Letters to the Editor
rodian
Published Letters: 134 Editor's Choice: 9
-
termites
[Read the article: Malthus is in the air]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What's on the BusinessWeek bofo's agenda anyway? Are we aiming to infest the planet with people like flies on a turd pile? What's the advantage of that, exactly? Capitalists like an unending supply of cheap labor to hold up the bottom of their pyramid schemes, that's all.
So knowledge will increase. I hope so. Great. I'd still like to see the world's population take a big nosedive. Then we'll be smarter and have less competition for limited resources.
And what about the world's other species? Are they getting smarter too? So smart that they don't need native habitats like rain forests to survive? The great forests of the world are all largely demolished, never to return again while humans rule the world.
The whole "we'll breed ourselves out of our problems" position is pure horse shit. We've been trying that approach for some time now. Seems to me we've created a pretty big mess already. Yes, we've done some good things too, but no one has ever established that that happened because of our sheer numbers. The problems we've created, however, certainly are because of our numbers. The Malthusian skeptics have a lot of explaining to do before they deserve any more attention than any other shit shoveling salesman.
-
specifics please
[Read the article: Playing the bin Laden card?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So we're supposed to want a leader who knows how to deal with crisis, right? So tell us, Hillary dear, how you would deal with the crisis that are already upon us. Really. Specifically. Don't scare us with hypotheticals; reality is already upon us. Bin Laden is real. The energy crisis is real. The stagnant economy is real. The health care crisis is real. So what, specifically, are you going to do about it, other than posture and scare us?
How are you going to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice? What will you do differently than George or Obama or John? What are you going to do about the energy crisis? Specifically? Besides scare us into believing that only you have the answers, which you will only reveal upon your election? Are you really ready to bitch slap rich doctors and their insurance proxies into submission, or do you only empathize with the electorate's pain points as required to win an election?
What a sad sorry election this will be. I have no idea what anybody will actually do if I vote for them, other than give me "hope", "experience", or "geritol".
-
hubris
[Read the article: My husband of 12 years suddenly says he never loved me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm fascinated by how so many blithe responders percieve the situation so clearly, and the solutions so obvious. Pure hubris.
I could be the husband the LW refers to. I only have three children, and they are a bit older, but no so old that they don't need constant parental supervision. I don't want to draw too many parallels, because every situation is unique, but like the LW's husband, I find my life at an impasse, and I'm struggling to find the right way forward.
If the divorce rate tell us anything, it's that all vows, religiousity, children, earnest efforts and bureaucratic obsticles aside, people in relationships still have choices. I submit that presuming otherwise is not only naive, but a significant contributing factor to the dissolution of many otherwise potentialy salvageable relationships. Reading between the lines, I would guess that 90% of the respondents are themselves needy nattering nabobs who have never bothered to contemplate the possibility that their significant other might choose to stop perpetually enabling their complete reliance on someone else providing for their roof, food, clothing, and manicures. So much for women's liberation.
I don't have the time, inclination, or forbearance with your vicarious facination with my personal life to enumerate all the problems with my own marriage; suffice it to say we've grown apart. I would add that nothing serves to exaggerate personal differences like children. There is no one you will ever love more than your own child, and of course that goes for both parents equally.
It's interesting to note that most responders presume that if the LW's husband leaves, that she will end up holding the bag with the children. Since when does divorce automatically resolve to the mother being singularly responsible for the children?
As for the LW, I second the notion that calling a lawyer would be one of the worst things to do right now. Legal professionals, by training, automatically assume an adversarial posture toward the issue at hand. If you are contemplating doing battle with your husband, if you are yourself ready to put your marriage behind you, by all means, call a lawyer. Bring your checkbook. If you are attempting to come to a common undertanding of what should happen next, maybe you should try working that out with your husband first. Maybe even involve another intermediary. If you call the attack dogs, you're doing nothing at all to promote the notion of a possible reconciliation.
Speaking of checkbooks, not only is calling a lawyer ludicrous, I would imagine taking two weeks off to loll about and dring margaritas somewhere romantic is also probably ludicrous. If there's anything holding my own marriage together, it's the fact that we simply can't afford to divorce. It's hard enough paying one mortgage, there's no way I could cover the expense of two residences.
Personally, I currently plan to suck it up for a year or two. With another promotion/raise, when the kids are little older, I'm done playing pretend (to all the cocksure responders out there, don't be so sure your significant other isn't doing the same). I will maintain at least equal custody of my children. They won't have to endure watching my wife an I fighting all the time. The sun will rise, flowers will bloom, and life will go on. It's not just a cliche, I only have one life to live, and I'm not going to spend it hitched to a witch, just to satisfy the dharma of friends, relatives, and impudent letter writers to Salon.