Letters to the Editor
captainlarab
Published Letters: 541 Editor's Choice: 41
-
Hear, hear!
[Read the article: A moral "Compass"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you for a great review! I have no particular plans to see the movie (our child is 3 and has no business seeing something like this), but the minute I found out the Catholic League was boycotting it, I ran out and bought the first book in the series, and read it in 3 days. Wow! What a great adventure story! And this, from someone who devoured the Narnia series as a kid (incidentally, I never did figure out what was so all-fired "Christian" about that series--what, just because Aslan the lion gets raised from the dead? Then he leads troops into battle. How Christian is that??).
What struck me about the book was not its anti-Catholic and/or anti-Christian bias, but (a) how roundly and deeply anti-authoritarian it is in every way; and (b) the fact that it features a young girl heroine who is a complete badass. What a wonderful change from most of the other childhood adventure stories. I just love Lyra. She fights boys, climbs on the rooftops at Oxford, steals boats from gypsies, uses poor English (I love her use of the word "en't"), and of course lies with impunity, in several instances saving her own life and the lives of her comrades with clever deceipt and trickery. She is a "comic" hero in the classic Greek tradition of literary figures like Odysseus.
To the extent it's too intense for younger children, I'd be less worried about the religious stuff, and more concerned (spoiler alert here:) that this is a book in which a little girl is squarely pitted in a life-or-death struggle against both of her parents. I have no problem with raising my child to question my own authority and belief systems, but if your kid is still of an age where he/she needs reassurance that parents exist to take care of their kids and keep them safe, then he/she is not ready for this. That aspect of the book I found far more provocative than anything it may be saying or not saying about religion, and certainly of greater concern than anything in the Harry Potter series (where Harry's parents turn out to be basically good people, and his aunt and uncle are, at most, an occasional annoyance).
-
Nope, sorry, not buying this one
[Read the article: The case against homeownership]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]With everything I'm reading about the non-sustainability of our current industrial agricultural practices, I want my own piece of damn land. The house is of secondary concern.
-
Here's one way to look at kids and censorship
[Read the article: A moral "Compass"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]During my first year of law school, a law professor posed this question to our class:
"Did you ever read something you were told not to read? Did you ever see a movie you weren't supposed to see? If so, do you now regret doing it?"
Truly, can any of you think of a book, magazine article, movie, or even idea, that you now regret having exposed yourself to? Because I strongly suspect that, if any of you deliberately disobeyed your parents/church/school in reading or viewing forbidden materials, you now look back on that with a measure of accomplishment and pride.
One guy in our class actually did respond to the professor's question. He said, "Yeah, I saw [insert name of horror movie] and it gave me nightmares for weeks."
The law professor's question, and this one student's response, basically now form my entire philosophy regarding what ideas my child should be exposed to. I temporarily shield her from things that, given her age, might give her nightmares. I suppose once she's old enough to use the Internet, I'll have to do something about the online predators. But other than that, really, all bets are off.
-
Yeah, Mishima, join the club
[Read the article: The Dodd and Biden show]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a D.C. resident. I don't even get a vote in Congress, much less the slightest expression of interest in my concerns from *any* Presidential candidate of *any* party. Cry me a frackin' river...
-
Why we can't be more like France
[Read the article: Would you like some French fries with that carbon tax?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't get me wrong--I'm the proud owner of a Honda Civic Hybrid and would like nothing more than to see us be "more like France" in terms of CO2 emissions (not just with regard to fuel efficiency, but with regard to car use generally). But this country's entire infrastructure has been largely created without regard to need for public transportation or having goods and services within walking distance of residential areas. Indeed, it was built largely *around* the car, along with many Americans' sense of individual freedom, social status, and self-worth.
Does this mean that we can't require higher fuel efficiency standards and/or fine those who purchase gas guzzlers? No; in fact, given our dependence on car transportation, there's an even stronger argument here for this sort of legislation than in France. But to the extent some letter-writers here are bemoaning the fact that France is, in general, "leaving us in the dust" with regard to overall CO2 emissions, I think we all have to give some serious consideration to what it would take to be "more like France" (not that we shouldn't try).
Land in almost any airport in any European city and chances are you'll be able to catch a train practically to the front door of your hotel without finding it unduly burdensome to drag heavy luggage for long distances. Land at Dulles Airport outside D.C. and you're in for a $50-60 cab ride on I-66 just to get downtown. And DC has better public transportation than most of our cities.