Letters to the Editor
CastlesInTheSand
Published Letters: 17 Editor's Choice: 1
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It works both ways
[Read the article: How can I love my Republican parents?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First, to those claiming he's an overzealous college student-- not true. He's likely lived away from home for a long time and finally settled on living the life he wants to lead and has the friends he wants to have, after many years. The problem is now that he's settled himself, he realizes that he still has a life back home that he has to deal with.
Next, whether you like your parents or not is not the point. It's entirely possible that I could have a child who has no interest in reading, enjoys watching ESPN every day, and aspires to go into sales or investment banking. This isn't the sort of person I like or find interesting, but that isn't the point. He's my child and I'm supposed to raise him, give him my attention, and be there for him. It's the same with your parents. You might not like them. Their moral worldview might be warped, and in all likelihood, that worldview will result in real-life consequences. However, you can't just write them off. Leave politics off the table. If they can't do that, enforce some separation time until they do, and they'll respect you for it.
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The difference between being trained and being educated
[Read the article: Teachers: Be subversive]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Educating children in absolutely useless skills (like poetry analysis) that they never have the need for is what makes them into drones.
Actually, quite the opposite. Training them in a specific subset of skills for a specific job makes them into drones. Educating them allows them to learn.
That carpenter you're talking about? How do you know he doesn't read and write poetry in his spare time? The guy with the dog grooming business? How do you know he doesn't have a thriving collection of art or a personal interest in Age of Exploration Dutch history?
All that time I spent learning history and reading 20th century plays in high school wasn't a "useless skill," and I can say that because I'm a computer engineer. If you expect people to be able to vote, negotiate, and function in civil society, they need to be educated, not merely trained.
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I think Bush is likeable for Beltway people
[Read the article: The scruffy charms of an insecure president]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While the author acknowledges that Bush is incurious, petulant, and insecure, he claims that Bush is "likeable" because "He doesn't really put on airs." I suppose that may be a distinguishing feature for those surrounded by a bunch of pretentious hacks in DC (and there are plenty), but for the rest of us, just because a guy isn't pretentious doesn't make him automatically likeable. I think Bush is being graded on a curve-- in a town of elitist pretentious jerks, Bush's "rich asshole fratboy" shtick is charming in comparison.
And too much is made of Bush's supposed "intelligence." Look, the man isn't that bright. Whether it comes from genetic incapacity or the fact that he has no interest in learning anything doesn't matter-- we can't look into a man's soul, we only know the results: he doesn't know much, doesn't think much, and doesn't learn much. How, precisely, this is different from stupidity isn't that important.
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The LW feels that HP fanfic is incompatible with adulthood and family life
[Read the article: I'm addicted to Harry Potter fan fiction!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A lot of the commenters here don't seem to understand the LW's source of anxiety. She's a 30 year old married woman with children, and she feels that her addiction to HP fanfic conflicts with that identity. And it *does*. No one wants to find out that his or her mother has an obsession with fanfic based on a children's book. Her husband wanted to marry a woman, not a girl, and her children will want a mother, not a peer.
I'd advise that the LW find a more grownup hobby. Spend more time at the gym. Train for a half-marathon. Do some home renovations. Or for something more intellectual, study a region of the world you want to travel to. Possible hobbies to avoid: furry fandom. In the end, you'll feel more stylish, more proud, and more confident. Saying you enjoy the HP books and maybe own a scarf is one thing. Getting obsessed with fanfic is another.
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You can't argue with crazy
[Read the article: I'm having a European family feud]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It frustrates me to no end that you can't force the crazy out of people, particularly family members.
I do like the advice from an earlier commenter that we should treat our family more like friends-- people we need to treat with kindness and respect lest we lose them. It's because these siblings feel that they can get away with their behavior and not suffer consequences that they act the way they do.
Along with making shorter stays and renting someplace separate to stay in, another solution is to pay for the parents to spend a couple of weeks in America. This allows you to have more time with your family as well as ensuring that the siblings aren't in the picture to cause trouble.
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Democrat != Technocrat
[Read the article: Why do conservatives really find the Obama campaign "scary"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We're not Democrats because we have a certain aesthetic of government. We're not Democrats because we believe that the Presidency should embody a certain dispassionate, technocratic attitudes toward governing. We're Democrats because we have specific beliefs about the role of government in public life and beliefs about how and when to defend our interests and about how our citizens should be treated.
We should be focusing on which candidates can make that happen and which candidates can move the country in a direction more in line with our philosophies and policy preferences. If that means supporting a charismatic candidate with a large following of people who aren't normally involved in politics -- ALL THE BETTER. We should be engaging in any kind of moral judgment that someone might be supporting Obama for reasons we consider not sufficiently dispassionate and not sufficiently based on an appropriate weighted model of policy preferences that arrived at a sufficiently large value to justify support. We want people who are going to be engaged because the love the country and love the idea of what we could become. I used the word "love." That's right, "love." An emotion. And that's ok.