Two-Way Street
I couldn’t agree more with Quinn Cotton about the negative aspects of our need to connect only with people exactly like us (“A Little Too Specialized,” Oct. 8). It’s driven me crazy for decades. However, inclusion needs to go both ways: if we wish to broaden access to our organizations/groups, we need to run those groups with inclusion in mind. Specifically, your comment about the group for Jewish alcoholics.
Although I am not, I have friends who are Jewish and addicted to something. Almost all of them are extremely uncomfortable at 12-step meetings because of the emphasis on Christianity at most of those meetings. I know, they say they are “non-denominational” and ask you to call on the god of your choice. But, at least in Charlotte, all the Al-Anon meetings I have attended (and AA/NA meetings my friends have attended) say the Lord’s Prayer (Christian); ask for forgiveness (a Christian concept); invoke Biblical verses, almost always from the New Testament (a Christian text) to help the attendees stay on the straight and narrow; and, in general, are extremely intolerant of those of the Jewish faith who just can’t do that. I have a young friend who was essentially kicked out of a drug treatment program because of his unwillingness to say the Lord’s Prayer; it was seen as defiance, and his relationship with the group leader deteriorated from that point on.
— Ellen Mindell, Charlotte
Miss Know-It-All
Tara Servatius might find herself a bit closer to her self-image of know-it-all if she occasionally at least pretended to be a little self-effacing. She reports none of the media anywhere took the time to discover and then report that the 50-million of us who signed up for the No-call list have told the FTC “more than it needs to know” (“No-Way On No-Call,” Oct.8). Tara, unless I miss my guess, writing a weekly column and occasional feature stories in a newspaper makes you a media member. How about a smidgen of “Oops, my bad.” You are the one who is supposed to be looking out for us. Why in the world would anybody, outside of a columnist looking for a story idea, spend four frigging hours on a government web site? Coming up with the information now is simply creative gloating.
— Albert So, Charlotte
Don’t Dis Ganesha
Living in Charlotte for the past few years, we have gotten used to the progressive content in Creative Loafing and enjoyed much of it. We were however very disappointed at the cover image of your Fall Arts Preview issue (August 27) which was a caricature of Ganesha, one of the revered deities in the Hindu religion. Most believers within our Hindu religion start their day with blessings from our dear God Ganesha and having to see him depicted in a distorted piece of bad art, has hurt the sentiments of our community. By your ignorance, you have added insult to injury by depicting him holding a pair of shoes in one hand, a mask in another, strumming a guitar, which is totally inappropriate within the context of our faith. The caricature that you have portrayed could be construed by many believers as a depiction akin to that of Satan within our faith.
We want to express our deep anguish and pain at seeing our religious symbol denigrated like that in our progressive and tolerant Queen City, that we have chosen to call home. We love living here and respect the religious sentiments and feelings of the majority of people around us, who show such an abiding attachment to their Christian beliefs. We are sure none of them would take kindly to a brazen sacrilege of any of the sacred symbols of their faith.
Hindus are a very tolerant and God-fearing people with an inclusive view of other religions. We love our democratic ideals and have an abiding faith in the Freedom of Expression that is one of the pillars of our secular society. We also understand the urge to stimulate thoughtful discourse through different ideas explored within Creative Loafing. But it is equally important to set a high standard for accuracy and moral rectitude while considering the influence and impact your magazine has on the growing ethnically diverse readership. We have a sense that this lapse was a result of intellectual laziness and was not meant to hurt the sentiments of our community. To rectify this, we at the very least, need a published apology and your commitment not to misuse the symbols of our faith in any derogatory manner in the future. Thanks.
— Gobind Bhojwani, President Hindu Center of Charlotte; Lal Vishin, President Indian Association of Charlotte, Nonit (Nick) Nanda, Secretary Indo American Forum
Editor’s reply: We regret having offended some members of Charlotte’s Hindu community. Creative Loafing respects everyone’s choice of religion and/or spiritual beliefs. However, as a secular, Western newspaper operating within the longheld traditions of freedom of the press, we reserve the right to use various images, including religious images, as reference points in our publication’s artwork. No offense to any religion is intended and hopefully none will be taken.
This article appears in Oct 22-27, 2003.
