"MODERN
TIMES"
THE PEOPLE SPEAK
By
Lloyd Garver
I'm not the only one who's been spouting off on all kinds of topics lately. Now it's time for me to share some of the readers' responses I've gotten to recent columns.
In A POLITICAL DEAD DUCK, I wondered why the public seems to think it's important for a Presidential candidate to be a hunter:
INDCA: "The recent campaign with Bush and Kerry looking like dopes in hunting attire really turned me off."
NOEL: "You can't seriously be suggesting that beating or stabbing animals to death is more humane than hunting them with bows or firearms, can you?"
JIM: "For me, hunting is a combination of game management and restoration, physical and mental exercise, a method of putting high-quality meat on the table, and a way of keeping in practice for when the Ralph Reed robots decide to make liberal agnostics extinct."
JOHN: Like the war in Iraq, hunting is fed by a kind of inner spiritual depravity, blood lust."
BOB: It is obvious to me that your "hunting and gathering" instincts were lost somewhere in the gene pool."
In TO RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, I discussed our giving away one of our biggest secrets to the Russians: how to play baseball.
CHRIS: "This is one sport that you can give to the Russians to keep .... The only time baseball has any merit is when you yourself play it. Watching it is as exciting as watching paint dry."
In HAPPY (ADULT) CAMPERS, I talked about all the summer camps that are now available for adults.
GORDON suggested some other camps, including: "'How To Work Into Your Eighties and Love It.' This one will give important insights on how to pay for food without Social Security in the mix. One day in class, three days selling flowers on the street corner to pay for the camp."
In INTOLERANCE, A FAMILY VALUE? I wrote about the brouhaha regarding the alleged homosexuality of a cartoon character named, Spongebob Squarepants. One of my points was that, as in that famous "South Pacific" song, children don't hate others automatically. "They have to be taught to hate."
MICHAEL: "A great op/ed piece. Your comment that children treat all sorts of different people the same can be proven by me. I am in a wheelchair and when I taught Sunday school, kids were just as likely to pull a prank on me as on my bipedal colleagues. Of course Mr. Dobson may think I'm just part of the 'wheelchair mafia.'"
GEOFF: "To mask prejudice in a cloak or religiousness and family protection is, in my mind, only one brand of religion –and unfortunately, it's been the most outspoken brand these last few years."
CAREY: "There is definitely an agenda here.... why a sponge? From the time this came out it seemed like the dumbest thing. Now one of the claims is that sponges are hermaphrodites. Is that a strange coincidence? Meaningless? Paranoid? Again, don't be naïve. The creators of such things are among the most creative people in the world. And creative people have always worked subtle messages (usually cultural agendas) into their work."
ERIC: "Mr. Dobson doesn't hate gay people, he loves them very much.... Why can everyone else believe what they want and have free speech except the Christians?"
SARA: "The world would be a horrible place indeed if we were all the same."
DAVE: "Whatever happened to the day that slimy news reporters had to bother to check their facts before publishing their garbage?"
ROBERT:" Nice column! Not!... When tolerance becomes the most highly favored value in society, we are all screwed!"
TERESA: "You hit it right on the button! The very people who parade around as "Christians" with "Moral Values" seem to be the ones so far removed from anything Christ ever taught."
TOM: "It's a wonder I remained heterosexual after all those years of watching Batman and Robin, Red Rider and Little Beaver, Cisco Kid and Pancho, Wild Bill Hickock and Jingles, etc., etc."
In WHY MARRY SCOTT PETERSON? I discussed the phenomenon of women marrying condemned murderers.
STUARTAND: "These women are out of their minds!"
OLEN: "He will wind up free, wealthy, and happily married if there is any justice in the world."
When JESSICA, a high school student, wrote: "Could someone off the street go in and visit him on his visiting days?" I suggested that she talk to her parents or teachers.
In RIP VAN GARVER, I speculated that someone who just woke up after thirty years would be shocked by what's going on, especially in terms of undoing so many things that were accomplished in the sixties and seventies.
KAREN: "You are so right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
BABE: "You are so blind and it is so sad.... Maybe liberalism is a mental disorder."
BARBARA: "I always looked forward to the future and to things getting better with time. In today's climate, things are getting scary instead."
COLLEEN: "We're now so concerned with women's rights, yet partial-birth abortion eliminates all of those little girls' rights were granted only one breath of air."
In IS GRANDMA UNAMERICAN? I wrote about the Bush administration deciding to take on AARP because of their disagreements over Social Security.
JOANNA: "I think it's about time the Gray Panthers movement is resurrected! We're old and proud! We're strong and loud! We shall overcome!"
JOY: "Thank you for the excellent article. I am now going to re-join AARP!!"
BRAGG: "Your article is coming at it from the mean ole Republican slant. I could also write an opinion and come down on the mean ole geritol set. ... Let's start with selfishness. Imagine the possibilities."
WILLIAM: Your article is just another example of an inflammatory media not covering the real issue and then summarizing with smears of the Republicans."
In NON-FOOD NONSENSE, I wrote about a fancy restaurant in Chicago that sells food made of paper.
DAVID: I thought that this food-flavored paper idea sounded good, so I printed out your article and tried to eat it. Yuck. However, I probably had more fiber in that mouthful of paper than I get in a week of normal food."
EDWARD: ”Edible paper is probably a better option than what we have grown accustomed to from so many American eateries."
So, if you want to see your opinion here in print, just write in to me – the guy who's "slimy," "smearing," and "sad." Or you can write to me – the guy who's "right on," "excellent," and "hits it right on the button."