Want Tucsonans (and Americans) to Give a Crap? Dump the Cell Phones and iPods
Tucsonans don't give a crap about city elections ("Who Gives a Crap?" June 25). Actually, Tucsonans are too stupid and lazy to give a crap.
The problem with American people is we've dumbed ourselves down over the years to the point that we are a nation of zombies. We now walk around with cell phones glued to our ears, text message 24/7 or have iPods stuck in our ears. Nobody learns about history or the workings of state, federal or local government in schools anymore. Americans are now more interested in TV reality shows than what's going on in government.
Years ago, when Rush Limbaugh had a TV show, he would go out and interview people and ask simple questions, like, "Who is your governor?" The interviewees would look around trying to find a clue to what Rush was asking them; most people claimed Rush made this up. Then Jay Leno started the "Jaywalking" segment, during which he would interview people. American people started to realize that we are dumb; there was even a TV game show, Street Smarts, for a long time showing just how stupid we are.
What this nation needs is to get rid of these cell phones and iPods and get back to the basics of teaching history and showing why we have a government, and how it works. The sad part is, one out of five people won't be able to read this because of illiteracy.
Clifford Breidenfeld
Wouldn't Smaller Government Mean Fewer Gun Laws?
One point of contention with your column ("Political Hypocrisy," Editor's Note, June 18): Wouldn't lessening restrictions on Second Amendment rights be the textbook definition of "smaller government"?
I am in complete agreement regarding the hypocrisy with respect to abortion rights, though I would contend that if we are going to define a fetus as nonhuman until the time of birth, there are contradictions that need to be worked through elsewhere in our legal code.
Matt Nelson
This Country Needs to Stop Honoring Mass Murderers!
Leo W. Banks' article about Geronimo's "missing" skull ("The Strange Saga of Geronimo's Skull," June 11) was excellent. But it would have been good for him to write that there was an arrest warrant for the old demon here in Arizona until the day he died. In 1917, when the Hotel Geronimo was built, Harry Drachman (uncle of Roy) said, "They should build a wax museum of all his victims in the basement." The Pennington family (of Pennington Street) was devastated by deaths and stolen livestock due to Apache attacks.
I am so glad this country has followed Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in making postcards and bronze statues of mass murderers like Geronimo, Billy the Kid, Jesse James and Pancho Villa.
Keith Conley
And Now for Something Completely Different ...
Why are you publishing "racism"? I don't understand why you pick one ethnic group over all the others in this nation for misinformation and insults every week.
I refer to ¡Ask a Mexican! Do you really think this is funny? Why don't we see "Ask a Pole," "Ask an Irishman," "Ask an Italian" ... you get the gist. Perhaps it's because we are not "separatist." Perhaps it's because we love this country, and our ancestors came here to be "American," not to use this nation for what they could drain out of her while retaining allegiance to the old culture/country!
But this week was the absolute limit! Don't you think there is enough racism and hate in the world without publishing it? This is from the June 25 edition of ¡Ask a Mexican! What kind of racist remark is that, and why do you publish such racism/garbage? This is the quote: "Finally, of course we know gabachos can operate leafblowers—that's why you'll never see one use it to make a living unless his/her education is at Guatemalan levels of stupidity."
If I were Guatemalan, I would be incredibly insulted! How dare you! Do you think it's OK for Mexicans to spout their hatred? Anyone can be racist; white people definitely don't hold a monopoly on hate; in fact, I lived in Mexico, and of all the countries I have lived in—and I have lived in many—it is the most "racist" of all, especially toward blacks. You know about Memín Pinguín, of course, and even worse, it is incredible how horribly they treat their own indigenous people. I won't even touch the subject of how Mexico treats illegals—unless you want to hear of constant rape, robbery and murder.
Laura Leighton
Correction
In "Tucson Medical Center Yanks Advertising After Star Story" (Media Watch, July 2), due to an editing error, we reported that TMC was "happy" with the Arizona Daily Star's "Citizenship for Sale?" article. Of course, that should have read "not happy."
We apologize for the mistake.
