Letters 11-30-2015
Nov. 27, 2015
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"Snapshots" of Islam Offensive
In his latest effort (Northern Express Nov. 23 - Nov. 29, 2015,) David Kachadurian provides a jumble of FYI disclosures pertaining to Islam and Muslim societies, and posing as if providing a public service announcement, he advises the readers to ponder their import and to "make of them what you will."
What he spreads out before us is a hodgepodge gallery of news-item-type "snapshots" of Islam as singular in its extremism, cruelty, invasiveness and misogyny, characteristics not absent in our own society. But as a professional photographer, he well knows that snapshots can be doctored and manipulated in order to convey the desired imagery. In this case the images construed are ones that help fuel suspicion, fear and prejudice, if not hostility toward Islamic peoples and cultures.
In other words, David Kachadurian has developed some simplified, narrowly focused and unfortunate pictures of a world that he and most of us Americans know or understand little or nothing about except for what is scanted through the daily news. So in character of his previous opinion pieces, he is making of these "snapshots" what he offensively will.
Allen McCullough, Interlochen
Not Another War
To these people who believe we need to be at war in the Middle East all the time: try thinking about getting the countries that are in the area to take care of these bad guys instead of us. We are almost in constant war and have been as long as most can remember.
We are going broke and losing too many of our young, and becoming more hated every time we go to war. Unless you are willing to accept a big tax increase to pay for it, another war would create another financial crash like last time. Also, unless you and your families are willing to go, don’t be so pro war.
Alfred W. Wilkins, Traverse City
The Unvaccinated Are Punished
Pulling healthy children from school due to a so called "outbreak" of a mild childhood illness isn’t for the safety of the community, as we’re being led to believe. It’s to prove a point that the health department will follow through on their threats to exclude the unvaccinated from all school related events, whenever they see fit. In more words, it’s punishing parents for making unpopular medical decisions for their own families. You can hardly say it’s for the sake of the community when fully vaccinated children (who remain in class) are carrying and spreading the disease more so than those who are unvaccinated (per the CDC) due to the shedding following live virus vaccines, as well as them being asymptomatic carriers of the illnesses.
This is nothing but an attempt to strong arm the public into medical submission despite the many known risks of the current vaccination schedule.
Sarah Stagray, Arenac Co.