Another ***bump*** for the Fjordman Fund.
During these past few days there have been generous donations from both the US and Europe.
As previous donors know, I believe that whatever one gives to another is always returned in abundance. This reciprocity is one of life’s Laws. Just as is the Law of Gravity immutable, so is the Law of Giving. Of course, what we get back in return for our gift doesn’t always come in the form we expect, but this just proves that the Cosmos, in addition to having a set of Laws, also has a Sense of Humor. This can be quite hard on the humorless.
To those who have given of their resources: thank you. For those just finding out about the fund, please give what you can in return for all that Fjordman has contributed to your understanding of what we are up against, and even more sadly, what we have lost.
The Dark Prophet of Norway has sometimes been vilified for telling the truth. That’s a professional hazard with prophets and with those courageous souls who pursue the freedom that truth brings. The Founders of the United States understood that point very well. They took a tremendous risk and had they lost, their lives would have been forfeit.
So it is with Fjordman, who writes anonymously in order to shine the light of truth into an increasingly ominous era.
Give what you can for what you have received.
Further update from the Baron: The photo above shows Fjordman’s book proudly displayed on the bookshelf at the DowneastBlog.
Donations have been rolling in from all over the world — it’s very inspiring. Thanks to everyone for pitching in to help Fjordman.
This post has been bumped to the top, so scroll down to see Tuesday’s posts.
Note from the Baron: This post is being bumped to the top to make sure that latecomers and part-timers see it. Scroll down for all of the Monday posts.
The donations are coming in, and on behalf of Fjordman, I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed so far.
How long have you been a Fjordman fan? For the Baron, discovering the dark prophet of Norway was a good moment — February 2005.
That seems so long ago now, and actually it was — becoming a fan of Fjordman happened shortly after we began Gates of Vienna. The Baron mentioned with great enthusiasm a blog he’d found by “this Norwegian guy”. We put it on our reading list along with Wretchard at Belmont Club. There were others — Bill Whittle was one.
I finally got around to buying Bill Whittle’s book; it’s very good — written in that inimitable style of his. Wretchard hasn’t put a book out yet, but when he does, I’ll be in line for that one, most certainly.
The case with Fjordman is somewhat different. After the span of years Fjordman spent creating his essays, he has written a book. The problem is, the publishers have made Defeating Eurabia expensive. Purchasing it is a major outlay of cash in a bad economic time, and especially since he won’t be seeing any return for this venture.
Fjordman wants to sell the book in order to disseminate the information he has collected. He published it in order to have those essays all in one place, bound between two covers. But it has continued to bother me greatly that he will receive no recompense for this most extraordinary work.
For some time I have been badgering Fjordman to permit me to put up this bleg.
It’s not his idea. However, the idea wouldn’t let me alone, so I pestered him until I got permission to ask our readers to donate to his cause. Will your generosity keep the wolf from the door? Probably not — but it sure will keep the old grey guy from getting inside.
- - - - - - - - -
Here’s how the bleg will work: donors to Fjordman will send their contributions through the Gates of Vienna PayPal site. We will in turn send each acknowledgement on to him so that he knows who his donors are. This will permit him to respond to each of you individually, and it allows you to ascertain that he did receive the money.
During the week, I will bump up this post, with updates. I hope to gather donors from a wide group of countries and be able to report those to you during the course of the donation drive. When the bleg is over, we will pass the collected monies on to a third person who will make sure Fjordman receives the full amount.
All of this will take a bit of work. When your donation comes in, I expect to have it forwarded to Fjordman on that same day. He in turn, may have to take several days to respond to you. If you haven’t heard from him personally within 72 hours, then email us about this. Email is preferable to comments as it is more likely to be seen by one of us.
Because it is so over-used, “unique” is a word I normally avoid. However, I cannot think of anyone else in the blogosphere (or academia or journalism, for that matter) who can convey this broad expanse of knowledge and understanding in the way that Fjordman has done, and continues to do. His ability to place people, events, and even technological innovations in their proper perspective has demonstrated repeatedly the scope of his scholarship. There is simply no one else out there doing what he does.
And of course you know his output is prodigious. I wish I had half his intellectual energy, never mind his ability to convey what he knows with such clarity. Fjordman remains remarkable, just as fresh as he was when we first happened upon him almost four years ago.
I hope you can contribute to the cause of this extraordinary thinker. Years from now, people will look back on his work, both the quality and quantity, and marvel at how he managed to accomplish so much. They will wonder too, at his prescience; I fear the things he has predicted will come about even sooner than he thought.
Thus, I ask you to -
- Give in return for the knowledge you have received.
- Give because his work deserves it.
- Give what you can.
For those of you who want to read it online, Fjordman’s book Defeating Eurabia is available in five installments:
35 comments:
I consider Fjordman my Western civilization Yoda.
