Letters To The Editor

Thu., May 25, 2000

People in society

People of faith contribute much

Re: “Know when you’re being fed dogma” (Letters, May 11). In a sense, all verbal communication is propaganda, an attempt to persuade others of one’s point of view. The advertising industry is a tool of propaganda. So are schools, churches, books and the Internet.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using one’s logic, common sense or experience to attempt to influence others. Where would politics and diplomacy if they lacked them? Where would science and medicine be without records based upon observation?

I agree with George Thomas that the dissemination of information leads to better decisions on any subject. However, any true religion recognizes that people need information from both sides of a question to arrive at a proper decision, especially one dealing with their eternal souls.

Of course churches have a mission! So do businesses. What’s wrong with that? To be committed to truth is a positive trait, although in today’s climate of humanism and moral relativism, it’s so often depicted as narrowmindedness and primitive.

Where would the world be without the church’s influence? What institution has established more schools and hospitals, produced more musicians, artists, scientists and teachers than the church? What institution has done more charitable work, provided more jobs and housing, defended more legal causes than the church? Which institution continues to work to end oppression, provide orphanages, work for improvement of prisons and feed and house the homeless around the world?

People of faith, that’s who! We’re not perfect but our faith has provide more motivation to improve the world than any other group in history. Victor E. Buksbazen Spokane

Businessmen were out of line

I thoroughly agree with Margaret Evans, who wrote (Letters, May 13, “Afford young people some respect” ) concerning bad treatment of two Lewis and Clark students.

What right did the two Gestapo-type businessmen have to ask the girls to move away? Do these men own the sidewalks or does the city? Do they realize these LC students are going to school in the Holly Mason Building because they have no other choice? They didn’t ask to be uprooted. Not only do they have no lockers or a cafeteria, they must carry their heavy books in their backpacks, along with their lunches. Then, when they want a breath of fresh air, they’re pounced on by these self-righteous men.

These students told them they would pick up after themselves but were treated like criminals. I’m sure that some kids make a mess but everyone shouldn’t be punished for the sins of a few. I’ve never heard of anyone going from age 12 to 20 without being a teen. Give the good ones a break. Anne M. Dunning Spokane

Give teens benefit of the doubt

I am a freshman at West Valley High School. I feel that there is a huge problem with adults stereotyping teenagers.

I have been the victim of plenty of stereotyping. I have been followed around in department stores by undercover security guards, glared at by other parents and even told to stand at the front of a gas station while a friend of mine was purchasing a soda.

Had these people really known me they would find out that I am a good person. I don’t do drugs or smoke, I am a Christian, I don’t get into fights. I get along with lots of different types of people and I like helping other people.

Also, just because someone listens to a certain type of music, such as heavy metal or rap, doesn’t necessarily mean it has a bad influence on them. I listen to it and that doesn’t make me evil. In the 1950s, parents didn’t appreciate Elvis because of his vulgar, pelvic-thrusting dance moves. Look at him - he turned out to be the rock ‘n’ roll king.

Before you pass judgment about the person walking down the street dressed all in black or make a cruel remark about the guy in baggy pants skating around downtown, find out what they are like first. Then you can decide whether or not you can trust them. Desiree Dearien Spokane

Whale hunt about identity

It is easy for us whites to leap to judgment and decry the “cruelty” of the Makah whale hunt. But I understand them perfectly. They hunt whales for the same reason I hunt weeds in my narrow strip of garden. We each seek to connect with our heritage.

Long ago, the Makah men hunted whales to provide meat for the tribe. It was hard, bloody, dangerous work. The Makah women roamed the land collecting other kinds of food, which was preserved for the cold of winter.

Though my European ancestors tended herds of cattle and cultivated crops, they too did hard and bloody work to feed their families. Historically, most American men raised and slaughtered their own meat animals. American women grew large gardens and canned vegetables for winter use.

These days, most of us live in cities, far from the land that sustains us. We purchase food, and never get our hands bloody or dirty. And it’s true the Makah could simply drive to a store and buy meat, just as I could simply buy vegetables. But the whale meat is their meat. The carrots I pull from the ground are my carrots. Tending a vegetable garden is a hereditary ritual of European women, just as whale hunting is for Makah men.

We should never forget that we are all creatures of the Earth, and we depend on the Earth to sustain us. I wish the Makah hunters the best of luck. D.J. Fredericks Spokane

What about local women online?

I wonder if Spokane women are closing the online gender gap as quickly as women throughout our nation. Joanne Jacobs reported in her May 20 column (Opinion) that 46 percent of Americans using the Internet are women and that among new users the fastest growing segment is women over 50.

Sixty percent say e-mail enhances their connections with relatives. I agree. I’m hearing from grandchildren who never send a letter and almost daily I hear from daughters who previously contacted me by phone just a few times a month.

Over 70 percent say e-mail improves friendships. I’m certainly enjoying my friends online. They surprised my husband with a card shower for his 88th birthday and one of the ladies ordered a Braille talking clock for him.

E-mail of course is just one part of the Internet. I’m constantly doing research on the World Wide Web. My favorite Web sites are www.aarp.org,c-span.org and whitehouse.gov. I participate in AARP’s “Big Quiz” and “American Pie” surveys and I do more serious research such as “Report on Privatization of Social Security from a blue ribbon panel of economists, actuaries, attorneys, political scientists and public administrators.”

I’ve become the family public affairs expert, able to advise my children and grandchildren how to register to vote, locate their state and federal legislators and communicate with them by e-mail. I also send e-mail letters to the editor and comments to staffers whose e-mail address is provided. Elinor F. Nuxoll Spokane

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