Each week we post a run-down of the best of our reader comments with the hopes of highlighting some of your most valuable insights and encouraging more people to join the fray. Let us know what you think—in the comments!
Trudestress: I grew up in a family that could be classified as poor—our finances were shaky at best. But I had two married, working parents, who did not abuse substances, commit crimes, etc., and expected their children to meet a high standard of behavior. So much for the "culture of poverty." And where "unable to defer gratification" is concerned, well, when it’s rare for you to have any extra money, it’s entirely understandable that you want to buy yourself or your family some little treat, because you figure something will come along and suck up the money anyway—so you may as well enjoy it when you can!
In response to Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Michael Harrington and the ‘Culture of Poverty.’” March 14, 2012
Glorrie: Rush Limbaugh is free to hate all he wants. He is free to speak that hatred all he wants. But there’s nothing in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution that says one is free to express that hatred via any particular medium, least of all one that purportedly attracts millions of listeners. He can still stand on a soapbox anywhere in the U.S. and say whatever he damn pleases.
Taking him off the air in no way impedes his freedom of speech. It simply grants him EXACTLY the same freedom of speech that all the rest of us have.
In response to Gloria Feldt and Wendy Kaminer’s “OpinionNation: Should Feminists Push the FCC to Get Limbaugh Off the Air?” March 16, 2012
LaurafromSC: I am so haunted by this crime. What is the difference, aside from the absence of a mob, between this murder and the lynching’s in the Jim Crow south, when all a black man had to do was "look suspicious" or "seem threatening" to justify his murder? These excuses were used to justify 100 years of lynch law in this country. We, as a society must stand up against this climate of hatred, fear and violence and insist on the equal rule of law for all as guaranteed in our Constitution and in the Civil Rights Act. Florida’s self-defense law cannot, must not be used to pardon the racially motivated lynch mob mentality that culminated in the death of this innocent child.
In response to Mychal Denzel Smith’s “Justice for Trayvon Martin.” March 19, 2012
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Justin O’Neill: Great post, for the most part. Really captured why this case is so tragic, and how there really is no such thing as justice when it comes to cases like these.
I take exception, though, to the way you characterize hate crimes. Advocates for them, such as myself, don’t want to punish people for their thoughts. We want to punish people who attack entire communities more harshly than people who only attack individuals. Punish the crime, not the thought but recognize that a hate crime is categorically different in effect and in magnitude than a non-hate crime. It’s no different than differentiating between first and second-degree murder.
In response to Richard Kim’s “The Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi We Will Never Know.” March 19, 2012
Laribo: Thank you, Mr. Richard Kim, for this highly nuanced analysis. I really appreciate the depth of Kim’s investigation into the lives of Clementi, Clementi’s older brother and parents, and Ravi. Really good journalism, and really good analysis—something I see lacking in several other news outlets/news magazines on this issue.
This whole situation surrounding Tyler Clementi’s suicide, and now Dharun Ravi’s trial and verdict, is just horrible all around. Tyler Clementi must have been in so much pain, agony, and suffering, and I pray that he rests in peace. But Ravi (despite his horrible prank/invasion of privacy that he committed) should not be made the sacrificial lamb for our society’s collective culpability in regularly treating LGBT people with such degradation, contempt, humiliation, demonization, and violence. Ravi’s crime is not anywhere near as horrifically hateful as the murderers of Matthew Shepard, or KKK lynchings against black people, to deserve to be deemed a "hate crime".
I would hope that Ravi would be made to do tons of community service for an LGBT center promoting the well-being of LGBT youth. Rather than seeking vengeance to calm our rage against societal homophobia, I would hope that we could promote rehabilitation, compassion, forgiveness, and love. Maybe Ravi could be taught to undue his homophobic tendencies, and better yet, become an advocate for LGBT equality.
In response to Richard Kim’s “The Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi We Will Never Know.” March 19, 2012
JakobFabian01: The Voting Rights Act should be revised so that the Department of Justice can review the policies of ALL states and territories, not just Southern ones. That should take care of the complaint that it is discriminatory.
Besides, voter suppression is by no means confined to the South. Anti-democracy conservatives passed a voter-suppression law in Indiana — obviously chosen because as a Northern state, it would escape from Justice Department review. They just passed one in the House of the Minnesota Legislature. ALEC’s strategy is a national one, and we need to fight it on the Federal level.
In response to Ben Adler’s “The GOP Assault on the Voting Rights Act.” March 21, 2012
Curiousbutwithvalues: That is right Ms. Sen. Unfortunately we have a growing group of developing countries, and its business class, that have bought into "blame the government for everything" attitude also.
One can blame some government polices, programs or departments…not an entire government! We need strong, smart, well-informed, alert ethical and empathic people in all governments around the world. The US is no exception. People with the highest conscience, caring and commitment should be working for and with the government to make sure businesses know their place. Yes know their place!. Without monitoring, regulations and reform businesses will try to exploit, cheat and control people, policies and government.
How is it that so many developing countries borrow or follow too much of American conservatism or libertarianism? If "the role and value of government" debate is just taking place in the US now, I worry that the worst of American conservatism and libertarianism is being exported abroad.- eroding some of their intelligent and insightful understanding of the role and value of government.
In response to Rinku Sen’s “Do We Need Government to Fight Discrimination?” March 21, 2012