What is the donation drive for? Is he in trouble? Just a wish to be compensated for his well-deserved efforts?
Also, how much are you looking for as a donation?
Lastly, an idea. I would to have a personal thank you letter signed by Fjordman himself.
Orlando--
The drive is for Fjordman. He is not going to be well compensated for this book and that bothers me a lot.
Therefore, this bleg is my attempt to fill what I see as a void.
It's not a matter of what I'm "looking for" re a donation to this fund. Think of it as a way to thank someone for the enormous effort that has gone into his writing and the ways in which you have benefitted from that effort.
When you say I would like to have a personal thank you letter signed by Fjordman himself , do you mean an email in response to your gift? By all means, that will happen, as I said in the post. Please see above.
But if you mean your very own piece of paper with a Fjordman signature on it...well, I hope you don't mean that. Because if you do then you haven't understood at all what your own "personal Western Civilization Yoda" is up against.
So he's supposed to write you a letter and mail it from ... where, precisely? He is anonymous for the very good reason that the things he writes about would have him up on mulitudinous charges of "incitement" and "hate speech" and heaven only knows what else.
If all you have gained from Fjordman to date doesn't move you on its own to want to give him something back in return, then I don't know what would.
I repeat what I said in the post:
*Give in return for the knowledge you have received.
*Give because his work deserves it.
*Give what you can.
I don't know what to say to you Orlando.
It seems that you miss the point entirely about "your own personal Yoda."
This "Yoda" spends countless hours researching and publishing FOR FREE his data and conclusions. He has now written a book that is clearly overpriced at $40. This was beyond his control. In the States, first edition books are currently going for about $26 retail.
This fund drive is an effort to say thank you to Fjordman for all his efforts. Those that don't think much of his writing will skip it. Those that have gotten something out of his efforts, especially the fact that he has published the book FOR FREE on the internet, will hit the tip jar to say thank you. You need only write in the "purpose" block that the donation is a thank you to Fjordman, or Yoda if you are so inclined...
I think that pretty well sums it up. Donate or not...
Hey hey,
We should be nice to Orlando. We wouldn't want to talk him out of donating, would we? And it's Christmas time and all...
Orlando,
No, Fjordman is not in trouble. It's about compensating him for his excellent efforts, as you said. However, he hasn't gotten rich exactly, from spending his last four years like this.
What's a good size for a donation? I think $25, since it corresponds to a reasonable book price. So for anyone who feels he's read a book-worth and more by Fjordman on the Internet, that could be one standard to go after.
Another standard could be 1% of your fortune... no just kidding :-)
Signed thank-you letters is a very nice idea, but as Dymphna already touched upon, it's hardly practicable in this case.
Thank you for posting, Dymphna. Orlando: I won't be sending any letters on paper at least, that's not practically doable, but maybe by email. This is Dymphna's initiative, but I knew from the very beginning that I wouldn't make any money from Defeating Eurabia and that people could donate on a voluntary basis instead.
Fjordman, sorry my donation couldn't have been more but I wanted at least to make a Christmas offering, even if only a small one. I've been reading and learning from GOV for a year or more and I wanted to thank everyone here for that.
I'm an American with a particular affection for Norway, and I've always been impressed and grateful for your insights and writings. Fjordman, tusen takk!
Hilsen månesteiner
Hate the Caliphate?
Help the Fjordman.
I have sent a small donation which course is nothing compared to the pleasure I have had reading him.
Fjordman, have a drink to my health (and yours!). If possible with a slice of ham.
I hope it also provides for the next book you will buy. I understand that you are an outstanding Amazon customer :)
To the health and success of the great Fjordman, all seven of them, because there's no other explanation for a guy knowing so much and working so hard.
If Americans had to elect a foreigner. why not a Fjordman? I'd change any Constitution for him. From chocolate to Optics, medicine to beer (which might not be so far apart), to history of the civilized and uncivilized worlds, (which ARE very far apart and may the twain never meet more than absolutely necessary!) we have a very rare and precious man on our side. As we say in Italy: Santo subito!
Few people on this earth are more deserving. Enough said from someone who is far too wordy.
IoshkaFutz: I thought we were five? Thank you for kind words from all of you. I am still considering writing "thank you" emails, but I haven't decided yet. If I don't do so it's not because I am not grateful for donations, which I certainly am, but because I don't like to give out contact information, even an email address, to people I don't know. There's a reason why I don't post it online.
AMDG: Maybe I will write an essay or two for your blog at some point. I've been reading about Cervantes lately. I knew he invented the novel in the European tradition, but I didn't know that he was a prisoner of Muslim Barbary Pirates in North Africa for a period of his life and that he personally participated in the Battle of Lepanto later. Such ignorance! Needless to say, despite the alleged glory of "Islamic Spain" there was no Cervantes in the Iberian Peninsula during the Islamic period, just like there was no Velázquez, Goya, El Greco or Picasso.
