Letters to the Editor
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the hubris of belief in anything
> I'd expect more from Salon and from America in the 21st
> century, but perhaps that's a little too naive.
I can't believe anyone still believe in fairy tales either, but people do.
All this arguing over a piece of skin.
Whether you're a Christian, Jew, or whatever, the cold, empty, godless universe simply doesn't care.
So get over yourselves.
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Would you allow a cosmetic nosejob on a newborn?
Cuz that's the equivalent when circumcising totally healthy newborns. The only reason to medically circumcise is of course if there's something wrong (that is, other than it just being there!) with the foreskin.
Otherwise, it's just like giving a newborn an unnecessary nose job or a facelift. This type of surgery would certainly qualify as abuse and would not be allowed.
Circumcision in the 21st centry is so un-freakin-believable to me. To think that people still believe that a healthy uncircumcised NEWBORN has something wrong with it to require immediate surgery is ridiculous. Mother nature DOES know what she is doing, ya know.
Here's a compromise: A big stereotype is girls getting their noses done for their sweet sixteen present. How about a circumcision for boys for THEIR sixteenth birthday? At least then they can decide for themselves.
Rich
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is anyone else annoyed...
that the wife gave in so easily? if this was something that got me hysterically wailing and riled up (which apparently it did for regina), you can bet your ass that i wouldn't just roll over for my husband's clearly fucking insane parents who obviously don't like me much to begin with because i married their jew/not jew son. if i was giving birth to my first child, you can be certain that this would be when i would take a stand and start my life with my (ball-less) husband and my new baby -- anyone's parents can come along if they like, and if they don't they can lump it.
when these nutbags said, "oh he won't be our grandchild," i would have said a big "too fucking bad, then, pops."
i haven't had a kid, nor do i know if i will have one, but unless shrew-face grandma or ball-less grandpa wants to squeeze it out his or herself, they really get no say as to how i raise, treat medically, or even what i name the kid for christ's sake.
people are insane!!!!
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How on earth did anyone think of cutting off a foreskin in the first place???
I can't understand how "traditions" like this get started in the first place(I admit, I'm shamefully unschooled in religious dogma of any persuasion). Who was the first guy who said, "Say! Let's just take a sharp stone and saw off my foreskin! What a great idea!"?? Why is a foreskin such a symbol of anything, anyway?
Plus, can't the mohel/barbarian just nick the foreskin and call it a day? Just do it symbolically, since it's just a symbolic act anyway?
I just don't get it.
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Humanity First
Before circumcision, consider how you would counsel that same child, when he is a father. Would you require that the parents mutilate the child in any way to please you, the grandparent? Cutting off a baby's foreskin for religious reasons is wrong.
A child's humanity should trump any kind of religious affiliation. Why cause more pain and suffering? A person's religious beliefs should be left to the person to decide as they grow and mature. Circumcision for religious reasons attempts to commit the child to a belief that the child is incapable of considering. It is a brand, a desperate attempt to own what is not the adults thing to own, the child's soul.
I'm glad that growing up Christian, my baptism didn't scar me physically for life. I choose atheism, a belief that is not contradicted by a Christian physical mutilation. I expect my son to make his decisions free of indoctrination, either mental or physical.
Finally for Neal Pollack, what his family thought of him was more important than the pain inflicted on his son, the profound feelings of his wife and the act of branding his boy for a lifetime. I appreciate Neal's candor, but I believe that he secretly got what he wanted. He writes that he enjoys people treating him with unearned respect and affection, which he got from the circumcision. I wish that he had been brave enough to let the anguish end with him.
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Okay
I've read through all twenty-six pages of letters about this article, and I just have to say this:
I'm really sick of looking at Cary Tennis's face.
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"do we really need to sit here and listen to people say"
Circumcision as a Jewish ritual, do we really need to sit here and listen to people say "no wonder everyone hates Jews so much--look at how you butcher your kids"? I'd expect more from Salon and from America in the 21st century, but perhaps that's a little too naive.
Since I'm the one you are criticising, I feel I asked an uncomfortbale, but valid question (which you paraphrased to misrepresent my words). Can a group's beliefs and practises isolate it from others? Few in the media or academia seem willing to ask that question.
In the 21st century should we just turn a blind eye to superstition? Should we abandon reason so long as it is excused as being 'tolerant' or 'respectful' towards other traditions? Are concerns over human rights (which form my basis to opposition to circumcision) to be set aside to appease religious dogma?
I guess you're not to big on free speech either because 'you shouldn't have to listen' comments like mine. Does challenging Jewish self-righteousness and supersition make me a bad person? I'm concerned with the well-being of children, not validating your religious identity.
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My parents also did this
When my first son was born, my (Jewish) parents said that they wouldn't recognize him as their grandchild if I didn't have him circumsized. I said "ok, then". It was a painful conversation, but of course it didn't actually matter one little bit in the end, and I proceeded to have three more sons, and nothing more was ever said.
I don't know if my non-Jewish husband, who is uncut, would have argued with me if I had wanted it done. I was quite clear from the beginning that six thousand years of idiocy didn't matter a bit to me when compared to what I wanted for my son(s).
The ending made me sad, because it was not in any way a reasoned decision, but sheer bullying.