Mr. Makow,

I've just been browsing your website, and I thought I'd share
some thoughts.

My wife and I started out our relationship as liberated, independent
young adults in the media-inspired way. Coming of age in the 1970's
as we did, that was almost universal. Both of us rejected organized
religion, but not God. Agnostic but not atheist. What is interesting
is that after our first daughter was born, we fell into the proper
pattern almost unconsciously, certainly without any discussion.
My wife tried to work for a while, but then we both agreed that it
was nuts to want children but pay someone else to raise them (daycare).
So she stopped working and took full control of the household.
She is an amazing cook and householder, and she feels no shame
about that. She has a part-time job (working at home) to bring
in some money, and volunteer work, but considers her home and
family as top priorities. We have our differences (who doesn't!)
but are quite happy overall.

Looking back, I see that she did indeed try "testing" me many times;
sometimes I caved and sometimes I stood my ground. At least she
never tried to force me to give up motorcycling - I rode before I
met her and I still do. None of my early riding buddies still ride.
Their _girlfriends_ thought the motorcycle was ever so cool, but once
they were married, as _wives_, it was "get that thing out of the garage!"
Maybe my wife sensed that it would be unwise to force me to choose. :-)
But really, I think it's as you say, she wants me to choose my own
destiny and go with it. It's sad but most of the guys who dumped
the bikes on demand are now divorced or have miserable marriages.

My brother is older than me and he saw it first - as he said,
"Geez, as soon as we hit 40, all our friends' marriages exploded!".
Now I'm seeing it. The children are all damaged, untrusting, and
miserable. The teen kids talk glibly of "step-dad" and "bio-dad"
but their relationships are cool and short, easy sex but each side
pulling away instantly at the first hint of disagreement.

My best friend's wife had an affair, then left him to marry
the poor sap she had the affair with. She had the gall to
blame my friend because *she* was unhappy, and make it all
his fault. I spent years listening to his tears and regrets.
He said "I just wanted to love her and raise a family, is that
too much to ask?" Now his boys are a mess, one angry, selfish,
and drifting, the other incarcerated at 15. The mother turned
them both against him, and he was too much of a gentleman to
tell them that she had an affair and walked out. They believe
her when she says it was his fault because he "yelled too much"
(i.e., tried to apply discipline against her constant objections).

I think we are just starting to see a turnaround, though I fear
it may be too late. (we can see the NWO forces accelerating
their plans.) My 17-year-old daughter still recoils at mentions
of God due to all the brainwashing, but she is softening.
What really heartens me is to hear her talk about feminism and
political correctness in general. She spits out the word
"feminists!" like it's an epithet. She certainly wants what the
first-generation feminists wanted - the vote, and the right to
manage her own affairs - but she can't stand the second- or
third-generation feminists. You should hear her rant about them,
it would warm your heart. :-)

I'm having a hard time convincing anyone in my household to
break the TV habit. But I've showed them enough contradictory
information from the 'Net to make them never believe anything
from the news again. I also pointed out that sitcoms almost
invariably portray stupid, bufoonish dads that cause most of
the problems, brilliant, savvy moms that always rescue the
situation, and wiseass kids that are always smarter than the dad.
I challenged them to find exceptions, and now they make it
a game. They were appalled to find how universal that
stereotype is, and they hate it.

When you quote Goebbels to the effect that propaganda is only
effective when people don't know it's propaganda, it reminds me
of a guy I worked with who had emigrated from Red China. He was
saying one day in the lunchroom how amazing and pervasive the
propaganda was in the US. Other co-workers immediately protested,
"Don't be ridiculous, we have a free press, not propaganda!".
I was the only one to agree. He said, "In China, the propaganda
is so stupid and clumsy, it gives you a headache. The people
are cynical about it and see right through it. Here in the US,
it is smooth and polished and it is *everywhere*, even pretending
to contain its own opposition. Brilliant."

What you say about beautiful women rings true. I used to think
that's what I wanted, but when I got older, I realized that I
didn't find them as sexually attractive as more "average" looking
women. Unconsciously I was more attracted to women that might
actually want me. I remember when I was in my early 20's, some
of us guys at work were ogling a beautiful secretary. An older
guy said in disgust, "She's only a woman!". I didn't understand
at the time, and he didn't phrase it very well, but I think with
time he had come to understand that chasing after looks and not
real fundamental personality was foolish. Later, I found that
the girl was a psychological mess, and had had one screwed-up
relationship after another.

I started reading the "Red Symphony" and loved it - it pulled
together the threads that I already knew about the bankers
funding both the Soviets and the Nazis.

So long for now,

"Bob"