Terrorists’ Reasons Irrelevant
To The Editors:
David Walters should be commended for his well-balanced, fair and reasoned column on why so many Middle Eastern Muslims hate the US (“The History of Hate,” November 7). If I were a wiser person, I’d take the time to dig deep into their tortured pysches and try to understand where they’re coming from. But I just can’t. Thousands were killed for. . .what? Jihad? Justice? Revenge? Allah? Who knows, who cares?
All I know is, I’m pissed off about it. Not pissed off enough to go hijacking planes and flying them into office buildings. But pissed off enough to not give a shit what religious maniacs have to say.
It’s easy to justify hate — we humans have been doing it for centuries. The hard part is not acting on that hate. Those responsible for the September 11 attacks failed that test.
Vance Cariaga
Los Angeles
Vance Cariaga is the former News Editor of Creative Loafing.
Why We’re In This Predicament
To The Editors:
I want to commend Mr. Walters for defining both the true meaning of patriotism and intelligent discussion. Only when we as Americans look at our past can we understand the present. Many in the media have focused only on the “Effect” and not the “Cause” of why America is in this predicament. The only way to understand why the rest of the world is suspicious of our intentions is to look at our past injustices and hypocritical policies that consistently reek of a double standard. The old “do as I say and not as I do” does not work for raising children nor building good will among our world neighbors. The history lesson included in Mr. Walters’ column should be required reading. I doubt the Charlotte Observer or LA Times would have the balls to print this information.
Terry Colen
Charlotte
Cowardly, Shoddy, Pathetic, etc., etc.
To The Editors:
Your “10 Scariest People in Charlotte” piece (CL, October 24) was packed with vindictive and shoddily researched garbage and represents a fresh nadir in the quality of Creative Loafing‘s content — after things were starting to look up. Worse, the writers who penned the high-schoolish attempts at character assassination decided to hide behind a “gang of four” byline. Those who dish it out need to have the courage to sign their name next to their “work.”
The coward who initiated and/or wrote the piece about Johnny Harris deserves particular censure and should reveal themselves (sic). Aside from the pathetic PMS-ish vitriol, the piece contains numerous factual errors. For example, Harris did not develop SouthPark Mall; his family developed some of the land around the mall into offices and a hotel. This sparked adjunctive development and now SouthPark is the second largest business district in North Carolina with over 30,000 solid jobs. The Belk and Ivey families bet their respective farms on the mall.
Harris and his family have given back to the Charlotte community. Perhaps the gang of four has heard of the Harris Family YMCA (one of the largest and most flourishing in the nation). Or perhaps the gang of four remembers the Final Four when it was in Charlotte –thanks to Johnny Harris. Charlotte’s prominent families have played a significant role in making Charlotte a prosperous and envied city. Yes, they’ve made money; memo to the gang of four: we live in America, not Cuba. Harris aligned himself with the embarrassment that is the Hornets’ ownership because he thought it would be good for the city in the long run. I admire that sort of gumption just as much as I despise the type of low-life “journalist” who would dredge up 80-year-old (disputable) muck about someone’s grandfather — again, without having the balls to sign their name next to the piece.
Scott Martin
Charlotte
Editor’s Reply: 1. Mr. Martin is correct when he says Johnny Harris did not develop SouthPark Mall. We regret our error of not distinguishing development around the mall from the building of the mall itself. 2. The “80-year-old muck” Mr. Martin refers to — the membership of former NC governor Cameron Morrison in the white supremacist group called the Red Shirts — is hardly “disputable” and is in fact a well-documented part of state history. 3. The practice of running a multiple byline when publishing an article by several writers is a common and long-established one. More than that, however, the implication that CL ran this particular multiple byline in order to avoid taking responsibility for the article is ridiculous, as anyone with any awareness of our history of confronting those we disagree with can attest. For the record, the Johnny Harris piece was assigned by editor John Grooms to Tara Servatius, who wrote it. 4. We appreciate the critique of our journalistic ethics from Mr. Martin, the former publisher of SouthPark magazine, a paragon of quality journalism.
Rush to Judgment
To The Editors:
I am certain many readers were blown away with the brilliance of Lucy Perkins’ knowledge of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex (“Oedipus Rush,” November 7) and the enormous stretch required to use it in a poor attempt to make her article interesting. Too bad that Oedipus Rex, which is one-third of Sophocles’ trilogy, had to do with predestination and not Karma. Karma is reward or punishment for intended actions. Predestination means what it says: that nothing can change events. Neither Oedipus nor Limbaugh intended to hurt anyone, except that Oedipus did blind himself out of remorse.
I am not a Rush Limbaugh fan nor am I an apologist for him but I am certainly sorry about his oncoming hearing loss, and Perkins’ inference that it might be “psychological” was a cheap shot and I can’t help but think that she finds joy in his ailment. Perkins’ suggestion that his deafness is God’s way of payback puts her in the company of all the TV ministers who claim that the Twin Towers event was also God’s payback.
Rush Limbaugh and Lucy Perkins are two sides of the same coin, one representing the far right and one the far left; each with a gnat’s eye view of the universe; each seemingly deaf to the other.
Charles Blackwell
York, SC
Whine It Up
To The Editors:
Tara Servatius accurately describes the beltway smog problem (“They’re So Dense,” November 7) and then goes on to say “I like my car.” She is a whining part of the problem.
Alicia Alan
Charlotte
This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2001.
