July 6, 2019

Contemplating something JN wrote online. Every now and then you are brought up short by the revelation that you are someone’s quintessence of evil. The hallmark of the last two years has been the knowledge that some people hate me so much they make up whole mythologies in which I am Satan, Sauron, Stalin. There is no defense, not merely because it isn’t true, but because one cannot clearly understand the accusation. How to defend against a deed or an attitude which has never so much as crossed your mind? Yet, the vehemence of the accusation convinces one that SOMETHING lies behind it, that one has done something so heinous in the eyes of another that she will stop at nothing to strike back. But what? What was I actually saying when ghastly things were heard?