Letters to the Editor
Wasteland
Published Letters: 6 Editor's Choice: 2
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What if there was no West
[Read the article: Starving season]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am a bleeding-heart, Africa-loving, charity-supporting liberal with small children, and years ago I emigrated to the US from a third world country.
But even I am tremendously disappointed with the article, which basically blames lack of western funding as a cause for widespread starvation in Africa. Really, seriousy, Mr. Loewenberg, you think that is the root cause? You can blame the west for generally mucked up the whole continent in the past, you can blame the west for being apathetic towards Africa. But you must have forgotten where these starving children came from. It seems to me that handing out food is only a temporary bandaid at best. We need to talk about how to get the population growth under control. That is only long term solution. Is the topic too controversial for you?
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Sadly even a smart woman falls for it
[Read the article: Cold as ice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Personally I'd sooner compost my twenty thousand dollar bills than buy a diamond ring. So I am amazed how deep the diamond ad blitz has invaded our psyche. Check out May 24, 2006 NPR Talk of the Nation Program, where Tom Zoellner was interviewed for this book. For the most part of the show, the host Michel Martin seemed to agree that diamond was nothing but a scam concocted by the diamond industry. Then 18 minutes into the show a man called in and talked about how his wife had always disliked diamond and found it stupid to spend globs of money on it. Michel immediately said, "Just be sure to keep her away from my husband, because I am not of that view."
So here is a presumably highly intelligent woman who obviously understands the potentially sordid history of the diamond she possesses and its worthless market value. Yet she could not break away from the man-made "mythical" allure. How very facinating
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Age divide?
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton: The Asian-American choice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the letter writers pointed out that the younger Asians tended to support Obama. Besides that, I'd be interested in seeing if there are any statistics that can correlate a person's voting record with the "newness" of of his/her immigration experience. My parents both moved from China in their late 30s - they lived in a country where there was only one race (minorities were tiny and limited in small regions of the country). Even here in the U.S., they have chosen to live within the Chinese community - i.e., most of their friends are Chinese. They have a fairly shallow understanding of other races, so they rely quite a bit on racial stereo-types. I have seen that in many of their friends as well. Is this racism? I am inclined to say yes. It is racism out of ignorance, found in just about any ethnic group - black, white, brown, yellow, pick a color.
I am an ardent Obama supporter and I am very disappointed with the poor support from the Asian community. However I think the reasons for this are many - economical, political, racial, and personal. It seems pointless to scream racists at Asian people. It is far more constructive to think about how to help Obama reach the Asians in the next waves of primaries.
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We are all responsible
[Read the article: Extreme acts of animal cruelty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Michael Pollan said the best about slaughter house workers in his interview with Newsweek: "...dehumanization of slaughterhouse workers. You work that long in the presence of death, you get desensitized. You don't see animals; you see production units and quotas."
He also said, "I've written a lot on industrial meat production, and it's very interesting to see how people react. Some people react by saying, "That's it, I can't eat meat anymore." Other people look at this and they put it in a box. They don't make the emotional connection between their 99-cent double cheeseburger and this process that we've seen in the video. Still other people decide they want to still eat meat, but they want to eat meat they feel good about.:
In the U.S., on average the slaughter houses kill 400 cattle an hour compared to 100 in Europe. Why? Sure, corporate greed. But we must take a hard look at ourselves, the consumers. We eat and waste way too much meat (yep, I am being judgmental). And too many us put "it" in a box. We choose not to link the cheap hamburger with suffering. I have no doubt the Westland abuse is by no means unique.
As long as our demand does not change, every thing will go back to "business as usual" when this is all blown over. We have short collective memory.
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Alex, you need do some thinking
[Read the article: The real reason Barack Obama's divisive]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When the quote of Bill O'Reiley takes up half of your short article, DUDE, you need to get some fresh material to write about. Otherwise you are getting irrelevant very quickly.
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I am disappointed with Salon readers
[Read the article: Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mr Kamiya wrote a courageous article about what true patriotism is - it is NOT about what you say, it is NOT about the lapel pin you wear, it is NOT about the flag you wave. It is in your action that elevates the country. People who are in the current administration have managed to severely denigrate the reputation of America and devalue the currency of America. Even if they wore nothing but flags and pins, they would not be patriots.
Just sit down and calmly finish his article before dashing to your closet to find a flag to wave. Don't be like the BushCo.