Letters to the Editor
firefly82
Published Letters: 286 Editor's Choice: 30
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@leftychris
[Read the article: Warren Jeffs found guilty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"And this is a bad thing? Sounds to me like these boys were the lucky ones, given a chance at a life outside a suffocating and mentally-stilted authoritarian cult."
I would agree that they are the fortunate ones. But they're still teenaged boys completely cut off from their families, with barely any education. Many end up in flop houses with dozens of boys living together, the older ones doing their best to support the younger ones and keep bills paid and everyone fed. But having never learned any kind of responsible autonomy or how to respect their own limits, it's common for them to end up in trouble with alcohol, meth, gambling, etc.
But especially in nearby St. George, the problem has become so immense that support groups and halfway houses with counselors and adult guidance available are starting to spring up--with increasing recognition of what's happening, the prospects for them are looking increasingly hopeful.
As for not caring about the welfare of boys here at a women's issues forum...you wink, and I do appreciate the humorous spirit in which you ask, but it is a serious question.
I'd say that the wellbeing of either sex is always intimately tied to that of the other. With this situation as a perfect example, it's the abuse and commodification of girls that has led directly to discarding and devaluation of these boys. I frequently find Broadsheet's posts shallow and knee-jerk, but I don't accept the proposition that publicizing concern for women's welfare is a repudiation of concern for men's. So I do wish that there was more discussion of the ways that society is hurtful to men as well as women, because it's not fair to anyone for one sex to be continually cast or scapegoated as either the oppressors or victims of the other.
But I think I'm preaching to the choir with you.
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Wow, talk about assumptions...
[Read the article: Men on eHarmony seem obsessed with women who are "clean"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Brightstar writes "I had sent a note to one to call me so we can hear each other's voice instead of this endless emailing back and forth. She comes back with, isn't email good enough? How about I give you my personal email address, will that make you happy? Too bad she is this creepy, I really liked her otherwise. But now I have to question if she is a douchebag in all things in life."
Or possibly she's just not a phone person.
I just really dislike talking on the phone. What's creepy to me is that she wouldn't want to just go ahead and meet. But it's really hard for some people to have a comfortable, informative conversation over the phone. It's not a moral failing or implication of jerkiness in other aspects of life. It's just a difficult and unnatural way to have a conversation for a lot of people.
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Great post
[Read the article: Hiding birth control from boyfriends]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What's truly frightening to me is that somehow these girls have received no enduring message, or it's been utterly undermined by someone or something in their lives, that NO ONE has a right to control their bodies or futures.
brickbat, what doesn't make sense?
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Thanks both
[Read the article: Warren Jeffs found guilty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks, leftychris--I am trying to have a good day and it means a lot to me that sitting here at my mindless day job I could write something that meant something to someone, or that might affect the way that other people think.
Thanks also davidsugarman for the compliment--I always do my best not to be dismissive of anyone who's attempting to have a fair argument...and you raise a lot of issues that are not easily resolved concerning this case.
But leftychris is not a dummy, nor is he alone, in his frustration with trying to follow your arguments; your English is in fact far from plain. People say I'm pretty smart, but I'm starting to have trouble following what you're trying to say.
I'm not going to make myself the English fascist of this forum, but I will gently suggest to all that standard punctuation and syntax tend to clarify expression and facilitate mutual understanding.
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Re: abuse course
[Read the article: Hiding birth control from boyfriends]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Re: Anonymous "But the one thing I wonder is whether the course would be sabotaged by the fact that people who grow up to be abusers have taken it too, and therefore would know of all the tools their victims have access to. I remember when I was in middle school, we had a class to teach us techniques for dealing with peer pressure. But then if you ever used any of these techniques, people would call you on it and torment you, thus rendering the whole thing ineffective."
My first thought for combatting this, I'll admit, was some kind of seminar in schools, before I thought exactly what Anonymous just did. Out of the half-dozen mandated health, sex, relationship, and "life ed" classes I remember enduring through middle and high school, I can't recall any of them making a single one of my sociopathic classmates any less so.