Letters to the Editor
AKA Smith
Published Letters: 5619 Editor's Choice: 86
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If I see one more article in Salon with the word Paris in the title . . .
[Read the article: America without makeup]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that isn't about the City of Lights, I think I will throw up.
What is wrong with you people?
Joan Walsh, your current article about Ms. Hilton is even worse than the ones that preceded it. Why do you keep trying to give this story relevance and tie it to something larger than it really is? Do you really imagine that scanning the latest life incident about a drunken and misguided heiress really has anything substantive to do with I. Scooter Libby?
Why have you not listened to your readers from California who have tried to educate Salon about jail overcrowding? There's an opportunity to educate part of your reading public by listening to another segment of your reading public. You missed it.
Why are you not running concurrent stories about the dangers of drunk driving? You have missed this opportunity as well.
Why did you not do the simple research that would have told you that, out of approximately every seven holes drilled for oil in Texas, six are dusters? It's a rich guy's game to begin with. A bit of research would've helped. That point about Bush's business failures is relevant to nothing, because you overlook the fact that Paris, in her sphere, is a rousing success, a success to which you have actually contributed.
Where are the statistics on the difference between justice meted out for the poor as compared to the rich? Too much work?
When, recently, has Salon addressed the serious overcrowding in our jails and the unsanitary conditions? Or even the jailhouse suicide rate?
Why has Salon at least not recognized that when people who are arrested appear to be genuinely mentally ill, they are often diverted to programs for the mentally ill? Here is a great opportunity to examine this issue. No fancy lawyers are required. Merely the cooperation of the mental health community with law enforcement.
Why are the women writers of Salon now apparently obsessed with this blonde fashion plate? Envious? Cannot afford Chanel shoes?
Your main point, so artfully concealed that I could scarcely find it (Hah!), is that President George Bush is a dry drunk who, had he been properly apprehended and jailed at such a tender age, would not now be subjecting our nation to the Iraq War and other travesties. There are so many logical holes in this notion that I could drive a presidential limo through them, weaving in and out with glee.
Have you ever considered that this nation is so obsessed with image that, even with a history of substance abuse, all Bush had to do was put on a pair of cowboy boots to give him the edge to get elected when running against the nerd, or that all he had to do was put on a flight suit to get re-elected when running against the Frenchie? The substance you should be most worried about is not the one he drank. Maybe you should worry about the substance, or lack thereof, that you are dispensing.
If you want to do your readers a favor, why don't you take a real honest look at the way the media builds people up only to tear them down? Or take a look at how supposedly liberated women love to hate women who market their sexuality, as if that marketing were more important that the wage gap between men and women?
Has it ever occurred to you that every time the the vulva-flashing celebrity set gets your attention, you join the feeding frenzy that makes them popular?
If you must focus on haute blondes in difficult situations, why don't you take a page from Vanity Fair and focus more on Valerie Plame?
Salon is beginning to sound like an overblown Perils of Pauline, only with garlic and crosses for the pretty girl. Soon, I predict a great turning. It will leak out that "the poor child" actually has something serious like bipolar disorder. When it does, instead of loving to hate her or suddenly finding crocodile tears, why not just focus on bipolar disorder? Forget the blonde.
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Wonderful essay Peter Birkenhead.
[Read the article: Better to be Hamlet than President George]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you for pointing out how arrogant certainty now infects our culture. Sadly, the sound bite, the spin, and the flash of image has destroyed the time necessary to even appear to be truly reflective. I have been struggling recently with trying to articulate in my own thoughts what troubles me most about our twenty-first century direction. You nailed it for me.
Behind that arrogant certainty is an insecure fear. You can see it in Bush's eyes sometimes. It disappears almost as quickly as it comes, only to be replaced by the smirk.
That is why I treasure the footage of his reading "My Pet Goat." With his simian expression and his darting eyes, he shows true uncertainty and fear. If only he could have held on to that genuine doubt, how much better off our nation would be. That was probably his finest moment!
Also, as much as I hate to credit Christopher Lasch, he warned about the narcissism that could infect us. Much that he said has come to pass.
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Tidy little argument pazure, but
[Read the article: Better to be Hamlet than President George]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]you'd better rethink that "Chinese people" thing.
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Thank you Anonymous,
[Read the article: Better to be Hamlet than President George]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]for your enlightening answer. Are you the same rude Anonymous who is always attacking Broadsheet?
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"Now how does an article this lucid get a greater airing?"
[Read the article: Better to be Hamlet than President George]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think that would be best accomplished if Peter Birkenhead rewrote the title and utilized the word Paris.
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Dear Lobelia (chickenshit),
[Read the article: Paris isn't free -- and neither are we]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hang in there. I have actually read most of your letters and I like almost everything you write.
I too felt a little sorry for Paris, but it went away . . .
Could that be because I do not think of her as a real person but rather as a magazine paper doll, which since I don't have TV, is the only place I ever see her?
Oh, and here. I see her here. Actually, I am planning to get my eyes checked because -- for some strange reason -- I am seeing her triple.