Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 292 Editor's Choice: 33
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Predictable films
[Read the article: The moviegoers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just a side note to the article's comments regarding "the formulaic quality of Hollywood movies". This pattern was discerned and dissected even earlier by the great filmmaker Luis Bunuel. He developed a table which, given the starting premise of any Hollywood picture, would predict the plot twists and final resolution. A friend of his became so enamoured of the system that he constructed a portable version of the table and confounded his friends by predicting new films' plots.
Sorry if this makes me sound like a snob, but increasingly if I want a substantive film, I have to import it. Some are from "first world" countries who clearly have more respect for storytelling than Americans do. And some are from developing nations, who are hungry to tell meaningful stories instead of producing the nth variation on the action thriller. Even the few American movies that are worth watching are more often than not directed by someone we poached from Europe, Asia, or Canada.
Looks like our monolithic insularity is bad for us in more ways than just politically.
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Using parsley when tabasco is needed
[Read the article: Let's have a revolution! Does July 14 work for you?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I applaud the general notion of union and solidarity, as well as the devotion to keeping libraries open and free. But why link this to Bastille Day? That was a day of action, of demonstrably, physically, aggresively showing the ruling powers that the populace would stand for their acts no longer.
Had the French peasantry merely shown up outside the Bastille and taken tea while muttering disapprobations, we wouldn't be marking this as a day of note. Yet you are advocating "inactive action" over the deeds of the Bastille stormers.
Perhaps because I was never part of the protest movement back when it actually worked, I never absorbed the notion that it was the only effective action in a democracy. Certainly I don't see passive protest as having any effect these days, when even the active protests can't penetrate the shell around our government.
I'm sure the people who attend this will meet some lovely kindred spirits and do some valuable networking. But when your children ask you what you did to oppose the corrupt power elite, don't expect them to be too impressed when you answer "we ate bananas and talked".
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It has to crash
[Read the article: Climate of hope]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Add me to the line of doom prophets if you like, even though I'm a strong proponent of conservation and responisble consumption, but there will be a crash. Nay, there must be a crash, a violent end to the way we live, and it will not be ameliorated by our individual actions. The reason is simple - the current population is unsustainable without cheap petro-energy.
There is not enough arable land for 6 billion people. Even more so, not enough such land adjoining fresh water, water which is no longer being filtered and transported great distances thanks to petro-energy. And then were is the additional land providing lumber for these people's houses? Or fields for their beasts of burden?
Other posters touched on this as well. We will not have a sustainable world, absent petro-energy, at our current population level. So when the power cuts out at last, there will be a crash as everyone reverts to type and decides "damn all and save me".
There's a reason history is cyclical, and that certain patterns are inexorable. And the reason is that the aggregate animal called "humanity" has a nature above and apart from the people who constitute it, and it will move of its own accord when so pressed.
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Another recommendation
[Read the article: The new true West]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm only now coming to the Western genre in my readings, but it's clear there are numerable excellent works in the canon. One that the author missed in this article is a book I'm currently reading, "Warlock" by Oakley Hall. It's a complex and well-told work so far, with nuanced characters and a constantly shifting perspective that lends a Rashomon-like air to the turbulent events of the story.
I highly recommend it to anyone who has avoided Westerns so far, as it's not just a genre piece, but an involving tale of social, political, and romantic human nature.
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Off topic (like all the other men here)
[Read the article: Women demand peace in the Middle East]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I see Broadsheet's comments area still remains a sewer of hateful men looking for any article that they can twist around in order to repeat their favorite misogynist theories. I don't know which is more tragic, that so many male Salon readers are such hopeless emotional cripples, or that they think anyone is listening with anything other than disdain.
Sorry, fellows. Maybe you've got a captive audience at home or work that pretends to care about your mean little opinions, but the rest of the world doesn't give a flying F. Join the dialog in a meaningful way or go back to ranting at your relatives, because it's way past old here.
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OCD?
[Read the article: How can I get over embarrassing memories?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a sufferer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, I am frequently troubled by intrusive thoughts, often past mistakes and incidents of personal shame. These can range from the profound to the trivial, but all seem overwhelming when they come. The observations of others here about putting yourself in perspective and reining in the ego are excellent advice. However, if your root problem is, like mine, biochemical in origin, I would advise looking into treatment as well.