Comments on: Giving SF a Bad Name

By: Rose Fox

Rose Fox — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:21:39 +0000

She has the right to say what she wants

Correct.

and I don’t think that it is fair for people to criticize how she expresses herself.

Incorrect; it is precisely fair for any public statement to be the subject of public discussion.

By: Noah Parsons

Noah Parsons — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:08:59 +0000

Does she get her point across that she is not happy with what this country has become? I think she does. She has the right to say what she wants and I don’t think that it is fair for people to criticize how she expresses herself. This is an editorial published in a newspaper, not a literary magazine. Her creativity may not become a standard which will be read by future SF readers, but it was a decent attempt at creative expression by a non-writer. When people begin to republish articles/editorials like this one, it gives them more of an impact than if they were ignored.

By: jim frenkel

jim frenkel — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:30:37 +0000

La Jolla has, for a very long time, been one of the most conservative communities in the somewhat conservative city of San Diego. As the several previous comments have been entirely on the mark. This is simply bigotry and wishful thinking. Clearly, Ms. (who I’ll bet thinks of herself as Mrs.) Weber is not only a bigot, but also in denial, since if she’s as old as she must be to have lived in La Jolla since 1953, she was there when women were quite clearly considered second-class citizens . . . but she doesn’t talk about that.
She’s a very bitter, confused, and sad person.

By: Theresa M. Moore

Theresa M. Moore — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:24:07 +0000

If anyone should be blamed for disseminated said tripe it should be the newspaper. Yes, I think editorial laxity sums it up quite nicely. What, were they so desperate to fill that space that they allowed it through? Freedom of speech aside, the author’s ignorance is inexcusable. I think she forgot to take her pills that morning.

By: Robert Harken

Robert Harken — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:36:52 +0000

Thank you for sharing this view of the future. As you are well aware Rose, words change meaning over time. To understand the true state of our world in 2065 we must consider the future meaning of the words used. You are in luck. I picked up a Defanginator2070 at the Time Mart this weekend. This device converts language from any time period to present day English. Please allow me to translate. “Five wives” converts to half a 2012 human unit. You see the Native American president, recognizing the cognitive efficiencies to be gained, converted the U.S. to the metric system. We must also consider inflation over the next fifty-three years. How does one get half a wife? Through a tragic accident of course, but don’t despair – he got the good half. I know because I consulted a temporal psychic for clarity. “Horrified” means embarrassed yet intrigued. The “Moon” means Canada. Alas, this is a pejorative term reflecting American envy for the standards of living enjoyed in Canada. “Atomic bombing” refers to the future diet craze of reverse feeding. Please don’t ask me to describe this practice as I just ate. “Breakfast and lunch” are breakfast and lunch while “intravenous feeding” describes a state of mind open and accepting of all human identities. Finally, “reservations” refers to the custom-formulated multi-vitamins consumed to counteract effects of reverse feeding. With the correct understanding of the article, I hope you will take heart in our bright future.

By: Andrew Porter

Andrew Porter — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 23:57:58 +0000

One of those dumb “if two guys can get married then I suppose a man and a wolverine could get married too” arguments. Marriage by gays makes everyone’s marriage worthless, huh?

This is not SF, it’s Tea Party reasoning.

By: Dan Povenmire

Dan Povenmire — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 13:11:30 +0000

I’m not sure you CAN judge a racist homophobe too harshly, even if she is old. It’s like saying alcohol made Mel Gibson say anti-semetic things. Yeah that’s right, beer contains racism, and all the old people who aren’t bigots are just lucky.

By: Laura Miller

Laura Miller — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 12:34:25 +0000

I see it as more a La Jolla thing than an aging thing. That place is truly the land that time and progressive thinking forgot.

By: Nancy Weber

Nancy Weber — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:40:36 +0000

Right you are, Spitfire! Resident of, not contributor to. Read in haste, repent at leisure. Write in haste & ditto: two typos in my first missive. As for the deeper issues Rose & you raise: yes, the writing is awful, every which way; and, no, age is not an excuse for promulgating bigotry & otherwise behaving badly. As an oldie (70), talking about someone who is at least 59, I just wanted to raise the point that even the coolest, most forward-thinking, healthy, lucky person of age encounters bias every day. Fighting bias with bias is the worst idea in the world, but it’s understandable as a stratagem for someone who fears she has no other weapons.

By: spitfire

spitfire — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 23:53:24 +0000

I believe it only says she’s been a La Jolla Resident since 1953. If she’d been a contributing writer for nearly 60 years I would suggest we judge her even more harshly. I mean, that writing? It’s awful.

By: Rose Fox

Rose Fox — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 19:10:52 +0000

I don’t think being old makes her immune to critique. There are millions of older Americans who aren’t writing nonsensical bigoted tripe and trying to get it published (and hundreds of newspapers that aren’t publishing the nonsensical bigoted tripe they do receive). Considered by the standards of her peers, she’s still built a poorly structured story on a reprehensible premise.

As for being “the enemy”, the only enemy I pointed out in my original piece was editorial laziness.

By: Nancy Weber

Nancy Weber — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:02:40 +0000

Searching La Jolla Light for other op-eds by Weber (no relation) I found pieces proposing Sunday square dancing in the street (“Where else could children and grandparents ‘trip the light fantastic’ together? ”) and selling objects made in the USA so La Jolla could be advertise its patriotism. She seems to feel herself a stranger in a strange land; she dreams of the good old days (which doubtless were better for her than for for non-whites, non-straights, vegans, abstract artists, & other deviants). But if she has been contributing the paper since 1953, she may feel that the atom bomb has already fallen on her & the days if IV feeding aren’t far away. Deplorable xenophobia, to be sure. Consider, though, that she probably has to call a grandchild to unscramble the remotes for her TV. She’s not the enemy–just old.