by square footage in the world & then the Merchandise Mart was even bigger & then the Pentagon even bigger than that.
It was actually built with the hole in it for the expressway to go through it, but they had to enlarge it because the actual Congress Expressway as built was wider than the original as planned.
It’s probably the old post office because it’s isn’t a post office but it’s still standing in some form. Thanks for the history to look up.
DeleteBingo. You nailed it, Clark. When I was very young, not even out of my teens, I still had a childhood friend whose father was a postmaster at that enormous edifice. It was like a city in itself. My father's friend had literally legions of black veterans and women working for him, and they loved Ben. Sadly, he had health problems and died while still in his middle years.
DeleteAnd, yes, they did leave a hole for the expressway, which was on the drawing boards long before the Main Post Office (as everyone called it) was built. The facility was originally completed in 1921 but underwent a monumental expansion in 1932. The mail-order industry, spearheaded by the Montgomery Ward and Sears catalogs, transformed the city into the distribution center of the nation.
At its postal peak, the property was the largest of its kind in the world, more than 60 acres, or 2.5 million square feet of floorspace. It was capable of handling an astonishing 19 million pieces of mail daily.
My father worked there sorting mail after he got back from the Pacific.
ReplyDelete