On page 20 of the Dec. 4-10 issue there is an ad for a game called Playing Gods, featuring a green-faced Santa Claus firing a machine gun in our direction with glee. Please do not print these extremely offensive and low-class ads. Of course I am worried about the children who may glance at this, but also the deep-seated cynicism and hopelessness behind the image. Ultimately, it has been conceived of by someone who finds violence "cool." I know it’s "cool" to not care about anything and to shove that nihilism into everyone’s face, but you are not doing anyone a service with accepting these images from companies that are eager to make money off of anything that sells: violence, misogyny, racism, greed, revenge, cruelty and despair. I don’t know what the game itself involves, but I do know that the majority of video games are all about kill, kill, kill. Think twice about buying into the corporate sponsorship of violence. It affects all of us.
Letters Knock Out
[Re: Feature, “The Fight,” Dec. 4-10] TJ Trujillo knocked out Jason Quintana. TJ Trujillo has been a good kid and a positive role model for all the people he comes in contact with at Chavez Martial Arts Academy—since he was a tiny guy. TJ Trujillo is a polite and well-mannered young man who constantly answers "Yes, Ma’am, or Yes, Sir" when spoken to. He is hardworking and honorable, and respects his elders. Family is the most important thing to TJ. After defeating Jason Quintana, he immediately went to his mother to hug her and tell her he was OK because he knew she would be worried. He is unassuming and modest about his victory, and when congratulated merely smiles and says, "Thank you." TJ has fought all his life also, in and out of the dojo, but managed to graduate from Albuquerque High School and never found himself in prison. While we should all celebrate the success Jason Quintana has found and congratulate him on turning his life around, we should definitely celebrate TJ Trujillo and the honor and respect he brings to kickboxing and his daily life. His life story would be a positive article for everyone to read. TJ Trujillo knocked out Jason Quintana, and yet he was technically knocked out of your article. What a shame!
Letters No Itching For Snitching
[Re: Thin Line, “Sing, Canary, Sing,” Dec. 4-10] So APD is advertising for snitches?Watch out—anybody with a grudge against you can now get you put away for fun and profit, and you have no real defense.Take the case of Hector Cortez: Finally released five years after a snitch fingered him for a cop who lied on the stand that Hector had sold the snitch a kilo of cocaine.No prints, tapes, pictures—you know … evidence.The cop? He is still a cop, in Santa Fe.Is he corrupt? He knowingly sent an innocent man to prison so he could get the glory. You be the judge.Remember—you have no defense against a corrupt cop.
Letters Balls-Out Bailout
I am appalled at the notion of bailing out the auto industry in Detroit! I don’t feel like they deserve a bailout, and they are trying to force the taxpayers into the idea by hinting that the economy at large will go belly up if we don’t give them a bailout package. I say let them fail! I don’t suppose that it occurred to them over the course of their history that making a better, longer-lasting product might help. The entire U.S. auto industry could be resurrected if they could just do one thing … completely guarantee their products for 250,000 miles. No arguments, no weaseling out of repairs, no sniveling. Just a plain and simple guarantee to car buyers that states, "You will not spend a single penny on repairs or maintenance for 250,000 miles.” In addition, they should offer a free loaner car any time your car needs to be in the shop.Would they go broke if they did this? Of course they would! Why? Because their products are designed to be worn out at 100,000 miles or less! I know that we have the ability to build better automobiles, so it’s not a matter of "can we?" It’s a matter of "will we?" For too long the American automobile industry has lived on people needing to replace their automobiles at 88,000 or 100,000 miles until they discover that you can buy a well-made European or Japanese car and easily drive it for 200,000 miles without any major engine or transmission component breakdown. We know that the American auto industry has the knowledge and ability to make cars that will last this long. They have chosen not to do so out of greed. Do they deserve a bailout for this? Of course not! I say let them go into bankruptcy … all of them! Perhaps then they will figure out that people will not buy shoddy products, and they will begin to manufacture the highest-quality cars in the world. When they do, the car-buying public will beat a path to the dealerships to buy them.
Letters Glamorizing Animalism And Brutality
[Re: Feature, “The Fight,” Dec. 4-10] What is the fascination with irredeemable thugs who want to transfer their hardness to organized mayhem and pain? The only organized physical contests that are justifiable in this world full of violence are those that exhibit some moderation and protect the participants from serious injury. All else are a model for continued insensitivity and degradation of an already pitifully primitive world.
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