Letters to the Editor
Christopher1988
Published Letters: 567 Editor's Choice: 40
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We all hate hypocrisy—but hopefully we hate gay witch trials even more.
[Read the article: Craig: The press made me plead guilty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No matter how great it may feel to make someone fess up that they hold a different private agenda than the one they force on others through law, it's an inherently bad move to push Craig towards any disclosure about his private life. It's the old outing game again, and it will do little to make life easier for gays and lesbians. It will also open the door for Republicans to lambast any gay Democratic politician on the grounds that "Democrats do it to us, so bedroom practices are fair game." They will intentionally ignore the finer points of why in this case Craig's sexuality is of import, just as Democrats ignore why Clinton's phillandering was taken as a blight on the nation (he could have lied under oath about anything and people would have been outraged, it wasn't specifically that he lied about sex).
We have to make a choice in this country: are we a sophisticated nation that takes sexual matters in stride, or are we a puritanical nation that is still so hung up over sex that encounters between two adults are still at the center of our political debate? Do we want to encourage the Ken Starrs of each generation, or the Franklin Roosevelts? We have to decide.
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I don't have sympathy for him, that's no what my post is about.
[Read the article: Craig: The press made me plead guilty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's about how things boomerang back against gays. Persuing this won't end political hypocrisy. It will make every gay man and woman's private life a part of the public discourse, in a very detrimental fashion.
Craig can be lambasted for his voting record, gay or not. The anti-gay stance and support for the Federal Marriage Amendment are damaging enough—for anyone who believes in the equality of gay citizens.
All making a big deal about his sexuality will do is 1) make the Republicans more homophobic than they already are, and 2) open the door for every gay politician and lobbyist in Washington to have his or her private life dragged into public debate. Considering which party most of them are aligned with, it's a pretty good way of insuring Republican domination in D.C.
We all know the Bush administration rode into the White House twice through mud-slinging tactics. Reagan was pretty good at this, too. It's their "winning" strategy. Want to encourage them to take this further, and undo so much good work done in keeping private issues out of public debates? Just keep hammering on this. There will be payback.
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I find the responses here really weird
[Read the article: Why Blockbuster is gaining on Netflix]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First of all, how exclusive does a person have to be that they only shop at one video chain? Right now, I've recently moved and am too worried about finances to rent movies, but back in my old city, I shopped at Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, and a smaller local store. All were great in different ways. I got free movies from Blockbuster after so many rentals. Hollywood Video still stuck me with late fees, but one store in particular had a great foreign and classics section. The small local store has out-of-the-mainstream selections I appreciated but AS WAS THE NORM BEFORE BLOCKBUSTER IMPROVED THINGS the movies were due back the very next day.
Blockbuster did a great job of changing the way rentals worked, of giving people essentially a three-day weekend to watch a movie (really can't find time in three days to watch a single flick? participating in UN peace talks or something?), and providing a superior collection. That they fell behind probably was to be expected. I don't care for the censored movies business, but again it's not my only outlet. Why are people of the mindset that one company has to be everything for them. It seems a bit extreme.
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Well That's All For Now: talk about a politically blind post!
[Read the article: Craig: The press made me plead guilty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How ironic that poor Craig, in his own fashion, violated the Republican party's "Don't Ask - Don't Tell" rule.
"Don't Ask-Don't Tell" is an invention of the Democrats, put in place by coward Bill Clinton who refused to abolish the gays-in-the-military ban, though he insisted doing so would be his first act upon getting elected. Well, he lied, and gays have suffered for it. If Craig was playing a variation on such a policy, he was following Bill's example.