Best Letters Page Best Letters Page This week: ...
Dynamic Duo
In this age of instanto-pundit, I was immediately impressed with Matt Taibbi's "Cage Match" columns when I discovered them on your site a few months ago. These are desperate times, and his bare-knuckled gonzoism is just what is needed. I was also glad to see the recent addition of Paul Krassner. While his many recent books have filled a void since the demise of the Realist, a biweekly dose of his timeless stories is also a much-needed salve for the current malaise.
Greg Lipman, Hiroshima, Japan
He Sleeps with the Bear
First off, keep up the good work. Next, I've noticed that in past months, you've had more than your share of encounters with one Christopher X. Brodeur, many of them unpleasant. Because I can sympathize, I'd like to let you in on a little semi-secret pleasure of mine: the girlbomb.com message boards. Moderated by one of CXB's performance artist peers, our mutual friend posts under variations on his stage name, Touching You.
A perusal of the archives finds CXB admitting to romantic failure, harassment, stalking, aimless political crusading and, most recently, smashing his leg through a plate-glass window. And CXB's peers don't spare him any sympathy. A girlbomb regular aims this barb at Brodeur: "I'm so fucking glad you have some money now! Because it's much nicer to sue people who have money! after [my boyfriend] gets through with you, I'll bet you'll be wishing you died for real, you low-IQ, histrionic poseur!"
Here's to monomaniacal self-absorption and bad decision-making. Also, I know you've been printing a lot of letters lately denigrating "Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles," but it always gives me a perverse laugh. Does Neil Swaab have a girlfriend?
Janna Foster, Astoria
Full Frontal
Thank you for your "Page Two" piece on Giuliani's war on boobs (9/17). I was one of the people who attended the public hearings in front of Giuliani's puppet "zoning board" and it was the most frightening thing I've ever witnessed. (Maybe you could get the transcripts and print them.) Half the people who spoke were in favor of getting rid of the adult shops, but they were repeatedly begged by the boob-lovers to provide a single example, piece of evidence or study to back up their ridiculous claims that "we must eliminate all smut because it hurts our communities."
Maybe you could get Taibbi to dig up some dirt on Giuliani's lies about studies proving that adult bookstores and strip clubs promote crime and lower property values. A lot of my friends lost a lot of money when Giuliani's Nazi crusade partially succeeded, and you'd be doing a community service if you turned over these rocks. Also, maybe Taibbi could do a statistical comparison between the number of rapes in strip clubs versus the number of rapes in Giuliani's beloved Catholic Churches.
Janice Amato, Manhattan
Yes, Yes She Does
Bela Lugosi "rocks the party Eddie Munster-style" ("Picks," 9/10)? Does your writer understand Lugosi's Dracula predated and inspired The Munsters by three decades?
Fran Tetoro, Manhattan
Judging Hate
Mark Gauvreau Judge ("Rotation," 9/10) seems to be taking his last name too much to heart. I'm no Holy Joe myself, but I thought Mr. Judge, as a proud Christian, would remember that it is his own Bible that quotes his own savior as having said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Judge heard an advocate pleading for reproductive freedom for some young girls who were already pregnant (an urgent cause if ever I have heard of one), and 10 years later he realizes that he hates the woman for her efforts?or was it for the style in which she pursued her goal?
Did Judge offer financial support to the pregnant young girls so that they might bear and keep their unexpected offspring, even if at great physical and emotional cost to everyone concerned? I think a more caring attitude would have led Judge to search for practical ways to help those who work to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. This takes thought and action, not 10 years of nursing hatred and brooding self-righteousness.
Unreflecting gut reactions such as "Bring Back Hate" do much to give organized religions a bad name, as just another fig leaf for channeling out with impunity, and even with approval, the rage and hostility that every human harbors.
Helen Derringh, Brooklyn
Crank Wanker
I was walking around with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, picked up a New York Press and said to her that Jeff Koyen's name sounded real familiar. It was about a day or two later that Crank popped into my head. I remember a good rant about Dave & Busters and getting kicked out of that horrific "entertainment" place. Sorry to say I didn't buy more issues of Crank; that's the zinewriter's fate, being appreciated too late. I know a little about that. I put out Rat Blood Soup for a few years, then it morphed into a website and I doubt I'll ever put out another issue on paper again. But I wouldn't complain; I've had some good [i.e. intelligent] reviews and some good responses from readers.
