Letters to the Editor
Allie_
Published Letters: 1017 Editor's Choice: 99
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re: canunistani
[Read the article: I'm obsessed with being a hipster]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well said.
The crime is its own punishment.
I'm a little sad for Cary, for siding with the LW. Loving music, clothes, the scene is not the same as wanting to be admired and envied for loving the right music, clothes, scene. Whatever that is. Since apparently it's not the music, clothes and scene the LW naturally loves. Pretending to love things you don't actually like and rejecting the things you do like because they aren't cool enough strikes me as a pretty sad way to live.
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What happens when he does this?
[Read the article: A cheating bully is ruining our racquetball games]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Like Tara21, I'd like to know what has happened in the past when he did inappropriate things. What happens when he hits someone with the ball? Are you all too gosh-darn polite to speak up even when you get hit, or did someone say, "Dude, that's f-ing inappropriate, apologize to Bob right now"?
Since people are leaving the game rather than confronting this guy, I can only assume you are all so allergic to confrontation that there's really no point in trying to give you advice. Leave the guy a text message saying you don't like him anymore. If that's not passive-aggressive enough for your liking, you can all agree to start meeting at a new court and just not bother to tell the guy.
Or you could, I dunno, say something the next time he does something inappropriate. Walking off the court, as a couple of other writers have suggested, would also make the point.
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Yep, saw that coming a mile away
[Read the article: I'm almost 21. Should I buy some guns?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I loved the first few paragraphs of Cary's response; I was beginning to be pleasantly surprised at his open-mindedness and refusal to condemn people who don't share the values of his tiny corner of the world... and then:
Why not resolve to say to your children and to future generations through your actions: Here, on the day of my 21st birthday in the year 2007, I broke the long chain of guns that has paradoxically both freed and enslaved generations of my family!
Oh dear. Just couldn't step away from the knee-jerk, Guns Are Bad And Everyone Knows It reaction, could you, Cary?
Exactly how have guns enslaved generations of this man's family, outside your own little rhetorical fantasy?
Then Cary spins off suddenly into a discussion of patriarchy and guns as a way to maintain the patriarchy. Well, no. A little logical thought will tell you that the reality is the exact opposite - guns are the bane of that which is bigger and stronger. Guns are the great equalizer.
As for the agrarian, self-sufficient Southern farmer (who now exists, we are told, mainly in the twisted delusions of survivalists, having been entirely supplanted by 'clustered urban sustainability') - huh? I live on 30 rural acres. I don't hunt much myself, but the neighbor boys ask my permission each season to hunt dove, deer and turkey on my property. Did I mention I have neighbors? In other words, not just I, but many others like myself, do NOT live in a city? I've seen guns used for several practical purposes: hunting, driving off an intruder who was trying to break into the house (twice, in a 25-year time period), putting down a stray dog with a broken back who otherwise would have suffered during the hour-and-a-half long drive to the nearest vet.
So much for Cary's response. Now, about that Letter Writer:
It seems to me that if the LW thinks his mental health might be adversely affected by owning a gun, he's the person in the best position to make that judgment. The gun you don't own is the gun you can't flip out and shoot somebody with.
It's possible to indulge a fondness for the cool clickiness of guns without actually owning a gun. Find a good gun store with a shooting range or take a class. Or buy a non-working replica.
However, I'm not convinced the LW is being entirely honest with himself about why he wants a gun. It feels to me as if he really wants a gun to be a man, like his dad. That's not an ideal reason to buy a gun. Become a man, THEN buy a gun. On that point, at least, I believe Cary and I agree.
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Super-smart?
[Read the article: "I think he was just a confused kid"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]CNN posted two plays written by Cho.
http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/
Pardon me, but this guy was an English major? A super-smart English major? Am I missing something?
There are a lot of comments over on CNN to the effect that the plays are obviously the work of a psycho and should have tipped people off that the guy was dangerous. I'm afraid that if I were his teacher, I would have missed that... what strikes me instead is that the plays read like something written by a junior high student fascinated by the scatological. At my college, an English major who turned in work like this would have been booted, not for being a nutcase, but for not taking the class seriously.
I notice that both plays focus on sexual abuse of teens by older authority figures. Is there a story here, or is this simply Cho's way of choosing the most shocking subject he can?
In any case, this isn't the work of someone "super smart".