Letters to the Editor
gradysu
Published Letters: 158 Editor's Choice: 40
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Could your siblings be jealous of you?
[Read the article: I'm having a European family feud]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You forged out into the world and made a life for yourself courageously, far from home. Now you come back to see your parents, with your family in tow, and a whole life to talk about and share with them. To you, your tribe may have seemed cranky and jetlagged, but I'll bet that's not how your parents saw it. Maybe they were a little happier to see you than your sibs wished they were. Maybe they made a little too much of a fuss over your homecoming. That would explain why your sibs suddenly got all "concerned" about your parents, and why they aggressively pounced on your husband and then on you. I would check with your parents before agreeing to the whole sublet thing next time; otherwise they may believe you don't want to stay with them.
As for the background of this whole mess, it sounds like you've always been the scapegoat of your family. So maybe it upset the balance, at least for your siblings, when you came home and your parents were really happy to see you, and suddenly you weren't the "problem child" any more. So they reverted to type and put you down.
I know this family dynamic all too well, having been beaten up literally and figuratively by my sisters pretty much from the jump, and being told I was a martyr if I mentioned it. (After years of beatings, verbal and otherwise, one of my sisters tried to smother me in my sleep when I was a teenager, so I started sleeping with my dresser pressed up against my bedroom door. My mother called this a melodramatic ploy for attention.)
I found the same solution you did: I went out and built a life with my own friends and family. Cherish those people, hold them close and defend them. And try not to let the petty, abusive bastards get you down.
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I cheered Spitzer on too...
[Read the article: Eliot Spitzer's monumental fall from grace]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...until he essentially let the corrupt corporations off the hook by recommending a series of inconsequential fines as "punishment." A combined $1.4 billion in fines for the likes of Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, et al amounts to a slight cost-of-business fee. They were not, in fact, forced to "disgorge" their "ill-gotten gains," as Spitzer claimed he would make them. They merely paid pennies-on-the-dollar fines for the privilege of ripping off investors and taxpayers. Then Spitzer turned around and took humongous campaign contributions from a lot of these same firms.
So his downfall is no great loss, as far as I'm concerned. In light of the lenient punishments he recommended for these clowns, we all paid for the privilege of getting screwed by Corporate America. So it's kind of comforting to know Spitzer paid for the privilege too.
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If it's any consolation, Sloane...
[Read the article: The best-laid plans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...your book will soon be getting laid big-time. It will be splayed out in the Barnes & Noble bargain bin under all the other books by talentless self-promoters with nothing to say.
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So, let me get this straight...
[Read the article: Examining the reaction to Clinton's hospital story]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Clinton's critics will take every opportunity to believe virtually anybody over her, including people who have strong financial and legal vested interests in telling their own version of events. And therefore... she should drop out of the race? Because this unreasonable, knee-jerk reaction is "emblematic of the ways the prolonged primary campaign is affecting the intraparty dynamic"? (Oh, and by the way, I haven't read a phrase that awkward since I was a teaching assistant in grad school.)
Yikes. That is some of the most tortured "logic" I've seen in a long while.
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Do you think cable TV actually makes you an informed voter?
[Read the article: Obama can't close the deal ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Clearly, we have identified that proportion of the Pennsylvania electorate who never, ever turn on a cable TV news show," sniffs Obama supporter Shapiro condescendingly.
Good for them!! What are they missing, exactly? The misogynistic rants of Chris Matthews, who would have been fired long ago if he ever uttered similar racist rhetoric against Obama? The myopic ramblings of Keith "It's hard to keep my glasses clean with my head so far up Obama's ass" Olbermann? The CNN "best political team on television" that has been counting Hillary out since Iowa?
Good God, these presumptuous Pennsylvanians had the nerve to think they should be able to go to the polls and vote, and have their votes count! They actually believe we still live in a democracy!! What a bunch of hicks!! Clearly they haven't heard about the super-cool post-democratic Obama era, where a charismatic candidate with a paper-thin resume and an aversion to answering media questions ("I've answered eight questions already!!" "Can't I just eat my waaaaaaaaaaafle?") sweeps in and declares victory before all the votes are cast. Didn't we go through this already -- where an elitist with an outsized sense of entitlement, a skimpy record, and a thin-skinned refusal to answer tough questions decides that they've counted enough votes, thank you, and they should quit while he's ahead?
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"Old white women..."
[Read the article: Obama can't close the deal ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...are largely the reason younger white women have so many opportunities these days, and I, for one, am grateful. They are also one of the largest Democratic voting blocs, and any intelligent candidate (or a supporter of a candidate) alienates them at his or her peril.
If not for "old white women," we'd have had a string of Republican presidents and Republicans controlling both Houses of Congress for as far back as the eye can see. If you liked Clinton better than Bush, you have "old white women," in no small part, to thank for his elections. This bloc also votes in EVERY election -- not just when someone comes along who "inspires" them with good speeches (but not much else).
Hey, dmag: Substitute "young black people" for "old white women" and your post would be a good old-fashioned, hood-wearing racist diatribe. But since it's "only" virulently and hatefully sexist, I guess that's okay with a lot of people... especially Obama supporters.
And why is it okay for 90%-plus black voters to back Obama, with no fear of being called racist, but when fewer than 60% of women back Hillary, they're gender-obsessed?