Letters to the Editor
Totally fact up
Dear Sir,
A quotation from article on President Chávez: ‘Chavez has been a controversial figure since he failed to take control of Venezuela in a military coup in 1989. He came into office six years later, and despite his support among the poorer residents of the country, he has attracted vehement criticism for what his largely upperand middle-class opponents see as his undermining of democratic institutions.’ Please be advised that Lt. Col. Hugo Chávez participated in a coup attempt in February of 1992 - NOT in 1989 (year of the Caracazo - where many citizens were killed on the orders of then Pres. Carlos Andrés Pérez.) Furthermore, Pres. Chávez was elected in December of 1998, and took office early in 1999. Please be further advised that a journalist’s credibility depends 100% on getting the facts straight. (Which may explain why journalism has become a discredited profession in the US.)
Marthe Raymond
Mexico
A film to break the camel’s back
Dear Sir,
The ‘Not So Queer As Folk’ article in your last week’s edition was an apt piece on the changing social attitudes towards homosexuality in both the arts and the wider world. However, I feel that Transamerica, despite Felicity Huffman’s award for ‘best female lead’ did not receive the recognition it deserved. When discussing the erosion of regressive social stigmas, it is all too easy to sideline transexuality.
People tend not to treat this as seriously as other minority statuses, perhaps because of its comparatively lower frequency, perhaps because it has physical manifestations. Huffman impressively re-learnt her own gender from a male perspective, and whilst being incredibly poignant, the film also had a strong comic theme. It was a sensitive, engaging piece.
Arguably, it was more radical and ‘boundary pushing’ than Brokeback Mountain, and yet seems not to have been heralded on quite the same level. Is this because Brokeback Mountain is a better film, or because transexuality is still unforgivably stigmatised?
Name and address witheld
Hay! I have a condition....
Dear Sir,
As a sufferer of acute hay fever, I object to being labelled as a ‘sniffler’.
Having red itchy eyes, a permanently running nose and the tendency to sneeze at inopportune moments is bad enough, without some obnoxious journo hacks mocking your condition. It seems to me that the two rapier like wits forgot to mention a seventh type of library dweller, the ‘tutter’. The ’tutter’ is a particularly pernicious individual who sighs and exchanges disparaging looks over any student who so much as dares breathe within ten metres of the Rad Cam.
‘Tutters’ have certainly earnt a central place within my own horrific library nightmares. I urge the two authors to exercise a bit of tolerance when using libraries, as well as some restraint when it comes to voicing their complaints in the student paper.
Name Withheld
Lincoln College
The best letter each week will receive a free Eurotime diary in their pigeon hole. This week’s winner was Marthe Raymond.
11th May 2006