Letters to the Editor
softdog
Published Letters: 186 Editor's Choice: 8
-
A previous letter is a lie - get the real story
[Read the article: Attention, all you memoir fabulists!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A previous letter, under the anonymous, unverifiable claim to be a neighbor, makes the following bullshit assertion: "By the way, for those who think this was all about a privileged white woman getting rich at the expense of society’s victims, nothing could be further from the truth. I know this author (neighbor). She is very invested in trying to end inner city violence. She has been playing this character for years and seems to have gotten kind of carried away and violated the first rule of holes. When young black men from South Central find their athletic eligibility and scholarships over before they have their degrees, they move into Peg’s house. She is a fraud, but she is not evil, unlike some past and present leaders of this nation." If this "neighbor" isn't completely fake, they are at best a distant, uninformed observer.
Here's the reality: Margaret Seltzer lied about her inner city activism and connections as well - she created a fraudelent non-profit organization and website to sell her story. She not only exploited an issue for fame and fortune and is even lying about the way she lied.
To quote the story:
Leaders of several other groups combating gang violence in Los Angeles who were listed on Ms. Seltzer’s Web site said they did not know of the International Brother/SisterHood or of Ms. Seltzer or Margaret B. Jones.
“I’ve never heard of her before in my life,” said Malik Spellman, an intervention prevention specialist at Unity T.W.O., which works to provide social services and stop gang activity in many South-Central Los Angeles neighborhoods and was listed on Ms. Seltzer’s site. “I believe if she was active, I would probably know her by name or the organization.”
...
Ms. Rice said that she did not know Ms. Seltzer or her foundation and noted that, as a white woman, Ms. Seltzer would have likely stood out in most neighborhoods of South-Central Los Angeles.
Ms. Rice said it was just as likely that Ms. Seltzer had taken her inspiration from television and movies. “She’s been watching too much of ‘The Shield,’ ” said Ms. Rice, referring to the rough-edged police drama on FX set in Los Angeles. “All you have to do is go to a couple of movies or watch ‘The Wire,’ ” the Baltimore street drama on HBO. “You could riff off that forever,” she said.
Good intention do not excuse doing horrible things. Yes this was a privileged white lady who made up stuff about black people to benefit her own crazy needs and is now faking a noble reason for this selfish act.
-
Has success ruined America's friendliest filmfest?
[Read the article: Has success ruined America's friendliest filmfest?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not sure why Andrew asks the question when his answer is, "Who gives a shit as long as I'm having fun."
He's so quick to deny any possibility of negative effects, I'm sure he wouldn't notice what's been ruined if he spilled a drink on it.
One of the reasons I don't mind the financial and logistical obstacles which have kept me away from SXSW are all the journalist so intent on informing readers about the great party they can't attend the description of the cultural product come up short. It's sort of a Received Wisdom camp for the alt-press, where they get their liscense to employ "was all the buzz at SXSW" to describe some product for the rest of the year.
The effect is on full display here, with O'Hehir displaying nearly uncritical enthusiasm for a list of pictures he hasn't seen just because they're playing the festival. Including what is clearly a by the book "vegas true story" pic because "festival head and compulsive blogger Matt Dentler and his staff wouldn't have slotted it as the opening night film, now would they?" Or perhaps it's standard practice for smaller film festivals to screen big studio product for opening night in exchange for some underwriting of the event.
-
Next up: Lawyers Are Evil! What's Up With Kids and Their Crazy Slang?
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wow, this one was so moldy you could make pennicillin from it! Ba dum bump!
But seriously. Is Opus being written by a humorless Boscht Belt reject? The notion of a fat politician giving money to the average voter is...well, it was always a anti-tax fantasy, but with bridges collapsing and the infrastructure underfunded it's like still believing some long disproven urban myth. The entire complaint about pork is it doesn't pander to the public but serves some obscure private interest or connection.
Politicians pander by playing to voters fear. Nearly all of them do this, left and right. And whether the fears are true or false, the appeal in politics is they involve no real financial promises. Just keep hitting the fear button and leave the expensive promises to special interest.
The only financial way politicians suck up to voters is by endlessly promising no taxes - easy to do, because voters resent taxes primarily because they appear to be misspent. Except the tax cuts go to the wealthy and waste and fraud remains, so it only reduces what's left to satisfy voter needs. Such is life under Grover Norquist's plan to deliberately bankrupt the government.
To end this cranky digression - it's just irritating to see considerable artistic talent spent on jokes which are not only hackneyed and lame, but also an uninformed opinion pretending to be satire.