NYTimes.com: McCain's Green-Eyed Monster

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Following the US political contest, look what I found this morning from Maureen Dowd in the NY Times. She continues to spread the baseless canard of Richard's guilt. Perhaps a clarifying email to Ms. Dowd would be in order?? Johanne


OPINION | August 6, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist: McCain's Green-Eyed Monster
By MAUREEN DOWD
Not since Richard of Gloucester killed his two nephews has there been such an unseemly outpouring of boy envy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opinion/06dowd.html?ex=1218686400&en=4457fd3be4d20cfc&ei=5070&emc=eta1




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Given that her first reference is to Othello, I think it is fairly
clear that she is referring to characters in Shakespeare's plays and
not to anyone who really lived !

Richard G

--- In , jltournier@... wrote:
>
> This page was sent to you by: jltournier@...
>
> Following the US political contest, look what I found this morning
from Maureen Dowd in the NY Times. She continues to spread the
baseless canard of Richard's guilt. Perhaps a clarifying email to Ms.
Dowd would be in order?? Johanne
>
>
> OPINION | August 6, 2008
> Op-Ed Columnist: McCain's Green-Eyed Monster
> By MAUREEN DOWD
> Not since Richard of Gloucester killed his two nephews has there
been such an unseemly outpouring of boy envy.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opinion/06dowd.html?
ex=1218686400&en=4457fd3be4d20cfc&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Not to be unduly picky, but given that the sentence finishes up with a
reference to Nixon and Johnsonýs supposed jealousy of JFK, I would say that
itýs pretty clear that sheýs not referring solely to fictional characters!



I am mostly amused by the piece as a whole, though, so Iým inclined to
forgive her the casual disparagement of Richard. But I thought others here
might not be so inclined!



Best,



Johanne



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Johanne L. Tournier

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Email ý HYPERLINK
"mailto:jltournier@..."jltournier@...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



_____

From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of rgcorris
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 11:29 AM
To:
Subject: Re: NYTimes.com: McCain's Green-Eyed
Monster



Given that her first reference is to Othello, I think it is fairly
clear that she is referring to characters in Shakespeare'-s plays and
not to anyone who really lived !

Richard G





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8:23 AM



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--- In , jltournier@... wrote:
>
> This page was sent to you by: jltournier@...
>
> Following the US political contest, look what I found this morning
from Maureen Dowd in the NY Times. She continues to spread the
baseless canard of Richard's guilt. Perhaps a clarifying email to Ms.
Dowd would be in order?? Johanne

Carol responds:

This sort of thing is exactly what the Richard III Society was
designed to fight, the mindless repetition of Richard as murderer of
his nephews as if it were fact. It's odd, of course, that she would
mix the imaginary Othello, the pseudohistorical Richard of Tudor myth,
and historical persons (was it Richard Nixon? I've lost the page), but
that won't matter to the reading public, which is once again being
exposed to the same old assumption presented as truth. Considering the
huge circulation of the New York Times, it can't hurt and might do
some good if we wrote to her and she actually published our reactions.

In any case, I e-mailed her and signed the e-mail with my real name
and my credentials (okay, she doesn't need to know that the PhD is in
English, not history, p!!). Here's my note, if anyone's interested:

>>It seems that you're confusing Shakespeare's history plays with
history. "Richard of Gloucester," who was crowned King Richard III
after being petitioned by the three estates to take the throne, was
never accused in his lifetime of murdering his nephews (though Tudor
partisans spread rumors to that effect). Parliament declared the boys
illegitimate and therefore outside the line of succession;
consequently, he had no reason to kill them, nor was it in his
interest to do so as he intended to rule through justice and mercy,
not tyranny and intimidation. His legislation was the most progressive
of any English king of that period. He was the first, for example, to
require that laws be written in English so that the common people
could read them. The act of Parliament stating Richard's claim to the
throne and the reasons why the lords, commons, and clergy wanted him
as king in place of his nephew can be found in the Titulus Regius (see
link below). The mystery of what happened to the so-called Princes in
the Tower has never been solved. As Richard's biographer Paul Murray
Kendall said of Shakespeare's play, "Richard III," and its vitality in
spreading the Tudor myth of the hunchbacked murdering usurper: "What a
triumph this is for art; what a misfortune this is for history."<<

I included a link to the Titulus Regius. We'll see if she responds.

Carol, hoping for a personal reply but not expecting one

Thanks, Carol!



That was my thought when I saw article, particularly since the mention of
Richard was the tagline for the article, as you can see below. And youýre
right ý Richard and Othello were lumped with Nixon, Johnson, and JFK. Ms.
Dowd is usually rather erudite; maybe she was in a hurry! Your email is a
concise summary of the historical Richard, placing him in context and
listing some of his accomplishments, as well as the matter of the
disappearance of the two boys. It is low-key and thoughtful ý and I hope it
will get Ms. Dowdýs attention! Please let us know if you get a response!



