Be Civil!
I am compelled to respond to Elizabeth Chapel’s column, “Wedding Bell Blues” (Talk of the Town, September 25). I am one of those she referred to as a “Stepford Wife” who “got married young, and turned stupid.”
I have a college degree, read at least a book a week and the daily newspaper. I am in a book club where I discuss enlightening ideas and issues with other “dumb” moms. Surprisingly enough, our discussions are rarely about diapers and soccer games (not that there is anything wrong with that!).
Her statement that women like me are “incapable of a single thought without their husband’s input,” I truly found laughable. This “Stepford Wife” single-handedly turned her husband on to art museums, theater and “reading for pleasure.”
I would never dream of bashing a single woman’s lifestyle. While I understand Ms. Chapel’s bitterness, I implore her to retain some civility, and to refrain from bashing other women’s choices. After all, it is not our fault her ex married such a loser!
–Rachel Warren, Charlotte
Out Of Her League
Elizabeth Chapel is out of her league in the article on gay relationships (Talk of the Town, “Broken Up,” October 2). She should stick to writing about dildo purchasing and tadpoling. I vehemently disagree that gays take their relationships more seriously than heterosexual couples because of the fight against societal expectations. Plenty of heterosexual couples avoid ending their marriages because they do not want to contribute to the already appalling divorce rate, which is essentially doing the same thing. Gays may appear to take their relationships more seriously because they are a bunch of extraverts crying out for acceptance in society at large due to the seeming benefit they get from reliving episodes of rejection.
Gay relationships are based entirely on deviant sexual behavior and recognizing this union as a marriage is absurd. The gay community continues to be all about shock value and forcing the formal recognition of a gay couple as married is just one more issue for them to dangle in the public’s eye so we all forget the real issue. The real issue is that gays feel what they do in the bedroom somehow entitles them to special rights. Where will this stop? Being gay has no bearing on hiring, firing, or loan approval. We are all better off focusing on human rights and not continuing the trend of seeking rights for only special interest groups.
To Chapel’s point, I do not think that recognizing gay marriages would affect the divorce rate. Nor do I think that’s the real reason homophobes and religious fanatics reject the legalization of gay marriages. It is not only gays who deftly reveal select items from their agenda to further promote their cause.
–Nicole Henderson Auger, Charlotte
Welch’s Leadership
Arianna, your topic (“Gut Check Time For Corporate America,” October 2) is right on! However, I am compelled to take exception to your example. I feel you needed to do a more thorough job of research and reporting.
You neglected to cite Mr. Welch’s action to voluntarily return to GE a substantial portion of the benefits, which was the focus of the Wall Street Journal article on which you build your argument.
Most responsible business people are appalled at the outlandish “golden parachute” packages bestowed on corporate executives. We are especially distraught by the selfish dealing of irresponsible corporate executives, who sacrifice their companies and employees for their own personnel gain. Your article, in my opinion, has mixed the good guy with the bad guys.
You have mistakenly compared blatant corporate deception with responsible corporate and moral leadership.
As a business owner and GE stockholder, whose family has seen our GE investment in the global economy substantially appreciate over the last 40 years, I am proud of the leadership heralded by Jack Welch during his tenure at GE.
One example of another opinion is from Business Week, October 28, 1996, entitled “Jack Welch’s Encore: How GE’s chairman is remaking his company-again.”
“Since the hypercompetitive Welch took the reins at GE 15 years ago, he has relentlessly reshaped this icon of the American economy. Through the 1980s, Welch barnstormed through GE shutting factories, paring payrolls, and hacking mercilessly at its lackluster old-line units. Welch’s tough tactics presaged much of the reengineering that followed across Corporate America.
Today, Welch oversees a vastly more competitive company than the one he took over. And Welch himself has become the gold standard against which other CEOs are measured.”
–Dick Myers, Charlotte
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This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2002.
