Well, this whole experience over the last few years has turned meJimZ wrote: > OK John, you're scaring me a little bit with the Cassandra
> comparison.
into a very dark, gloomy person, as is pretty obvious to everyone.
I've had to deal on a daily basis with a logical contradiction: I'm
the only sane person in an insane world, but even holding that
thought in my mind is a sign of insanity. I'm very aware of that
contradiction.
I will say this: If I look at the last few years less emotionally and
more objectively, then the mythical Cassandra scenario has not
unfolded in the worst way that I had feared. I used to get e-mail
messages from people who were furious with me and called me all kinds
of names. Some messages accused me of trying to precipitate a crisis.
None of them was directly threatening, but the tone of some of them
was very strident.
I had feared that those kinds of messages would only get worse, but
they haven't. In fact, those kinds of messages have really stopped
completely in the last year. I assume that's because the severity of
the economic crisis has forced those would-be message senders to
reassess their views.
So that's on the plus side. On the other hand, the real crisis
hasn't begun yet, and Cassandra's worst troubles began after the
crisis. There's literally no possibility whatsoever I or my web site
could be the CAUSE of any crisis, but it's possible for some
unbalanced person to conclude in his own troubled mind that a crisis
is somehow my fault. That, I believe, is the real message behind the
Cassandra story.
In one way, I take after my mother. She was very religious, and
always described herself as a fatalistic person. She would always say
that God would take her when her time was up - not before and not
after. I'm not a religious person, but I have a similar fatalistic
view about the world and myself -- whatever's going to happen is going
to happen, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Here I strongly agree with you. This past week has been a goodJimZ wrote: > But I don't see you getting backlash given that you accurately
> laid out a scenario that is unfolding just as you said. And even
> if people do want to smack the "prophets" I would hope there are a
> lot more highly visible people who would be targets than you.
> (I.e. I personally would like to slap Kramer when I listen to his
> "Mad Money" blather.)
example, as the public has turned viciously against Blagojevich and
Madoff for things that might well have been ignored just a couple of
years ago. The public in general is going to become angrier and
angrier, and financial scandals are going to multiply like rabbits.
Sincerely,
John
