Do We Really?
Oct. 10th, 2003 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
richardf8The following letter appeared in todays New York Times:
To the Editor:
Re "Hummers to Harleys," by David Brooks (column, Oct. 4):
I wonder if it occurs to Mr. Brooks, Arnold Schwarzenegger or even President Bush that this macho, military, Mack Truck response to 9/11, based entirely on anger and fear-mongering, is turning out to be more foolish than manly.
Rather than buying Hummers, Americans should become experts on the Bill of Rights, help those who've been out of work for a year or two, and register people to vote.
Rather than dropping bombs on the Arabs, we should bombard them with cultural emissaries who could help them understand that we hold our freedoms dearer than McDonald's, Disney and Coca-Cola. Rather than cutting taxes on rich individuals and corporations and creating record deficits, our leaders should have the courage to separate money from politics.
It's clear to me that we've learned the wrong lesson from 9/11.
JUDY LEVINE
Kingston, N.Y., Oct. 4, 2003
I must say that in the past decade, I've seen precious little evidence that Americans do, in fact, "hold our freedoms dearer than McDonald's, Disney and Coca-Cola."
Indeed, the fact that these are the symbols of America to the world is a testament to just how highly we prize them. Indeed, when our schools form alliances with these entities, when licensed merchandise figures in a child's life from perhaps as early as birth, when one can walk into sears and find a Disney Licensed Television, complete with DVD Player and remote control all ready for the Kids' room, we imbued them with more power than the constitution.
To the Editor:
Re "Hummers to Harleys," by David Brooks (column, Oct. 4):
I wonder if it occurs to Mr. Brooks, Arnold Schwarzenegger or even President Bush that this macho, military, Mack Truck response to 9/11, based entirely on anger and fear-mongering, is turning out to be more foolish than manly.
Rather than buying Hummers, Americans should become experts on the Bill of Rights, help those who've been out of work for a year or two, and register people to vote.
Rather than dropping bombs on the Arabs, we should bombard them with cultural emissaries who could help them understand that we hold our freedoms dearer than McDonald's, Disney and Coca-Cola. Rather than cutting taxes on rich individuals and corporations and creating record deficits, our leaders should have the courage to separate money from politics.
It's clear to me that we've learned the wrong lesson from 9/11.
JUDY LEVINE
Kingston, N.Y., Oct. 4, 2003
I must say that in the past decade, I've seen precious little evidence that Americans do, in fact, "hold our freedoms dearer than McDonald's, Disney and Coca-Cola."
Indeed, the fact that these are the symbols of America to the world is a testament to just how highly we prize them. Indeed, when our schools form alliances with these entities, when licensed merchandise figures in a child's life from perhaps as early as birth, when one can walk into sears and find a Disney Licensed Television, complete with DVD Player and remote control all ready for the Kids' room, we imbued them with more power than the constitution.
