Letters to the Editor
Persia
Published Letters: 317 Editor's Choice: 18
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The bottom line is...the bottom line.
[Read the article: Asian Kung-Fu Generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While the 'offical releases aren't as good as fansubs' argument has been going around for some time, it's not always true. Official dubs, on the other hand, are pretty consistently awful, and even when they're not awful, they're often dominated by the same three or four actors. And fansubs are a lot quicker and easier to get.
But the same thing is true of manga, and sales of manga are still skyrocketing in the US. The difference? It's the price, stupid. Anime is horrendously overpriced-- often as much as $30 per DVD for three lousy half-hour episodes. Compare that to $10 or less for a volume of manga...there's no contest.
Another factor you didn't address is piracy. Search for "all region DVD" on Amazon and you'll find a host of pirated anime, most of it from Hong Kong or China. My guess is that's the biggest depressor of sales of all-- I myself bought a pirated set I thought was a great bargain back in the day, before I realized that "all region" meant "illegal pirate copy."
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Clarification:
[Read the article: Asian Kung-Fu Generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I meant Ebay, not Amazon. And for the record, I agree on Fullmetal Alchemist. The manga's even better.
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Of course illegals...
[Read the article: Well, he's the King of something]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Aren't eligible for S-CHIP, at least not in my state. Can't anyone in the media fact check these assholes?
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Of course it's racist.
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And I'm disgusted so many people say 'it's just a cartoon!' Did you ever see some of our World War II propaganda depicting the evil Yellow Menace Japanese? Just a cartoon my ass.
I think we should be sensitive and respectful to Native Americans. But most of what I'm reading here--by and large--is a bunch of non-Native Americans expressing how Chief Wahoo offends THEIR sensibilities.
How wonderful, that you, through the magic of the Internet, can see exactly how many of us offended by Chief Wahoo are Native American. Where can I learn to do that?
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There's a fine line, though.
[Read the article: Guilty of murder or seeming unmatronly?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, that's right. My family's in Spain, and that is exactly the attitude I'd expect them to take. I can just hear my cousins' voices now, in fact. You may not find it correct, Carol, but sometimes things like that are a fact.
I can totally imagine people trashing her for being too skinny. But don't you think it's a leap from 'skinny bitch' to 'skinny bitch who killed her kid and then covered it up'? I've certainly been guilty of making snap judgements about people based on their looks, but I've never accused them of murder.
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Is Ellen 'special' because she's famous?
[Read the article: Ellen, the dog bullies and me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Till then, she should shut up and honor the contract. Maybe I'm a self-righteous tyrant myself, but I would say that the existence of an objective process without exceptions for celebrities and other privileged characters is really much more important than the pain caused to Iggy, Ellen, her hairdresser, and her hairdresser's kids. Because if that process fails, Iggy may benefit, but thousands of other dogs are going to be harmed.
Ellen has admitted (tearfully-- I saw it on Olbermann) that she should have honored the contract. Her beef (at least her public beef) is that the dog was in a loving home and should not have been taken away over principle-- as it's pretty clear Iggy was. If the primary goal is to make sure the dog is in a loving home, I'm not sure why inspecting the new adoptee's home was out of the question for these guys. Sometimes making an exception to a rule-- even an important rule-- results in the best outcome for the dog. Presumably this dog was in a bad situation to begin with, or he wouldn't have been 'rescued.' To take the dog out of a loving, stable home (as it appears the hairdresser's was) because 'the rules must always be followed at all times' seems pretty absurd, and also harmful.
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@PaulBC
[Read the article: Ellen, the dog bullies and me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Apparently the rescue organization threatened to 'go public' and trash Ellen as a...I dunno, bad dog adopter because she violated the contract. So I'm not sure bullying applies so much in this case. (Which was what I was going to say with my first subject line, fail.)
...I'm embarrassed I know so much about this case.
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The line is changed when abuse and violence come in.
[Read the article: My wife thinks I'm cheating on her -- but I'm not!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bonita, attitudes like yours are why my great-grandmother stayed with her abusive husband and had two traumatized kids with him (at least one of which had been sexually abused). She finally left him and got stigmatized by her new community as a 'divorcee.'
She is acting abusive, period. A person who hits once will hit again. There is a chance she will get better but there is also a good chance she will get worse. It'd be one thing if she was merely difficult to live with; she is violent.
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A closed mind is a good thing to lose.
[Read the article: Pam Spaulding for Glenn Greenwald: "For the Bible Tells Me So"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A lot of this bigotry is driven by people not realizing they already have family and friends who are closeted gays. Instead, they think of the stereotype. Ads showing normal people who happen to be gay, and not revealing that until the end, would go a long way to balancing and even reversing these negative stereotypes. Just a thought.
I was on a mailing list once where a woman who lived in Indianapolis and worked for Xerox told me she didn't know any gay people. And I thought, "yeah, I bet." I think a lot of people who are bigots choose not to see the gays around them.
Pam, nice piece, though I too am a bit dismayed that I may well have another blog to read! I would recommend you do an update on your Obama piece, the way Glenn always does, if you can.
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Thrasher
[Read the article: Pam Spaulding for Glenn Greenwald: "For the Bible Tells Me So"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I didn't realize human rights only mattered if your vote had "tipping power."
Also, fuck off.