Letters

published: September 25, 2001

OVERDRAWN=20

Alisa Solomon may be a bit too pessimistic about = the likely=20 effect of the World Trade Center attacks on U.S. attitudes toward the=20 Arab-Israeli conflict ["Fuel for = the=20 Fire," September 25]. I share Solomon's distaste for Israel's = methods, but I=20 don't agree that they will inevitably become more palatable to the = American=20 public as we grapple with our own terrorist problem.=20

It may appear to some people that we have taken a hit in part because = of our=20 support of Israel's behavior in the occupied territories, and it would = be a=20 grave error for Israel's leaders to behave as if they have just been = written a=20 blank check.=20

Matthew Greenfield
Brooklyn=20

SURREAL=20 WORLD=20

Thanks for Richard Goldstein's article "That's=20 Entertainment!" [September 25]. It encapsulates what many of us felt = but=20 could not quite formulate while watching the disaster on TV. As I watch = the=20 preparations for war becoming more and more insane, I cannot help but be = relieved that there are a few calls for reason amidst the madness. Long = live=20 the Voice of sanity.=20

Sarah Enany
Cairo, Egypt=20

APOCALYPSE=20 NOW=20

Re Richard Goldstein's "That's Entertainment!": When I saw the World = Trade=20 Center towers fall, I also thought not only of Independence Day, = but=20 Mars Attacks!, which was released a few months later. Both films = used=20 special effects to "destroy" nearly every famed landmark on earth. = Neither film=20 offers any worthwhile critical basis for the virtual apocalypses they=20 engineered. Rather, they (along with countless other Hollywood = extravaganzas)=20 are pure spectacle: cinema and computer technology reveling in its own=20 narcissism. When those once unbelievable images were made real on = September 11,=20 I couldn't help but think that the attacks were comments on America's = own=20 decadence. It seemed that the terrorists, striking from a tradition in = which=20 filmic images are profane, were saying to us: If this is all you can = think to do=20 with your wealth and fabulous technology=97create images of your own=20 annihilation=97then we will show you the real thing.=20

Hugh Siegel
Manhattan=20

PERSONAL=20 EFFECTS=20

I have just read "City of = Ghosts"=20 [September 25] by Tom Robbins and Jennifer Gonnerman. Although I wish = that=20 circumstances had never required such an article to be written, it was = an=20 extremely well-done piece that really helped me, a non-New Yorker, = understand=20 more of the personal side of the tragedy. In all of the television news = and=20 endless replaying of the attacks, it is all too easy to forget the = smaller=20 things, that the victims were real people just like us=97they read = books, they ate=20 doughnuts, they had families and friends. My thoughts and prayers are = with you=20 all.=20

Matthew Reames
Roanoke, Virginia=20

CIVIL=20 WAR=20

Nat Hentoff's piece about a possible return to McCarthyism was right = on the=20 money ["Liberty Is=20 a Fragile Thing," September 25]. But I would add that the loss of = freedom=20 comes not only from the government, but from the everyday actions of = people.=20 I've already heard stories of people refusing to eat at Afghan = restaurants and I=20 worry about my Pakistani and Afghani friends, especially the ones that = were born=20 and grew up in this country. Bigotry doesn't concern itself with details = like=20 that. I do hope the Left can put together a united front against = government=20 intrusion and public ignorance. I certainly plan on being on the front = lines of=20 that war to protect our civil liberties and First Amendment rights.=20

Leslie Anderson
Mamaroneck, New York=20

COME=20 TOGETHER=20

"The = New World=20 Order" [September 25] by James Ridgeway and Camelia E. Fard was an = amazing=20 article. I would normally consider myself the antithesis of a typical = Village=20 Voice reader, but the article's points on what could await us in = central=20 Asia were dead-on. Not only was the piece well-written, but it seems = that this=20 tragedy is drawing Americans from all sides of the political = spectrum=20 together.=20

Jan Doernte
Berlin, Germany=20

TOWER DE=20 FORCE=20

The photo by Andr=E9 Souroujon on the September 25 cover of the = Voice is=20 absolutely superb. I found it haunting and appropriate.=20

