Letters to the Editor
MJ Hasty
Published Letters: 4 Editor's Choice: 2
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Thanks
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the refreshing corrective to popular misconceptions about Africans and African technology. I'm an anthropologist who has worked in Ghana since 1995. I've flown Antrak and experienced the same impressive standard of service. Americans, and not only airline pilots, could learn a great deal from Ghanaians about courtesy, safety, and professionalism. Because I think Ghanaians understand something Americans have forgotten: kindness to all (especially strangers) is the key to security--and, of course, it's good business. Anyone who is considering a trip to Africa should put Ghana first on the itinerary.
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All vegans are not annoying
[Read the article: My vegan friend insists I justify myself]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree that the vegan portrayed in the letter is self-righteous and annoying, any pestering evangelist is annoying. However, it's quite a jump to assert that vegans in general are borish fanaticists. The vegans you may know about are the loud ones, but so many more vegans are quiet about their dietary preferences and respectful of other people's choices.
My husband and I are vegan and we say so if people ask but otherwise, we don't feel it necessary to discuss. If someone has us over for dinner, they generally ask if their guests have any dietary restrictions and we say we're vegan but not too strict about it (yes, as with all diets, you can be vegan and still break the rules once in a while). We'll eat cheese or egg in a dish, since someone has gone to the trouble of preparing it for us and we feel it would be rude and self-righteous to refuse. If we have people over, I sometimes even prepare fish along with several vegan dishes, since some people don't feel comfortable just eating vegan food. It's a compromise but it puts people at ease. And then, they're often surprised by how tasty the vegan dishes are.
For me, being vegan means kindness and respect for humans and animals alike. If you have an annoying vegan friend, treat the person the same way you would treat any annoying evangelist. If it were me, I would tell the person that pushiness is really annoying, lay off, you'll never convince anyone by verbal force, lead by example...that sort of thing. If it doesn't work, then I just wouldn't want to hang out with that person very much, it would be unpleasant. I think after a while, the person would get the picture.
We have vegan friends just like us; most vegans are gentle, respectful people.
MJ Hasty
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This is not anthropology...
[Read the article: Cupid's science]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...it's speculative, self-interested pseudo-science. I'm an anthropologist myself, active in my discipline, and no one I know takes this kind of thing seriously. Check out any of our major journals: American Anthropologist, Cultural Anthropology, American Ethnologist (the top three) and you'll hardly find mention of this nonsense. There are some kooks at the margins who still believe in the just-so stories of evolutionary psycho-socio-biology; but these are the ones whose ideas get traction in pop culture because they jibe so well with mainstream sexism and scientism. It would be so easy if everything were reducible to brain chemistry; but alas, love is truly serendipitous (and should be) and highly variable across cultures and time periods.
Frankly, I think some of Fischer's ideas are hilarious, particularly if you think about her claims historicially. First, compare her four hormonal "types" to the character typologies based on Galen's "humors" (i.e. sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic). Then, add some good old fashioned phrenology (reading the temperament from the shape of the face and skull) and *poof!* we've progressed all the way to the 19th century!!! PLEASE!!! This stuff was debunked in the early part of the 20th century.
An interesting difference, nineteenth century doctors typically recommended you marry someone of a different "humor" or character type in order to achieve a kind "balance" both relationally and genetically (which says much about historical understandings of compatibility and population science). Now, however, the emphasis is on marrying someone exactly like yourself (Fischer says it herself). On the Eharmony ads and website, many the couples shown look more like siblings than lovers. I wonder what this says about our culture? Increasing narcissism? Inability to tolerate, accommodate difference? Reluctance to grow and change through relationships with others?
Identity is never stagnant and neither are relationships. My husband is so different from me; I am changeable and restless but I have learned a great deal from his patience and equanimity. It is this process of growing in relation to one another (not into the same being, into different beings from different beings) that makes our commitment so strong and our life together so happy. I don't think Fischer understand this.
MJ Hasty