Mark Ames' attack on Klosterman ("The Flip-Flop King," 8/27) was great. I was laughing out loud on the train and read it twice. The venom, the way he just went at him without holding back, it had that zine feel and was refreshing, in light of the criticism I'm used to reading?in the weeklies, in the Times, etc. It had that mix of being critically sound and bombastic at the same time. My girlfriend thought it was poorly written, but I disagreed completely. I said it was well-written, but just wasn't the type of thing people are used to reading.
About people's objections to the article: I see from the letters that people were more offended by Ames' thoughts than by the idea of someone like Klosterman as an author. I don't think many understand how offensive something like a Klosterman is (I bashed his Fargo Rock City in one of my zines). I guess you really have to be close to these things?rock music, underground culture or whatever you want to call it?to have a full understanding of crappy criticism of it. I have several friends with encyclopedic knowledge of rock music?Klosterman wouldn't stand two minutes in a debate with them?and they are intelligent and literate. They write very well and wastefully, I think, on internet message boards and the like. No one is leaping forward to offer them positions at Spin or book deals, though any book they wrote would be many times more sophisticated and interesting than Klosterman's.
Klosterman got a somewhat bad review in the Times recently. But I think that chick was fooled by Klosterman and failed to grasp the essential nature of that book, its author and their problems. She mentions his complaint that "his chances of finding true love are nil." How old is Klosterman? Fifteen? One could vomit. I think I will.
Will Von Ratblood, Philadelphia
Come Again?
Signorile: Good point you make regarding words having consequences. "Bring 'em on!" would certainly have greater consequence than "I am ashamed, etc." especially coming from the Commander in Chief.
By the way, the fact that America has become Israel is precisely what the Zionists who control Bush (and this country) want. They have achieved their objective. America, great and powerful, has been captured by the most conniving, sinister force the world has ever seen: World Jewry. Will we ever get our country back? I am beginning to doubt it.
George Josiban, Hamilton, NJ
Jack Ripper, Reporting for Duty
There is probably also a "Plan C" at the Pentagon ("Time for Plan B," 9/10). That plan is to thin out the population, probably using some variation of smallpox.
Consider the following:
Not a very pretty plan, but then neither is nuclear warfare?and we plan for that.
Alan Gould, Brooklyn
Get Those Rocks Off
Mark Judge is right ("Rotation," 9/10): It is loads of fun to hate when there's an acceptable target for it (especially when so many unacceptable hatreds have built up). It is enormously enjoyable to believe that the Master of the Universe hates the ones we hate, and will torture them for eternity once we're through with them. It would be comforting to believe that we will never label someone as "evil" just because we need to make our preexisting hatred acceptable.
If only that weren't corrupting of us and corrosive to our purposes. If only hate weren't ultimately counterproductive, leading us as it does to fighting not our opponents but the phantasms born of our hate and fear, simultaneously super-potent and subhuman. ("We don't need Jewish Science, and the Russian beast-men can't stand up to us," or "How many divisions does the Pope have?") If only hating our enemies weren't a distraction from defeating them.
But hatred is in fact that hazardous, and we should forego it in favor of keeping our sanity, keeping our souls and prevailing.
M. Turyn, Boston
Soy Balm
Lester R. Brown forgot to mention the significant environmental impacts of America's meat-based diet ("Time for Plan B," 9/10). Cattle, pigs and chickens require lots of grain, as well as the land, water, and chemicals needed to grow that grain. Confined animal facilities generate large volumes of nutrient-rich effluent that harms rivers and coastal waters through eutrophication and low-oxygen dead zones. Cattle grazing destroys millions of acres of range land. The U.S. government should stop subsidizing meat production and should publicize the human health and environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet.
John Cantilli, Cranford, NJ
No, You're Ugly
The subhead on Russ Smith's (MUGGER, 9/10), "Dems play ugly politics," is an example of a common phenomenon?how reactionaries invert reality. Of course it's the Republicans who play ugly politics against the Democrats and others, and have been at least since the 1920s. (The latest manifestations include Ann Coulter libeling Dems as Traitors, thus worthy of death, one presumes; Tom DeLay trying to gerrymander Texas; and the GOP unseating Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who lost three of his limbs in Vietnam, by smearing him as unpatriotic.)
Jason Zenith, Manhattan
Oh Bluegrass, Where Art Thou?
Koyen: I'd like to think you're finally realizing that all this critical-theory-inspired, alterna-rock, hiphop/trip-hop/shit-hop music "journalism" crap that gets spewed out in the pages of free weekly newspapers everywhere is for kids. Kids with disposable incomes. Pure and simple. Rock music is kid stuff?it's meant to be. It has very little to do with making music and almost everything to do with marketing a certain combination of political, economic, sociological and sexual values.
