Love-Hate Mail
Sour grapes
You guys used a lot of ink to interview someone who in many respects is a gifted writer ("John Irving: The Scene Interview," Nov. 3). It turned out to be a shame, and more of the same when the subject of Sarah Palin and George Bush came up.
John Irving showed himself to be in the camp of Madonna and Sean Penn: widely talented when it comes to their chosen art form, but incredibly wrong when it comes to the present issues and figures of the day.
Madonna and John Irving are almost insane in their disdain for Sarah Palin. Perhaps it comes from the fact that Palin has the ability to connect with regular folks who certainly aren't as intellectual as John Irving and Madonna think they are. Here's the thing: Regular folks are intellectual enough to understand the difference between right and wrong. Bush hatred is taking us down the road to serfdom. Palin upsets the hard and soft left because she has the courage to be proud of America when other weasels worry more about which countries don't like us.
But my biggest problem with John Irving is when he has the temerity to say, "We are anti-intellectual, we don't value the arts, and we don't sufficiently support education. President Bush made sounding stupid actually comforting to many Americans." A false statement like this is proof positive that Irving talks politics out of his ass. Bush may not be the orator that Obama is, but Americans who aren't leftists understand Bush sounds like more of an American than Obama ever was or hopes to be.
As for not sufficiently supporting education, I don't know what John Irving is smoking. We spend so much money on public education and public art that demeans America it's not funny. It's not right. Some things are simply not art. Hard-earned tax dollars shouldn't pay for art that has no chance of selling or being seen in a free market. Irving doesn't seem to understand that both Democrats and Republicans pour endless streams of money into education. It's always the same thing. Money and race mean nothing. If a student of any color or race works hard and actually gives a damn, they will be fine.
We live in America.
Tony Zizza
Hermitage
Justice for all
I was immediately moved to write in after reading "Rich Man's Justice" (Oct. 9), but I hesitated until after reading the responses sent in and printed thus far in Love/Hate Mail. I have a very different opinion, as well as a totally different response to your report.
First, I'd like to thank you for printing the article, from the standpoint of continuing to speak out about child sexual abuse—though I do take issue with some of the content.
My main concern is for the victims of these acts. Primarily, I know it is imperative to have all children that have been abused clearly understand that they were in no way responsible or at fault for what happened to them, so they do not go through their lives and grow up to believe that they are bad people. These are simplified terms, but the underlying truth and facts show that almost all abusers were abused. Helping children know that they were victims is the way to put an end to this cycle of abuse, but I am mostly concerned that every abused child gets enough care and love to hopefully replace what was taken from them.
As to some of the content, I disagree completely with you listing the family name of the children plaintiffs involved. That was truly insensitive, tasteless and unconscionable.
I also disagree with your premise for the article, which precludes that the eventual outcome boiled down to cash. Cases of child sexual abuse are almost always insidious and divisive, and most parents react the same, regardless if they have even a dime in their pockets. So I question your emphasis on the "rich man" and his family, because just expressing the case as it stood held merit enough for reporting it.
I commend you for having the guts to report on this unpopular subject, but I am additionally criticizing you for missing the point. It's not about money—all classes of society suffer abuse. The point is to care if there is injustice suffered silently by children that have been abused. So keep bringing it up, but in the future, remember to let your heart and soul guide and edit you.
E.M. Burns
Nashville
Correction
Last week's feature "John Irving: The Scene Interview" did not include a byline for the author, Michael Ray Taylor. The Scene regrets the error.
Comments (3)
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Dear Editors: Writing to say how much I appreciated your interview with John Irving -- and to add my two cents to the comments left by a previous reader, Tony Zizza. I'm not certain how old Mr. Zizza is, but having lived through the 80s and the 90s as a young man in my 20s and 30s, and worked a number of blue collar jobs with "average joes" (construction, delivery, sales, etc) as well as serve in the Army, I've had the opportunity to interact with people whom Mr. Zizza claims to represent. Furthermore, I've had the opportunity to raise a child and make use of the American public school system and to temporarily live outside of the country (twice now: once in the Army, in Europre, and, for the last year, in Australia). Having gone to school (in Texas of all places!) when it was permissable to teach evolution in all of it's glory (not just macro, but "micro") and when textbooks on something like World literature weren't 30 years out of date (as was a textbook at my daughter's school, which was one of the better public schools in the Kansas City area), I can vouch for Mr. Irving's remarks: we ARE a country that had devalued education. Worse, in the years my daughter was attending public schools in Missouri, I found that _most_ parents either didn't have the time or the inclination to inquire about what exactly was being taught (or said) to the students (being a work from home dad, I had the opportunity to get to know many of my daughters classmates and friends). If they aren't overworked -- and too tired to want to worry about their kid's educations -- most parents have been trained to ask how the kids did on their tests, or make sure they are getting passing grades (neither of which reflects on what the children are actually learning). As for money being public education and art, I'm not sure what "America" Mr. Zizza lives in, but here in the real world, I've found that too little money is spent on education and TOO MUCH money is funneled into defense spending (I saw it going to waste first hand, while in the U.S. Army) and toward alleviating tax "burdens" on corporations. And anyone with an eighth grade education -- even the 8th grade educations handed out in modern public schools -- could plainly see that George W. Bush was proud of his good ol' boy-meets-the-frat-brothers attitude when it comes to his lack of education and understanding regarding everything from reading books to terrorism and diplomacy. And anyone who witnessed Mrs. Palin's interviews could glom the same intelligence from her nonsensical answers. The LAST thing American's need is an average joe or jane, or a good ol boy leading the country. We _need_ exceptional leaders! Can you imagine an "average joe" walking into a hospital to apply for a job as a pediatrician, or a brain surgeon? Would you want such a man operating on you? No? Then why would you want such a man making decisions that affect the entire world, much less one country? Yes, Mr. Zizza, we live in America -- and it currently is a country besieged by those who are willfully ignorant, overly arrogant (about their ignorance and about anything American), too fundamentalist and extremely intolerant (of racial, sexual and intellectual differences). It's an America that would send most of the founding fathers screaming in horror as they tried to board the first boat to another country. Fortunately, not everyone has given up on our nation. Which is why there's still hope, now that a new administration (which values science, diplomacy, education, tolerance etc., over flag-waving patriotism and pushy fundamentalist religions) is in place. Sincerely, Dorman T. Shindler
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Thanks Dorman Shindler, I could not have said it better myself. I certainly do not consider myself an intellectual but on the TWO broadcasts I heard Gov. Palin refer to France as our neighbor, I wondered what map she was using. Even with my public education in Alabama, I learned France is across an ocean and has no shared borders with the USA.
