I'm a social worker in a building for elderly and disabled individuals. I was really thrilled with your article ("My Right Foot," issue of June 14-20) not only for the uplifting profiles but also the resources you cited.
Thanks for the great article for me, and my colleagues to whom I have e-mailed your piece, and my clients who will benefit from knowing that they are not alone.
— Jennifer Kelly-Mast, LISW - West End
Not Impressed With 'Hypocrisy'
I read my first CityBeat yesterday, when I picked up a copy while leaving a restaurant. I don't think I'll be reading it any more.
It contained a comic strip, This Modern World, by someone calling himself "Tom Tomorrow" that was a hate-filled, mocking satire of "conservative commentators," apparently intended to represent Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, whom he called "the Scary Blonde Pundette and the Drug Addled Host." The disclaimer about the characters representing "actual conservatives" being "purely coincidental" was obviously part of the joke.
Honest, decent people respect critical thinking skills when they communicate. When someone goes after others personally, as "Tom Tomorrow" did, it is called "ad hominem attack." This tactic is used when a person doesn't want to or cannot engage his opponent on the merits of his positions, usually because he is unable to make a compelling argument.
"Tomorrow" chose to mock conservatives with trumped-up innuendo — i.e., they hate homosexuals, liberals and feminists and want to nuke the Middle East. On his Web site (www.thismodernworld.com), instructions for contacting him contain his own guidelines for respecting the anonymity of a correspondent. You must not send scatalogical, semi-literate or hate-filled screeds. However, it's apparently OK for him to fill his own screed with hatred; his anonymity is not threatened. I call that cowardice and hypocrisy.
Liberals claim to be concerned about environmental issues. I can't help thinking about all the trees that were destroyed to make the paper for this publication. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. People who hate so much often end up choking on it.
— Bill Banchy, Anderson Twp.
