Lonely Man Of Faith Poem by gershon hepner

Lonely Man Of Faith

Rating: 5.0


“There are a lot of things that I believe I’ll never say, ”
said Kant, “but I will never say what I do not believe.”
The questions raised by lonely men of faith don’t go away,
since few are satisfied by all the answers they receive.

Most people seem to pay far more attention to a great chick
than even to an intellectual giant, I suppose;
Marilyn remains more popular than Soloveitchik,
and even, though he answers many questions, Charlie Rose.

Inspired by a saying of Immanuel Kant, cited by James Taranto in an article on Glenn Beck (”Nobody’ watching Charlie Rose, ” WSJ, January 16,2010) :
[Beck] rejects the implication that his is a lowbrow appeal: 'You name the conservative that can do a full hour—a full hour—on Woodrow Wilson and the roots of modern liberalism—for an hour—and have high ratings with it.... I had like three really big eggheads on the show, and people watched it. Now, you could be Charlie Rose all you want, but nobody's watching Charlie Rose.'…
Some of Mr. Beck's detractors on the left, including MSNBC ranter Keith Olbermann, draw a more sinister cinematic analogy. Mr. Olbermann calls Mr. Beck 'Lonesome Rhodes, ' the cynical TV demagogue played by Andy Griffith in 1957's 'A Face in the Crowd.' 'I had never heard of Lonesome Rhodes, ' Mr. Beck says. 'I had never seen the movie.... As soon as I heard that, I watched it.... Lonesome Rhodes and I, I guess, had a few things in common. He was a drunk. I'm in AA; he wasn't. He, at the very beginning, said things that he believed—I think. I'm not really even sure on that. I used to not say the things I believe.... Now I've made a vow to myself—it actually comes from Immanuel Kant, the philosopher: 'There are many things that I believe that I shall never say. But I shall never say the things that I do not believe.'... The minute I violate that, I'm back to the old drunk Glenn.'


1/16/10

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