My Blog
Burn talk; letter to Rolling Stone
Sat, August 26, 2006 - 11:03 AMWhat follows is my letter to the editors of Rolling Stone. I hope they will publish it in its entirety.
Here is the letter:
I was delighted that Rolling Stone found my work significant enough to deserve feature
coverage. Unfortunately, the piece [RS 1008] was full of inaccuracies and outright
fabrications on a factual level, as well as sensationalist distortions of my ideas.
To take a few examples, the first and last scenes never actually happened. We did
not visit "a bunch of people on dimethyltryptamine," I had not seen a "downtown rock
show with Moby" the night before, and there was no woman groaning on a futon. I do
not have "buck teeth." Similarly, the scene described at the end never occurred-I
don't even own a copy of The Lion King.
I found the writer' loose relationship to truth particularly depressing when she
attempted to define my ideas. I am not "actively bidding to become [my] generation's
Timothy Leary"-in fact I critique Leary quite harshly in my first book. In my work,
I don't advocate mass use of psychedelics as Leary did, and certainly do not consider
them to be "the answer."
In 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, I do not argue that "the world as we know it
is about to end-on December 21, 2012." My hypothesis is that we are already in an
accelerated process of consciousness evolution, and I explore the possibility that
the Mayan Calendar is, as Carl Johan Calleman describes in The Mayan Calendar and
the Transformation of Consciousness, a "timetable" for understanding this process.
I most emphatically do not argue or think that "only the psychedelic elite and those
who have reached a kind of supramental consciousness" will "be saved in 2012." I
do think that a deep transformation in the mindset of those who hold power in the
modern West is necessary if we are going to avert disaster in the next few years,
as we approach resource depletion and biospheric collapse.
In the future, it would be wonderful to see a magazine with the rich legacy of Rolling
Stone approach the living currents of the intellectual counterculture of the 1950s
and 60s with far more grace, integrity, and sophistication.
Sat, August 26, 2006 - 11:03 AM -
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14 Comments
14 Comments |
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Unsu...
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Sat, August 26, 2006 - 11:12 AM
i realllllly hope they publish that. 'loose relationship to truth'- i like that. the author is a promiscuous truth slut.
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Sat, August 26, 2006 - 11:32 AM
It sounds like the interviewer never took the trouble to read any of your books. Catch-phrases like "the next Timothy Leary" or "the world is going to end in 2012" are typical of the ways the media distort and simplify complex and nuanced discussions. Well, as I said in the other blog on this topic, enough people should be able to see through this and look deeper. I just got the magazine, though I haven't read the interview through yet. From what I've seen, though, you might take comfort in the reality that it could have been a lot worse.
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Sat, August 26, 2006 - 1:11 PM
I have not read the article in question, but now I will make a point to do so, maybe on the drive up to BRC tomorrow.
Having read your book, Breaking Open the Head, I find more similarities between you and Terence McKenna, rather than Leary. And I agree with you that Leary actually did a huge disservice to the psychedelic community in his zeal to get everyone to alter themselves, by any means possible, it seems. At any rate, I look forward to seeing you at Entheon Village. Safe travels... |
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Sat, August 26, 2006 - 2:30 PM
as i said earlier
in the last comment i posted...i also feel the urge to write a letter to Rolling Stone coming on...it was unfair for this writer to treat your work this way, and if enough people write in, maybe they will get the message.
i like what tommy said about that "truth slut"...haha...that captures it can't wait to see you at the Burn Daniel...travel safe |
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Unsu...
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Sat, August 26, 2006 - 8:50 PM
Excellent letter. I really hope they publishit .....for their own sake.
I just read the Rolling Stone article, falling in laughter when I finished it and saying out loud "This is it? They must be @#$%ing kidding!" I'm quite impressed with the distortion of your whole message. Is the author really that blind and just doesn't get it (has she actually read your books?) or is it a deliberate attempt to mislead the reader? I actually regret having given Rolling Stone 4$ for it......should have read it at the magazine stand. |
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Sun, August 27, 2006 - 7:15 AM
HEAR HEAR!
People have along way to go .....including me...at least we see whats going on and are not blind sheep being told what to do......or are we?
Either way the press has a funny way of bending storys.....your not the first for sure,,,you would think RS would be cool......but........it has to promote book sales! and Hell thats why you did the interview and to be on the cover of the rolling stone!!!!!!!!! good luck danial at the burn j |
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Tue, August 29, 2006 - 12:48 PM
rolling bone "smokers"
RS, as most other sensationalist rags would have, missed the opportunity to present this useful well organized matter for the betterment of today’s advancing society because they don’t really know how or care to anyway. I say take heart in the fact that the majority of people who your material will appeal to are not likely to pick up this magazine and "get it" even in the absence of inaccuracies and fallacies’. Enlightened people do not look to the mainstream media machine such as this for substance that truly makes a difference. Your ideas are well received here in cyber and psychedelic space.
