[Food Lover’s in Windhoek on 3/30/22] In Albania, there’s a chain called Big Market. Despite its name, each Big Market is smallish. At my Tirana store, I bought cheeses, eggs, juices, nuts, chocolate, instant soups and yogurts. Without a kitchen, I couldn’t buy meat. The eggs, I boiled with an
Late last night, my old friend Dan Duffy left a comment after my last article, so I responded. Our exchange is reproduced below. I first met Dan in 1995 in Hanoi, and since then, we've hung out in New York, New Haven, Philadelphia and North Carolina. As you can imagine, my stance on Jewish thinking and Israel has alienated many old friends, Jews and goyim, and though Dan is "startled" by it, he's still a friend. His main concern is "security agencies" not leaving me alone, though I'm not sure what he means by this exactly. Before I went to Cairo, several people expressed concerns for my safety, but if Israeli securities wanted to shut me up, they could have done it in Beirut. I'm too tiny of a flea to be snuffed out, I reason. Why shine a spotlight for even a second on such an insect? I have just a thousand readers or so, though up from roughly 600 from six weeks ago! A much greater danger is to be deplatformed completely, and this is a threat that affects many writers and podcasters. All the signs are terrible. The Jewish mafia must restore and increase the Jewish chokehold on media. Just as millions of small businesses were destroyed by lockdowns, millions of farmers bankrupted by supply chain disruptions and, now, a fake bird flu, all voices of dissent will have their vocal cords snipped.
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Dan Duffy · Writes Viet Nam letters · 9 hr ago:
Linh, I have been startled to catch up with your thought. Thinking your views over has at last let me say something in general about the postcards project I have enjoyed all century. I will write that up over at mine. What to say here on yours about your view of the Jews. If you had jumped the other way, studying to keep mitzvot and learn Torah, I would have tried seriously to talk you out of it. That is our custom. So, you have in that sense done as we prefer. Beyond that, it is always good to hear these things out loud and see them in print. Plenty of people take offense at the Jews and never say so. Since you read scripture, you already know that Hashem and his, whatever, prophets also dislike us and our ways. So, again, you are with the program. Mazel tov. Okay enough fun. I am writing here now to address those security agencies who follow such as you: This man is my good friend. He has done as much as anyone, more than nearly anyone to reconcile the United States and Viet Nam, one mind at a time, with flinty words and no nonsense. Reviewing his work you too will see that no intelligence or propaganda operation could possibly be running him. He will do or say what he thinks, not as he is told. I remain hopeful that his conscience and strength of mind will lead him to express his understanding of the world order in different terms. But that is his fate, not ours. Please leave him alone to do his work as he sees fit.
Reply
Linh Dinh · author · 8 hr ago:
Hi Dan,
In short, I have nothing against anyone born Jewish, but only Jewish thinking. It is a destructive ideology that harms Jews themselves. My understanding of this issue was triggered by Henry Herskovitz, above all, who was born Jewish, then Gilad Atzmon, among others.
Speaking to me in Michigan, Herskovitz pointed out the distinction between opposing Jewish thinking to being against Jews. Though Herskovitz is vehemently against organized Jewry and Israel, he's obviously not against his own family, whom he continues to love. Similarly, there are many "Jews" whom I respect and admire, and non Jews whom I'm contemptuous of because they embody or espouse Jewish thinking. That's the virus that must be contained, at least.
In an oddly overlooked story, “Jackals and Arabs,” Kafka deals with this issue. I've discussed it in an article, "Kafka, Anti-Semite":
Just editing the memoirs of my great uncle. He was in Poland in 1939/40 as a war archivist. He was a German nationalist and arch reactionary but detested Hitler and Nationalsocialism. Anyhow
he was undoubtedly truthful when he wrote of the following things that happened: "jews where ordered to leave their homes. They burned down their houses. 300 of them were shot". "the synagogue in flames - German culture at work (sarcasm)". He also reports older German officers talkig about terrible atrocities and their revulsion. I don´t doubt that 6 million is a fictional numbas as nobody can know how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust as the SS often didn´t record the numbers and many Jews were killed by random Poles, Latvians or Lithuanians. About the gas chambers I am agnostic. But I don´t doubt for one minute that to be Jewish in German occupied Eastern Europe amounted to a death sentence. I just have talked to too many eye witnesses. For instance that belorussian farmer who witnessed the jews of his village being led away to be shot. He was still disgusted that the Jews didn´t give the other villagers their valuables although they had no more use for them. "What a greedy no good race" he said.
Eastern Europe was a killing field during the II world war and Jews served for the German occupiers as the cat that you kill to scare the monkey. In other respects what happened closely resembled the killing of the Tutsis in Ruanda. Poles a.s.o. killing their Jewish neighbours out of greed, racial hatred or for the heck of it. All that wouldn´t have happened without a general brutalisation thru hunger and war.
My mother, who as an ethnic German was at the receiving end of similar treatment by Czechs wondered long after the war how people who had been killers lost the habit when peace came.
Same story all over the world and most likely to differing degrees most countries have experienced something like that in their history.