Here is the original message I sent to the list ý



_____

From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of
jltournier@...
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 8:04 AM
To:
Subject: NYTimes.com: McCain's Green-Eyed
Monster



This page was sent to you by: HYPERLINK
"mailto:jltournier%40ns.sympatico.ca"[email protected].

Following the US political contest, look what I found this morning from
Maureen Dowd in the NY Times. She continues to spread the baseless canard of
Richard's guilt. Perhaps a clarifying email to Ms. Dowd would be in order??
Johanne

OPINION | August 6, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist: McCain's Green-Eyed Monster
By MAUREEN DOWD
Not since Richard of Gloucester killed his two nephews has there been such
an unseemly outpouring of boy envy.

HYPERLINK
"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opinion/06dowd.html?ex=1218686400&en=4457
fd3be4d20cfc&ei=5070&emc=eta1"http://www.nytimes.-com/2008/-08/06/opinion/-0
6dowd.html?-ex=1218686400&-en=4457fd3be4d20-cfc&ei=5070&-emc=eta1

----------------------------------------------------------------

ABOUT THIS E-MAIL
This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com'-s E-mail This
Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to
HYPERLINK "mailto:help%40nytimes.com"[email protected].

NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company





Johanne



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Johanne L. Tournier

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Email ý HYPERLINK
"mailto:jltournier@..."jltournier@...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



_____

From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Carol
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 12:51 AM
To:
Subject: Re: NYTimes.com: McCain's Green-Eyed
Monster



--- In HYPERLINK
"mailto:%40yahoogroups.com"richardiiisocietyfo-rum@yah
oogroups.-com, [email protected].. wrote:
>
> This page was sent to you by: [email protected]..
>
> Following the US political contest, look what I found this morning
from Maureen Dowd in the NY Times. She continues to spread the
baseless canard of Richard's guilt. Perhaps a clarifying email to Ms.
Dowd would be in order?? Johanne

Carol responds:

This sort of thing is exactly what the Richard III Society was
designed to fight, the mindless repetition of Richard as murderer of
his nephews as if it were fact. It's odd, of course, that she would
mix the imaginary Othello, the pseudohistorical Richard of Tudor myth,
and historical persons (was it Richard Nixon? I've lost the page), but
that won't matter to the reading public, which is once again being
exposed to the same old assumption presented as truth. Considering the
huge circulation of the New York Times, it can't hurt and might do
some good if we wrote to her and she actually published our reactions.

In any case, I e-mailed her and signed the e-mail with my real name
and my credentials (okay, she doesn't need to know that the PhD is in
English, not history, p!!). Here's my note, if anyone's interested:

>>It seems that you're confusing Shakespeare'-s history plays with
history. "Richard of Gloucester," who was crowned King Richard III
after being petitioned by the three estates to take the throne, was
never accused in his lifetime of murdering his nephews (though Tudor
partisans spread rumors to that effect). Parliament declared the boys
illegitimate and therefore outside the line of succession;
consequently, he had no reason to kill them, nor was it in his
interest to do so as he intended to rule through justice and mercy,
not tyranny and intimidation. His legislation was the most progressive
of any English king of that period. He was the first, for example, to
require that laws be written in English so that the common people
could read them. The act of Parliament stating Richard's claim to the
throne and the reasons why the lords, commons, and clergy wanted him
as king in place of his nephew can be found in the Titulus Regius (see
link below). The mystery of what happened to the so-called Princes in
the Tower has never been solved. As Richard's biographer Paul Murray
Kendall said of Shakespeare'-s play, "Richard III," and its vitality in
spreading the Tudor myth of the hunchbacked murdering usurper: "What a
triumph this is for art; what a misfortune this is for history."<<

I included a link to the Titulus Regius. We'll see if she responds.

Carol, hoping for a personal reply but not expecting one


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Checked by AVG.
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8:23 AM



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5:54 AM

Johanne Tournier wrote:
>
> Thanks, Carol!
>
Carol:
You're welcome. I followed the link not really intending to respond,
but when I saw how easy it was to e-mail Ms. Dowd, I decided to go for
it.

Johanne:
> That was my thought when I saw article, particularly since the
mention of Richard was the tagline for the article, as you can see
below. And you're right – Richard and Othello were lumped with Nixon,
Johnson, and JFK. Ms. Dowd is usually rather erudite; maybe she was in
a hurry! Your email is a concise summary of the historical Richard,
placing him in context and listing some of his accomplishments, as
well as the matter of the disappearance of the two boys. It is low-key
and thoughtful – and I hope it will get Ms. Dowd's attention! Please
let us know if you get a response!

Carol:
Thanks very much. I'll let you know if I receive a response. Nothing
so far.

BTW, I found a webpage with concise responses to various Tudor myths
from the Canadian Richard III Society that might have been useful in
my response (too late now):

http://home.cogeco.ca/~richardiii/myths.html

Carol, hoping that others will take the plunge with her!