Letters to the Editor
stackey-dackey
Published Letters: 324 Editor's Choice: 8
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Okay, this is kind of brillant
[Read the article: New McCain Web ad mocks Obama as false Messiah]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have to agree with the earlier poster who said its a good way for McCain to steer the media conversation to certain internet-based criticism of Obama that aren't necessarily common knowledge to those who don't obsessively read the comments sections on news sites.
(It might not be in this thread.)
I'm sure the next ad will be all about how Obama is a socialist/Marxist/Lenninist/pinko. And the one after that will be about how he is gay.
I'm not sure what Obama can do. If he attacks McCain's character then he'll be using the same old politics of division, etc. If he ignores it, he risks looking weak.
And he can't keep saying, McCain doesn't want to talk about the issues, blah, blah, blah.
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@Maureen
[Read the article: Clinton denies being racist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]White people have been going to Africa for generations; missionaries, slavers, and imperialists. I don't think that disqualifies them from being "racist" and the same is true for Clinton.
I don't think Clinton is like a missonary, slaver, or imperialist, however its ridiculous to say that helping black people publicly someohow means that you aren't a private racist.
American history is full of people who've done a lot for the Negro but who were privately very bigoted. Lyndon B. Johnson comes to mind, what with his fondness for the n-word. He did a lot for black people in this country, however. Abraham Lincoln may have freed the slaves(a response to Southern secession), but it wasn't like he loved black folks. The fact is, sometimes its not so much about loving the black man as it is ensuring that the words of the founders are true, or that we have a country that is fair to all citizens and doesn't put one group over another. So yeah, you might think all black people are lazy and stupid and ugly, but they are still people and deserve the same rights as everyone else.
Its hard for Europeans to understand that, I think, because race is such a complicated concept in this country. Its hard, for anyone here, to fight the racist the bile they are forced to swallow from birth. However, if you beleive in what the U.S. is suppposed to be, then you focus on whats right and not on a persons skin color.
I don't care if someone is racist or not; as long as they don't accept the fact that I am an American citizen and I have the same rights as they do.
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It may be "creepy" for grown women to play teenagers, soft dog
[Read the article: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]but it is practical due to laws regarding underaged actors. Also, you don't have to deal with stage moms and dads. And I'm sorry, the pool of talent of people who've actually studied acting in any meaningful way is larger for the 20-somethings. I used to look at a lot of actor resumes on television and you'd be surprised how many of the folks studied at Yale and Juliard...studied to be able to play some awful teenager on a WB drama, but at least had rudimentary understanding of acting as a craft and not as, I'm mugging for the camera. Which is how child actors in television and some movies are taught to act.
If they look like teenagers then whats the harm in them playing teenagers? It's acting!
Anyhoo...I like the original pants because I love America Ferrara. I mean, that whole thing with her dad...it makes me verklempt. And she's awesome as Ugly Betty.
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The Uncanney Valley
[Read the article: The creepiest video you will see all day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"The uncanny valley is a hypothesis that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers."
Granted, these dolls don't act like humans, but they certainly look like them. Its a visceral reaction for most people (not all, as evidenced by some of the posters on this website) maybe stemming from a fear of being replaced by these simulacra of humanity. Or maybe its hidden in our lizard brain, this need to distinguish between an "imposter" and the "real" thing, because possibly in our evolutionary past it was difficult to tell between us and them which caused problems in our proto-societies.
I don't know. I don't care where it comes from. All I know is that these little beauties creep me the fuck out just like those real dolls. I remember the Nip/Tuck episode when Sean was having his way with the Kimber real doll and just...ick. To each his own but still, ick. I mean, can't people sometimes listen to their primal reaction to these things without everyone calling them a bigot? Is there going to be a day where simulacrum humans will replace the rest of us, these perfectly programmed little bundles of joy who will be perfect and never grow up? And then they'll take over and we'll be obsolete. (Too much science fiction on my part.)