Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 475 Editor's Choice: 5
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Keithy, everything you've written I've read before........
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton, the first Latina in chief?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For example, "I would vote for a woman but not THAT woman". "riding on her husband's coat-tails". I skip a lot of this stuff because it is so unoriginal and when someone descends to using four-letter words (or an initial letter with a number of asterisks or whatnot), I know that I'm unlikely to read anything thought-provoking. If you had read the letter from Jim H with the tiniest amount of concentration, you should have realised that what you regard as "complaining" was actually a compund question. There wa a question mark, you know, so with all due deference to your impetuosity, it might be better if you calmed down a little.
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Look, Keithy, I understand that both candidates arouse strong emotions
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton, the first Latina in chief?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]but I've also noticed repetitive phrases, words until it becomes mind-numbing. The word "shill" is frequently used as a term of abuse but that word is unknown outside of North America, although it's very easy to guess its meaning. Initially, I wanted to know what is meant by "Latinos" as allof Central and South America are often referred to as Latin America. Some brave souls did their best to explain but this discussion deteriorated into a raucous free-for-all. To refer to a man as a "Latin lover" was regarded as a compliment in Europe - Antonio Banderas would fit that stereotype. The European/Mediterranean people are thought of as Latin but it certainly is not a big bone of contention as it seems to be on this site. Just to show off how "educated" I am, I'll finish with a bit of Latin, knowing very well that many, many intelligent people were never lucky enough to get an educaion. Quod erat demonstrandum.
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Medina de Labrador, p.23 yor letter is appreciated and touches on the complexity of it all
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton, the first Latina in chief?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I knew abot the Spanis and other colonists in the Americas, the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incas. I know someone who has adopted three children from Guatemala and who are now growing up in this country as very cherished children - spoiled, in fact. I lived in Bilbao and know that the Basques regard themselves as separate from the majority population and ETA has used viont means to achieve autonomy. I think it is unwise of the US to use such flabby characterisation of people as dubbing them "Latinos", especially as, in the history of the world, the United States is a "young" country, the vast majority of its population being immigrants, whether voluntary or through coercion. "The world is more various than we think" but this insistence on labelling seems anachronistic. I suppose Eva Longoria is a "Latina" but that is of no consequence whatever outside the United States. All the hyphenation is a joke too. Taking people as they come - good, bad or indiffernt - is what life should be all about. America seems to have a big "victim culture" and, of course, somewhere along the line people are making money out of it. People who are called African-Americans should know that Africans sold other Africans (captives for instance) into slavery, that Arabs were the first "slavers" who went to sub-Saharan Africa to take slaves but it was the forced removal across the ocean and long subjugation that planted the bitter seed. In Kenya today, the Kikuyus form only 22% of the population in a country where there are 38 tribes but it is the Kikuyu who are the most successful and who have held power in government since Jomo Kenyatta took over after the British left. There is intense rivalry in Kenya since the December election when it was claimed the Kikuyu rigged it. This has led to extreme violence and, despite UN intervention, peace has not prevailed. Power is the spur in every part of the world. An education which encourages analysis and does not encourage facile assumptions is very important but there's too much "social engineering" going on in the West. If I had an American passport or was arrested in the US, I'd be described as Caucasian although, to the very best of my knowlege, none of my antecedents were anywhere near the Caucasus which are somewhere in(?) Russia. Who thinks up the categorisations? Who decided "partner" is the right way to define a live-in lover so that "husband" or "wife" can hardly be mentioned as it sounds almost quaint? There are so many examples of the hi-jacking of language to suit a particular agenda, that I'd better stop right here. It's l0:30 on a Sunday morning and I must have my breakfast. It is a slightly damp Spring morning and the birds are busy collecting twigsm seeds ans various vegetation for their nests, leaving foolish humans to work out their own "modus vivendi".
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Lots of typos
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton, the first Latina in chief?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not fully awake yet.