Letters to the Editor
Amerigo
Published Letters: 955 Editor's Choice: 60
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Checking pilots
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, I suppose a lot of pilots and aircrew are foreigners (especially on foreign airlines), and there is always the possibility that a suicide bomber might disguise himself as a pilot. (Surely they could not be so devious!)
What beats me is having to take off my shoes and belt to go through security at Miami en route to Santo Domingo, but not having to do it for the return journey on THE SAME PLANE.
If terrorists announce that they have a bomb disguised as a brassiere, then...
But to be serious, isn't the real truth that all the security checks are just a kind of PR to reassure the traveling public that Uncle Sam is taking good care of his own? Any capable terrorist would find a workaround.
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Abusive women
[Read the article: Why women stay with abusers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Being a man I cannot speak for to abusive men, but more than once I have been on the wrong end of physical and mental abuse inflicted by women, so I can shed a bit of light on this.
Part of the reason why we victims don't leave the relationship is that we recognize that the violence is ultimately a symptom of weakness, and that they (violent partners) act in this way because they feel weak and inadequate. Therefore we try to find ways to divert their pathetically weak self esteem into more constructive outlets than beating on us.
Of course we also know that they can be dangerous, and we don't want to be injured.
In my case, ultimately the drinking, the drugs, the threats, the occasional violence etc. eventually made the entire relationship worthless to me and I evolved exit strategies.
However exit strategies invariably must involve deceiving the abuse, which we feel guilty about, because just telling them that we are tired of the abuse and want out does not get us anywhere. They will then tell us they love us, take overdoses, cut themselves, get sick, have chest pain, kill us, or whatever their chosen mode of self expression may be.
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Jesus in Paris
[Read the article: America without makeup]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Congratulations to Gary Owen for calling Paris's conversion to godliness. No doubt TV evangelists will be flocking to her cell like, to paraphrase George Orwell, bluebottles attracted to a corpse.
I see the UK newspapers last night were reporting on how jail had brought about a remarkable transformation in Ms. Hilton who has now decided to dedicate the rest of her life to humanitarian causes like the elimination of acne, finding Darfur on the map, and keeping her coochie under wraps.
It is good that she was jailed. While foreign jurisdictions tend to go hard on celebrities, determined to make an example out of offenders like Stacey Keach or Sylvester Stallone by not giving them special consideration, there is at least a public perception that in the US there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.
If I had done what Paris Hilton did, I would probably have consequently also lost my professional license, my job, and hence my means of financial support, so this conviction would have affected my standard of living for my whole life.
In Ms. Hilton's case, she may lose a few endorsements, maybe, but she will never be poor, and probably will never need to work, so why should anyone sympathize with her?
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aka Smith and psychopathy
[Read the article: Why women stay with abusers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You are probably right that psychopathy is probably the big linking factor in domestic abuse, but this is a circular argument, because psychopathy means the lack of a conscience, and clearly a person with a conscience cannot live with him/herself and be a violent abuser.
I remember when I was six years old, I collided with a woman on the sidewalk when I was walking backwards. I informed her that it was her fault, because she should have seen I was walking backwards and got out the way. I still cringe at the memory.
Not a very severe crime of public order, I daresay, and my youth and inexperience in life on the planet at the time can be taken as mitigating factors, but I still blush at the memory.
This is because I have a conscience. Now do you think these people who inflict violence on domestic partners have a conscience? Hell, no, because if they did they would have to kill themselves.
Regarding my previous letter about experiences with abusive women: I think the important point here is not that both sexes may be victims (though that is true), but that abusers of either sex use the same methods of control.
Clearly women are at greater risk of being killed, because men are stronger and generally more violent than women. From a male point of view, it is true that you may be able to physically control the abusive woman, but if the conflict escalates to the use of weapons and either of you gets hurt and/or law enforcement gets involved, then you are still a loser, especially if you end up losing your job, home, or children (none of which has happened to me, but the potential is always a threat.)
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spike 24
[Read the article: Why women stay with abusers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Same thing applies to your argument, which is basically circular.
Antisocial personality disorder is the name given to people who repeatedly perform antisocial acts without feeling guilty. So a person who repeatedly performs violent acts is practically defined as a personality disorder.
These kinds of diagnostic labels are only useful in a judicial or psychiatric setting to give an official sounding name to being what in common parlance is known as a creep, jerk, or asshole.
While domestic abuse can and may occur at all social levels and in all races and cultures, it is much more common among the criminal classes, alcoholics, drug and tobacco users etc., than it is among sandal-wearing, granola-and-yoghourt-eating classical-music-loving middle class professionals (though there might be an exception for lovers of Wagner.)
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aka
[Read the article: Why women stay with abusers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]However APD people are truly scary. I have met both males and females with APD.</1>
You don't understand. Antisocial Personality Disorder is not something you "have" like measles. It is what you "are", like being American.