Barry Flannery
Stuart, Florida=20

BRIGHT LIGHTS,=20 BIG CITY=20

During the year that I have been living and studying in Manhattan, I = have=20 made many a negative comment about New Yorkers; their rudeness, their=20 individualism, their selfishness. Since Tuesday, September 11, 8:45 = a.m., I have=20 taken them all back.=20

I saw immense dignity in the stunned eyes of thousands of people as = they fled=20 downtown Manhattan. I saw them walk with outstanding discipline, so that = what=20 could have been a fatal stampede turned out to be a remarkably quiet = procession=20 that stretched out for miles. I saw pure humanity pour out into the = streets as=20 strangers handed out glasses of fresh water to those whose throats had = been=20 parched by the smoke. I will always remember the man who stood a few = blocks away=20 from the demolished World Trade Center bearing a sign that said, "Free = Hugs."=20

As a foreigner, the first thing you notice when arriving in the city = is that=20 everything about New Yorkers is enormous: their buildings, their cars, = their=20 portions at the restaurants. . . . I did not know until last week that = their=20 hearts are enormous too. I shall never look at my fellow commuters the = same way.=20

Marie Martin
Manhattan=20

CURRENT=20 AFFAIR=20

In his article "WBAI =3D = Anti-Free-Speech=20 Radio" [September 18], Nat Hentoff repeats the incorrect assertion = of public=20 broadcasting newspaper Current that public relations firm = Westhill=20 Partners worked for tobacco company Brown & Williamson during its = dispute=20 with whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand.=20

Brown & Williamson has never been a client of or in any way = associated=20 with Westhill Partners. In fact, Westhill Partners was not even founded = until=20 1998, well after Mr. Wigand's allegations against Big Tobacco became = public.=20

John Scanlon, who joined Westhill in October 2000 and worked with us = until=20 his death in May 2001, did work for a time as a consultant to Brown = &=20 Williamson several years before joining Westhill. To imply, however, = that we=20 were involved in any way with the campaign to cast aspersions against = Mr. Wigand=20 is wholly incorrect.=20

Current has acknowledged its error. Mr. Hentoff should do the = same.=20

Edward J. Reilly
Founder, President & = CEO=20
Westhill Partners=20

Nat Hentoff replies: Current did not acknowledge its error = until=20 September 14, and my column appeared on September 12. I join = Current in=20 correcting the record.=20

PUCKER=20 UP=20

Bravo to Lynn Yaeger and her assault on the vacuous, self-important, = and=20 totally worthless fashion media ["Lifestyles of = the Rich and=20 Heinous," September 11]. I worked as a photo retoucher at Cond=E9 = Nast for=20 over a year and was also nauseated by this self-perpetuating sham. I = toiled in a=20 windowless sub-basement below Times Square, airbrushing away pimples, = lines,=20 pores, and arm hair. The trade secret is to reduce most of the crow's = feet, eye=20 bags and laugh lines without completely removing them so as to fool the = reader=20 into believing it's a natural look. One issue had the gall to place a = headline=20 reading "Lasers, Liposuction, and Lifts: Has Beauty Become Too = Artificial?"=20 right next to a picture of an actress I spent days Photoshopping into a = replica=20 of plastic perfection!=20

If any readers out there ever wonder how these starlets continue to = look so=20 good as the years take their toll on the rest of us, the truth is they = don't.=20 Teams of retouchers are kept running around the clock so fashion mags = can keep=20 foisting this dishonesty on the public. The most hideous aspect of this = whole=20 charade is that the women who helm these publications would be = considered=20 irrelevant by the very standards they promote. How much do they get paid = for=20 diminishing themselves and real women? I have no idea, but in the smoke = and=20 mirrors world of fashion, integrity is not an accessory these assholes = will be=20 promoting anytime soon.=20

