>And I feel bad, because I don't want to hurt their feelings - but why do people get so worked up about this? I really don't get it. I've even lost a friend over this, she was so upset and hurt that I didn't want to go to Christmas at her house. It baffles me completely.<

Werd. People act like you've smacked them in the face when you turn down such invitations. Why _is_ that, exactly? If they want you to come so they can make you happy, why do they act as if you've insulted them when you want to do something that makes you happy? (Shoot, shouldn't they be glad to have one less person to clean up after and find things to do with?) One can only conclude that they are inviting you to fulfill their needs/ego, not because they really care about you. I have a friend whom I've quit talking to because she constantly tries to strong-arm me into visiting her. I haven't had the time or the money for a couple of years now, but derned if she doesn't pull out every weapon in the friendship armada (guilt, anger, whining, etc.) every time she calls to make me visit.

>What a bunch of self absorbed jerks most of you letter writers are.<

Why--because most of us know we are introverts and know that we don't make good company when forced to be extroverted? And that such a situation is no fun for the people we love as well as ourselves? Okay. Guilty as charged, I guess...

>Why do all of you hate your parents?<

Did anyone here say they hate their parents? Or are you one of those "a child should _always_ sacrifice to the parent" types with a particularly virulent case of projection?

>They clothed, fed, cared, loved, sent you to school etc...and all you guys can do is bitch, bitch, and bitch because they would like to spend Christmas with you.<

No one here is bitching about parents wanting to spend Xmas. They are bitching about parents (and friends and siblings) who think that people are obligated to bow down to how everyone else wants them to spend the holidays no matter what. Sorry you missed the subtlety there...

>There a kids who spend their Christmas's in Romanian orphanages, homeless on the streets, in fostercare, etc...yet you all moan and gaze at your spoiled navels.<

Ah, the last resort of someone with no argument (and a lot of jealousy, apparently)--non-sequitur guilt trippin'.

1) The teenagers interviewed ("She should have used contraception") were far more sensible and level-headed about this than many of the "Ack--my little angel will be corrupted!" parents.

2) And what is _with_ these parents who seem to resent the world for daring to intrude on their "for the chillldren" cocoons? Or having to talk to their kids about controversial subjects? God, you get the feeling that if these folks could encase their kids in lucite until they were 25, they would do it.

>BTW does anyone know what, if any, religion the Spears family belongs to? Something tells me they were brought up in a conservative Southern denomination that (at least officially) frowns on all this stuff. Why didn't their spiritual education "take?"<

It's the old "Preacher's kids" syndrome at work--to wit, the preacher's kids are always the wildest ones because their religion/parents are so strict--and they are expected to be perfect 24/7. There's a reason the red states have higher levels of out-of-wedlock pregnancy than blue ones do--the flip side of all that smarmy "God and purity" proclaiming is people sampling "forbidden fruit" on the downlow.

>sorry we (whites? law abiders? women?) can't get over murder.<

Three words for you: Claus von Bulow. When he was found guilty of the attempted murder of his wife (which put her in a permanent coma) and got off because of smart, expensive lawyering, white folks didn't greet his aquittal with half the fury they did OJ's. And he not only dined off suspicion of his guilt for _years_, he made tons of jokes about it. Rich white folks like him have been using all kinds of tricks to get away with murder forever without public outcry. What got so many white folks upset is because OJ used those same tricks--and got away scot-free. It's cool for people like them to cheat the law, but not non-whites--can't have that.

...a wonderful character study as well as a beautifully-detailed portrait of an era. And it boasted one of Don Cheadle's best-ever performances. Thanks for giving it a heads-up...

>Von Bulow, Blake, Specter weren't as famous as OJ.<

That is irrelevant to the point I was addressing from 1:17 Anonymous--that "sorry we (whites? law abiders? women?) can't get over murder." If "we" can't get over murder, why isn't Von Bulow's reputation destroyed and his life full of people showing their disapproval, for example? It seems that many whites can "get over" murder when it's one of their own, but when it's a black person, there's never any "getting over" it.

>one of them were household names like OJ. Oh sure, Blake was a big celebrity once. Music fans know Phil. But seriously--why don't we take a survey, find out how many non-Salon readers even know the other three or could pick them out of a lineup.<

OJ was a faded celebrity by the time the murder occurred. There had been at least two generations of sports stars since his reign, and few folks have shorter memories/less knowledge than new sports fans. One could argue that more people knew Blake just from BARETTA's run alone than know OJ--you are talking millions of people worldwide as opposed to the few million here, Japan, and Europe.

>Frank Rich and Paul Krugman are the only reason to read the Times...<

Kristol didn't replace Herbert, did he?