Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 58 Editor's Choice: 5
-
He really was a menace
[Read the article: The heretic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some time back I was on a Hermeticism and the History of Science kick and read a couple biographies of Bruno.
The first thing to realize is that he wasn't any sort of Martyr for Science. The only reason he adopted heliocentrism is that it went with his own quirky (and self-centered) cosmology. He wasn't consistent enough to be in the close neighborhood of science for more than a second or two at a time.
Yes, he had a well-trained memory. Memory palaces and similar technologies were important back then. We read. We record. We have disc drives. So memory isn't as important as it was back when literacy was scarce, paper was expensive and everything was hand-written. It doesn't really signify.
Bruno really did like to push things. He was a renegade priest or monk. He thumbed his nose at what was considered public decency. He was a heretic, a philosopher of questionable standards and what passed for a Black Magician in his day. He might not have disrupted the Mass, but the authorities were justified in considering him a threat to the standards of the day. And in those days heresy and sorcery were serious things. If he could have kept his damned mouth shut he probably would have escaped the fire. But he was too narcissistic for that sort of self-preservation.
It's a shame he was killed. But he worked hard for his martyrdom. And it didn't have diddly to do with science.
-
Nope, DrMajorBob
[Read the article: The heretic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bruno's execution didn't have anything to do with science. It wasn't about heliocentrism per se or the scientific method or anything like that. That's not to say that it was anything except vile or that the Church doesn't have a lot to answer for. But it's best to hang the Holy Office for what they did, not what you think they might have done.
-
What does their husband think about all this?
[Read the article: What's black and white and objectified all over?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Lilies of the Field or Exclusive Sexuality. Watch out, girls. If he's a Jealous G-d this week you could be in trouble.
-
News is supposed to be new
[Read the article: The sexiest zoo you'll see this week]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're months behind the times. This is "Olds". So far the sky hasn't fallen.
-
So Don't Attack the Girl
[Read the article: Abstinence-only educators]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Attack the policies. Gush about how wonderful it is that the Palin's have the money to take care of her and the baby, and wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone had that sort of safety net.
Take a closer look at the rumors about this being Bristol's second pregnancy and the fact that the Gov may have falsified the birth certificate, which is a crime.
-
Reality Shows: Everything That's Wrong With America
[Read the article: Reality shows we'd like to see ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]They're a lot like the old Charleston contests. When times are bad people love to see others suffer. So we watch these people pushed into exhaustion, disappointment, despair and shame. It's bloodsport at its most nauseating.
It also falls right into the New Right Wing Vision. Compassion is for the weak. Everyone works, but only one gets the prize. Don't cooperate or you'll get screwed. Right is whatever you can get away with. We watch it. We eat it up. We claim it's "just for fun" as if watching misery and wasted effort is the epitome of "fun". And we internalize it and believe it.
Here's my idea for a real reality show.
It's like Survivor. But people aren't playing stupid games in a tropical paradise. They get put down in a marginal, somewhat hostile environment with enough equipment to make it. Every week the people decide by ballot who most contributed to the success and survival of the group. That person gets a share of the prize. At the end of the four months the prize is awarded, with extra to the one who got the most votes over the whole thing.
That would be a true-to-life survival/reality show. Men die. Teams survive. You can survive on you're own if you're really good and really lucky. But it's damned hard. You need others, and it only works if everyone pulls his or her weight.
But I can't see Fox agreeing to something like that.
-
Oh No! Teenagers are Kissing!
[Read the article: Teens' mass (make-out) rebellion in Chile]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some of them are even kissing more than one person! And a few of them are having sex! Won't someone alert the press?
What we have here is a classic Deviancy Amplification Spiral - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviancy_amplification_spiral
-
Submissive Asian Women
[Read the article: Hey, sister, empower yourself through submission]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This twit has never spent time around actual Asian women, especially my wife, her mother, grandmother, aunts, friends and cousins. Hard-headed and strong-willed every one of them, and that's not at all unusual. They back their husbands up in public. They defer on matters that are understood to be the husband's concerns.
But it's understood that their men back them to the hilt in public and keep husbandly hands off things that are the wife's domain. That includes the home and, more often than not, finances and the family business.
I've known a fair number of White men who thought that Asian women were meek, submissive doormats. They learned differently. And "traditional" Asian women are changing. A lot of Chinese, Japanese and Korean women are staying single rather than marry a little Emperor who expects his wife to be a slave to his parents.
-
Why did you have to remind me?
[Read the article: What's missing from this election? Molly Ivins]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Molly Ivins was our Will Rogers, H. L. Mencken and Ring Lardner. The angels laugh and cringe when she pushes back her halo and dissects the goings-on in the Heavenly Court, but we are poorer for their gain..
-
The real reason for the ruling
[Read the article: One-eyed modesty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]With decreased depth perception his wives won't be able to see how close he's standing to that eight year old boy.
-
Dan's advice is almost always good.
[Read the article: Video of the day: Dan Savage to Sarah Palin ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And when it isn't it's at least thoughtful, realistic and humane.
If we have kids he could be their cool gay uncle any time. And I'd show his son how to skin a deer.
-
It is Appropriate That She Be the First
[Read the article: NRCC cuts off Bachmann]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ms. Bachmann called for the investigation of members of Congress to be investigated for "anti-American" sentiments. How very, mmm, mid 20th Century Wisconsin of her.
If anyone deserves to be judged for un-American activities and found wanting it is she for further degrading the level of national politics. I trust that she will appreciate the irony of being the first to be thrown off the back of the sleigh.