Every Lent, fasting reminds me of how much we tend to think of food when our normal rhythms of eating and satisfaction are disrupted. Hunger, real hunger, consumes us. We so easily forget this in the land of plenty.
I was on a hunger strike once for over 70 days. I had water and tea sometimes and even ate a crust of bread a couple of times, but on the whole felt OK. I was inactive, locked up actually, and had stopped shitting after the first week or two. Hunger vanished within a few weeks too. I'm a bit weird in a few ways so not suggesting that hunger isn't very real and for many people. I think we have interesting times ahead in this regard. Here in Western Australia I expect shortages of many things, we're seeing it now and higher prices, this too is here now. Still, there's a lot gone into making this happen so it should be a helluva show.
As your article so skilfully suggests, hunger is and always has been a possibly, for the common man. I salute your gastronomic adventures. I to see the possibility of hunger not being unique to far away exotic places. There are the hidden hungry among us now. We may do well to learn to be less squeamish. It would be a shame to die of starvation because of squeamishness. However, I need more than sustenance for my body, so I subscribed, after sampling for awhile. Your unique style and perspective deserves to be supported.
Ah, I just saw this and had a great read. Last week, we were at our usual bar hangout chatting with friends and the topic was money, I advised them that there is really only one form of money and that it's food, period.
Where I live (SouthWest Florida) there's a sense of financial well-being as homes have gone up in value over the past year dramatically. It's a false sense. Since there's now so few homes for sale (the dregs really), 90% of realtors here haven't made a dime in months. I'm not looking forward to likely property tax increases next year, the county govt is always hungry. I could make money by selling my home but then I'd have to move to another state and I'm loathe to do that as Florida is by far the most free state in the country.
I'ma funny guy I guess, when I go to a country I've never been to my first wish is to visit a market and not some touristy place. Thanks for another great read Linh!
No bread for five months ? You should have lost some serious weight doing that. I remember growing up & my mother screaming at my sister ( a finicky eater, unlike me) to eat everything on her plate because "People were starving in China". Food prices, like everything else here, are skyrocketing. Put $27 bucks of gas into my 2008 Altima & barely got more than half a tank.
Would pay money to watch you debate, Linh. I still point to the 2000 debates, when Ralph Nader was blocked by police in Boston from even attending the Bush v Gore debates much less letting him participate, as one of the key moments when democracy officially died in the USA. Presidential debates these days are an absolute joke, although I did get a kick out of watching Chris Christie waddle out to the stage. btw...Gore was Tommy Lee Jones' roommate at Harvard.
Was Zyklon-B not used on the Jews ? Seems to be a sticky one.
Hi everybody,
Late last night, my old friend Dan Duffy left a comment after my last article, so I responded. Our exchange is reproduced below. I first met Dan in 1995 in Hanoi, and since then, we've hung out in New York, New Haven, Philadelphia and North Carolina. As you can imagine, my stance on Jewish thinking and Israel has alienated many old friends, Jews and goyim, and though Dan is "startled" by it, he's still a friend. His main concern is "security agencies" not leaving me alone, though I'm not sure what he means by this exactly. Before I went to Cairo, several people expressed concerns for my safety, but if Israeli securities wanted to shut me up, they could have done it in Beirut. I'm too tiny of a flea to be snuffed out, I reason. Why shine a spotlight for even a second on such an insect? I have just a thousand readers or so, though up from roughly 600 from six weeks ago! A much greater danger is to be deplatformed completely, and this is a threat that affects many writers and podcasters. All the signs are terrible. The Jewish mafia must restore and increase the Jewish chokehold on media. Just as millions of small businesses were destroyed by lockdowns, millions of farmers bankrupted by supply chain disruptions and, now, a fake bird flu, all voices of dissent will have their vocal cords snipped.
*
Dan Duffy · Writes Viet Nam letters · 9 hr ago:
Linh, I have been startled to catch up with your thought. Thinking your views over has at last let me say something in general about the postcards project I have enjoyed all century. I will write that up over at mine. What to say here on yours about your view of the Jews. If you had jumped the other way, studying to keep mitzvot and learn Torah, I would have tried seriously to talk you out of it. That is our custom. So, you have in that sense done as we prefer. Beyond that, it is always good to hear these things out loud and see them in print. Plenty of people take offense at the Jews and never say so. Since you read scripture, you already know that Hashem and his, whatever, prophets also dislike us and our ways. So, again, you are with the program. Mazel tov. Okay enough fun. I am writing here now to address those security agencies who follow such as you: This man is my good friend. He has done as much as anyone, more than nearly anyone to reconcile the United States and Viet Nam, one mind at a time, with flinty words and no nonsense. Reviewing his work you too will see that no intelligence or propaganda operation could possibly be running him. He will do or say what he thinks, not as he is told. I remain hopeful that his conscience and strength of mind will lead him to express his understanding of the world order in different terms. But that is his fate, not ours. Please leave him alone to do his work as he sees fit.
Reply
Linh Dinh · author · 8 hr ago:
Hi Dan,
In short, I have nothing against anyone born Jewish, but only Jewish thinking. It is a destructive ideology that harms Jews themselves. My understanding of this issue was triggered by Henry Herskovitz, above all, who was born Jewish, then Gilad Atzmon, among others.
