Letters to the Editor
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The Plight of Those Worse Off Doesn't Render All Other Problems Insignificant
There are a number of posts in the letters section to the effect that because these gender role, gender identity problems only affect those that have life's basic necessities taken care of then they are not worth discussing and no sympathy should be given to anyone who suffers from the consequences of them. Why not? Why is that because someone somewhere has a worse problem that all problems that are not as severe are not worth discussing? I don't think that makes sense. The readers of Salon are largely middle class. Things like gender roles are very real problems for many of them. They are entitled to have articles about them and to discuss the points in the article. What is the point of someone coming on saying in essence 'this whole discussion has no merit or meaning because many others half way around the world have larger problems to worry about'? There are posts like this all the time on Salon and I just don't understand them. If people find a topic interesting and want to discuss it that is good enough. They don't have to defend their interest in the topic in light of the problems of all the other people in the world. It is just a ridiculous standard and if everything were held to it this site would have nothing but stories of misery from around the world. If someone has achieved some material comfort and other problems arise that would have been secondary previously, they have the right to read and talk about those problems.