-and make the mighty tremble!
This is the Land of Contradiction. In a nation where the individual is assumed to be of basic importance, that same individual has a conviction that he or she is helpless. We see injustice and fight our anger with the familiar cry, "What can I do about it! I'm nobody. What can one person do?" We end up sitting back and waiting to be delivered, often defying deliverance with "healthy" suspicion. It is true that unity is the answer to social ills, yet there is one thing the individual can do and seldom does, one thing that brings ulcers to the powerful and nervous breakdowns to the mighty. It is simple: constant protest.
In the Los Angeles Mirror 7 April 1953, Edith Gwynn in her column "Hollywood" made the following remark: ". . . Judging from eastern TV, dramatic roles for males are mimed mostly by swishes." It is almost certain that this wholly unnecessary invective drew no protest except one letter which is yet to be published. But it was read. Had even a half dozen letters descended upon the Mirror, there would have been notice, worry and discussion. Even swishes buy papers and publishers know this.
The "helpless" individual can write, he can phone, he can make himself heard. He can do this anonymously, with an assumed name, or he can use his real name with the request it not be published. But, contrary to a general conception, the name is not of greatest importance. It is the fact that he took trouble to write. Editors love to deride crackpots yet they respect them. A person who speaks is potentially a person who acts. Policies are formed by pressure; those heard most clearly in greatest volumn are listened to.
More specifically, ONE is not the voice of a small editorial board that has lots of personal opinions it wishes an audience to hear. It is the voice of its readers. It will thrive as long as it stimulates its readers to vocal response. ONE wants to know what you think, what you know and feel. ONE is a means, possibly the only means, whereby you can be heard. ANY aspect of variation is welcome to these pages: research, criticism, philosophical and religious comment, fiction, poetry, news anything you wish to say. Length and literary quality are second to substance. ONE welcomes protest in any form from facts out of test tubes to humor.
ONE is yours.
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