| Cyberletters for Tuesday 04/10/2001 The media should take a stand
How come our president and our government are allowing China to run over us? I am disgusted with our president and government, and how the media have not put more pressure on the government and made this the top story for a resolution.
We use to be the strongest country in the world that was feared by enemies and respected by countries. This issue with China is showing the world how weak and how much of a pushover we have become. Our military personnel who are being held are being used as political pawns. Why is our president not standing up to the country into which we pour billions in their market of trade while they steal our nuclear secrets and persecute their own people? In fact, we support communism and the persecution of their people by trading with them. But even in this crisis they continue to run over us, to dictate America! We continue to trade with them and are too scared to stand up.
We should have given China 24 hours to return our military personnel and plane or all trade would immediately stop. Then, if military action was needed, we should take those necessary steps. America, wake up! This one situation is going to be a determining factor for our future. Our enemies are seeing how much we can be pushed and China may be one of our future enemies.
Now we have given them yet another chance to steal our secrets by holding our plane. China is in no way scared of the United States! They have us right where they want us. If we apologize for this, the future problems will be never ending. The compensation that will be sought will be never ending. The status of the Unites States will sink even further. We will be saying that this is our fault and more hatred toward America and Americans will arise.
I am asking that the media take a stand to get our people home. We see now how important military people are, yet to the government they are absolutely worthless.
JASON RISNER, Garland, Texas
King's dream still needs to be heard
Re: Leonard Pitts' "Rev. King deserves reverence," Viewpoints, April 3.
Come on, people. Let's lighten up a little bit. Yes, Martin Luther King Jr. was a man with a vision. His vision of a world free of barriers due to race, creed and color was, and still is to this day, one that all people, no matter what their race, creed or color, should embrace with all the passion that Dr. King expressed. However, to say that the use of his "I Have A Dream" speech in the Alcatel commercial is disgusting or demeaning to the memory of Dr. King is somewhat of a stretch. Had Martin Luther King Jr. not had a message he would have had no audience to reach. If he had had nothing to say he could not have connected to an audience yearning to hear that message.
Dr. King's message is one that needed to be heard then and still needs to be heard today. However, the opponents of this advertisement seem to infer that Martin Luther King Jr. is something more than a man. Sorry, Leonard Pitts, Rev. King does not deserve reverence. I would propose that he, as a professing Christian, would have told you himself that no one deserves reverence except for a certain man who died on a cross some 2,000 ago.
Martin Luther King's message and his memory should be honored but not placed in a position of reverence. Few of us, if any, will have had a dream that inspires so many.
But remember, folks, he was just a man.
J.R. NORMAN, Dallas, Texas
Stories too far from the truth
I applaud your April 7 thumbs down Scorecard award to Dan Rather, as this was but another of many examples of Mr. Rather's inability to put his liberal leanings behind his duties as a journalist. However, to be fair to Mr. Rather, I feel that few "journalists" find themselves capable of reporting the facts without weaving their personal views into the news. Unfortunately, The Dallas Morning News and its "journalists" are among those that have stopped reporting the facts, and instead publish the "journalist's" personal interpretation of the facts.
A glaring example of this failing on the media's part was The Dallas Morning News' headlines of April 7, and the accompanying story regarding the tax cuts being considered in Congress. Instead of reporting that Congress had passed a $1.3 trillion tax cut plan, your headlines and story talked primarily about what a "body blow" this was to President Bush. Your "newspaper" disgusts me. Please accept a big thumbs down award for your continued biased reporting of the facts!
T. DWIGHT MORROW, Roanoke, Texas
The Sopranos' support misplaced
We watched The Sopranos on HBO on Sunday, April 1, and were appalled at the explicit sexual content and violence. This award-winning show descended to a low with degradation of women and a beating death of a woman. I will not in the future watch this program and urge parents and others to evaluate allowing this show the wide support it has received. I watched the program because a former patient reported that the portrayal of a psychiatrist was so authentic. Persons identifying with the April 1 episode might need a psychiatrist.
LINDA R. HUGHES, M.D., Dallas, Texas
The search for products not made in China
Like most of your readers, I shop with care and look for good quality products at the lowest price. But perhaps like many of your readers, too, my conscience dictates what I buy. I do not buy anything made in China. The reasons are obvious. As a proud U.S. citizen placing high value on equality, democracy, property rights, freedom of religion and speech, right to privacy and the inalienable right to life and liberty, I refuse to subsidize a system which works to undermine those very same values in their own country and in the countries they have occupied. The present spat with the U.S. on military personnel is an illustration of the arrogance and rigidity of that government and the American failure to deal with the Chinese system.
