LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[December 7th, 2005] MEET YOUR MEAT

In response to Alexis Turner regarding "Wuss Cuisine" [Mailbox, WW, Nov. 23, 2005]: You seem to get a charge from sarcastically putting down people who care about how humans treat other living beings. I eat meat, and I also know that veal is available because most male calves are useless to a dairy industry that only needs a little bull sperm to keep its business going.

I had the experience of living on a farm with a dairy cow. I watched as she went through two pregnancies and gave birth, and too soon, the babies were forced off her udders and put in a separate field where each one cried endlessly for its mother. The female calf was kept because she could, in turn, be a milking cow. There was no use for the male calf, and he was sold for slaughter. I wonder if you would be quite so uncaring if you experienced the process whereby you get to eat a tasty cut of meat called "veal," from beginning to end?

I have not had firsthand experience of geese being force-fed so that humans can enjoy a luxury food made from their fatty livers (foie gras). However, since humans show over and over a willingness to mistreat and torture animals in order to make money, there's no reason to think that this is not happening.

The important point is: Do you want to care about the living animals that become your food, and make eating choices based on their treatment and what it takes to provide you with that so-called "delicacy"? I deeply hope so.

Esther Gass
Southeast 31st Avenue

FULL MENTAL JARHEAD

David Walker's interview with Gulf War veteran and author Anthony Swofford ["Chasing Warâ" WW, Nov. 2, 2005] convinced me neither to read Jarhead nor to see the movie based on his book. Instead, it left me with a familiar taste of bile. Swofford describes the book and film as "post-Vietnam" in that it remains objective about its subject whereas in the past "the military got slammed by the civilian world."

One wonders what evidence he bases this statement upon. In fact, the historical record indicates that it was anti-war protesters who were often treated with hostility, while soldiers were widely supported by the public—in particular convicted "baby killer" Lt. William Calley Jr., who received fan mail and a commuted sentence, while the jury of combat veterans who found him guilty were vilified as traitors.

While Swofford points out that the 1987 Stanley Kubrick classic Full Metal Jacket was often perceived as a Marine Corps recruiting film rather than an indictment of war, another irony is that former Marine Gus Hasford, the author of The Short-Timers, upon which the screenplay was based, was also a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War—which, we were (mis)informed during the 2004 election campaign, was a group of phony vets organized by John Kerry and Jane Fonda to accuse GIs of war crimes.

Perhaps the real message of Jarhead isn't that Marines should be left alone to do their job but how films and other media condition Americans' beliefs and perceptions about war.

Jason Strakes
Beaverton