I don't buy most of my books from Amazon. I got them via other sources, and many I don't buy at all. Many books can be found online, if not complete.
Fjordman,
I don't like to give out contact information, even an email address, to people I don't know.
This is easily solved, by setting up an email account especially for this purpose.
Fjordman is an inspiration. This is all I can really say as his impact on me has been quite profound and fruitful.
Thank you.
Is there any other way of donating money than Paypal?
I'm not fond of Paypal..
Forgive me if I am wrong, but is not the Celtic cross design proudly displayed on the plate next to Mr Fjordman's book in the photograph a symbol also widely used by white supremacists and neo-Nazis? I am, of course, sure that this is merely a coincidence and that Mr Fjordman rejects any ideology based upon myths of Indo-European/Aryan superiority.
@IvanFyodorovichShponka --
That CELTIC cross is displayed there because its owner is a Christian. I have a Celtic cross myself.
The Nazis commandeered many things; that doesn't mean they now own them for eternity. The Flemish party Vlaams Belang, of which the owner is a member, has been excoriated by the thugs in the Belgian police, media and parliament for supposedly being neo-Nazis.
Fjordman has been excoriated for supposedly being racist.
I don't know about the other book -- it's probably considered a very unpolitcally correct children's book in Belgium. Probably TinTin is too.
IOW, the picture is supposed to be a visual ironic joke.
I can see that if one thinks that the Celtic Cross now belongs to the Nazis alone, then this picture would cause alarm. However, as a Celtic Irish woman whose ancestral homeland has thousands of Celtic crosses dating back hundreds of years, I don't permit the Nazis to own that symbol.
People who know only recent history are limited by their blinders. Hitler is dead, some small minority of skin heads insist on dragging his corpse around. However, the ones to watch are the Russians: everyone else has been airbrushed out of their history, but Lenin remains entombed and on display.
Does the book include Fjordman's "History of Optics?"
Timing is everything.
I need to get past this quarter, this year, and Christmas, so will need a reminder after the start of '09.
I do have three grandbabies, God Bless'em.
I am totally SICK of defending the Celtic cross.
Sorry that my ancestores used the cross as their national identity...
I really apologize to each and every person that finds my heritige offensive. But, you can all go screw yourselves...
I would just like to ask you what it is exactly that you find so repugnant about the Celtic Cross?
Is it that you prefer a partial moon???
Really, I am quite at my end regarding this discussion...
You Sir, Mr. Ivan Fydorovich, etc... are an ass.
Get a grip and come back with something real to say...
Sorry, I bet you never met a Christian like me that was so combative... That is our fault!
Your suspicion about the Celtic Cross just makes my blood boil... I have MANY Celtic crosses and I am not giving them up to you any time soon...
So take that and put it in your P.C. cooker. I will march in the streets rather than submit to your P.C. crap...
You think I won't? Just push it a bit farther... All indications are that your idea of a "reasonable society" have gone right off the rails. So, if I now display a Celtic cross on my neck or in a graveyard it is against society??? You are one sick puppy.
Gordon: My history of optics isn't finished yet. I will publish part three in a couple of days, most likely at Jihad Watch, but it will consist of five or six parts. And no, it will possibly be included in some future book, but not this one.
Babs: I actually suspect he put up that cross on his bookshelf to tease you-know-who. Apart from that, it's a non-issue.
The design in question also appeared on the 1996 1 pound coin.
Obviously Great Britain is nazi.
Archonix--
All the Europeans are closet Nazis, remember? That coin was just an undercover reminder to those in the know...
Heck, all Europeans are alike, too. Can't tell one from another so why bother?
IOW, ignorance on both sides of the Atlantic is rife.
One of the great services that the Down East blog performs is to act as a bridge between Americans and Belgians. Outlaw Mike is very pro-American and a proud member of the Flemish party, Vlaams Belang.
Judging from his comment section, he has a number of American fans.
I hope he can continue to function in that role when the New World Order descends on us all.
Go here to see what the Belgians are doing in Afghanistan, and as Mike puts it in his title to the post:
BELGIAN MINISTER OF DEFENSE TELLS SOCIALIST MP HE'S "IN THE CAMP OF USAMA BIN LADEN AND HIS FRIENDS BOMBLAYERS AND RAPISTS."
Most informative post.
How to Catch a Lizard.......
I was at a funeral yesterday and there was a large Celtic cross on the priest's vestments, so we can safely say that the Catholic Church is a part of the neo-Nazi conspiracy.
About the Celtic Cross:
While I do not think it is a symbol to get your pants all twisted up over, the reaction to *any* usage of the Celtic Cross is too often hypersensitive, while there are only certain uses which are clearly connected to white supremacy ideas. At the same time I don't think this symbol is a good way to promote Fjordman's book. I understand it's been done tongue-in-cheek, and the main purpose is to tease the people at LGF. But there are still good people out there who will react the wrong way to this. We have e.g. Mr. IvanFyodorovichShponka above. And his questions are only fair. We shouldn't turn into a small introvert club who makes internal references to old events that only the in-crowd will understand.