The failure is clearly evident in our marketplace. It is totally astounding and fills me with total frustration that there are few items on the store shelves that are not "Made in China." After searching 15 stores, I could finally buy a small stuffed figure, not "Made in China," at a reasonable price. One can only rarely find a baby item, winter clothing, a pair of sneakers, a toy, a broom or brush, an ornament or, for that matter, any item of daily use that is not "Made in China." If this continues, pretty soon, I may have to make all my purchases through the Internet from countries other than China.
With this domination of the American consumer, it is no wonder that China behaves the way it does and the collaborating U.S. businesses and the worried U.S. government do not want to offend the Chinese. I wonder, if the Soviet Union had dumped goods made by its prisoners and poorly paid laborers, at cut-throat prices, maybe we would have coddled them and treated them as "strategic" trading partner and Stalins, Khrushchevs and Brezhnevs would still be respected leaders. The often-quoted reason by business is that the U.S. needs to sell to the large consumer market in China. But there are better countries to sell to - countries such as Mexico, India, Indonesia, Turkey. Above all – who is fooling whom? We have a record, ever increasing, trade deficit with China. We are not selling to them; they are selling to us.
I urge your readers to boycott Chinese goods and the stores to stop importing from China.
JAY JAYAKUMAR, San Diego, Calif.
Only students ready for TAAS should be tested
Re: Ruben Navarrette's "Don't back off testing immigrant students," Viewpoints, April 6.
Ruben Navarrette has sound arguments as to why immigrants should take the TAAS test after living in America for a year. However, we as a community should look at the newcomers' side. Let's put ourselves into their shoes and try to imagine what they must feel when teachers put a TAAS test on their desk.
Imagine this: You are 14 years old, and you lived in Mexico for only a year. At home, you converse with your parents and siblings only in English, but, yes, you are exposed to Spanish at school and through the media. Nonetheless, you still grope and feel for many words you speak when you address an adult and your peers at school.
Now, lets imagine that you, just as all of your classmates, must take a standardized test. You will be held just as accountable as they will. You understand the importance of this test. Remember though, you have lived in Mexico for one year - your peers have lived there for their whole lives. How scared would you be?
Luckily, you are not a student who "gets by" in school. You try. You study. You even participate in class when you can. Most importantly, you have teachers who bolster you daily and help you with your learning deficiencies. Nevertheless, is it truly fair that you are held just as accountable for your scores? Simply put – no.
Before any new immigrant takes a test that involves higher-level cognitive skills, that only comes with constant exposure to the language, customs and culture of his new country, he needs a grace period where he can learn and come somewhat proficient in speaking, writing and reading the language.
Blame the teachers, blame the principals and blame the administration for not wanting to be held accountable for the newcomers' TAAS scores. But, before you become too altruistic, please think of our new immigrants in Texas and imagine their fright when a teacher provides them with two No. 2 pencils, a Scantron and a TAAS test, and she tells them that she cannot help them at all on any question.
If I was in a few of my ESOL students' shoes, had been in America for only a year and I was expected to take a test of this magnitude, I would be dumbfounded. Furthermore, I would be mad at my teachers, whom I trust and look up to, because they expect me to "pass" a test I was not ready to take.
M.G. GILLIAM-KOLLOCK, Dallas, Texas
Immigrants must learn the language
It saddens me deeply to briefly consider that America, Dallas, Texas, in particular, is positioning itself to fund additional bilingual teachers. The mere discussion of it is ludicrous. This is the only country that allows such "conveniences."
Once you've traveled outside America, you will quickly learn that if you cannot comprehend and/or speak the language, then you suffer the consequences. In Paris several years ago, we attempted to order lunch in French. Granted, our French left a lot to be desired. Rather than having quiche for lunch, we had, instead, boiled chicken livers – which were awful.
Non-English-speaking residents are at liberty to speak their native language at home if they want to maintain and continue to embrace their heritage. However, on the other hand, it is discourteous to speak a foreign language in the presence of others who do not understand. It is "assumed" that one is being discussed in a negative sense, because the conversation is not understood. Either learn the language or feel free to leave America.
No other country inconveniences itself for the sake of making foreigners feel more at ease.
D. PATRICK, Dallas, Texas
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