Love/Hate Mail
NPT should help itself
Once each year we get Action Auction, a fund-raising effort by Nashville Public Television. At other times, we get prime programming with fund-raising in between. Finally, we get direct mail, occasional phone solicitations, and sporadic fund-raising appeals throughout the year.
That’s all fine. We should all support NPT to the degree that each of us is personally inclined to do so. But don’t you think that NPT should make an effort to add to their support? I’m not aware of a single program that NPT produces locally and sells to other public television stations. Instead, the money donated to NPT is spent buying programming from WGBH in Boston and many other stations in other cities.
We live in one of the most creative cities in America, so why can’t NPT generate something they can sell for a profit, the same way other public television stations in other markets do? You can do it, NPT. Just make the effort. It will mean better television for all of us, and isn’t that really the point?
Jim Thurman
2831 Fairview Blvd. W.
Fairview, Tenn.
Predictable peeving
Ordinarily, I enjoy Randy Horick’s contributions to your publication. When it comes to sports, he’s witty and insightful. But, when he crosses the line into political and historical commentary as he did in his most recent column (“Flag Burning,” Aug. 24) it becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly that he’s in over his head.
I just want to ask this: What gives Mr. Horick the moral authority to tell me, or anyone else for that matter, what the Confederate flag really means? I think I already know the answer: not much.
In spite of Mr. Horick’s opinion, the right to define a symbol belongs not to those who hate it, but to those who care about it and are able to distinguish the context in which it is used. Does he really expect that those of us who know of our ancestry and our heritage would throw away its most recognizable icon simply because some morons choose to abuse it? Does he think it proper that political agitators and empty-headed pop-culture types who don’t know (or don’t care to know) the difference between Robert E. Lee and Bull Connor should be allowed to define the entire substance of anything? I would hope not, but considering his flippant encouragement of those who would burn a memorial to dead soldiers on the grounds of a state Capitol, I can’t be sure.
The above-mentioned Lee once stated that “It is history that teaches us to hope.” If the likes of Randy Horick have their way, we’ll have no hope, because all that’s good and noble in history will be swept away in the attempt to purge the parts of it that make someone somewhere uncomfortable.
Allen Sullivant
reb4life@bellsouth.net. (Brentwood)
A GOPig in defense of Clark
I intend to vote for Sen. Bill Frist, have no connection to Jeff Clark or his campaign, and yet I am disturbed by the article “Crippled Runner” (Aug. 17) about the Democratic nominee.
I am only addressing the harassment allegations raised against him, which seem questionable. Granted, there was only one page of Ms. Parr’s complaint printed in the article, and she may have more substantive charges elsewhere, but those listed seem to fail to state adequate causes of action. As an example, she claims Clark caused “physical distress to her unborn child”? What is the proof for that charge? Did they get an affidavit from her infant?
The story mentioned allegations that Clark discriminated against foreign students, but interestingly, in her complaint Parr alleges that she was denied a graduate assistantship, and that “other...students who were not U.S. citizens” managed to get the job that was hers. Last I checked, citizenship is not a factor in picking graduate assistants, but maybe the xenophobe is the plaintiff hoping to spark native resentment of “those damn foreigners” through the court.
The story mentioned that she is disabled, but not whether it is physical, mental, or emotional, which could color how we view her claims. The article failed to show whether she has real grounds or if this is a spurious suit indicating someone with mental rather than legal issues, and attorneys looking for a quick buck. In the U.S., one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Here you’ve smeared a man before anyone has determined whether he harassed this woman. If he is found innocent, where will he go to regain his reputation?
Chris Booth
christopher.d.booth@vanderbilt.edu. (Nashville)
Gore’s no mensch
I was struck by the lack of understanding of Yiddish by Sen. Steve Cohen in his comment that “Gore is a mensch.” A mensch is a person who is principled and will stick to his principles through thick and thin.
I would suggest that Vice President Gore is not a mensch but either a ligner, a delusioned schlemiel, or both. There is sufficient evidence to support the last. However, as long as Sen. Cohen agrees with Gore that the government—as a goniff—should continue to steal the earnings of its citizens through ever-increasing taxes to fund a tsimes of meshuggenah social programs run by a group of incompetent schlimazels, I guess he will continue to spread the bubbe meise that Gore is a mensch.
Stanley P. Frank
Nashville
Correction
In last week’s EATS dining supplement, Calypso Cafe’s third location and phone number were incorrect. The correct address is 700 Thompson Ln., 297-3888.
Also, in last week’s cover story, we butchered the spelling of Trimble, Tenn. We promise to purchase a road map.
