Letters to the Editor
heyjude
Published Letters: 411 Editor's Choice: 42
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Oprah's behavior
[Read the article: Oprah's revenge]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oprah's apology was heartfelt and she said what she needed to say. But when James Frey was falling apart before her on national TV and it was clear that he admitted his book was not the truth, she tore him to pieces, just like a lion ripping into its prey. He wrote a powerful narrative; when I read it, I assumed it was "fictionalized" but it was still a powerful narrative. He should have put a disclaimer with the book. That is partially the publisher's responsibility. And Oprah and her producers could have asked all these credibility questions she says are so "obvious" now before they ever promoted the book. It doesn't seem right that Opray should be drooling for vengeance -- there were a lot of players in this sad story. But she's the most powerful woman in the world and now she has showed the world how she got that way -- trample anyone who gets in the way of her image.
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Why is the obvious invisible?
[Read the article: Bush's Brezhnev period]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Blumenthal's commentary, as usual, is incisive and on point. It is disturbing that the public generally is not aroused by the obvious intellectual, moral and political failures of this administration. It is ironic that we are creating, at home, the very demagoguery we have gone to war to abolish and that, now that we know where the weapons of mass destruction are (Iran and Korea), we are helpless in the face of them. It is devastating to realize that Rovian dirty tricks,spin, hype and reducing complex world issues to absurd, fantastical slogans actually seem to work. We now live in an environment where public relations has supplanted actual policy-making. Please, America, wake up before the mid-term elections!
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We need to act
[Read the article: A question of timing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How much more documentation do we need that President Bush has no intention of playing it straight with the American people or the Congress? How much more do ordinary, informed Americans have to see the beleaguered and miserable Mr. Maliki on TV making whatever promises he is told to make to us, and to Iraqi Shiites and to anyone else who corners him, to realize he is not a powerful leader with a strong constituency who can deliver on anything -- even if he may be well-meaning. He is hopelessly enmeshed in a civil war, just as we are, and it's beyond our his control and ours.
It is time to resurrect the anti-war movement and take to the streets. President Bush MUST listen to the common wisdom of a people who know what it is to live in a Democracy, the American people. There is no evidence that the Iraqi people wanted Democracy or knew what it was in the first place, and there is plenty of evidence now that their idea of it is misery, hardship, no electricity, murder and hopelessness.
Now, they need to find their own leadership to pull them from the morass. It is beyond us.
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We all know the real secret
[Read the article: Oprah's ugly secret]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Peter Birkenhead raises important questions about promotional self-help books like "The Secret," even though the tone of his article is far from neutral or reflective.
I have worked for more than 20 years in a field known as Health Realization/Innate Health, which expresses principles that explain how spiritual energy generates thoughts which create feelings, which results in our moment-to-moment state of mind, which colors our ever-changing perceptions of reality. So we do create our own reality and our reality is our own thought-created experience of life, not an assembly line of goods and services that we want to "get" or "spend". When my thinking is functional and constructive, I feel positive and hopeful, and I can more easily see with clarity and enthusiasm how to conduct my life. When my thinking is negative, I can allow it to pass without becoming frightened by it and know that my thoughts will change because thinking is a dynamic, spiritual process that guides us through life and the "default setting" is harmony and peace of mind.
The grain of truth is that people who understand that our experience is created from the inside out recognize their state of mind as a guide to how seriously to take their thinking. In a positive state of mind, it makes sense to act on our thinking; in a negative state of mind, it makes sense to leave our thinking alone and allow our minds to quiet -- or to seek help if our minds do not quiet. In any case, there is no doubt that people in a positive state of mind are more likely to be awake to what is possible and to recognize opportunity and to use their minds creatively and productively to do things that take them in the direction they want to go. The operative "secret" is that joy and creativity and gratitude bring about generosity and good will and an appreciation for the potential in all people. And there is no doubt that people who live primarily in that healthy and positive state of mind contribute to the well-being of all and bring out the best in themselves and other people. Not because they visualize it and "make it so", but because they are secure within themselves, and energized and innovative and engaged in life and all its challenges and able to find solutions to problems and transcend obstacles.
We don't have to buy a book to learn this. We all "know" it deep down inside. We are born understanding how to be happy no matter what. Look at little children; they don't give away their peace of mind to circumstances; they bounce back; they don't hang onto negativity; they are masters at creative problem-solving.
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Blacksburg to Baghdad
[Read the article: From Blacksburg to Baghdad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you for pointing this out. If nothing else, the tragic events at Blackburg should have helped us all awaken to the reality that Iraqi students and their families experience every waking moment of their lives. For us, this is a bizarre, tragic, uncommon event. For residents of Baghdad, this is life as they know it. A big news event in Baghdad would be a day WITHOUT a horrifying massacre.