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Letters To The Editor News

Letters to the Editor: Doing the right thing on ISIS

Doing the right thing on ISIS

Re ISIS: Who Exactly Are We Fighting For? (NOW, September 17-23). Two gangs are shooting up the streets, and innocent people are getting killed. Should our response be that stopping one of the gangs will only help the other gang? That is essentially Scott Taylor’s position. A more principled position would be, if many sides of a conflict are “bad guys,” that we fight all the bad guys and protect the innocent people in the middle. That’s what it means to do the right thing.

Raymond Li

Toronto

Made-in-Canada refugee crisis

Hearts were broken and tears were shed when a Canadian connection to the death of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was revealed (NOW, September 10-16). Canadians have rightly called for an immediate relaxation of refugee policy. There is, however, much more we can do to minimize suffering in troubled parts of the world than opening our borders. Our weapons industry continues to pump arms into Libya, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. The end users of these armaments and their targets over time are anyone’s guess. 

Canada must become a genuine steward of humanity and take action on arms sales for the sake of Kurdi and the thousands who have suffered like him.

Joe Davidson

Toronto

TIFF butt worth kissing

Like letter-writer Ken Robards, I love cinema and the excitement and diversity TIFF offers (NOW, September 17-23). His suggestion, however, that local media are pandering to Hollywood film productions is, at least in NOW’s, case, unfair.

For example, take NOW’s cover of Irish actor Saoirse Ronan, star of Brooklyn. If there were ever any celebrity backside worth kissing, it’d be this brilliant Irish actor’s.

Steven Kovacs

Toronto

Stiffer penalties won’t help dead cyclists

Re Fatal Statistics (NOW, September 17-23). This past June 13, I lost a dear friend, Adam Excell, and the universe lost an amazing individual to a fatal hit-and-run by a van. Although I agree with a vulnerable road users law and that stiffer penalties may be a deterrent for some motorists, without proper infrastructure to protect cyclists and pedestrians most people won’t be motivated to slow down and pay attention.

For me, this is an afterthought and will not bring Adam back to those who struggle with grief, going back and forth from anger to despair over the young man who committed this crime. But I think all victims’ families would agree that had the streets been safer, we would still have our loved ones instead of wishing for retribution. No matter how harsh, the penalties will never be enough.

Leyah Cynamon

Toronto

School-daze memories of the Queen

Re God, Don’t Save The Queen (NOW, September 17-23). There are actual reasons for Canada to no longer allow a non-resident alien to act as our monarch. They involve self-actualization and democracy. Peter Watson needs to update his school-daze perspective.

Catherine Vale

From nowtoronto.com

Victorian accounts of Africa not so bigoted 

Re T.O.’s Racist Roots (NOW, September 17-23). Modern-day albinos being attacked in Congo and Tanzania for the magical properties of their body parts might take issue with Yves Engler’s glib dismissal of Victorian descriptions of the African continent.

Robert Quinn

From nowtoronto.com

Cringe-worthy bias

I pick up NOW from time to time, especially liking the music coverage and listings. However, Michael Hollett’s blatant political bias in Falling Right Into Harper’s Trap (NOW, September 17-23) is ruining the goodwill you earn from the non-political material. Perhaps when PM Mulcair takes charge you can stop publishing altogether, as all your problems will be solved. But if your hero turns out to be just as bad or worse than Harper, I trust that you will be every bit as weasel-like in your coverage of him.

Reeve Wilkie

Scarborough

Imagining a future without Harper as PM

I am a young musician who happens to also love politics. I got very excited about the ImagineOct20th initiative because it is rooted in a politics of hope. I respectfully disagree with Michael Hollett that this event plays into Stephen Harper’s hands. This movement is about how we rebuild our country after too many years of Harper ripping it apart. It is about aspiring to something great and motivating people to vote for our vision of the future and against Harper. 

Most of my life has been lived with Harper as PM. The things my gen-eration cares about – climate change, social justice, peace, the arts, education – will do much -better with a new government, hopefully one with Thomas Mulcair as prime minister.  

On September 30, I will be happy to stand beside musicians I look up to singing about a better world that is possible on October 20.

Brighid Fry, 12 years old 

Toronto

Good election stuff, just keep it fair

A Day At The Races (NOW, September 17-23) is a terrific article. Kudos to Jonathan Goldsbie for being fair and informative. I didn’t know some of that stuff.

FYI, the story about Conservative candidate Chungsen Leung’s “Go back to Iran” comment is another example of media manipulation.  I was at that public forum where the comment was allegedly made. The organizers’ video people cut and pasted Leung’s comments.

Look forward to reading more of your election stuff – just keep it reasonably fair.

Patti Starr

Toronto

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