Letters to the Editor
appusami
Published Letters: 3 Editor's Choice: 2
-
Relax people
[Read the article: E. O. Wilson gives soccer moms a bum rap]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Andrew, I enjoy your work, but sometimes you folks at Salon come across like you have been locked in a cell with only TVs, internet as your contacts with the outside world. E. O. Wilson said what he said since "Soccer mom" is an established demographic, it is applicable to Soccer dads, Baseball Uncles and whatever combo you find. His point is that we should not teach our kids to know the names of everything, but to develop an interest in everything.
For example, during the '80s, when apartheid was still going on in S. Africa, I was talking to a friend about the ANC. I told him for the ANC to succeed they will have to renounce violence and be seen as peaceful and stable-minded people (like Desmond Tutu and Mandela) and not common thugs. He got bent out of shape with his liberal talking points. Being a liberal myself I told him to chill and said I was referring to their practice of intimidation, such as where they catch someone suspected of snitching, beat him up, then put a car tire around his neck, fill it with gasoline and set it on fire. To which my friend said, "Oh, I know, it is called necklacing and it is no big deal."
he knew the name for it, the label, but he had no comprehension of what it really meant. That is probably the sort of thing E. O. Wilson was referring to. Knowing the name of a plant or animal is useless, knowing its place, its context, its relevance is what matters. Like looking at the name and photograph of someone who died in Iraq, vs actually knowing that person. Big difference.
So your getting so caught up with words does not help anyone. Relax. The same goes for Joan Walsh and many of the folks here. Cheers.
-
You guys have too much time
[Read the article: No, Hillary Clinton shouldn't be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You guys have too much time fantasizing about who should be winning if this rule was different and that state was different.
If your aunt had balls she would be your uncle.
If Dems had winner-take-all primaries, Barack would have campaigned with that calculation. Hillary would have still been overconfident and lost her lead. We would have regressed to the mean.
What is the mean verdict? Barack is a motivated, thoughtful and organized candidate. Hillary is an overrated, out-of-touch, establishment candidate surrounded by sycophants and enablers. No matter what the methodology the results would have been the same.
Now if Hillary had discarded Bill and his operatives and built her own team, her own vision, and actually listened to what the country wants she might have stood a chance. Instead she frittered away her enthusiasm by being arrogant, insular and just plain annoying.
Don't you guys have more serious issues to cover? The War in Iraq? The Banking and Credit Crisis? The Recession? Or are those issues too heavy for your gossipy fantasist make-it-up minds?
It is disappointing folks, that at such a dangerous time you guys are havig these foolish academic discussions. You guys are so into your Second Life universe of being Liberal avatars with your particular causes. Come to the real world.
-
Bill O'Reilly freakout - Dance remix
[Read the article: Critics' Picks]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hi,
In your article about O'Reilly's out burst you had a link to the musical mix of his rant - it has been updated with a MUCH MUCH BETTER video in the following version. Kindly update the article so your readers are not bored with the older version and get to enjoy this true masterpiece.
BTW I had nothing to do with the video, just an ardent fan. :-)
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2YDq6FkVE&feature=related