My dismay with Thomas dates back to the final game of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Bulls swept the Pistons in four games, and Thomas and company sulked off the court in the closing seconds, refusing to congratulate the winners. As the TV cameras tracked them, there was Isiah and his shit-eating grin, leading his team in an example of the worst sportsmanship imaginable. That moment captured Thomas' personality perfectly and helps to explain all of the bad sports, cry babies and losers he's accumulated on the Knicks. They're exactly like him!

When I saw the headline that Camille Paglia is back at Salon, the first thing I thought was that she must have something -- a book, an article, a TV appearance -- to plug. Because she doesn't let a column go by without self-promoting something or other. Then, lo and behold, upon opening her column I see in the VERY FIRST PARAGRAPH that she mentions her most recent book, referring to BOTH the hard cover AND paperback versions. Does Salon get any kind kickback from Ms. Paglia when she advertises her shit on your site?

Rather than read Paglia's piece I elected to read the letters first to determine whether it would be worth my while. Judging by the responses it clearly wasn't, in that it contained her usual tired admixture of harebrained conclusions, bloated egoism and book plugs. Thanks to all responders who confirmed my suspicion that it would be a waste of my time to read it.

I'm a firm believer in simply ignoring the writings of such purveyors of nonsense. Unfortunately, to post this response I had to open Paglia's essay first, which gave her credit for at least one click-through.

One doesn't have to be a right-wing pundit to recognize the barbarism of many Iraqis and other Middle East peoples. I'm a moderate Democrat and agree that tribalism is a relic of the Stone Age that has no business directing people's behavior in the modern world. To my admittedly Western-oriented mind, to be "tribal" is by definition to be uncivilized. The allegiance of civilized peoples is to the community, nation and world, regardless of family, religious or ethnic ties. The United States was founded on this principle, and most of Europe, after two centuries of bloody conflict similar to that occurring presently in the Middle East, has also finally come to this enlightened conclusion.

I have neither patience nor tolerance for cultural equivalency types who argue that certain practices of non-Western cultures are okay, because Westerners cannot grasp the traditions of other cultures. Female genital mutilation, child slavery, and, yes, murdering people from tribes other than yours are always barbaric, uncivilized and wrong.

I disagreed with the War in Iraq from the beginning, and I deeply regret the horrible conflicts between Iraqis that were unleashed. However, I'm beginning to think that, regardless of American intervention or nonintervention, Iraqis are incapable of ever settling their differences, much less peaceably, so long as they cling to primitive tribal and sectarian models and refuse to join the civilized world.

Damn, the flamers are pouring extra gasoline into the fuel tanks of their flame throwers today!

To those who responded negatively to my earlier post let me just say that I resent being called a racist. It's not racist to recognize thuggery, brutality and murderousness in other humans of whatever culture, my own included. I'm appalled by the scale and intensity of the violence occurring in Iraq, whether committed by Sunni, Shiite, Al Qaeda or the U.S. military.

As for it being very "white" of me to criticize the barbarity going on, I would answer that being white is a pretty distant fifth or sixth in how I identify myself. I would start with Global Citizen, followed by American, followed by vocational and geographical characteristics. I'm fortunate to belong to a culture that on paper at least is blind to color, religious belief and ethnicity. The same cannot be said of a single Middle Eastern country, including Israel (though I much prefer Israel's belief system over, say, Saudi Arabia's).

Certainly, Europe and America have done many terrible things in the past and continue to do them in the present. Yet for close to a thousand years Europe and America have tried with greater and lesser success to transcend humankind's naturally barbarous state by attempting to follow the humane ideals expressed in the Magna Carta, English Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Declaration of the Rights of Man, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. I'm profoundly bothered that the government acting in my name is flouting the ideals contained in these documents through its actions in Iraq.

That said, I will never be an apologist for the barbarous behavior of the warring factions in that country. If we've learned nothing else from America's ill-conceived invasion, it's that long-standing, seething hatred between Iraqis existed for a very long time, literally hundreds of years, and was kept in check only by the Ottoman Empire, France and England and later a homegrown totalitarian dictator. Had the U.S. not invaded and Saddam Hussein died a natural death a decade or two in the future, the same unfathomable violence would have erupted then rather than now -- I sincerely doubt that Uday and Qusay would have kept the country together; they likely would have turned against each other. This is because of the tribalism, sectarianism and dysfunctional culture that Iraqis have historically clung to well before a nation called Iraq ever existed.

I'll take Western Enlightenment ideals over Medieval Muslim ideals any day. And, yes, for all its faults, Western culture is by most objective measures less oppressive and more conducive to human health, security and happiness than Middle Eastern cultures.

Dear Gary: The word media is plural, not singular. It's incorrect to write "the media is"; rather, you should write "the media are." Media is the plural of the singular medium. Helpfully, Tim