Letters to the Editor
rebecalouise
Published Letters: 152 Editor's Choice: 9
-
stories, opinions and our bodies
[Read the article: Healthy, my ass]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I suppose that the whole point of an article is to present a "point of view" that is strong and even controversial but this "ass" article was filled with rude, unhelpful information. What do I care if Ms. Dickerson doesn't like the bodies of certain black women? What do I care about her weird relationship with her own body? And what do I care about her ambivalent attitude about many of her fellow African-American women -- which she says is because she cares about their health?
It would seem to me that many of her negative feelings stem from the early conflict with her own mother. If she wanted to write about that, perhaps it might be have been more interesting...it certainly it would be less rude. This article was too dogmatic to be interesting. I can't believe that an African-American woman who grew up with a mother who wanted her to be less buff and who is a part of a culture that has such varying degrees of female beauty, but who decided to be a gym nut and food fanatic -- and a scold -- doesn't have a more nuanced and interesting story to tell than the one she did.
And to all the people who spend their time "worrying" about fat people who are not professionals who or who haven't been asked for their help -- it is none of your damn business! You don't know whether it was sexual abuse, mental illness, physical illness or some other reason that has contributed to somebody's obesity. Just take care of yourself and deal with your own problems. I am sure you have plenty.
-
none of the posters are wimpy or have hurt feelings
[Read the article: Healthy, my ass]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But...I have found that people who claim they only want to "help others" with their advice about how to live their lives and who insult people by calling them names like "wimpy," are usually the ones who are hurting.
-
To NY Mom
[Read the article: Pregnant and poor in Mississippi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I appreciate the fact that you support sexual education and family planning for teens. Otherwise you are dead wrong in your letter when it comes to "DEMANDING."
I have borne 2 children and lost one early pregnancy that was a "product of conception." I mourned that future baby because it was planned and wanted. I am glad I never had to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy -- and after a bad scare when my last child was 4, I finally had my tubes tied.
But you had better not DEMAND the right to tell me what to do with my body. And you had better not DEMAND the right to turn your "rosy posy" attitude about baby/zygote "personhood" into laws that I will have to obey. And, I will not stand for anyone to DEMAND that I, my daughter or any doctor helping us be thrown in jail for a decision that you have NO part of.
So, love your babies. Take care of your babies and of as many babies in the world as you want. But unless I start rounding women up and forcing them to have abortions, do not come after me and make DEMANDS.
________________________
[And, finally to wealthy women, while all of this gets sorted in the courts, making contributions and actually working in family planning clinics in these kinds of states like Miiss, may be the way to go...kind of like a new kind of "Freedom Riders." Not to make abortion the only agenda but to help with family planning in general and to help these young women get earlier and safer abortions. Think about it women!]
-
Camille, self-hatred and the Ick Factor
[Read the article: If we leave Iraq, do we lose for good?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This woman hates everyone and everything thing she should love -- and loves everyone and everything she should hate...
Omigod! Is Camille Paglia the genetically engineered lovechild of Christopher Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan?
But, just because she has a "way with words," does not mean she belongs in Salon. This has nothing to do with censorship; it has a lot to do with the "ick" factor.
Camille is icky. And she makes readers feel icky.
I don't read Salon to feel icky.
-
Hey Right Wingers, Keillor's point is that there is no real security...
[Read the article: His stethoscope is loaded]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Americans have to start understanding that there is no REAL security in this world. Period. Terrorism has always been around and, unfortunately we are now part of the calculation. I am sick and tired of hearing that I am a stupid liberal because I don't think slaughtering our "enemy" will prevent terrorism.
Killing people in countries that are far away will NOT make us more secure. It just won't. I have lived in one of the most populous Muslim countries in the world: India. I am sorry but you are NOT going to stop radicalizing Muslims around the world by committing mass murder in places like Iraq.
The willful ignorance of conservatives about this issue stuns me. Think about it for one second. How is slaughtering Iraqi insurgents and Al Qaeda elements in Anbar going to keep a Muslim in India (or Malaysia) from becoming radicalized with hatred toward the US as he sees US troops killing his fellow Muslims day after day after day in a country the US invaded without international sanction? Especially if that young Muslim hears US conservatives constantly calling Muslims evil? Muslims read, you know. They watch Fox News on Murdoch’s Star Network, which serves South and Near East Asia.
The only hope is to have an intelligent and rational integrated human and high tech intelligence and law enforcement security plan, put together with help from allies around the world who trust us that involves biometrics, 100% scanning of all cargo and other expensive operational elements.
Hey conservatives, you do understand that it is GOP economic and other policies that are keeping these important security plans from being implemented don’t you? Mostly, we can’t afford it while we are paying BILLIONS of dollars a month on your war in Iraq.
But right-wingers, whatever we end up doing, stop being simplistic and willfully ignorant about the issues. Your lazy views and reliance upon Fox News and neo-con philosophy make you worthless in the debate.