Stephen Pierce
Hackensack, New Jersey=20

REELING=20

Michael Atkinson's odd put-down of Pauline Kael's writing and = supposed=20 influence in "As the=20 Lights Go Down" [September 18] is as hyperinflated in tone and = agenda as he=20 thinks Kael's own work is. He posits her as virtually unassailable, or = in any=20 event unassailed (he must be ignorant of Andrew Sarris's and Renata = Adler's=20 widely circulated attacks on everything from Kael's prose style to the = tiniest=20 aspects of her taste). Then he attempts to topple her on the issues of, = well,=20 her style and taste. But those of us who found her work so affecting = respond as=20 much to its passion and wit as to her means of expressing them in a = given piece.=20 For all its flaws, Kael's collected writing will remain essential = reading for=20 lovers of film, both in these lean cinematic times and in whatever = others lie=20 ahead. It will remain so because she demonstrated that independent = thought can=20 be the means to great pleasure, be it in analyzing a movie, another = artwork, a=20 politician, or a life. As she once said, "We read critics for the = perceptions,=20 for what they tell us that we didn't fully grasp when we saw the work. = The=20 judgments we can usually make for ourselves."=20

Barrett Whitener
Washington, D.C.=20

Michael Atkinson replies: That Kael had vocal detractors wasn't = the=20 question; it's how few there were, amid the din of praise. As for her = "style and=20 taste," since when are these not challengeable issues for a critic? = (Both, for=20 Kael, had serious limitations.) A paragon of "independent thought," = perhaps, but=20 hardly the nation's most serious and searching critic.=20

FOOD FOR=20 THOUGHT=20

For some inexplicable reason, each fall Cynthia Cotts grows obsessed = about my=20 dining habits [Press=20 Clips, September 18]. In an October 2000 column about my = depredations as an=20 editor, she criticized me for being late to a dinner party. This week, = at a=20 moment when surely she ought to be concerned with stories of much = greater world=20 significance, she's alarmed that I opted out of a local awards dinner. = Must be=20 some New York thing, I guess. I just hope she never finds out that I = usually=20 microwave an Uncle Ben's Rice Bowl when I'm at home, or else she'd = really=20 disapprove.=20

As to the departure of our former political columnist, Jonetta Rose = Barras, I=20 can only say that I've never accepted a resignation as quickly as I did = hers.=20 The two of us never could agree on the appropriate level of = small-mindedness,=20 wrongheadedness, and unfairness that belonged in her column. But if = she's as=20 talented as Cotts makes her out to be, then surely we can expect the = Village=20 Voice to quickly hire Barras as a Washington correspondent, the = better to=20 keep tabs on me and Washington City Paper.=20

Howard Witt
Editor
Washington City = Paper

CHAKA=20 CON=20

Re Richard Goldstein's "Jay and = Silent Bob=20 Strike Backlash" [September 18]: Lighten up. Yes, homosexuals are a=20 persecuted minority. Yes, they are the butt of many jokes in cinema. = Kevin Smith=20 does indeed make jokes at the expense of said group. But within the same = movie=20 are jokes about blacks (Chris Rock's character is named Chaka), law = officers,=20 women, and many more I will not bother to mention.=20

A comedy by definition makes fun of people for the purpose of a = joke=97an easy=20 laugh. If you look at Smith's track record you will see that he is one = of the=20 few directors out there who does show respect to homosexuals. His film=20 Chasing Amy is a fine example. Jason Lee's awakening to his = sexuality is=20 a minor but important event in that film. Additionally, Smith's Green = Arrow comic book (published by DC Comics) has a gay character who is = portrayed as just another guy. His sexual preference is not a major = issue, and=20 is rarely mentioned. A comprehensive look at Smith's work clearly shows = that he=20 is not hateful toward any group.=20

Gene Hoyle
Greenville, South Carolina=20

Richard Goldstein replies: Anyone who sees Jay and Silent Bob = Strike=20 Back can attest to its obsession with homosexuality. As for = Chasing=20 Amy, any film that features a woman whose lesbianism stems from a = traumatic=20 relationship with a guy=97and who ends up with a guy=97is not = pro-gay. It's a=20 straight man's dyke film.=20

CORRECTIONS=20

=95 In last week's article "For Whom the Bell Tolls," on the missing = and dead=20 in the World Trade Center attacks, John Hynes was mistakenly listed = among those=20 unaccounted for. The missing person is his brother, Thomas Hynes. The = Voice=20 regrets the error.=20

=95 The September 18 Voice cover photo, "The Bastards," was = miscredited.=20 The photo was taken by Todd Rengel.