Interview with Blogger Curtis R. Strong

By The Pakistani Spectator • May 17th, 2008 • Category: Interviews • (2,375 views) • No Responses

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?
I’m a 40 year old physician in San Diego, California, soon to move to Northern California, with a wife and 4 kids. I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church) and served a volunteer mission for two years in Japan back in the 80’s. I became aware of great injustices in our world while I was attending college in the early 90’s and began to read a lot, with some of my favorite authors being Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, John Pilger etc.

As a believer in Christ as the Son of God, I truly believe in his teachings regarding how we should be treating each other (the Golden Rule etc.). There is a lot of corruption that comes with power and greed and the powers that be in the world today seek to maintain and expand their power/wealth/popularity at the expense of anyone or anything that stands in their way. The powerful have very sophisticated means of obtaining their purposes and committing crimes against humanity while successfully portraying their crimes as something good in the minds of the general populace by skillful use of media to project their propaganda as reality.

The purpose of my blog is to uncover these works of darkness as I see them.

Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?

Yes. The more I research, the more I understand about the world and the more useful I can be to my fellow man. It is important to me that I help my brothers and sisters in this world in any small way that I can and I hope that my writing helps.

I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?

Not a whole lot yet. I was excited when Dr. Les Roberts of Johns Hopkins University who is famous for authoring the Iraq casualty studies that were so controversial, corresponded with me for a while, clearing up concerns I had about his study.

Another time, an author from the Philipines, Renato Redentor Constantino wrote me and sent his regards after I commented on one of his articles on my blog.

What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?

I check up on a different blogs here and there. Nothing too fancy.

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?
I’m not a good person to ask about that as I’m not very up on the latest technologies. However, I think that the use of Youtube as a vehicle to get news out is a great thing. The playing field gets a little more even when the average joe can get his viewpoint out to the world.

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?
I don’t know. I’m not sure that the responsiveness of people change just because a new technology is presenting them information that could be presented to them by an old technology.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?
I have a pretty radical viewpoint on the world. I think that reality is radical and it is not the same as the watered down version of reality that we are presented with. There are a lot of bloggers out there that see these things too. However, there are not very many who are faithful members of the Mormon Church. Our church membership in general tend to lean right and I’m somewhat of an anomaly in that way.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

Humility (there, now that I’ve said it my humility is gone again!). I think it’s important for me to realize that everything I am and all that I possess is from God. Without God I am nothing and give thanks to him daily and ask him continually for blessings upon myself, my household and upon my brothers and sisters of the world. I also let others know that anything I achieve, I achieve it by the grace of God.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?
Happiest would be the times I spend with my wonderful children and wife and to see their successes and joys. Gloomiest… I don’t have a lot of tragedy in my life yet. I would say that a gloomy time for me was after watching two movies. One was “Beyond Rangoon” and the other was “Beyond Borders.” These movies helped me to see the condition of my brothers and sisters in the world and it was incredibly eye-opening and I mourned this situation.

Do you think [the use of Twitter and other social networking tools by politicians] is bandwagon jumping or what?

Sorry, I am not familiar with Twitter.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s
paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

Besides home? I would like to travel to Gaza in Palestine, Burma (Myanmar) and Venezuela.

What is your favorite book and why?
One is the “Book of Mormon.” It has brought me closer to God than any other book has. However, I need to add a second book, “Deterring Democracy” by Noam Chomsky. Great book at showing why the US espouses the foreign policy it has. Chomsky explains very clearly exactly what is happening in US involvement in Nicaragua in the 80’s for example, and this is not something you can get from traditional sources of information in the United States.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?
The warmth or lack thereof in greeting people.

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?
No.

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?
I suppose thru advertising if a blog has a lot of traffic. However, I have no interest in financial gain from my blog.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?
I have to do a bit of research to come up with the types of postings I do. It does take a bit of time, though time is not something I have a lot of.

What are your thoughts on corporate blogs and what do you think the biggest advantages and disadvantages are?
I don’t know anything about corporate blogs.

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more friendlier and less hostile?
Great question. Promoting understanding between peoples is a great thing bloggers can do to promote harmony in the world. If we can present the human face of our so-called enemies, we frustrate the efforts of those in power who try to de-humanize the enemy and perhaps we can realize that we are all brothers and sisters when all is said and done.

Who are your top five favourite bloggers?

Lawrence of Cyberia at: http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/

The Angry Arab at: http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

A Tiny Revolution at: http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/

Oil Wars at: http://oilwars.blogspot.com/

And…

War in Context at: http://warincontext.org/

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?
Yes. One was “Cluster bomb investigation… will probably end up a dud.” This was about the cluster bombs used by Israel against southern Lebanon in 2006. It can be seen here:

http://theradicalmormon.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/cluster-bomb-investigation-will-probably-end-up-a-dud/

Another was, “The present problem between Venezuela, Columbia and Ecuador explained.” It can be seen here:

http://theradicalmormon.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/the-present-problem-between-venezuela-columbia-and-ecuador-explained/

What is your perception about Pakistan

and its people?

I am sorry for your troubles. I am sorry that the US sends drones to bomb your small villages in the north. I think that you have a long way to go if you are aiming for democratic reform and are trying to get away from family dynasties. On the other hand, I know a Pakistani physician, who is the son of a former attorney general of Pakistan who is a deeply compassionate physician with the most outstanding moral uprightness I’ve ever seen in anyone.

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?
I think that the author of “A Tiny Revolution” listed above is a very unique blogger. He surprises me quite often.

What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?
Level of poverty and level of happiness.

What is the future of blogging?

I don’t know. I hope it will become an increasingly powerful tool for disseminating news in this world where information is controlled by the rich and powerful.

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?
I don’t let my blogging life get in the way of my personal and professional life. I only do this on my own time in the evening after putting the kids to bed.

What are your future plans?
Work for a long time in Pathology and then retire to do missionary work associated with my church in my old age. I will continue to blog probably until I die.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

Thank you very much for your interest. May justice and peace be yours forever.