Hope and Harmony

I have been away from the Manilow Network for about a week. Have I learned anything in my time away? Yes. First, I have gotten some very nice messages from people I met over there who want to stay in touch. These are the kind of people who make up the nice parts of the Network. I really and truly believe there are more of these people than the other kind. Why don’t the nice people win out? Simply because they are nice. Nice people won’t stoop as low and do the underhand stuff the crazies do. So the crazies get the upper hand.

People asked me to stay and help change the Network. While I understand what they hope to do, it goes against my personal beliefs. The crazies have rights. As much as I hate to say it, they should be allowed to express their opinions too. The problem with them is they insist that everyone share their viewpoint and they are right about everything. When they can’t back up their statements, or are disagreed with, they have only one method of rebutting; personal attacks, along the lines of saying people who don’t agree with them are not true fans. Mature discussion is out of the question. And it’s all about Barry.

That is thrown around so much – what would Barry say? I think he said it. His dream musical Harmony was about a group of musicians who were torn apart because of intolerance. Records and the career of the group were destroyed because some of the guys in the group did not go along with the popular thinking of the time and place. Harmony tells the story of talent the world was denied because of closed- mindedness. What would Barry say? Judging by the storyline of Harmony, he would be against not being able to say what you want, on the network that bears his name or anywhere. While Harmony celebrates the success of the musicians, it also gives the message of hope. Hope that this will never happen again. Yet, it is happening, on a much smaller scale, on a place with the Manilow name. That is so sad.

A New Day

If you have made your way over here to my new blog site, then you must be wondering why I left my old place. I was blogging on the Manilow Network. Yes, I am a Barry Manilow fan. Proud to be one. Sorry to say, I’m not so proud of some fellow fans. On the Manilow Network, I met a lot of wonderful folks. People I hope to be able to stay in contact with and grow our friendship. However, there are quite a few people over there that have what I consider to be delusion thinking. Now they can be as delusional as they want but the problem I have with it all is the lies and insisting that everyone be converted to their way of thinking. In order to do that converting, they must keep things stirred up all the time. Add to that, the intolerance of it all and it’s a mix I want no part of. Clear thinking, common sense, and manners go clear out the window. Life is too valuable to waste on that kind of junk. Or at least mine is.

The stuff about the Vegas shows really exposed the lack of respect and honestly shown by a group of people over on the Network. Insisting that everyone who didn’t say what they deemed “positive” things about the run of the shows last week was not a fan, or lying, or personally attacking Barry sounds like the beginnings of a cult to me. The Postivees have the right to express their opinions but so do other people. I saw nothing negative about the reviews I read. Some show goers were disappointed. The show was not what they expected. Expressing their views is as much their right as it is for the Postivees to express theirs. It went beyond that. The Postivees lied about what was written. This need to convert or vilify anyone who does not agree with them is not acceptable behavior. I chose not to join their cult or have to listen to it. A good, honest, well-rounded review is better than delusional rantings any day. If lying has to be done to prove a point, there wasn’t a point to begin with, was there?

Today is September 1^st. Summer is over. It is a very important Manilow anniversary for me. (Hint- think Beach!! As in Myrtle.) It’s a great time to start over. A new day. So here is my new blog. It will deal with more than Manilow stuff. If you want to read what I write about all sorts of things, come back over and join me. I am still setting this up but I think my email address will show up on the blog page. I hope to keep in touch with all the good friends I made on the Manilow Network. I can still drop by over there and read. I chose not to be a part of that community for the time being. Never say never. I have little hope that it’ll change but there’s always a chance. Time to move forward.

Photo by S.Chambless used by permission