Categories
Month: July 2010
Categories
Letters to the Editor
Oil and Meat
I wonder how many of the dedicated volunteers who were helping save pelicans from the deadly Gulf oil have other birds for dinner or at a local fast-food outlet.
They are not alone. Most people are appalled by the devastation of animal life by the Gulf oil spill yet subsidize the systematic killing of other animals for their dinner table. They know that meat and dairy harm the environment and their family’s health but compartmentalize this knowledge when shopping for food.
And it goes beyond dietary flaws. We tolerate the killing of innocent people when our government and media label them terrorists. We ignore the suffering and starvation of a billion people, except when our government and media tell us to care because an earthquake or tsunami has struck.
Our society would benefit greatly from more original thinkers, and our personal diet is a great place to start.
Morris Furman
Memphis
Bellevue Baptist and Gays
In regards to the Bellevue Baptist Church banning a lesbian softball coach: Being raised Baptist and now openly gay, I had conflicting feelings about the situation. My first thought was that Jana Jacobson had to know Bellevue’s position on homosexuals. I certainly wouldn’t have expected to (or wanted to) play ball for them. Baptists have always been very open about the way they feel about gays, and they are entitled to their opinion.
However, Christians, although well-meaning, are not always on the right side. You don’t have to go too far back in our country’s history to find many so-called Christians hiding under white sheets, persecuting African Americans, or burning perceived witches at the stake.
The struggle for civil rights didn’t happen because people accepted things the way they were. Civil rights happened because a few brave Americans had the strength to stand up and push the envelope in battles large and small, whether it was giving up your life for what you believe in like Martin Luther King or refusing to give up your seat on a bus like Rosa Parks. These folks were heroes, even though society didn’t always see them as such. Even today, there are still some churches where an African American wouldn’t receive the warmest welcome.
In our struggle for equal rights for gays, we need these same kind of heroes. Jana Jacobson, although maybe unwittingly, is a hero. If not yours, she is certainly mine.
Trent Gatewood
Memphis
The Fairness Doctrine
As Independence Day approaches, the political season is heating up. Each side is locked and loaded with focus-grouped talking points and divisive issues designed to stir passions. One topic that ignites both sides, the Fairness Doctrine, is beginning to crackle across media outlets. The doctrine, an FCC rule, requires companies who rent public airwaves to present both sides of controversial issues.
The concept is similar to an idea James Madison proposed in 1828: “Could it be so arranged that every newspaper, when printed on one side, should be handed over to the press of an adversary, to be printed on the other, thus presenting to every reader both sides of every question, truth would always have a fair chance.”
These days, even with the diversity of radio, print, TV, mass e-mails, and blogs, a person might not hear competing points of view. Some find themselves locked in ideological bubbles. And it appears the companies who control the media wish to keep it that way. However, practices that are good for popularity-driven markets are not always good for the health of our republic. America’s democracy is not ratings-based but structured to give unpopular voices an opportunity to be heard.
Maybe it is time We the People declared independence from the media monopolies that want to control the messages we hear. Maybe it is time we restructured the lease agreements attached to our public airwaves. Maybe it is time we took Madison’s advice and gave truth a chance.
Brandon Chase Goldsmith
Memphis
Stupid People?
Have you noticed that there are a lot of stupid people in office? Have you noticed that there are a lot of really stupid people running for office? The Democrats are not immune, but mostly the really stupid people are Republicans. Does that mean that there are a lot of stupid people voting for stupid people?
We’ve got to isolate and destroy the stupidity gene, if we want to save this country.
Dagmar Bergan
Helena, Arkansas
I am fairly obsessed with the destruction being wreaked on the habitat and waters of the Gulf by the BP oil spill. My family and I have been going to the coast for 25 years to fish, kayak, swim, and lie on the beach — from Perdido Key to Apalachicola.
I’m concerned because I love the Gulf Coast and I hate the images of destruction I’m seeing on the news and the Internet. I have friends who live there year-round, and I’ve watched them weather hurricanes, the bursting of the housing bubble, and now this ecological nightmare.
We haven’t canceled our annual Gulf vacation. We’re going the first week of July — rain, shine, tarballs, or whatever. We’ll hit the beach if we can. We’ll bike and hike and kayak the lakes, if the oil has moved in. We’ll spend our money where our hearts are. A week later, we’ll be back in Memphis, but the oil will still be flowing and those living along the Gulf will keep suffering.
And sadly, I think we’re probably just beginning to discover the possible scope of the spill damages. High levels of benzene and hydrogen sulfide have been detected in the air at several testing stations in the Gulf. Both gases pose serious health risks for humans. And BP is pouring thousands of gallons of the oil dispersant Corexit into the Gulf every day — a chemical that is banned in 18 countries because of its lethal effects on plant and animal life.
As these chemicals work themselves into the food chain, the results could be catastrophic for ocean life and the birds (and humans) who feed on sea life. The government will need to closely monitor the levels of toxins in our seafood, a task made more difficult by the intense lobbying against “scare tactics” by the tourism and seafood industries.
Is there any good news? Probably not in the short term. But it helps to remember that the Mississippi River deposits around 285 billion gallons of water into the Gulf of Mexico every day, a figure that easily dwarfs the 1.5 million gallons of oil coming from the Deepwater Horizon spill. It’s small comfort, but nature scoffs at our puny human perspective.
I am reminded of the classic George Carlin routine: “The planet has been through a lot worse than us. … The planet will be here, and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas.”
Bruce VanWyngarden
My cover story about Memphis, Million Dollar Quartet, Sister Myotis’s Bible Camp, and Katori Hall is now online.
Ask the same simple question…