Unlike slimy lizards, Ivan does not conclude the Fjordman is a Nazi (because someone put up a Celtic Cross at his bookshelf beside his book) -- we know in the case of CJ and the LGFers that they saw it as conclusive proof of Filip Dewinter being a Nazi, the fact that he had a Celtic Cross in his bookshelf. One will have to be a special class of dumbass idiot to make such a conclusion. But that does not exclude that I would recommend Dewinter and others not to publicly flaunt this symbol (in bookshelves or otherwise), since it, unfortunately, has become a compromitted symbol.
Conservative Swede: I see your point. The associations people have with symbols do matter, whether we like it or not. And while I am pretty sure most of our readers have been around for long enough to get the joke, there are newcomers who may not. One should always be careful with internal jokes.
But yes, he did it to tease you-know-who.
Fjordman,
But yes, he did it to tease you-know-who.
Jokes are fine. But it probably does not fit in the official page for Fjordman fund raising. The joke is a good one, and it's probably the first photo on the Internet of your book, so yes it's related. But by putting it up here, suddenly the context becomes very different from when it was at Downeast's site. It's like the difference of having children singing praise to the great leader Obama just somewhere on the Internet, or on his official campaign site (no other comparisons).
The people who will get the joke are already enthusiastic enough to make a donation. So this photo won't attract any more donations. Instead it will most probably have the effect of discouraging some.
I know I'm destroying the fun for Dymphna here, but it had to be said.
I never liked the Celtic Cross in Dewinter's bookshelf, and I think he was a fool for displaying it there. But of course the pod people over at LGF who get hysterical over it, and see Nazi ghosts, are even greater fools (by orders of magnitude).
If I get negative vibes by this photo (given the concerned context), I'm sure also others do.
Still, it's good to know that some people are more "hard core" than me ;-)
Conservative Swede--
You're not destroying my enjoyment of Outlaw Mike's photo. I disagree that it would discourage any funding of Fjordman.
The sides have been long taken in that debate. During that particular dust-up, people either came down on the side of Fjordman or they did not. The latter were never going to donate anyway; in fact they actively tried to drive Fjordman off the internet.
Those who arrived after the dust settled weren't and aren't interested in old wars. They give because of what they recieve.
Yes, Europeans may be sensitized to that visual tongue-in-cheek, but Amerricans aren't. And the Irish are offended only by the complainers who are determined to make their Celtic cross belong to anyone but its rightful owners.
Outlaw Mike has continued to make his case re the importance of Fjordman. This is simply a chapter in which he put his money where his mouth is -- i.e., he bought the book. Even better, he's going to read it.
Besides, the person who wrote the original question about the cross appears to be a sock puppet. When I looked at his profile it had been created this month and had a total of 4 views...real? I don't think so.
BTW, note that the "Ivan Fyodorovich" in the sock puppet's name is the middle sibling in The Brothers Karamazov...
...what kind of joke the last name is supposed to allude to, I don't know. Someone more knowledgeable than I will have to try for that one.
Ivan Fyodorovich couldn't decided whether he believed in nothing or whether God existed but was a malign being. He is famous for his theodicy (the study of evil) but his father's death drives him 'round the bend...which is what happens when you pin your star to malevolence: it makes you too brittle to bear the vicissitudes of life.
Since the sock puppet picks Ukraine as his place of origin can understand his choice of nic. That is one place which has seen more than its share of horror.
I had a feeling the cross would catch someones eye. I wasn't dissapointed.
Personally I don't get this talk of giving up symbols, because some group has "hijacked" it. No group can claim a historic symbol unless people give it up first.
I regularly hear people complain that they are ashamed of Dannebrog(the Danish national flag) because the Danish Peoples Party have "hijacked" it. My advice would be, if you don't want them to have it, then use it (MUCH) more than them: Don't let them have it; show them (and everyone else) you won't give it up. Alas, such advice would fall on deaf ears.
How do I give? I didn't see a link to Paypal or anything. I love Fjordman.
To clarify the procedure for donating: scroll down an look for the “Tip Cup” on the left sidebar. Click that, and it takes you to the PayPal donation page for “Natural Intelligence of Central Virginia”. Follow the instructions, and make sure you include a note that your donation is for Fjordman. We will deliver the total proceeds to him at the conclusion of the Fjordman Fund drive.
Thank you, BB. And thank you for posting the links to the book and for warning us that none of the money would go to Fjordman if we were to buy it. I was going to buy it, thinking I was helping him.
Merry Xmas, Fjordman, from a Jew in Indianastan. We love you.
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