Reputations

Thanks for printing part of my letter in response to Robert Guffey’s article on horror comics [ FT320:28-35, 322:68]; but I’m disappointed that you omitted my challenge to Guffey that he use orgone to cure any future cancers.

Re: Joseph McCarthy: I fear that you suffer from the same anti-McCarthy brainwashing as the unfortunate Guffey. You have been exposed to material written and filmed by his enemies. Try reading these for a bit of balance: Blacklisted By History by M Stanton Evans; American Betrayal by Diana West; Clever Girl by Lauren Kessler; Hollywood Party by Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley; or watch the un-edited films of the McCarthy and HUAC hearings. McCarthy campaigned for and won the African-American vote in every election. Very few politicians even bothered with the Black vote in those days. Joe was a staunch supporter of the NAACP and integration. Many of his opponents were segregationists. You quote Nigel Mortimer saying that Wilhelm Reich had “the most honourable motives”. Really? OK, Guffey cherry-picks from Fury On Earth in which Myron Sharaf (a Reich acolyte) admits that Reich was a rapist. No doubt he was a well-intentioned rapist; he merely wanted to adjust his victims’ orgone. The Reichian therapists who raped their child patients were equally well-intentioned. The kids didn’t appreciate it, but...

You say that Reich’s early books are rated highly in the field of psychoanalysis. Uh... you mean the pseudo-scientific quasi-religion that is discounted by medical science and is an embarrassment to modern psychiatrists? That psychoanalysis? You say that opinion is split regarding Reich’s later work – yup, it’s split between scientists and space cadets. I don’t want to believe that you sprang to Reich’s defence because Fortean Times accepts advertising revenue from a company selling orgone products. I don’t want to but... Say it ain’t so, Fortean Times! John Jerome London

Editor’s note: It ain’t so. Fortean Times has never self-censored or turned down a feature to please or pacify an advertiser.