I, Dynamo

Exhuming Bob 13

Fit 3;

Bob As Messiah

by

R.E. Prindle

     What was really an innocent exploration of Bob’s religious development is being given a sinsiter cast by various elements with an apparent axe to grind.

     The latest to join the fray is something called Mick Hartley: Politics and Culture.  It goes on this way:

     As David T. at Harry’s Place publicises a forthcoming conference at Goldsmith’s, University of London, on Jews and anti-semitism, it’s interesting to note the odd places where you find anti-semitism cropping up nowadays.  Expecting Rain as anyone who follows Bob Dylan’s career will know, is a website which provides daily links to all things Bob: concert and record reviews, articles, whatever.  There is, of course, no presumption that every article they link to is something they agree with or aprove of, but, as RightWingBob notes, it was nevertheless extremely odd to see them linking last Thursday to this piece, “Exhuming Bob X: Lubavitcher Bob.”

     One would have to obsessed with anti-Semitism to find it in my scholarly essay.  Coded in the above quote is the notion that Andersen’s site, an aggregator, Expecting Rain, and my site, I, Dynamo, colluded to publish this ‘anti-Semitic’ essay on the first day of the Jewish New Year, or Yom Kippur in Jewish parlance.  This notion was put forward by Sean Curwyn and his alter ego Dov Kerner on his RightWingBob site.  This is what is known as a paranoid delusion in psycho-analytical circles.

     Curwyn and Kerner note that my essay was written in June and they think cleverly withheld until Yom Kipper when apparently as they believe as some sort of insult to the Jews Expecting Rain and I, Dynamo in collusion published it.  Karl Andersen who runs his site and I mine don’t even know each other and have never communicated about anything except contributions and that in the most perfunctory manner.

     While it is true that I wrote the essay in June it was only in October that I suggested the link to Expecting Rain.  I only became familiar with the aggregator a couple months ago after I wrote the essay.  Since then I have been a regular contributor to the site.

     So, this October I decided to suggest the link to ER as I thought it a very thoughtful essay on Bob’s religious attitude.  As Monday through Thursday have the heaviest traffic on ER I waited until Monday afternoon to submit the link.  As it happened Monday was a heavy newsday for ER which listed 30 links therefore excluding mine as a late submission.  ER carried it over using it on Tuesday which was a slow newsday.

     I doubt very seriously whether Karl Andersen was aware of when Yom Kippur was and I sure as heck didn’t know so if the essay was published on Yom Kippur there was no conspiracy to do so.  But as conspiracy theorists have no trouble making non-existent connections Messers Kerner, Curwyn and Hartley see the ugly head of anti-Semitism looming above the horizon like Fantomas over Paris.

     My compassion and pity goes out to them.  I hope they get well soon.  It is too bad Mr. Hartley who read psychology at Oxford (in England not Mississippi) became disillusioned with the discipline; all three need it badly.  Should they enter an analyst’s office the term they should employ in seeking help is…paranoid delusion.

Fit 4 will follow in another posting.