Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 1824
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@ GoldenToddler
[Read the article: The Islamists are coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Arne, you should have read the well-written article by Mona that immediately preceded yours. She says, "And I completely agree with Golden Boy that CNN pixilated those Danish Cartoons so one could not actually see them, that the NYT wouldn't publish them & etc, for one reason: FEAR...In that sense, Muslim terror inarguably has had a chilling effect on speech; ...
Maybe you should have read that part of my post where I indicated (hinted, suggested, etc.; maybe I should have known who I was talking with and just hit you with the Grand 2X4 Of Obviousness and Bluntness) that the N.Y. Times is under no obligation to publish what you want them to publish.
Maybe you should show where I denied that the N.Y. Times didn't publish these cartoons because they were afraid ... oh, yeah, that's right, you are limiting your dishonesty to just a few execrable examples per day and putting those words in my mouth came after the deadline....
The N.Y. Times publishes some stuff that I agree with, some that I disagree with, and doesn't publish some stuff I think should be covered, and some I think should be wisely omitted. Some have suggested that rather venal (or less than admirable) motives can be attributed to some of these decisions, and I agree. I think the N.Y. Times can be far to cautions at times (in keeping with her Grey Old Lady status), and other times jump the gun or be outright wrong. So does this constitute some terrible Islamofascist Danger To Our Freedoms? What do you suggest be done about this to advance freedom of the press? Mandate coverage?!?!?
As someone considerably wiser than you pointed out, you want those cartoons published, go buy your own freakin' paper, and do something about it.
And on a related note, you want to spew horsepuckey and insinuate false claims as to what others have said, you should go get your own blog too.
Cheers,
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@ Mona
[Read the article: The Islamists are coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh come on. All kinds of films and pieces of art, novels & etc offend many Xians. They had seizures over The Last Temptation of Christ. But no one is afraid to show those films or sell those books, unlike the film Theo van Gogh made detailing Islam's treatment of women (and for which he was brutally murdered). (I'd wager Salman Rushdie would prefer that Giuliani had pressured stores not to carry his book, than to have a bounty placed on his head and some of his translators murdered.) Virtually everyone is scared to death of airing van Gogh's movie, and the sequel had to be made at an undisclosed location under tight security.
My sweetie keeps telling me that I should go anonymous here and elsewhere on the Internets, and maybe temper my prose a bit, in part because you never know when some nutjob is going to go OKC (or more to the point, "Berg") on you. I'm not placing myself in the same category as Rushdie or Theo van Gogh, of course, but the concerns are similar. I refuse, in principle because a person should be able to make himself or herself heard, put their name behind it, and not fear for the consequences. And I'm not going to let anyone shut me up. That goes for my views about what the anonymous GoldenToddler can and should say as well. I just wish he'd take his mewling somewhere else where it's more fit subject matter. I don't think his "concerns" here do the least thing to actually advance free and open debate; in fact, I suspect his ultimate aims are rather different.
Then there's this: "I'd wager Salman Rushdie would prefer that Giuliani had pressured stores not to carry his book, than to have a bounty placed on his head and some of his translators murdered." Your evidence for this, Mona? And is this asking the right question, or is this a form of "fallacy of bifurcation"?
Cheers,
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@ Aruru
[Read the article: The Islamists are coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have no doubt that GoldenBoy lives in fear that Islam is going to ruin his life, or take over his town. He is just one of the many Islamophobes who are picking up the reins from those terrified folks running around in the 1950s building bomb shelters and turning in their friends and neighbors as Commies.
And sadly enough, not a whole lot different from those that listened to the folks that were telling them that Jews drank Chis'shun baby blood, ran the international banker's conspiracy, and were secretly trying to take over the world. They were willing to sign on to the program, and to do (or approve) "whatever it takes" to rid themselves of the malignant incipient Evil in their midst.
Cheers,