I’ve read all your books, and I think they are amazing pieces of work! Your books have changed how I see the world. As a result they have changed how I live my life and what I value. I have a problem though.

My family doesn’t think what I’m doing with my life is a good idea. They think I’ve bought into something that I will forever regret! In fact I think they may even think I need to be saved from this “Ishmael type thinking,” which I know isn’t true.

But I’m still pissed off about it, because family is pretty important to me. Here are some of the things I’ve heard:

1.You and your ideas may be a conspiracy to give us poor people false hope while the Jews steal from us.

2.Quinn is a Jewish name, therefore you are a Jew and you are in cahoots with the Jewish power who controls the worlds wealth.

3.Ishmael was a Jew in the bible, and of course the bible is the Jews’ handbook. So the character you used also leads to the conspiracy of you trying to keep us gentiles brainwashed.

4.You got rich off your books, us poor people still have to make a living.

Those are all I can think of off hand. The reason why I’m writing this to you is because with the knowledge you have, I’m hoping you can challenge these bullshit myths. Or you can point me in the right direction so I can put these myths to rest. If you have time, it would be great to here your thoughts on this.

Categories: Here's My Opinion; What's Yours?, I Have a Bone to Pick with You!, I Have a Question About Daniel Quinn|Tags: , , , , |
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I must admit that I was greatly disappointed with Beyond Civilization. Perhaps I am still too entrenched in the philosophies of the Takers, but I was hoping for something more tangible, a path to follow in my life. Writing this now, I feel like a whining child asking a parent how to get himself out of sticky situation but I feel that I must put it down anyhow.

You speak of tribes as if they are a dime a dozen, people just waiting around on street corners to abandon the only thing that they know to follow in this endeavor. I am sure that you speak to many people on this subject and you realize that the reason they have come to feel lost in society is because they are disconnected from those who might understand them.

Of all the people that I know (some who are the most intelligent and caring individuals that I have ever met), not one is willing to sacrifice the advantages that our culture has to offer for a heightened sense of personal fulfillment. Most believe that they can find everything they need within our culture, and I am not sure that they are wrong.

I do not have a tribe, Mr. Quinn, and I would go so far as to guess that most other people do not. It is frustrating for me to read your work and then apply it to my life. I am $20,000 dollars in debt to the federal government (the cost of improving myself through a college education), I work waiting tables while I try (unsuccessfully) to publish my short stories, and I save up money to travel to places around the world where (somewhere in my heart of hearts) I hope to find some kind of real freedom.

You have a wife that seems to share your ideals and (I assume) a group of friends and followers, you have had a successful job in publishing, and you are currently a successful writer. Surely you see that your plan is more easily applied to yourself than to those like me. There are no circuses in town for me to join (nor would I want to become a part of them) and I do not wish to live a homeless lifestyle if I cannot help it.

Categories: Here's My Opinion; What's Yours?, I Have a Bone to Pick with You!, I Have a Question On a Specific Subject, I'd Like Some Advice|Tags: , , , , , , |
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On to the larger question, that is to say, now that you have answered the lesser and more everyday one with your Ishmael essay, there remains (for some, not all thank god) the most troubling and pervasive, relentless, gnawing, and elusive question of all (for some debilitating, not all thank god) and that is “What does this all mean?”

Can we know? Can it be known? With all the investigation that has gone before us (from Lao Tzu to Hesse) have you come across (or for that matter arrived at some notion or conclusion yourself) any findings that merit your recommendation for review? If you can illuminate on this subject I would be most appreciative.

Categories: I Need Some Clarification, I'd Like Some Advice|Tags: , , |
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