Speaking to me in Michigan, Herskovitz pointed out the distinction between opposing Jewish thinking to being against Jews. Though Herskovitz is vehemently against organized Jewry and Israel, he's obviously not against his own family, whom he continues to love. Similarly, there are many "Jews" whom I respect and admire, and non Jews whom I'm contemptuous of because they embody or espouse Jewish thinking. That's the virus that must be contained, at least.
In an oddly overlooked story, “Jackals and Arabs,” Kafka deals with this issue. I've discussed it in an article, "Kafka, Anti-Semite":
https://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2019/10/kafka-anti-semite.html
Anyway, I'm glad you're speaking out about this. I'll always consider you a good friend, and I hope you'll think the same of me.
Linh
Just editing the memoirs of my great uncle. He was in Poland in 1939/40 as a war archivist. He was a German nationalist and arch reactionary but detested Hitler and Nationalsocialism. Anyhow
he was undoubtedly truthful when he wrote of the following things that happened: "jews where ordered to leave their homes. They burned down their houses. 300 of them were shot". "the synagogue in flames - German culture at work (sarcasm)". He also reports older German officers talkig about terrible atrocities and their revulsion. I don´t doubt that 6 million is a fictional numbas as nobody can know how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust as the SS often didn´t record the numbers and many Jews were killed by random Poles, Latvians or Lithuanians. About the gas chambers I am agnostic. But I don´t doubt for one minute that to be Jewish in German occupied Eastern Europe amounted to a death sentence. I just have talked to too many eye witnesses. For instance that belorussian farmer who witnessed the jews of his village being led away to be shot. He was still disgusted that the Jews didn´t give the other villagers their valuables although they had no more use for them. "What a greedy no good race" he said.
Eastern Europe was a killing field during the II world war and Jews served for the German occupiers as the cat that you kill to scare the monkey. In other respects what happened closely resembled the killing of the Tutsis in Ruanda. Poles a.s.o. killing their Jewish neighbours out of greed, racial hatred or for the heck of it. All that wouldn´t have happened without a general brutalisation thru hunger and war.
My mother, who as an ethnic German was at the receiving end of similar treatment by Czechs wondered long after the war how people who had been killers lost the habit when peace came.
Same story all over the world and most likely to differing degrees most countries have experienced something like that in their history.
Every Lent, fasting reminds me of how much we tend to think of food when our normal rhythms of eating and satisfaction are disrupted. Hunger, real hunger, consumes us. We so easily forget this in the land of plenty.
I was on a hunger strike once for over 70 days. I had water and tea sometimes and even ate a crust of bread a couple of times, but on the whole felt OK. I was inactive, locked up actually, and had stopped shitting after the first week or two. Hunger vanished within a few weeks too. I'm a bit weird in a few ways so not suggesting that hunger isn't very real and for many people. I think we have interesting times ahead in this regard. Here in Western Australia I expect shortages of many things, we're seeing it now and higher prices, this too is here now. Still, there's a lot gone into making this happen so it should be a helluva show.
As your article so skilfully suggests, hunger is and always has been a possibly, for the common man. I salute your gastronomic adventures. I to see the possibility of hunger not being unique to far away exotic places. There are the hidden hungry among us now. We may do well to learn to be less squeamish. It would be a shame to die of starvation because of squeamishness. However, I need more than sustenance for my body, so I subscribed, after sampling for awhile. Your unique style and perspective deserves to be supported.
Most of us in the west have never known hunger....except hunger for things that is.
Ah, I just saw this and had a great read. Last week, we were at our usual bar hangout chatting with friends and the topic was money, I advised them that there is really only one form of money and that it's food, period.
Where I live (SouthWest Florida) there's a sense of financial well-being as homes have gone up in value over the past year dramatically. It's a false sense. Since there's now so few homes for sale (the dregs really), 90% of realtors here haven't made a dime in months. I'm not looking forward to likely property tax increases next year, the county govt is always hungry. I could make money by selling my home but then I'd have to move to another state and I'm loathe to do that as Florida is by far the most free state in the country.
I'ma funny guy I guess, when I go to a country I've never been to my first wish is to visit a market and not some touristy place. Thanks for another great read Linh!
Linh
No bread for five months ? You should have lost some serious weight doing that. I remember growing up & my mother screaming at my sister ( a finicky eater, unlike me) to eat everything on her plate because "People were starving in China". Food prices, like everything else here, are skyrocketing. Put $27 bucks of gas into my 2008 Altima & barely got more than half a tank.
Would pay money to watch you debate, Linh. I still point to the 2000 debates, when Ralph Nader was blocked by police in Boston from even attending the Bush v Gore debates much less letting him participate, as one of the key moments when democracy officially died in the USA. Presidential debates these days are an absolute joke, although I did get a kick out of watching Chris Christie waddle out to the stage. btw...Gore was Tommy Lee Jones' roommate at Harvard.
Was Zyklon-B not used on the Jews ? Seems to be a sticky one.
Bill