Letters to the Editor
amspeck
Published Letters: 357 Editor's Choice: 50
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On Schools
[Read the article: America closes the book on intelligence]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Schools provide an opportunity to learn in a systematic way. They cannot impart culture, knowledge, or critical thought to any particular individual. Our nation was shaped in no small part by self-educated persons -- Benjamin Franklin devouring borrowed books as a printer's apprentice, Abraham Lincoln reading by candlelight after the chores were done, Albert Einstein. If you want knowledge, you go out and get it.
Schools are also part of the problem. For generations, American students have been taught to be quiet and listen to the teacher, the author, the professor, the chairman, the president, the pastor. This "shut up and listen" training is part and parcel of the problem Jacoby is complaining about. But so is the "you're so uneducated I can't hold a conversation with you." If you want to engage people in discussion of great ideas, you have to start with conversing about small things. Why are Franklin's "Fireside Chats" more important that Perez Hilton's blog?
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Not so bad as all that...
[Read the article: A supersize controversy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As much as I'm frustrated by the existence of yet another mechanism to keep the "common man" from having quite as much political power as someone with the power, money, and time to be "in the know", I do think the superdelegate system isn't all bad. After all, consider that our current president was fairly good at running, but has been really rotten at diplomacy. Doesn't the having to win the votes of a pool of people who must be talked and negotiated with rather than spoken at, bullied (by pollsters), and essentially ignored as individuals, establish a kind of test for the presidency that is closer to the president's actual work?
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The personal connection
[Read the article: Mohammad Yunus visits Jackson Heights]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a lender on a microfinance site, and I've been focusing on folks who need a small hand to take advantage of an opportunity to expand their business. While I like being able to spend a few minutes, rather than hours, to assess a loan, I can see the benefit of Yunus's way. Two of my borrowers have simply disappeared off the system. I would like to know how they are doing, how things are going, rather than sending them to the collection agency, but electronic connections are shallower than face to face ones.
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Me too!
[Read the article: Oscar shorts: Animation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have also often wondered how I can see the nominated shorts in the animation category.
Also, are there still any animation festivals that tour the country?
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male researchers
[Read the article: The great G-spot debate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The only reason this is being researched at all is that the folks suggesting the research are not actually in possesion of a female body. This makes it another case of trying to use the scientific method to figure out what makes that strange animal, woman, tick without actually talking to her as if she was an equal.
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More on CFLs
[Read the article: Ask Pablo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find that CFLs emit light that is more linear than incandescents. So one of the lights I have not replaced is a down light over the sink in my half bath. Actually, I have tried it, and the results are ghoulish.
In addition, the "60 watt equivalent" bulbs can be either 13 watt or 14 watt. My folks changed out all their lights when they got a deal at the local warehouse store, but I noticed they were both depressed and sluggish after. So while they were on vacation, I upgraded all their bulbs to their slightly stronger counterparts (and put some 75-watt equivalents in a couple of ceiling fixtures) and it seemed to help.
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Real world
[Read the article: Osama bin Laden's "Second Life"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I know it is gauche to bring up Tom Friedmann's name in a liberal forum these days, but the model he argues for in "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" makes a lot of sense when considering terrorism and the US government.
If we consider people like Osama Bin Laden (and for that matter, the Dalai Lama) as super-empowered individuals... individual who have access to more people and resources than many nations... and we consider the US as a geographically bound nation then we start to see where the anxiety comes from.
The ability of people to act as if they do not belong to any particular nation, creates an environment where citizenship is a matter of desire rather than control. That's an arena the current administration hasn't learned how to live in, so every means of connecting to others has to have a national border drawn across it. And that includes phones, email, and virtual communities.
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Hmm...
[Read the article: Zell: Clinton, Obama partially to blame for economic woes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I understand the power of marketing to influence political opinion; and I understand the tendency to see the political season as one big marketing-fest; but I really don't think I can blame Obama or Clinton for being unemployed and for three companies that really want to hire me being unable to because the sales aren't there.
Perhaps the discomfort Mr. Zell is feeling isn't being persuaded to consider something that isn't true, perhaps it is from being prompted to reconsider false beliefs.
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My perspective
[Read the article: Should Hillary Clinton drop out?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm really proud of Hil and would love to see her go all the way. But she has a fundamental problem: she cannot think and feel at the same time. And because she believes the presidency is a position about thinking, she is always in thinking mode. Obama can think and feel at the same time. So that's one reason he's leading.
Another reason is that Obama better represents the hope and experience of urban Democrats. Hil comes from a rural and southern background. She knows about being defiantly Democratic in a place that values other things. Obama comes from a place where you have to remember the humanity of people you disagree with. That's more appealing.
Finally, she tries to make a case out of her experience, but his experience was working in Chicago neighborhoods at a time when they were being shattered by gun violence. That's real experience, and it's relevant. Sitting down with gang leaders and brokering agreements is more relevant to talking with Korea, Syria, and Iran than fighting for early childhood education and health care is.
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If the standards were equal...
[Read the article: Some hateful, radical ministers -- white evangelicals -- are acceptable]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If the standards applied equally, Pat Robertson would be in prison for inciting terrorism.