Band A (insert weird meaningless name here) is better than Band B because they stand for this or that and look cooler, give off a smarmier attitude, etc. It's kid stuff for teenagers who just discovered philosophy or grad students with too much time on their hands. Welcome to adulthood! Don't "retreat" into jazz or blues?just listen to it.
I used to admire New York Press for including reviews of bluegrass albums. I like bluegrass musicians because they don't stand for anything but playing their instruments well. There is little hope of making a fortune as a bluegrass musician. There is no "scene" to aspire to. Everyone who is in it does it, purely and simply, for the love of it.
Come to a bluegrass festival and check it out. You may be depressed by the number of middle-agers in the crowd, but at least you'll hear some good music.
Bob Jackson, Manhattan
Not Jaded, Bored
I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Koyen is, as he claims, 34 years old ("Dusk Patrol," 9/17), because he writes and thinks more or less like a fairly precocious 16-year-old with that "life is black or white, a or b, and there is no middle position possible" mentality so typical of the vast majority of American teenagers.
Yes, there are many, many older rock 'n' rollers around the world making a living pandering to the tastes of shallow, nostalgic middle-aged men and women who can never hope to be as intelligent and discerning as Koyen. And who can probably never hope to be as unhappily jaded as Koyen either.
And yes, there are many younger musicians who are more or less recycling the music of those who came before them. Thank goodness the Beatles and Stones and Velvet Underground and Sex Pistols and Replacements and so many other great bands of previous eras were miraculously able to avoid the influence of older musicians and come up with absolutely unique sounds beholden to no tradition!
But the truth is, the future belongs not to the young but to whomever takes the future and makes it a more interesting, better place in which to live, whether he or she is young, middle-aged, or old. I can't speak for Mark Arm, because I'm not familiar with his band's music but Robert Pollard, at 45, is still creating intelligent, interesting rock music and certainly contributing far more to the future than I expect Koyen will ever be able to claim to have by writing poorly conceived, narrow-minded diatribes using ideas that are at least four centuries old.
Koyen, much like people such as George Bush and his cronies, wants to live in a world of either/or, but most discerning human beings realize that's just not the way life actually is. Blanket condemnations for the most part are made by fools, and I know Koyen is not a fool. I hope Jim Shelley of Book of Kills wasn't thinking of you when he wrote the following lyrics, but they seem rather applicable:
"It really is too bad/Somehow you've become so jaded/That there is no new/Inside your ears and eyes/It really is so sad/Somehow you've become so faded/Measuring out your days/By the things that you despise"
But Jim's just another old fart with nothing to contribute to the world of the arts and life in general, so never mind.
James Bowman Nipe, Harrisonburg, VA
This Is His Time
Ah, yes, another writer (in his 30s, no less) who has decided to declare rock 'n' roll dead, because, well...because he says so ("Dusk Patrol," 9/17). Nice work, Mr. Koyen. Please wallow in your necrophilia on your own time and save the space for people who have something to say.
Derrek Carriveau, Tampa, FL
Say it, Brother
Upon reading your latest edition, I noticed that there was nothing in it by Russ Smith. No offense to your other writers, but without Smith, what's the point of publishing?
Paul DeSisto, Cedar Grove, NJ
Watch Your Back
Michelangelo Signorile is dead on-target with his most recent article ("The Gist," 9/17). I don't consider myself a paranoid individual, but the whole "big brother" concept is so great at this point in time that I'm glad someone brought it to the surface. This is far from an outlandish possibility.
Lets think a moment; many new cars have the "OnStar" system with GPS to help drivers find their way or call for roadside assistance. This is also something the government can tap into and monitor if they so choose. Additionally, there has been talk over the last few years about the ability to better protect our children from predators. Many have toyed with, and some have even looked into the idea of installing a small "chip" into our children for the express purpose of keeping an eye on them.
Their selling point is, "Imagine being able to track your child with satellites. Imagine the improved security against child abduction and kidnapping" (quoted from www.pediatric-doctor.com/child-tracking-chip-implants-safety.htm).
Think about the ramifications of this device. Your every move monitored at their choosing, and now with the potential change in the "Patriot Act." Ladies and gentlemen, we are screwed. There will be a new sign on your doormat?instead of "welcome," it will say "you are here, and the government is well aware of it!"
Gail Bentley, Manchester, NH