Letters to the Editor
Lobelia
Published Letters: 187 Editor's Choice: 6
-
kudos and complaints
[Read the article: Salon's new letters registration policy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kudos on getting the children to play nicely. Sort of like, "Raise your hand." Maybe we can show 'em all a thing or two about civility.
A kvetch about the font. I once interviewed a library scholar in residence whom some called "the father of modern American type". The poor man nearly had a stroke when we discussed sans-serif fonts. He was in anguish. "They are meant for highway signage, not reading!" he said. "Helvetica, for example, was designed for use by plumbers!" (Meaning, I believe, to label assembly directions.)
The serifs are the tiny curls on a letter. Their function is to subtly lead the eye to the next letter and/or word. They make reading smoother, more effortless for eye and brain. In anything longer than a line or two, they do that.
I don't care about anonymity, since usernames make anonymity an option anyway. There's no reason someone couldn't have more than one email account and username, if they want to go to that much trouble. But I think the suggestion of a Premium subscribers filter means that you'd be blocking yourself from reading the thinking of people who cannot afford to subscribe, which might limit the benefits of Letters.
-
The Young Women
[Read the article: Bloggers, Don Imus and free speech]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I see Imus as kind of frail and transparent. I don't know why I feel compassion for him, but I think The Hat, The Hair, The Upturned Collar have something to do with it. I don't listen much to what he says...his cadence is familiar, like that of many of the frat boys I grew up around. I didn't like them, but they reminded me of my brother, so I learned to just stand there. There was no real power, just a bullying dominance. I think Imus radiates some kind of defensive (if you're offensive first, then nobody sees You) masculinity. And he's not too bright...he allows his sidekicks to prod him into blurting, they massage his id into spasms. I haven't watched him often enough to be sure, but unlike someone like Chris Matthews, whose eyes practically glow red now and then, I never detect any heat or malice in Imus. The sidekicks are swampy with it though. Imus himself looks lonely to me, and I think his kids' camp reflects something other than narcissism.
Usually such blatant machismo (verbal) reflects fear and inadequacy, right? I am old enough that sexist slurs don't wound me any more, but they used to. Perhaps that's why everyone's in a swivet...we love the beauty and youth of the basketball players, and perhaps some kind of belated guilt at seeing them slimed is what prompts the calls to decapitate.
That said, I think the young women should be invited by MSNBC to brainstorm on an appropriate penalty for his breach. That would be creative and creativity is what we need, for dealing with a self-loathing culture run amok.
I hate it that they were hurt. But I think their dignity stands in such contrast to his, that we underestimate them if we think they must be avenged by suddenly-sensitive media. Hand him over...let THEM brainstorm a creative penance.
All that said, I was surfing along my basic cable channels last night and noticed, for the umpteenth time, that show after show after show after show were plotted around the violent rape, stalking, murder, and/or mutilation of young women.
I understand that "nappy-headed" is a painful insult to black people. But I truly believe the deeper problem is a generalized objectification of the bodies of women.
In my eyes, it is hurtful to call prostitutes "whores." "Whore" was invented to add a hateful dehumanizing twist to the more neutral term "prostitute."
"Ho" just made "whore" sound funny, and another dehumanization and depersonalization of women slipped under the radar to lodge in the ribs of our children. Only way to protect yourself from such pain, sometimes, is to numb yourself by overusing some substance until your body doesn't even feel the effects any more.
Words are another substance that we use just as lethally.
So...how about the media's obsession with violence? And the number of sprawled corpses of both sexes that titillate the viewer?
How about digger deeper than the Imus moment? It's a teachable moment, isn't it? How about going deeper than punishing one fairly dim DJ? How about doing some serious study of how much trouble the whole culture is in?
-
Counting Our Dead
[Read the article: I'm almost 21. Should I buy some guns?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dead students.
They're your age, LW...they could have been your friends.
The culture is consuming itself.
Don't let it eat you, too.
-
Lost the Logic Way Back Then
[Read the article: I'm almost 21. Should I buy some guns?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I was quite young and first watched mushroom clouds, I was amazed. I remember a serious intellectual process in my 5 y/o brain.
People are good. This big bomb is a bad thing. People worked very hard to invent it. People who are good decided that it was the way to get peace. I am confused because bombing those cities and hurting all those people doesn't look like peace. But the grownups say the men on the boat signing the papers are peace. Okay, I get it. But I don't.
I think the same way about guns. We invented them. We added them to human history. We are good. So if we are good and we invent violent things for good reasons it must be okay that guns exist. Shooting guns must be so we don't have to hit people.
Bang. Bang is fun. I like fireworks. Liking to shoot a gun is fun, like fireworks. So it must be okay to like guns.
So now we have nuclear proliferation and black market nukes and handgun proliferation and ...
I still don't get it. But sometimes naive thought can help peel things back to what they are.
-
The Missing Bits
[Read the article: Say it loud: I'm elite and proud!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I would like a personally mature leader with a profound imagination and deeply compassionate heart.
Plain old IQ doesn't do it. Nor does B.A., M.A. or J.D.
Positive leadership emobodies something very big and creative. It's not just book learning (not that I'm agin that).