Lane von Herzen: The Weakening of Cross-cultural Bonds as the Far Right's Destructive Legacy

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

The Weakening of Cross-cultural Bonds as the Far Right's Destructive Legacy

OIG Hotline, we live in a multicultural society, and this is one of my favorite things about being an American. Our diversity is our strength, in my opinion, and I have always cherished meeting Americans of every ethnicity and from every walk of life.

So, it is a sad necessity for me to send a communication to my husband such as the one conveyed this morning at 10:37 AM, copied below.

Should loyal Americans who are descended from immigrants from Taiwan or Hong Kong be penalized because of a corrupt FBI?

My friend Penny McNelly is originally from mainland China. She is a devoted and loyal American citizen, yet I could not possibly consider speaking to her at this moment in time, given the intense pressure that would be brought to bear upon her to lie within witnesss statements demanded by a corrupt FBI.

It seems as though far right factions of the FBI are intent on dividing Americans through suspicion, falsified witness statements, and secret denunciations -- all hallmarks of the totalitarian abyss.

Are we capable -- through honest and complete disclosure of the FBI's crimes -- of unmasking the far right's attempt to destroy our democracy?

I have to believe we have the courage to reclaim the cross-cultural bonds that render our nation exceptional.

Most sincerely,

Lane MacWilliams

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The FBI is a deeply divided agency. There are many FBI employees who view their vows to the Constitution with the utmost seriousness and honor, and who strive to defend the fundamentals of our democracy with courage, fortitude and commitment. The fact that some segments of the FBI appear to have embraced a lawless course is not a justification to assail the FBI in general. As President Joseph R. Biden has so rightly expressed, violence is never justified in any circumstance. The rule of law must always be honored and upheld. It is our shared determination to preserve the civil liberties and human rights of all Americans that renders the United States a democracy. We must never abandon this promise. All of our most cherished freedoms depend upon it.