FLOTSAM & JETSAM: RAMPANT SELF PROMOTION

Thursday, April 30, 2009

RAMPANT SELF PROMOTION

Mike Palecek interviewed your editor for his site, the New American Dream. Click here and then scroll down to New American Dream Interview to find it. Here's an except:

NAD: Why have you done all this?

SAM SMITH: So what else was I meant to do?

NAD: Why are you so interested?

SAM SMITH: My college roommates used to make fun of me because I would run out the door whenever I heard a nearby fire engine. I guess it must be genetic. . .

NAD: Was there a "moment" you can recall that made you want to do something about it?

SAM SMITH: I don't know if there was a moment. The better question would be: was there ever not a moment? From junior high on I was more of a fan of journalists like Ed Murrow and Elmer Davis than I was of sports figures.

NAD: What's it like to do what you do?

SAM SMITH: I love it. I feel like every morning I get to go fishing. . . only for news rather than for trout.

NAD: Is there a God?

SAM SMITH: I'm a Seventh Day Agnostic.

I don't think it matters because if there is a god I can't imagine him being worth worshipping if he holds it against people for not knowing whether he exists or not.

That would be a pretty rotten attitude — sort of like favoring the likes of Sarah Palin and Rick Warren. Who needs a god like that?

On the other hand, if it helps people to believe in God or things on key chains, that's fine.

It only becomes a problem when they want to punish others for failing to live up to their misinterpretation of some sacred book and start wars and things like that.

I'm an existentialist and believe our existence is defined by what we do and say. You can't blame it on God.