Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 582 Editor's Choice: 5
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Steve D, "The Scotsman" is primarily for Scottish readers and it's very unlikely that they had anyone who "works in Hollywood" in mind
[Read the article: Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals the role of the American press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]when that interview with Samantha Power was printed, except perhaps Sean Connery. You seem to be saying that everyone in the English-speaking world must play by American rules and that just because the word "monster" is used colloquially in "some circles" in America everybody for whom English is the lingua franca must toe the line because it's OK to use that insult in Hollywood. The word is highly insulting as it indicates that a human being is a freak or incubus, a combination of human and beast. It's important for Americans to realise that gratuitous insults may not be so readily accepted in a foreign country. Foreign policy has not been America's strong suit in recent years and here you've gone bungling again, riding roughshod over the sensitivities and sensibilities of other people. What's more, Steve D, the people of the British Isles don't need any lectures from Hollywood on the English language, colloquial or otherwise. Scotland is not a U.S. bailiwick and what you define as "colloquial" applies only "in some circles" in the USA; "monster" is a serious word and is used loosely by papers such as "The Sun" ()very different from "The Scotsman")
as a term of abuse for serial killers, child-murderers and the like. You also dispute that the disclosure that Samantha Power used such a word about a candidate who is Barack Obama's rival is revelatory. I think it is and am reminded of some words from what's known as the Scottish play:"Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it". It revealed that someone very close to Senator Obama who represents himself as a uniter is quite prepared to malign another candidate, giving an interview to a reporter she did not know and thinking that she could decide the rules of that interview. The reporter is a young woman but not nearly as important as Samantha Power so Samantha took a phone call while being interviewed. She showed no respect at all for Gerri Peev and even less for Hillary Clintin. Not revelatory? You must be joking.
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Just taking a stroll through site at lunch-time, Steve D. and I'd like to reply to you.
[Read the article: Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals the role of the American press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]These "Somebody"s aren't "Nobody"s. One is an adviser to Barack Obama on foreign policy and the object of calumny was another woman who just happens to be the first female candiate for the Presidency of the United States. There's a certain grim irony in the fact that the foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power, fell into the slurry-pit (pardon, agricultural metaphor) when she ventured into foreign territory. You may insist that "monster" is an innocuous word which is used in certain circles but you cannot maintain that insularity in the global village, particularly in the English-speaking part of it and may I remind you that Americans do not control the language. We've had more than enough of your "extraordinary rendition", sanitised phraseology for kidnapping and possibly worse as suspected terrorists are grabbed all over the world and disappear into the abyss.
Your excuse that Samantha Power uttered the word "monster" in a moment of pique is laughable. You;d think that she was in the scool playground and another kid had tugged her pigtails. Repeating the famous (and criticised) headline from "The Sun"(trashy UK newspaper) isn't too smart either. The "Gotcha" headline was the triumphalist one that hailed the sinking of the Argentinian ship "Belgrano" by the British during the Falklands War when Margaret Thatcher - Ronald Reagan's pal - was British Prime Minister. Many young Argentinians died on that ship and the reasons for attacking the vessel are very suspect. So no, Steve D., it was not a Gotcha moment for the young journalist working for "The Scotsman". She was merely doing her job in "the warts and all" way that professional political writers are supposed to do. She was writing for "The Scotsman" readership but if Drudge and others want to prowl the international print media and serve it up in the USA it is most unfair of you to blame Gerri Peev. "A shut mouth catches no flies" but if Samantha Power chose to get involved in politics she has to talk to the media. Unfortunately, she showed very poor judgment when she left her own comfort zone and that is her own fault.