Letters to the Editor
Andrew W.
Published Letters: 6 Editor's Choice: 2
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Is this a distraction?
[Read the article: Bush the reckless]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Were these remarks made after the Supreme Court ruling against Guantanamo? If so, I'd suggest that this is a ploy to distract pundits when the government is on the back foot.
We see this all the time here in Australia under the Howard government. Whenever the government here is embarassed in some way, in no time at all some controversy in a different area will be manufactured to let the original issue die down. Howard is incredibly adept at these kinds of stunts, and it stands to reason that his friends in the Whitehouse might borrow a few plays from his book.
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I smell a rat
[Read the article: Strippers turn up the heat at global warming conference]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Al Gore's in town to promote An Inconvenient Truth, a major climate change conference is on, and what do we read about? A stripshow and an all-too-predictable round of tut-tutting from the Left, and then the Right.
The Howard government has long ago mastered the art of media manipulation, and I can't help but think that they couldn't have asked for a better outcome. Have they somehow had a hand in this? I don't have any evidence, just suspicions. So far, I haven't seen any reports about who is responsible for this farce....
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Is sexuality empowering?
[Read the article: All girls want to be a Pussycat Doll]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Since I've finished my PhD, I've thrown myself headlong into the gym, and about a year later, I'm getting visible results. Now that I'm leaner and better-proportioned, I'm much more attractive to women than I was before.
Is that empowering? You betcha.
Pushing the point a little further, would it be empowering to make squillions of dollars by miming to vapid pop tunes? Ummm, I'd say double plus you betcha.
The important thing in my case is that having an attractive physique is not the limit of my accomplishments. It's not what defines me. And if we filter out any prudishness or thinly-veiled jealousy, perhaps this is what your concern really amounts to: that young women are being encouraged to *only* think of themselves as sexual objects.
If we look at this show in isolation, this fear may seem to be justified. But this is hardly the only type of role model that today's young women are presented with.
I'm sure that there are a lot of young women that would like to be the next Pussycat Doll. And I'm just as sure that there are a lot of young women who would like to be the next Oprah Winfrey. Indeed, I'd go so far as to suggest that there are a lot of young women that would like to be either of these things, depending on their mood.
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... at the risk of getting off topic
[Read the article: The light's on, but is anybody home?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... permit me a small rant about Burton's analogy of the morning commute on "autopilot". Rubbish. You're quite alert during your morning commute: otherwise you'd be a danger on the road. But it's such a routine activity that you lay down almost no memory traces, so after the fact it seems as if you were barely there.
Consider: if you've had a few years in a hum-drum job, you probably don't remember that much about your working days during those years. That's not to say that you weren't aware at the time, you just didn't lay down any lasting memory traces. We're wired to remember excitement and novelty.
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A sound long-term investment strategy
[Read the article: Green investing 101]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My superannuation is invested with a "green" fund manager here in Australia. It's not just a chance to put my money where my mouth is: I think it's highly likely that the greener companies will make excellent long term investments. As oil becomes more scarce, alternative modes of energy production become more viable. As concern about pesticides and genetically engineered food grows, organic food producers will prosper. And so on.
The future is green, folks!