Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/04

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Luftwaffen Leica - Help with Identification
From: Andre Jean Quintal <megamax@abacom.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 17:12:33 -0500

At 09:55 -0500 04/01/99, B. D. Colen wrote:
[ . . . ]
Aren't there some "collectibles" that, given their provenance, shouldn't be
collected other than in Museums. Or, are their certain items that we should
neither invest in nor profit from?
[ . . . ]
	Mr Colen,
	Just how deep do people like you have to furrow
	in murky and equivocal self-justification
	by so-called "genetic" association,
	pretending an inner calling to the valiant and righteous
	task of denegating others of the pleasures of their hobby
	and wallowing in pointless and irrelevant
	"genetic" victimization that have neither
	the least thing to do with YOU, personally,
	nor A-N-Y of the good people in this group ?

	Perhaps are YOUR ATTITUDES,
	given their provenance,
	not even worth a square foot of Museum space !
	Not to deny History, just to note you are pretending
	to police other good willed people whose worldview
	has grown to embrace so much more
	than the truly painful life experience
	of, perhaps, your forefathers and THEIRS !
	Would you care to ponder the eventuality
	of one historical dimension that recalls
	the blood, sweat and tears, most likely,
	of too many good people drawn in a maelstrom
	few could eschew on a day to day basis
	"back then", unless willing to risk getting slugged.

	If you don't appreciate my reaction,
	please note you were invading my privacy
	and personal space with a private agenda
	totally alien to the pursuits of our bona fide group:
	photo excellence.

	If you wish to so aggressively promote such discourse
	in MY e-mail, please be warned you are trespassing.
	I am a model of patience, a model of tolerance,
	others say : please examine your ultimate purposes
	when you regurgitate such venom.
	You might be the one person who suffers most
	from such and might destroy pathways to friendships
	that could do much to heal the unspeakable pain
	that is NOT yours, by any standard,
	perhaps even healing your prejudice.

	It is not impossible that the person enquiring
	about the relative value of this vintage camera
	be the son of a man who may have carried
	your own father, or a "genetic" kind, to safety.

	War is ugly, even today, with as many Iraqi children
	dead in less than ten years of international boycott
	than in the sorrowful nazi death camps, now about
	one million and counting...
	Have you heard of the goulag ?
	Have you not heard of the killing fields ?
	Have you the least notion of the actual numbers
	of starving people on account of warlords, today ?
	Have you the very least notion of the numbers
	of children maimed by live antipersonel mines, TODAY ?
	It's so obscene, the news don't talk about it !
	People simply would not be able to deal with Reality
	as it IS : our mutual loss.

	So, we look fifty years back, so easy,
	just for the comfort of it !

	Stigma is a most painful experience, Sir.
	My suggestion is you pursue such diatribe
	with A-N-Y 'live' German person, today, this year,
	and weigh for yourself just how far you then
	would be willing to go in the way of finger pointing
	and, not impossible, self-righteousness.

	You owe yourself a minute of silence.

	Respectfully,

	Andre Jean Quintal




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   Before you judge me,
   try hard to love me,
   look within your heart then ask,
   have you seen my childhood.
              Michael Jackson