Letters to the Editor
melthough
Published Letters: 1264 Editor's Choice: 102
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The Political Palate
[Read the article: Exploiting women to protect animals?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have a set of cookbooks put together by a lesbian collective during the 1980s with the above title. The subtitle: Feminist Vegetarian Cooking. There have always been associations between red meat and manliness, and these women saw their diet as one way of separating that. But even as a vegetarian and a feminist, I personally never really cared about that connection. I just like the recipes. And I think there is just as much to be said for the Virgin Huntress myth; you think Artemis ate salads? I don't think there is any particular fixed connection between feminism and vegetarianism, and I know lots of fellow feminists who are also farmers. OMG, THEY EAT THEIR HENS AFTER THEY STOP "LAYING"!!!
Please. If you refuse to become selectively obsessed with the old dualistic Aristotelean mythos, you can eat whatever you please. The idea is to be trusted with your own choices, and to make them mindfully. As the above-mentioned moldy old dead rigid white guy once said, the unexamined life is not worth living. Even the King of Dualism knew that, so why can't we seem to get it?
I might not like the tactic of half-nude models in cages, but I seriously doubt that those women did it against their will. In fact, one might argue that that particular image speaks as much to women's rights as to animal rights.
And while I do think it's sick to hear an animals rights person throwing around words like feminazi, that sort of group has always thrown words and images around just as shamefully as any anti-abortion zealot. It is one of the reasons I don't give them money, even though I agree with their basic cause. You don't really HAVE to be an asshole to get attention. You could work hard and do grassroots organizing like Planned Parenthood does. But, waah, that's SO much work!
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Farhad,
[Read the article: Leahy: Clinton should quit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Are you going all Madonna/Prince on us - leaving out your last name? :)
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My Plea
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When, oh when, oh when is the Ignore feature coming? I can't even stomach the comments section anymore.
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Addiction is terrible
[Read the article: I'm 21 and addicted to pot -- but I'm doing just great!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But hey, I'm addicted to caffeine, and it gets me through every single day of parenting, working, volunteering and dealing with my native family. Coffee is cheaper, and legal. But it is an addiction very much like yours, and one people discuss proudly and freely in mixed company without fear of going to prison. The stigma around certain drugs is ridiculous, but you aren't going to change that by wishing it were different.
Fact is, you are going to get through college and the level of intensity is going to stop. I would recommend not going to grad school, because it would only be worse there, until you get some better stress management skills. Get yourself through your finals, THEN stop smoking, and spend the money on yoga classes. Develop an addiction to transcendental meditation or something. Absolutely free and legal, and you never run out. Just a thought.
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"not perfect"
[Read the article: FactCheck.org: Obama statement "a little too slick"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So what exactly is the problem, if the campaign is acknowledging that this is an imperfect solution? "Not perfect" is something I have heard Obama and his campaign repeat ad nauseum. So ... why go after them for what they already admitted is an imperfect solution? Since he said he would be willing to take public financing if his opponent signed a contract agreeing to the same thing, I at least know that he is interested in changing things, but he's not going to sacrifice his chance to do it by playing by totally different rules from his opponents. That is one of the reasons I voted for him - despite serious hesitations I have about his health care plan (also imperfect, but none of the candidates were offering single-payer anyway) and his bizarre statements about social security. Not because I think all of his money was scrounged up from little old grandma's purses, but because I think he will actually work to change the campaign rules when he is in office. How many people think Clinton will? Yeah, that's what I thought.
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What?
[Read the article: Whom will McCain choose?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Where is Joe Lieberman? Not even in the top 3???
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Another enemy of learning: the field guide
[Read the article: E. O. Wilson gives soccer moms a bum rap]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I mean, come ON. Learning the names of stuff? Completely ridiculous! Enough of this taxonomy and labeling: We should all just transmit information to one another through our antennae.
In all seriousness, labeled trees are not the problem, unless they are the only trees you ever see. You can make that point without being an offensive ass. Unless you are E.O. Wilson.
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I'm not sure you are just an introvert
[Read the article: I'm a college student with no natural social skills]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Introverts can usually model other people's mental states extremely well - in fact, they have trouble NOT doing it - which is why they find parties so overstimulating and exhausting. They feel compelled to have deep, meaningful interactions with every single person they meet. It may be that you are an extreme introvert who is missing basic social skills because of years of pathological shyness (a different thing from introversion), or it may be that you have Asperger's or something like it (and no, I don't think they are on the same continuum). Why not get a psychological evaluation or at least read around a bit and find out if anything you learn accurately describes you? If you do find something is "wrong" with you, I'm sure you will find all kinds of support that will help you build compensatory skills, just like we all have to do to make up for skills for which we do not have a natural knack. As an extreme introvert myself, though, I can attest that I have never mistaken a potential date's intentions as a desire to learn German. Why not start with the Myers-Briggs test at your college counseling center and go from there?
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@justsayin
[Read the article: What causes crybabies?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Genetic and heritable are not the same thing.
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Department of climate security
[Read the article: Al Gore, Cabinet minister for climate issues?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sounds good to me. I don't care if Al Gore himself is in charge of it or not.