Rolling stone declared Rock and Roll dead long ago, so who cares what they think. |
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Thu, August 31, 2006 - 12:31 AM
dylan/pinchbeck
doesn't seem to be an accident that those wanting to check in on the former would find the feature. whatever vanessa's agendum may be, the word got out. slanderous BS is a weak filter for ultimately inspiring ideas. as john and yoko said re their bed-ins, being the world's clowns is beside the point. you've expanded pop discourse, which is where it's at. let's hope there's an avalance of attention - negative and/or positve - & you visually represent an alternative to the suicide machine. (I hear the new dylan's fantastic.) keep plowing through, my friend.
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Tue, September 12, 2006 - 12:38 AM
After reading the article, it was obvious she was afraid of the ideas your books explore and survey. The piece was full of awkward shards of projection, and felt pulled-out-of-the-ass-at-the-last-minute. If they need sensationalist schlock, she should have simply asked your permission to do some kind of zany satirical caricature where her projections, fantasies, and fears could really rip. Maybe they could have sold more magazines -and incidentally piqued the curiosity of many more would-be Pinchbeck readers- if she instead portrayed you as a buck-toothed (WTF?) whirling meat tower, spewing Burroughsian tryptamine fluids, entwining legions of exquisite trustafarian devas into lewd, vine-riddled apocalyptic orgies... a new central villain: a Manson/Leary hybrid with the added feature of downtempo East Village wry chic...
Oh yeah, she did that. Well, she should have asked your permission. I just want to see your purple velvet suit. Keep at it. |
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Tue, September 12, 2006 - 4:55 AM
Let em have it
I applaud your response to the Man (or woman, in this case). If anything your work is serving to further the building of a modern, growing intelligencia that can coherently discuss spiritual matters, outside of the realm of academia and hippy circles. Obviously, there are those that just don't get what you are attempting to do through your writing ( though who doesn't like a little fame once in awhile?) I appreciated meeting you and do find the bulk of the article out of touch with who you are.
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Unsu...
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Wed, September 13, 2006 - 12:14 AM
RS Letter
I thought the article was rubbish actually. daniel you may be on a bizarre path, but thank god you are !! I tale my hat off to you. Chapeau as they say in France !!! Hope to see you in SF sooner rather than later.
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Thu, September 14, 2006 - 2:28 PM
You tred in waters
Hi Daniel,
Hope you enjoyed Burning Man if you went this year. I chose to pass personally reflecting on the growing culture and where it's larger expressions and desires are going. I'm very glad you are committed to a compassionate transformation of our planetary situation to one that will benefit everyone. Compassion is a very high teacher and is always in play. As you tread in these waters of fame and the public mass media know that it is the media and mediums that entrance and entrain us collectively through frequency and thought forms, that especially at this time with mobile technology, and video can actually be very unhealthy for mind, body and life. The quickening of the feedback fool can create a greater sense of self awareness that directs our shared foreseen actions past of our unintentional disillusionment. As you said it is about the larger concepts and information becoming more and more available to us as we need it. You are a proponent of many both fascinating and important pieces of information in regards to our collective transformation. I personally would love to see you active in the space of shared comments and serving a larger public with important resources as the become available along the lines of the path of intentional influences from creator. I can foresee you participating in the e-dialogs on the ever connected social and participatory journalistic web. I can recommend digg and of course tribe and blogs as platforms for the emergent 2012 collective commentary. I leave you with a great new film being worked on I'm looking very forward to: www.shiftingages.com/. Nurture nature and bow to the animal kingdom. Peace compassion and blessings for all. Stas Rutkowski |
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Fri, July 20, 2007 - 11:30 AM
As usual, Rolling Stone took far too many liberties with the work of a contributor.
It's what led to the falling out between Hunter Thompson and the rag, true he did publish a few more pieces in Rolling Stone, but on his terms. I am a freelance journalist myself, and I plan on covering Burning Man this year. I had considered Rolling Stone as a possibility for publishing my piece, but rejected it after reading your blog. They have been getting away with this kind of shit for far too long. Better my work is published in the Sacramento News and Review, it may not receive national exposure, but at least it will the story I wrote and not just a facsimile.
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