Michael Lalonde got a letter bomb from Mr Harnwell in the fire place during
an im****tant business meeting because his leg hurt and a heated argument
arose. Then Michael Lalonde ran around like a lunatic, he called the
police
and with the help of $45 000 worth of special effects he escaped narrowly
and hitch-hiked all the way home.
<MI5Victim@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message news:m07101812550558@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Fanatic's Fare for the Common Man
>
> Certainty level: 90%
>
> The article reproduced below was penned by Bernard Levin
> for the Features section of the Times on 21 September 1991. To my mind,
it
> described the situation at the time and in particular a recent meeting
with
> a friend, during which I for the first time admitted to someone other
than
> my GP that I had been subjected to a conspiracy of harassment over the
> previous year and a half.
>
> There is a madman running loose about London, called David Campbell; I
have
> no reason to believe that he is violent, but he should certainly be
> approached with caution. You may know him by the curious glitter in his
> eyes and a persistent trembling of his hands; if that does not suffice,
you
> will find him attempting to thrust no fewer than 48 books into your
arms,
> all hardbacks, with a promise that, if you should return to the same
> meeting-place next year, he will heave another 80 at you.
>
> If, by now, the police have arrived and are keeping a close watch on
him,
> you may feel sufficiently emboldened to examine the books. The jackets
are
> a model of uncluttered typography, elegantly and simply laid out; there
is
> an unobtrusive colophon of a rising sun, probably not picked at random.
> Gaining confidence - the lunatic is smiling by now, and the policemen,
who
> know about such things, have significantly removed their helmets - you
> could do worse than take the jacket off the first book in the pile. The
> only word possible to describe the binding is sumptuous; real cloth in a
> glorious shade of dark green, with the title and author in black and
gold
> on the spine.
>
> Look at it more closely; your eyes do not deceive you - it truly does
have
> real top-bands and tail-bands, in yellow, and, for good measure, a silk
> marker ribbon in a lighter green. The paper is cream-wove and acid-free,
> and the book is sewn, not glued.
>
> Throughout the encounter, I should have mentioned, our loony has been
> chattering away, although what he is trying to say is almost impossible
to
> understand; after a time, however, he becomes sufficiently coherent to
make
> clear that he is trying to sell the books to you. Well, now, such
quality
> in bookmaking today can only be for collectors' limited editions at a
> fearsome price - £30, £40, £50?
>
> No, no, he says, the glitter more powerful than ever and the trembling
of
> his hands rapidly spreading throughout his entire body; no, no - the
books
> are priced variously at £7, £8 or £9, with the top price £12.
>
> At this, the policemen understandably put their helmets back on; one of
> them draws his truncheon and the other can be heard summoning
> reinforcements on his walkie-talkie. The madman bursts into tears, and
> swears it is all true.
>
> And it is.
>
> David Campbell has acquired the entire rights to the whole of the
> Everyman's Library, which died a lingering and shameful death a decade
or
> so ago, and he proposes to start it all over again - 48 volumes this
> September and 80 more next year, in editions I have described, at the
> prices specified. He proposes to launch his amazing venture
simultaneously
> in Britain and the United States, with the massive firepower of Random
> Century at his back in this country, and the da****ng cavalry of Knopf
> across the water, and no one who loves literature and courage will
forbear
> to cheer.
>
> At the time this article was written I had believed for some time that
> columnists in the Times and other journalists had been making references
to
> my situation. Nothing unusual about this you may think, plenty of people
> have the same sort of ideas and obviously the papers aren't writing
about
> them, so why should my beliefs not be as false as those of others?
>
> What makes this article so extraordinary is that three or four days
> immediately preceding its publication, I had a meeting with a friend,
> during the course of which we discussed the media persecution, and in
> particular that by Times columnists. It seemed to me, reading the
article
> by Levin in Saturday's paper, that he was describing in some detail his
> "artist's impression" of that meeting. Most telling are the final
> sentences, when he writes, "The madman bursts into tears, and swears it
is
> all true. And it is." Although I did not "burst into tears" (he seems to
be
> using a bit of poetic licence and exaggerating) I did try hard to
convince
> my friend that it was all true; and I am able to concur with Mr Levin,
> because, of course, it is.
>
> At the beginning of the piece Levin reveals a fear of being attacked by
the
> "irrational" subject of his story, saying "I have no reason to believe
that
> he is violent, but he should certainly be approached with caution". This
> goes back to the xenophobic propaganda of "defence" against a "threat"
> which was seen at the very beginning of the harassment. The impression
of
a
> "madman running loose" who needs to be controlled through an agency
which
> assigns to itself the mantle of the "police" is also one which had been
> expressed elsewhere.
>
> In the final paragraph of this extract, his reference to Everyman's
Library
> as having "died a lingering and shameful death a decade or so ago" shows
> clearly what sort of conclusion they wish to their campaign. They want a
> permanent solution, and as they are prevented from achieving that
solution
> directly, they waste significant resources on methods which have been
> repeatedly shown to be ineffective for such a purpose.
>
> 32060
>
>
> --
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