My correspondence with Conrad Black
I wrote a letter to Conrad Black in prison and he wrote me back. Here are my letter and his reply (with typos):
Dear Mr Black,
I have been itching to write you for years, as I have been both an admirer of, and in occasional apoplectic opposition to, your ideas since I first heard of you in the 1980s. So, running through this weekend’s National Post and noting that it’s far less than half the paper it was in 1998, and seeing your article ‘The Good News from Iraq,’ I thought, it’s time to attempt commencing a correspondence with this man who so fascinates and bludgeons like no other commentator.
First thing, I truly miss the Conrad Black version of the Post. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first picked it up in 1998. I had goosebumps, I laughed out loud, I practically forced strangers sitting next to me in the diner to listen to me quote its many slashes of brilliance and common sense. Finally, Canada has a real newspaper. I miss it like a long-dead best friend. The current proprietors simply lack all qualifications to run a newspaper. All they possess is a collection of mistuned political horns blowing only to the benefit of their own wearisome corporate and political interests, which are ludicrously out of step with the times. For that first year or two under your ownership, it was the finest paper in history, at least that I’ve read or read about.
So what the hell am I bothering you for? Well, I’m not taking any issue with your Iraq article, because I’ve been too busy to be up to date enough to know if I agree or not. What I want to know, Mr Black, is what’s prison like? Do you have all the reading material you could ask for? Are you getting all the writing done that you’ve always wanted to get done? Do your wife and family get in to see you often? Is your wife holding up okay? Are you getting fit? Are the other kids being nice to you? Does time slog or chug along? My dinner party guests and I want to know. I mean, what could be more fascinating than the play-by-play on a life of privilege interrupted by prison? Tell the world what jail time’s doing to/for you and your ideas, what rubbing elbows with criminals and being in the penal system really means to a man like you. Is it humbling or emboldening or just dull as watching stone age. A daily dispatch in your best former paper is in order. Believe me, the world’s dying to know. Think of it as your way of taking back the Post without spending a nickel. Christ, somebody’s gotta.
But I also want to engage you on conservatism, which like you, has attracted and terrified me since I was old enough to vote. I lived in SE Asia for over a decade, and have seen the fruits of the Chicago School of economic liberation, as one Naomi Klein refers to it (by the way I recommend her new Shock Doctrine book — it’s neither as shrill nor as flagrantly leftish as you might expect, but is well researched, fairish and even kind of funny in places). I’ve seen first-hand all the horrors and benefits American politico-economic intervention has brought to countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Laos and Singapore, all of which I’ve lived and/or traveled in extensively. As a result of my own reading and eye-witnessing, I now believe that the classic right wing canon is simple justification for greed, selfishness and not helping your fellow citizen. However, I also realize that some citizens aren’t worthy of my help and should just be ignored or left to learn from their own mistakes, stupidity or ineptitude. I know I’ve learned from mine, wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ll spare you the diatribe. Just like to engage, kick around ideas with people who have them. If you’re keen, reply. If not, may you rot. Kidding.
Stay strong,
Paul
Dear Mr. Fenn,
Thanks for your message. The answer to the first six questions following your “what’s prison like?” is yes. After five years of persecution, I measure events against the trend over that time. This place is not at all oppressive, much less dangerous. There has been no unpleasantness with anyone. It is not excessively regimental; I have practically unlimited email, media, and visitor access, and read a lot. I did not have a life of privilege, and have had worse times than this. I have always worked hard and still do. As you know, I won 80% of my case at trial, and the remaining counts are nonsense. I expect to dispose of them on appeal. I view my confinement like St. Thomas More viewed his hair shirt, though it is not voluntary. As the chances of my committing any illegalities re less than zero, an assault on this scale from the world’s most powerful and detested institution, (US govt.) took some getting usd to, but I feel I have held my corner quite well. I am philosophical and assimilate this interlude fairly effortlessly. Many of the people here are somewhat interesting and I have been able to confirm my ability to get on well with almost anyone. It is not humbling, not emboldening, and not especially dull. it’s what you make of it and I enjoy tutoring high school leaving candidates in English and teaching a weekly class in American history.
Thank you for your kind words about the NP and about my writing. Allowing people to do what they want and retain the fruits of their own efforts does lead to some garish and even sociopathic behaviour, but substituting the government for individual freedom produces worse consequences and never really works, other than in emergency national effort under inspired leadership toward a magnificent objective, as in the Anglo-American war effort under Churchill and Roosevelt. Best wishes to you.
Yours sincerely,
CONRAD BLACK
