| Letters for Friday 04/06/2001 Wang Zhizhi: the joke's now on critics
Two years ago, I wrote a letter to a popular sports guy about the lack of tact for broadcasting public outrage and ridicule for the draft pick of Wang Zhizhi. Word was that Mavericks Coach Nelson was showing contempt for the draft and acting rather psychotic in doing so.
First, there was the making fun of the player's name. I questioned whether making fun of a name like, say, Hakeem would dare be allowed on radio. The point should still be addressed since a growing population of high-income fans in the U.S.A. (and Dallas) happen to be Chinese.
Second, I tried to explain what would happen to the value of the Mavs if a billion people suddenly went crazy trying to buy Mavericks merchandise. Little does the world know how wild the Chinese are over the NBA.
When NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, the political machine reacted with outrage and started showing Korean War movies (i.e., the ones where Chinese shoot at Americans and miss about as much as the Lone Ranger does). The public reaction?
They, too, reacted with outrage – because the movies pre-empted NBA Action, which is about the most popular show in the country.
I was out in the countryside speaking with an illiterate farmer. He asked how could it be night in the U.S.A. when it is day in China if we are on the same earth. I tried to explain that the earth was round like a ... "Do you know what a basketball is?" I asked.
"Oh, sure! NBA! Michael Jordan!" he shouted giving me the thumbs up. He didn't know the earth was round, but he knows Jordan, Shaq, the Mailman!
Wang Zhizhi will bring more to the Mavs than his long arm's reach. He'll reach fans, Mav fans, on the other side of the world.
Hopefully, these points will be taken more seriously now.
DOUGLAS BRIGGS, M.D., Kunming, China
I apologize, Laura
I am appalled at the picketing of Laura Miller's home.
I have followed her disagreement with the investigation of allegations that Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton was involved in easing enforcement of the law against club owners on Northwest Highway. Nothing she said was a personal attack against the chief, nor has she used profanity.
It is one thing to disagree with her, as the pickets have every right to do. It is quite another thing to engage in profanity and scare tactics. If Ms. Miller called Chief Bolton, Lee Alcorn, John Wiley Price or any of the picketers vulgar names, or marched in front of their homes with loudspeakers in the early morning hours, she would be held to public disgrace.
Protest if you must, but stick to the issues. Profanity is unnecessary in any dialogue. Attempting to terrorize Ms. Miller and her neighbors is not the way to change anyone's mind – except to turn reasonable people against the terrorists.
Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and others used peaceful protests and moved mountains. All the Dallas protesters have done is to move me, a black man, to write a letter of apology to Ms. Miller and those of my neighbors who live around her who were subject to the vulgarities contained on the pickets. As a resident of Kessler Park, I am embarrassed to face my friends and neighbors who live on the same street as Ms. Miller.
I recall that City Council members get paid only for attending council meetings. Voters should remember this when we vote on fair pay for her and the other council members. Certainly being a council member is no picnic and no part-time job.
WAYNE MICHAEL PALMER, Dallas
Support servicemen
The People's Republic of China is now holding 24 United States servicemen against their will after forcing them to land their reconnaissance plane on Chinese territory. The question is not what we can, or should, do about it. The question is what are we willing to do about it.
Americans spend a great deal of money on goods imported from China; things ranging from kitchen utensils to car parts to audio/video equipment. We buy them because they are inexpensive and convenient. To purchase goods made elsewhere would require checking the label to see where they are made, and possibly paying a little more for them.
Are the men and women who wear this country's uniform worth the hassle and expense?
DONNY H. DICKEY, Dallas
Poor piloting
If a Chinese military pilot flying a supersonic fighter cannot evade a lumbering 200 knot turbo-prop, China has got a real pilot training problem and Taiwanese military pilots have little to fear.
GEORGE BOURLAND, Dallas
U2 critic outage
Re: "Power Outage – Bono lacks energy, drains U2 concert," April 4.
After reading the U2 concert review, I am underwhelmed at best. The concert was nothing short of amazing! U2 has not only helped define the true meaning of rock music but they are also self-made legends over 20 years in the making. What I don't feel people understand is although Bono is the ultimate rock star, he is also a human being with limitations. So what if he missed a high note? Has he not already proved himself? Has he not earned the right to be less than perfect at times?
Tuesday night's show was about the people and the music, not the hype. Bono and the band are real! They connect with the audience without all of the excess junk some people sadly demand in order to have a good experience. U2 is one of the few "popular" bands who not only know how to write amazing lyrics but can also play actual instruments.
I'm not exactly sure what makes Thor Christensen a "pop music critic." Perhaps he should do a little homework in understanding true music before voicing an "expert" opinion.
MATT McBRIDE, Dallas
Thor got it right
According to critic Thor Christiensen, U2's Bono more or less stunk in concert on April 3. I agree, he did.
But the problem is not that Bono stunk, it's that the whole idea of a spectacular rock concert before a mass audience stinks.
U2 had a heart-shaped runway. It reminds me of the Bernini's ridiculous addition of "arms" to St. Peter's in Rome during the Baroque Counter-Reformation.
The U2 stage creates a false relationship with the audience. The stage is not love. It is Bono-cum-opiate.
RICARDO BONHOMIE, Dallas
March 19, 1945
Re: The March 19 article, "History: On this date in 1945 about 800 people were killed as kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. Carrier Franklin off Japan, but the ship was saved."
My brother, Commander Walker Ethridge, was squadron commander of Air Group 47 on the USS Bataan. The Bataan was in the same fleet with the Franklin. That night Walker told his shipmates, "They will not do that to my ship." The next day the kamikazes came after the Bataan. As one headed for his ship Walker shot him down and saved his ship. Walker was shot down by his own ship's fire but would not stop until his ship was saved. He was supposed to stay out of the ship's fire but gave his life for his country. He is my hero.
BOB ETHRIDGE, Dallas
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