Inbox

[March 19th, 2008]

Pregnant With Ignorance

Movie reviewer Aaron Mesh is skeptical about the “inevitability of events” in the film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, set in Romania in 1987 [“Not a Choice,” WW, March 12, 2008]. He states that the effectiveness of the film “hinges on the audience accepting that the heroines have been violently and completely stripped of their right to choice.” In fact, that was the case. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu outlawed not only abortion but ALL FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL in 1966; this ban lasted until he was ousted in 1989. His desire to produce hordes of workers eliminated safe reproductive options for Romanian women and their partners.

Mr. Mesh is no student of history. Apparently, his inability to become pregnant prevents him from “believing” Otilia’s decision-making (and utter resourcefulness) in the face of an untimely pregnancy. His review is shamelessly uninformed.

Darr Durham
Northeast 19th Avenue

Sociopathic Vandal, Not Terrorist

Coming from the perspective of someone who has a hippie background and lives near the Eagle Creek bombing site, I have no sympathy for [Tre] Arrow and his kind [“Arrow’s Shield,” WW, March 12, 2008]. Violence is not a solution and will never bring somebody to your side unless they’re already prone to violence. He is a scumbag and deserves to do hard time in a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

That being said, calling him an “eco-terrorist” is absurd. Arrow and his friends are VANDALS and CRIMINALS. Terrorism is a word that should be reserved for truly horrific acts that are designed to bring fear to entire communities or nations, not for property crimes. It diminishes the power of the word and gives more political attention to the accused than they deserve. Even if somebody had died in these bombings, he would be a murderer, not a terrorist. Both will get locked up for life but one is a legal term and the other is a political term.

Call him what you want, he’s a lowlife vandal scum that deserves to rot but certain parties would like to make [him] into a bigger bogeyman threat than he actually is for their own political agendas. Lock him up and throw away the key if you want, but don’t give him more power than he deserves by calling him a terrorist.

He’s a sociopath, a criminal and a loser. No more, no less.

“Doug”
via wweek.com