"isn't it wonderful these kind of people, with their violent and exploitative economy, built on the backs of people they hold as slaves, are finally getting a taste of their own medicine? Let's all take a moment to stand up and cheer!"

you are referring to white southern slave-holders, a minority even in their own south. unfortunately the misery of the aftermath of the american civil war extended to all southerners, even those who remained pro-union. what is so wonderful about that?

before the war cotton had become the united states' leading export and NEW YORK dominated every aspect of that trade, from plantation to market. the lehman brothers began as cotton brokers. john jacob astor's ships hauled southern cotton. forty percent of all the profits of king cotton went to new york businesses. what taste of the medicine did these northern profiteers from slavery get?

and how about those new englanders with their slave ships?

white southerners in the u.s. had an economy much like that of the british west indies (also planted about the same time)-- except wken the uk freed its slaves it recompensed the slaveowners, who then invested in british railroads. when russia freed its serfs in 1861 it did so with a plan for compensation to the former masters. the united states, on the other hand, invested in a civil war which killed over 600,000 men and devestated an entire region of this country for a century.

and you find that a cause for gloating?

i don't buy what you're peddling.

a child cried "no,no!" and polanski raped her.

this is the big, ugly dead fly in the soup. you look at the bowl of broth, you want the soup, so you dip your spoon in and deftly toss the fly out. "dig in," you call. "the soup is delicious."

i can't rationalize that. once i see the fly my appetite for the soup is off. i feel repugnance.

polanski raped a child and ran away from justice. why doesn't that turn your stomach?

why bring up wagner? what we think or say or write is generally not a crime. i have dreamed things myself that if acted upon would put me beyond the bounds of humanity. *if acted upon*...

roman polanski raped a 13 year old girl. that was real. that is the fly in the soup.

funny, the ancient athenians invented democracy AND had slaves.

try reading history. a page of history is worth a thousand pages of philosophy.

where?

half the story is missing here. it should be crime AND punishment. did your girlfriend/wife report the rape to the police? did they arrest the rapist? was there a trial? a conviction?

if there was a trial and conviction,then you have to accept the issue as resolved for you. no conviction-- or, worse yet, no arrest even-- you can't put it behind you, but you've got to cover up your outrage sa as to not disturb your wife.

but i am wondering if your wife had ever reported this violent crime to the police. had she told her friends? do you secretly question whether there was a rape? something has been eating at you for twenty years.

we take lightning as a message from the Almighty to quit playing and come back into the clubhouse.

this story of a ghetto teen is, i assume, about the plight of the unlovely and the unloved-- and is therefore universal. shame on kaplan for trying to draft on this situation because she has "bad hair" (!!!) i am sorry to see the day when what grows on one's head becomes a civil rights issue.

i am no longer convinced that whole categories of people are marginalized in our society-- at least along lines of race or religion. i am not sure any longer of what the definition of poverty is in the united states. but, at present, to be fat is heartbreak--and to be unloved (for anyone) is tragedy.

i look forward to seeing this movie.

yes, i've heard of martin luther king. he was assassinated 41 years ago. that is sort of my point.

is this a uniquely black story? is precious herself more like a middle class young man setting off for an ivy league university who is black or is she(for example) more like an impoverished young overweight girl from an appalachian holler who is abused by both her parents and who is white? or native asmerican on some reservation? or latina in the barrio?

do you need to know someone's color to measure your pity?

why?

ms. kaplan saw the movie with its depiction of incest, abuse, teenage pregnancy and illiteracy, and seemed to relate to it on the level of "good hair."

what is your superior understanding?

well, i'm a christian. i certainly consider the teachings of christ to be superior to the supreme law of the land. martin luther king jr. considered the morality/rationale behind his fight for civil rights to be superior to the way the constution was being interpreted during his lifetime. that's what civil disobedience is all about.

is it christianity we have to fear? or crazy violent extremism?

john brown was a murdering terrorist, taking his campaign of violence from kansas to [west] virginia, financed by a conspiracy of wealthy new england abolitionists. many of your readers consider him a hero. evidently for them crazy violent extremism in pursuance of political objectives is not wrong.

religion has nothing to do with it. a willingness to murder to get your point across does. jesus christ told us to put away the sword.