Letters to the Editor
paulpsd7
Published Letters: 671 Editor's Choice: 14
-
Lame
[Read the article: "Jen" Doe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can't imagine the relevance of this article to Salon's readers. Weekly World News readers, sure. But having this article appear next to articles about the Bush Katrina video and the dire crisis that the nation is in? C'mon, Salon, bump up the editorial standards a couple notches.
-
Brilliant!
[Read the article: Condi heckled]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This country needs more brave, forthright, civil people like this heckler to follow these criminals everywhere they go and deprive them of a moment's peace for what they have done.
-
This is corruption, and all religion is corrupt
[Read the article: From "To Hell With Them" hawks to "Christians for Torture"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The way I understand the Christian acceptance of torture (along with other seemingly non-Christian concepts such as wars of choice) is informed by how I understand religion. See, all the world's religions began with one or a handful of spiritually inspired people (later called "prophets") who had some kind of genuine spiritual experience. They shared this experience with others and drew followers. The focus was largely on the truth of their transcendental experience, less on a cult of personality that developed later.
This truth and the attention it drew developed worldly power, as does anything that draws lots of attention, and began to attract those who were drawn to power. Thus, a spiritual experience becomes a religion when it accepts and becomes built around a human power structure. Basically, religion is the intersection of spirituality and the politics of human power over one another, usually with the latter replacing the former.
That doesn't mean there aren't people who subscribe to a religion who have a sincere spiritual connection to that religion's truth. I even know one (only one) Catholic who is very devout and one of the wisest people I know. However, I would say she's certainly the exception to the rule.
In general, I feel that organized religions -- and particularly these Middle-East-spawned ones that turned "god" into a man with a long white beard -- are a virus that has caused insurmountable damage to humanity and is currently threatening us with annihilation. Religion itself has become the dark, destructive force that most of its books prophetize. The sooner a critical mass of people can see their way out of this trap, and shed the vestiges of obsolete 2000-year-old mindsets, the sooner we can truly progress as a species.
-
Poco's Joke: Lame lame lame
[Read the article: Hurricane Al]
[Read more letters about this article: Here](As an aside, I agree that O'Hehir and Walsh are both being lazy by repeating anti-Gore talking points as "conventional wisdom". This certainly shows the success of BushCo propaganda, that eventually it gets repeated unconsciously as fact on a liberal web site.)
But to clarify, my reading comprehension tends to be very good, and I found Poco's joke completely unintelligible when it was first told, and then very lame when it was explained.
Sorry, Poco. Keep practicing on the standup routine and don't quit your day job.
-
Wait for the 20 year
[Read the article: I don't want my husband at my high school reunion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A couple years ago I went to my 20 year reunion, and had an absolutely brilliant time.
However, I've been told by many people, including many at the reunion, that at 10 year reunions, many people will still be stuck in the desire to impress all those people who didn't properly respect them in high school. In other words, although 10 years may have passed, they're still locked in the same old game. Made me glad I'd skipped it.
Thankfully, there was no visible residue of this game at the 20 year reunion. People had had kids, gone a bit gray, lost hair, gained weight, experienced divorces and various tragedy, and the result was we all related to each other as people with a common, but distant, past. I spoke to people I never would have talked to back in high school, and vice versa. There was one guy who kept handing out his business card, but aside from him, everyone else there was very down-to-earth. (In contrast, my high school itself was far less down-to-earth and more Beverly Hills 90210.)
Having said all that, I did not bring my wife, and hardly any of my other friends brought spouses. Why would I? My wife wasn't particularly interested in meeting people from my past who have no part in my present or future. And without her, I was free to chat endlessly with whomever I bumped into without worrying whether or not she was having a good time or was bored, which she surely would have been. My wife is beautiful and charming and may have made for good "arm candy" if I was out to impress, but the fact is I wasn't out to impress. I just wanted to see old faces and reminisce.
So skip the 10 year, and when you go to the 20 year, leave your husband at home. You'll have a far better time.