FRIDAY'S LETTERS: Pearl's Holocaust Honor, Cultural Identifiers in Cho Killings, Counting the Wounded

By: E&P Staff In today's letters, a reader wonders why the media don't pay more attention to those who are wounded in War or tragedy's like the one at Virginia Tech, another thinks E&P was gratutiously "cute" in an article about Bill Clinton, and a vote that Daniel Pearl should not be honored among victims of the Holocaust.

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Counting the Wounded at Virginia Tech

What do you think of the media's decision to limit Cho Seung-Hui's victim count only to murder victims? I would think Derek O'Dell and the 20-some other injured and wounded feel like victims. They might even appreciate being considered victims by the public.

I liken this to the media's decision to measure the impact of the War on Terror in terms only of the dead, and not the thousands of maimed and wounded civilians and soldiers who seem to be a footnote for textbook historians, at this point.

Joe Emanski
Managing Editor
Community News Service LLC

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E&P Gratitously Snarky in Clinton Item?

The Clinton/Crossword story ends with this: "But the real question remains: Will the answers to Clinton's puzzle depend on what your definition of the word 'is' is?"

That's just gratuitous cuteness. Everyone remembers Clinton's response, but how many remember the question (or ever knew it)? His answer was careful and correct. If he'd said "No," he would have been pounced on for lying, but he would have been telling the truth because the status of the relationship required a past tense, not the present tense. He was just letting the prosecutor know the question should be reworded in the interest of accuracy.

Snark, especially ignorant snark, should be beneath E&P. So there.

Patricia Sierra

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On the Virginia Tech 'Oldboy' Connection

I would like to congratulate Greg Mitchell in his recent discovery of foreign films. This, as you are obviously already aware, propels you into "expert" status for all things related to Asian Cinema. Oh wait, never mind. You're just another idiot with an opinion and a blog. I've seen Oldboy, too. In fact, I own it. I've got to tell you Greg, unless you stick primarily to the G and PG films, Oldboy really isn't that gory when compared to any number of other films from any number of other countries.

Just because there's a hammer and a Korean guy in it doesn't mean that suddenly everything that went horribly wrong in Virginia can be explained in a neat, little package. Some people are nuts and there's no one thing that anyone can point to and say "See? If this thing hadn't been in his life than one of this would have happened." The same can be said for any of the videogames the shooter may have been playing at the time or music he may have happened to like. Stop looking for scapegoats. It makes a good story for the media to sell to a bunch of gullible, frightened parents but it's still a load of crap.

Lover of fake blood and loud music,
Kathryn Gilliland
Chicago, Ill.

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Cultural Identifiers and the Cho Killings

I don't think the media should keep referring to this Cho Seung-Hui as a South Korean. It appears they emphasize this point and I wonder why? The fact is, he was just an 8-year-old kid when he came to the U.S. with his parents and he had been living in the U.S. for 15 years.

There is an old saying "it takes a whole neighborhood to raise a kid." It would seem more reasonable to assume, that his "condition" may have more to do with the influence of American upbringing, not Korean. These "violent video games" I read about that he liked to play, did not originate in Korea! The violent movies and the barrage of repetitious "police" programs you see constantly airing on TV, did not originate in Korea. ...

I think it is high time for serious "self-reflection" in the U.S. and to accept responsibility for the violence-laden mentality that has been permeated throughout society. If not, we will just keep reading about more future Columbines and repeated Virginia Tech-type massacres!

And coming up with ten trillion new "laws" is not going to accomplish anything either. Merely wishing for a "kinder, gentler nation" is not going to happen by itself. It is time to start addressing basic core values, moral issues and STOP ALREADY with the over saturation of police programs on TV and violent video games and movies where people blow each other up or shoot and kill one another!

Wayne Kearns
Montreal, Quebec
Canada

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Daniel Pearl Honored With Holocaust Victims

I think that it is a great shame to have Daniel Pearl added to the memorial for Holocaust Victims. As a relative of Survivors, [I think] this is a grave error for Miami to do such a thing and I am deeply disappointed.

If you add Daniel then you must add Benjamin Blutstein who was killed by a bomb at the Hebrew University bombing in 2002 becuase he was Jewish (whom my family knew very very well). Ben was killed before Pearl but you don't see anyone from Harrisburg trying to get his name on any Memorial for the Holocaust. Then where does the adding of names stop?

Every year Jews are killed because they are Jewish. Yes, they are all tragedies -- yet we don't add their name to such a document the reason is because the Holocaust was so horrifying that it needs to be signified by itself.

Jason Klein
Harrisburg Pa.

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Virginia Tech Killer's Gun Purchase

I wonder why you didn't mention that in order to buy a handgun from a gun store, the purchaser has to go through the Federal NICS background check?

Your article makes it seem like Cho Seung-Hu walked out with no questions asked. Could it be that you didn't want to highlight the fact that the background check didn't prevent Seung-Hu from killing all those people?

When the Brady Act (which mandated the NICS background check) was passed, it was hailed by politicians and gun control supporters as being able to prevent these types of crimes. I thought reporters were supposed to be objective in their reporting and report all the facts, not slant the coverage to push a particular agenda.

David Wisniewski
Haddonfield N.J.

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Was There, in Fact, WMD in Iraq?

I have been reading about the war in the press for 5 years and have found myself to be surprised for sometime at the strange coverage. I say strange because it is evident that you have not asked the same questions I have.

My friend was giving a party for his son, a Marine who was in the first wave in Iraq, upon his return home, and he was grumpy and angry. I asked his father what he was so upset about. I was told to ask him. When I did, he started to yell, "I DON'T GET IT! Why is the press telling America there was no WMD? I found it! I was there. Why are they selling this ... to America?" My guess was that George Bush Sr. was in on giving some of the weapons to Iraq as his records were quickly sealed. Since this time I have met three soldiers, one from the Marines, a Navy Seabee, and one from the Army who also verified this information. One of them told me to shut my mouth and keep quiet. I asked why, and I was told you don't want to know what we found.

If I can find this out from asking grunts why is the press not covering this? Why is it that Diane Sawyer can be quated in the Reader's Digest as having ask Iran's President if he gave Iraq nuclear weapon's and his response is that "you don't secure your borders" and you do not cover this? I do not understand. This appears to me to be slanted coverage. I know what the politicians are saying. But have you actually talked to young men and women who were there at the beginning? How many have you actually asked if there was WMD?

Paul Sutliff
Teacher/Writer



Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the Bill Moyers article available online. Drudge Report has covered it, probably to make themselves appear "balanced," which is how I found the article you wrote.

Public humiliation of the press is a good idea, because it may actually help to some degree to get the press to change it?s tune about promoting the neocon agenda of One-World Corporate International Banker Government.

I am glad you went to so far as to list the names of those who declined to be interviewed by Moyers. It would have been nice to also have their email addresses listed, so the general public can properly finish the job of humiliating them.

Brian Richard